A1 Artist Spotlight .Com

042 - Craig Erickson – Gives A Nod To Tommy Bolin, Robin Trower & Jimi Hendrix

A1 Mark — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:01:47 +0000

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Craig Erickson
about new CD Big Highway. Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast along with songs from Big Highway.
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Craig Erickson grew up in a very musical family. His mother taught piano and his father gave music lessons while running his own music store. Craig managed the record department when he was in his early teens. His father would let Craig borrow a guitar and amp to practice on from the store. Craig started playing guitar when he was around 12 years old. Throughout high school Craig was in a lot of different cover bands. After high school he moved to Iowa City. When Craig was not doing his own gigs he was going out to hear a lot of Chicago bands as they came through the college town. Hearing what a lot of different bands sounded like inspired him.
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Every summer he’d go to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) This was a real eye opener for him. Getting to speak to professional musicians like Steve Vai, record producer, publisher Mike Varney as well as Guitar Magazine editor John Stix. All these people had an influence on Craig by giving him encouragement, asking to hear demos, then giving feedback on what they heard along with suggestions on other things to try. Finally, Craig started going out to California to work on different projects. On one of the projects Craig worked on was with Glenn Hughes who had been in Trapeze as well as replacing Roger Glover in Deep Purple from1974 to 1976. Glenn Hughes was putting Trapeze back together for a tour and asked Craig to join as second guitarist.   So from 1991 to 1994 Craig got to play on the stages of the world as a Trapeze artist so to speak. Craig was chosen to be on a tribute to Albert King’s CD called “Fit For A King”. In 1996 Craig got to play on a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan CD called “Hats Off To Stevie Ray”. Then in 1998 he was in a Tommy Bolin tribute concert with Glenn Hughes.
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Big Highway is the newest CD by Craig Erickson. This CD gave Craig a chance to go back to his roots. While the songs are pretty hard rock there is a very nice dreamy element to some of the songs. The best example is the song “Midnight Light”. Starting off with a rhythm similar to something Jimi Hendrix would use. A lot of little guitar riffs are shooting around in the background. The chorus Craig sings with a little higher voice is also similar to what Jimi would do. Every time this song plays I feel like floating through the sky at midnight looking at all the stars in kind of a dreamy state. ”Miracle” sounds like it’s right off of an early Robin Trower record. If you want to hear the proper use of a wah-wah pedal this is it. Craig Erickson makes you long for the days of heartfelt music, not just how fast can you play but you do really have something worth playing. The title track “Big Highway” is about having to go back on the road for another tour, this time a tour in Europe. The sound of the song is big and open just like you are on a big highway with a large landscape around you. The guitar solo of the week is from the song “River Keep A Rollin’”. Craig said he sometimes likes to take a little trip, get a hotel room, meet the local folks, and fish for songs. This song was caught on the banks of the Mississippi River. As you might have guessed it was a keeper. When I was reading about Craig a lot of people talked about how he is this hard rock guitar shredder. What got me was not hard rock shredding but the slower songs. This was like when everyone talked about how fast of a guitar player Alvin Lee of Ten Years After was. Unfortunately they really missed out on his brilliance with the heart felt slower song. Craig may not agree with me on this but when he does things like “Miracle”, “In the Sky”, and “Midnight Light” he is creating something more inspiring. If you like the harder side of Craig it’s heard in songs like “For Your Love” or the nod to Tommy Bolin in the all out guitar ripping “Stratus”. Big Highway has a wide selection of styles to check out so just sit back and enjoy Craig Erickson on his Big Highway.
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The songs played in the podcast are:
Big Highway
For Your Love
Miracle
Midnight Light
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Guitar solo of the week is River Keeps On Rollin’
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Craig also has a new CD out called Castle Blues that is a full on electric CD like Gary Moore.
However, it is only available in France & maybe Europe. You may be able to find it on the internet.
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The Members of the band are:
Craig Erickson – guitar & vocals
Fred “Fingers” Benson – bass
Jeremy Ackley - drums
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Craig Erickson Website
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Craig Erickson MySpace
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To buy Craig Erickson CD from CD Baby Website
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Check out what artists are on Grooveyard Records
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Thanks to Craig Erickson for taking the time out of his very busy week to do this interview.
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It’s free to subscribe to the shows and it will be delivered to your computer when ever a new one comes out.   See link in upper right corner.
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041 - The Muggs – Put Out Their Second Blues Rock Masterpiece

