This week you will hear an interview with British blues rock artist Innes Sibun, as well as some outstanding tracks from his CD Tail Dragger.
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In this week’s show, Innes Sibun talks about growing up in Great Britain listening to the old blues artists like B.B. and Freddie King and how that got him interested in playing the guitar. Later he found Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and more of the heavier blues rock. Wait till you hear Innes explain the similarities between John Lee Hooker and The Sex Pistols. Later Innes played in some jazz bands with some older musicians that took him under their wings. This, he said, really helped him learn to think on his feet, since they played in a lot of odd keys for a guitar player. Innes loved to play guitar so much that he would play in almost any kind of band, as long he could learn from it.

After some punk and reggae bands he started a band called Innes Sibun and the Blues Explosion. This band put out a record that was produced by Mike Varnon called That’s What The Blues Can Do. This led to the band playing a lot of blues festivals and backing up US bands. In 1993 Innes got to be one of the guitarists for Robert Plant’s touring band.
You will hear him talk about some of the cool things he got to do with Robert as well as the time he met Jimmy Page.

Innes Sibun has put out over a half dozen records since 1995, with the latest one being Tail Dragger. If you were ever a Rory Gallagher fan then you’re in for a real treat. It’s raw British blues rock and a lot of guitar soloing. Even Innes voice has that raw sound of Rory Gallagher. Tail Dragger kicks off with an Otis Rush song, “It Takes Time,” but the band takes no time in this fun, fast paced version. For every note Otis played on his version, Innes must be playing two. A keyboard is added, creating a fuller sound. “I Don’t Get Fooled By Tears” follows it with more fast paced blues rock and good rough vocals. The next song slows things down with a nice acoustic guitar, as well as good slide guitar. Innes said “Southbound Train” is a country blues song that came about one day just sitting in a circle with the band playing. He plays mandolin while Tim plays a kind of barrelhouse style piano. It took a little getting used to after all the electric blues, but now I find it a real treat to hear. On “Don’t Stop Believing” Innes also shows his talent for good lyrics. “Someone Like You,” “I Want You Back,” and “Sweet Disposition” are some of the other high points on this record. At one time I thought the masterpiece of Tail Dragger was the Deadric Malone classic “As the Years Go Passing By”. However, as I’ve gotten to know the other songs more and it has some real competition. “As The Years Go Passing By” is the longest song at 6:29, and you can’t help but wish it went on even longer. Innes’s guitar phrasing, along with his emotional vocals, really makes this a must have song.

A while back Innes Sibun and his band came over here to the United States to play a three-city tour. New York City, Kansas City, St Louis, back to New York City, and then back to Great Britain. I was very privileged to see his St. Louis show at BB’s Jazz, Blues, & Soups. Wow, this was one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. I saw Rory Gallagher in the late seventies and this was as close to what Rory did on stage as anyone I’ve ever seen. Four hours of intense, raw blues rock by a man who is giving it everything he possibly could. If you live in Great Britain you owe it to yourself to check out his MySpace page for his upcoming concerts. Here are just a few shows that coming up real soon (in 2009) Carlisle, Devizes, Bristol, and a Rory Gallagher tribute in Corsham.

Songs in this week’s show are:
Don’t Stop Believing
I Want You Back
Someone Like You
Sweet Disposition

Innes Sibun’s Official MySpace

Buy Innes Sibun Cd’s from Amazon.Com

Many thanks to Innes Sibun for taking time out of a very busy week to do this interview.
Hey Jackie, nice talking to you, hope all your photos turned out.