Reviews

Dave Kelly (The Blues Band) on ECFM

Join Ian Robertson on Breakfast with Dave Kelly of the Blues Band on East Coast FM  on Thursday 26th April at 9.30am !  You can see and hear The Blues Band in the queens Hall Edinburgh 29th May.
The Blues Band was formed in 1979, by ex Manfred Mann group members, Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, originally to play a few pub gigs. Slide guitar ace and vocalist Dave Kelly was recruited, Gary Fletcher filled the bass post. Rob Townsend of Family fame replaced Hughie Flint in 1982 at the drums.

The Band

Gary Fletcher       ~   Rob Townsend      ~      Paul Jones    ~   Tom McGuinness     ~    Dave Kelly  
Simply the best purveyors of the Blues in the UK today.
The story of how band formed in 1979 to play the music that was their passions – 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 20 or so albums – culminating in their current release FEW SHORT LINES.
In the past 35 years the band have played all around the world in venues ranging from intimate clubs through to civic halls and theatres, and have wowed festival audiences in many countries – including headline appearances at Glastonbury.
Whilst not being unique in being the only band to have survived such longevity, 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 and have constantly developed their music and 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’ cd 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 barreled vocal front-line of Paul Jones & 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 unrivaled, and 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 in the Blues field in Europe.
For a band to stay together for such a period takes commitment and belief but most of all requires an audience that keeps coming ‘Back For More’ (as per their 1989 album).  Thousand of gigs and hundred of thousands of attendees cannot be wrong!
New studio album released.