Soldat Louis is a Breton rock band from Lorient, well known in France for their Celtic rock and sea chanteys. Ireland is often in the spotlight in their lyrics, and they sometimes tackle key themes of the Irish question.
The band is the brainchild of 2 Bretons from Lorient: Serge Danet (aka Soldat Louis) and Renaud Detressan (aka Gary Wicknam). They then recruited 5 additional musicians, with the aim of creating a Celtic rock band combining electric guitar and bagpipes. The team thus formed includes :
The band released their first album, “Première Bordée”, in 1988, with the legendary sailor song“Du Rhum, des Femmes“, which brought them success throughout France. They soon began playing concerts all over the country, and their album went on to win the Double Disque d’Or award. They were then stamped as a group composing drinking songs, typical of sailors.
Soldat Louis returned to the scene in 1990 with “Pavillon Noir”, a very good album which unfortunately failed to live up to the hype of the early days of “Première Bordée”. The band records politically engaged lyrics, while others are lighter, nostalgic and humorous. Even so, their performance didn’t seem to satisfy the audience.
Refusing to give up, Soldat Louis released “Auprès de ma Bande” in 1993, an album featuring the beautiful song “Bobby Sands”, dedicated to the IRA member who was once a hunger striker, and who died of starvation after more than 60 days without Margaret Tatcher ever making a diplomatic gesture.
This song is complemented by a beautiful cover of The Wild Rover, a standard of traditional Irish music, performed many times by great bands such as the Dubliners and the Pogues.
In 95, a Best Of album was released, entitled “Le Meilleur de Soldat Louis”, featuring the band’s greatest hits. The release of this album enabled them to reconnect with the public to some extent, although the success was not the same as in the early days. Soldat Louis took advantage of this to play a number of live shows on regional stages, bypassing the big venues.
In 1999, the band released a new album, “Bienvenue à Bord”, on which their song “Le Bagad de Lann Bihoué” proved a resounding success with fans of the early days. In 2002, they also released “Escale sur la Planète”, an album that went largely unnoticed.
Finally, 2006 saw the release of the album “Sales Gosses”, a pleasant enough record, although it is sometimes criticized for its uneven quality, depending on the tracks recorded. Nevertheless, this did not stop the band, who continued to criss-cross the roads of France, playing concerts in small towns.
We appreciate their dynamism, their musical talent, and the good-natured atmosphere that never leaves anyone indifferent.
