A busy early period in 2015 beckons for British Blues. In the North of England, the Great British Rock and Blues Festival (23-26th January) is about to get the party started, including our very own Blues Matters Stage.
Meanwhile, in London on Valentine’s Day 14th February the south-west based Blues-Rockers Blacktop Deluxe are joining Loose Moorings at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden in London, tickets here. Here is a little sample of the Deluxe boys.
Even as Loose Moorings release an album, Blacktop Deluxe are re-shuffling their line up, and Keith Howe from the band provided an insight.
“Keeping a Band together in its formative months is seldom easy, requiring commitment, sacrifice and vision amongst other things so it’s not surprising that early personnel changes happen quite frequently in the world of music. Indeed, who are we to doubt the words of Wishbone Ash, ‘Watch me join the circus, Watch me steal the show, There ain’t no easy money, There ain’t no easy road’.
“So Tim [Chapple] leaves The Band (his last gig with The Blacktops is January 31st) after 21 hard, but enjoyable & successful months together, which included some memorable gigs, 3 separate recordings sessions/releases and associated promotional videos. The split is an amicable one which it seemed fairest on all of us to announce in January, as individually we have holidays booked with The Band intentionally light on work.
“Luckily we have a choice of good players locally who are available to honour future gig commitments whilst we take the time to audition for the right person. Alan and I wish Tim all success in whatever he decides to do next but we also take comfort in the fact that our friendship and musical creativity remains as strong as ever.
“So looking through the windshield of Blacktop Deluxe currently sees us accelerating into 2015, concentrating on even more work in The UK and Netherlands than last year & booked back into Cube Studios in May to start tracking our 2nd Album ( creatively well under way with a working title and 12 new songs) for release midyear.
“So for Blacktop Fan’s, we have not left the building and the future is far from Black, indeed the future is ‘The Blacktops’ !”
Keith – Blacktop Deluxe
www.blacktopdeluxe.com
Right now, some more of the immediate future consists of Skegness, Camden, and numerous other live music up and down the country including, also in February (20th to 22nd), the Broadstairs Blues Bash.