A1 Mark — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:32:35 +0000

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Danny Methric
(guitarist and singer) of The Muggs about their brand new CD On With The Show . Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast along with songs from On With The Show.
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One time I wrote this may be the most important band to come out of the United States in years. The reason this was said is because I love the old English blues/ rock bands like The Yardbirds, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Until The Muggs first CD came out I really had not heard any band in the United States that was able do this style of English blues/ rock. If I had not known that The Muggs first CD came out in 2005 I would have sworn it was an early 1970’s record I’d some how missed. When Tony DeNardo (Rhodes Bass) gave me the go ahead on doing a podcast on the new CD I was very excited but a little worried also. What if this CD did not live up to the first CD? Not to worry, it did and exceeded my expectations. On With The Show captures what many feel is the time period when the best rock music was being created. Unfortunately today’s bands do not seem to be able to recreate this kind of blues/rock that was so popular in the late 60’s and early 70’s even though many people still look at this music as being some of the best music out there. Just look at all the reissues of old records and the best of’s by Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix. Some artists have more best of, greatest hits, and anthologies than the original records they made. Hendrix made three studio records, Cream four studio records but the record companies keep putting out more of the same repackaged records and they sell. If you’re ready for a band that has that sound and feel without sounding like they’re just playing a Cream song with new lyrics it’s time to check out the next best American band The Muggs.
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The Muggs are:
Danny Methric (Guitar, Vocals)
Tony DeNardo (Fender Rhodes Bass)
Matt Rost (Drums)
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Danny said the songs on the CD are about different ways he deals with the problems in his life and how he would like to escape them. Kind of like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz” On With The Show starts off slow in black and white with the song “Motown Blues” then accelerates into color with “Slow Curve”. On With The Show goes through all these dreams of how Danny would like things to be but in the end he wakes up to “Motown Blues (Reprise)” and sees it was just a dream.
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On With The Show starts off with the song “Motown Blues” a short somber song about the bad state of affairs going on in their home town of Detroit. Quickly we’re into the fast pace heavy riff song “Slow Curve”. Danny sings “I just can’t take it that much longer! This muddy stench is getting stronger”. The heavy riff is reminiscent of Led Zeppelin with the strong bass lines and pounding drums.
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“Just Another You” and “All Around You” carry on with this English blues/rock style with some very nice guitar soloing in “All Around You”. With just three instruments the songs have room to breathe. It’s not a continual onslot of music coming at you. Your opportunity to really hear what is being played by each of the members is very welcomed.
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Danny said “On With The Show” came about when he was working in a band called The Paybacks. He liked the band but really wanted The Muggs to get back together and get on with their show. This song had been in Danny’s head for quit a while but it never come out until now. It was also the last song to be recorded for the CD and they were a little worried about getting the song good enough to be used as the title of the CD.
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Danny said “Somewhere Down The Line” is about wanting to date someone who is a best friend but they just want to stay best friends. Somewhere down the line, honey I’ll be waitin’.
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“Curbside Constellation Blues” is a slow somber blues song. About the neighborhood Danny lives in. Where he see some of the people have become homeless and just live on the streets.
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The chorus is:
“With the shoes he doesn’t own
With a coat that’s barely sewn
Left to dangle in the breeze
Left alone at night to freeze”
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“Down Below” is back to heavy beat and good riffs also a good guitar solo.Danny likes to debate people and one day this guy who is not all that smart got Danny mad when they were debating. So this song came out of Danny thinking to himself I’ll get even with you I’ll write a song about you. This is how some of his better songs come about he said. I asked him which song is about the high gas prices that are helping to keep The Muggs from touring this summer. He pointed me back to the first track “Motown Blues”.
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“Never Know Why” brings to mind Led Zeppelin II without sounding like a copy of any particular song. It just has that sound and style I love so much.
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“Get It On” starts off with the sound of a train coming down the line and is about a man who left Motown and his girlfriend. Now after living a shady life he’s decided to return to Motown and his old girl. The song is loaded with lines and references from movies and other things, see how many you can pick out. To me, this song should be the hit of the CD, very good stuff. Some of the guitar playing even sounds like a train rushing down the tracks. It’s a very cool song.
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The CD ends with a fiery instrumental “Motown Blues (Reprise)” which is nothing like the first song of the same name.
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A lot of CD’s now a days have bonus tracks that usually make me laugh. If it’s an old CD rereleased with a new track, ok that makes since. If it’s a new CD, how can it have a bonus track? It’s just another track on the CD. This CD has no bonus tracks on it but there is a real bonus on the CD. All you have to do is put your headphones on and you will hear one of the best bonuses in a long time. Like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the songs flow into each other and the instruments are panned all around your head. Since I use earbuds (headphones) all the time I really appreciate a band taking the time to make my listening experience the best it could be. Like the innovating bands of the late 60’s The Beatles, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix, The Muggs also go all out. Not just top-notch music but top-notch production as well. This carries through to the CD packaging too. Unlike The Beatles with their Sgt. Pepper album, The Muggs don’t have that kind of a budget. They do make it interesting though with it’s pop art looking packaging. Several times I’ve touched the cover photo of the band to see if it is raised above the background. Inside they have a list of credits in 60’s pop psychedelic lettering and a pop art background. Danny was very proud of the back of the CD cover because it looks very much like a back cover of a record that came out in that time period. Go to their MySpace page and look at the photo of the back cover. Better yet buy the CD On With The Show then try to figure out which albumn cover’s back they are copying. Some of you are thinking you don’t care if the music is panned all around your head, if the songs flow together or there is really cool art work all you care about is if you will like the music. I understand but unlike Sgt. Pepper that you had to pay a fourth more for than all the other records of the day, you’re not going to pay anymore for all this, it’s the Bonus. The Muggs have delivered us everything in top-notch form so let’s get on with the show.
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Please support The Muggs buy their CD On With The Show. If you like bands like Cream, Humble Pie, Led Zeppelin, Savoy Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac you too will fall in love with The Muggs. Below are some links to buy their CD. Don’t forget to call your lock radio station and request The Muggs. You can stop bad music on the radio request The Muggs.
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The songs played on the podcast are:
1. Slow Curve
2. On With The Show
3. Somewhere Down the Line
4. Down Below
5. Get It On
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Guitar solo of the week was from “Never Know Why”
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The Muggs Website
The Muggs MySpace
To buy The Muggs CD at Stormy Records
Buy The Muggs music at iTunes
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Thanks to The Muggs for their help in putting this together.
Thanks to Michael Spleet for the great photos of The Muggs, check out his website.
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040 - Erica Brown Band – Putting the Soul, Spirit, & High Energy Into The Blues

