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THE BLUES BAND New CD: ‘Thank You Brother Ray’ (GBRCD 1006) Release date: March 6th 2006
Paul Jones, Dave Kelly, Tom McGuinness, Gary Fletcher and Rob Townsend. The story of how The Blues Band formed in 1979 to play the music that was their passion - the blues - just for fun and a bit of beer money, and then found themselves with whole new careers on their hands, has been well documented in countless magazine articles and record company biographies. They’ve released 17 or so albums culminating in their current release – ‘Thank you Brother Ray’ – a tribute to the late great Ray Charles, and have regularly rung the musical changes, albeit within the context of the blues. Their extensive canon of recorded material includes a large catalogue of original songs as well as their own readings of songs from the genre’s finest writers like Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sleepy John Estes etc. However, record companies had no interest in a group of ex-Sixties stars .… no matter how good they were. This was no deterrent – the band recorded the first album, The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, and sold it directly to their fans by mail order. Suddenly management companies became interested in this little money-spinner. The album sleeve was blank white – the band hand-stamped their Blues Band logo on to it – and spent hours signing the first 3000. Radio One DJ Simon Bates raved about it – then surprise surprise – the sales rate of this cottage industry record opened the eyes of several major record labels, and a record deal was signed with Arista Ariola (later to become BMG Records).
The following years were filled with success. The demand for tours, festival appearances & TV work was astounding. In Britain the band left behind the pub circuit, toured concert venues & Blues and Rock Festivals, and were one of the headlining acts at Glastonbury in 1982. Their EP Maggie’s Farm entered the UK singles charts and their albums Bootleg, Ready, Itchy Feet and Brand Loyalty all charted. Twelve successful albums have since followed expressing a host of styles and influences...acoustic records, big band brass sections .… but always ….. The Blues …… pure and simple – from the band with the pure & simple name, The Blues Band.
In the past 25 years the band have played all around the world in venues ranging from intimate clubs through civic halls and theatres, and have wowed festival audiences in many countries including headline appearances at Glastonbury. Whilst not unique in being the only band to have survived together for 25 years they are one of the few outfits to have consistently recorded new material throughout such a long career, and whilst staying true to their blues roots have constantly developed their music & redefined their approach on several occasions. Their 1994 album ‘Wireless’ saw them venture into the purely acoustic arena for the first time and the 2000 release of the ‘Scratchin’ on my Screen’ album confirmed the presence of purely acoustic settings of the blues in their repertoire. 1999’s ‘Brassed Up’ album was, as the title suggests a foray into big band blues whilst ‘Stepping Out’ released in 2002 saw a return to the band’s basic 5 piece line-up with the double barrelled vocal frontline of Paul Jones and Dave Kelly being joined by Tom and Gary both singing lead on a couple of songs. With 4 singers and songwriters in the band the quality and variety of performance and material offered by The Blues Band is pretty much unrivalled elsewhere, either in the blues world or elsewhere, and driven by the inspirational drumming of Rob Townsend, the band’s passion and reverence for the music, their presentation and showmanship all combine to deliver the definitive ‘good night out’ available from any artist currently operating within the blues field in Europe and beyond. They have inspired numerous other blues bands, many of which have come and gone, whereas The Blues Band have remained a constant, increasingly popular fixture, and all with only a modicum of help from the record business – as the band sometimes joke, "The music industry doesn’t bother us and we don’t bother them." For a band to stay together for 25 years takes commitment and belief but most of all requires an audience that keeps coming ‘Back for More’ (as per their 1989 album!). Thousands of gigs and hundreds of thousands attendees cannot be wrong.
BRONZE RECORDS LIMITED 17 Priory Road, London NW6 4NN Tel: 020 7209 2766 www.bronzerecords.co.uk
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