A1 Mark — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:02:35 +0000

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Erica Brown about her band and CD Rough Cut Stone. Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast.
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The Erica Brown Band can play soulful blues that has spirit and energy with very tight musicians. Even though the band is very serious in putting out the best music they can, the lyrics can be a lot of fun. Erica says her job is to get the audience to forget their problems of the day and have a good time. They have built a very strong fan base in the Colorado area that is expanding. At this point they have two wonderful CD’s. Their first one is Body Works and the one I’ll be playing in the podcast is Rough Cut Stone.
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Erica played in several rock n’ roll and electronic bands over the years. At one point a band Erica was in had a song used in a movie called “The Fan” with Wesley Snipes and Robert DeNiro. When Erica ran into the blues she said “That was it, this is what I was meant to do”. Erica had set in with a popular Colorado band called J. D. & The Love Bandits a few times. When lead singer J.D. decided to more on to another band Erica was called to fill in for a few shows. They sounded so good together so she was invited to permanently join the band. The band changed its name, against Erica’s wishes to the Erica Brown Band. Erica said this is not her band and that no one person makes the decisions for the band. In Colorado, Erica had some name recognition already so using her name helped the band.
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The band describes themselves as a high energy rockin’ blues band. Erica has also been described as a cross between Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin. Like Tina ,the girl just can’t stand still. Needless to say this makes for a fun and energetic stage show.
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The first song on the CD Rough Cut Stone is called “I Spent A Month There One Night”. The guitarists Bob Yeazel who use to be in Sugarloaf (remember “Green Eyed Lady”) wrote this song. It’s a fun upbeat song about a bad relationship that seemed to go on forever, well maybe a month. This is the type of song that would get the audience out on the dance floor. Some very nice guitar soloing too.
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The whole band threw in ideas for writing “Cajun Moon”. This song will also keep the audience on the dance floor. Erica’s delivery and attitude in these witty lyrics keeps the listeners attention while having some real fun. This song talks about eating a buttered alligator tail, a sister that howls at the moon, and a guy with six fingers on one hand that the dog is teaching to count. This all goes on in the light of a Cajun moon. The way Erica tells the story will have your full attention.
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“Everyone Hears Different Music” is a very thought provoking song about how each person has something that makes them happy and satisfies them. Erica says if you’re blessed enough to find what you are meant to do with your life you should try to do it. For her being a blues lady is that thing she is meant to be.
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William Howard Dunston brought a song he had written called “Payin’ Dues” to the band. They worked on the song to fit the style of their band. William is the one singing along with Erica on this duet. Erica said at one time William had worked with Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett as well as Duane and Gregg Allman. In fact the first time Erica heard the name Skydog (Duane Allman’ nickname) was from William because he had know Gregg so well. From the first note of the guitar intro you know you have found a real blues song. William starts off singing then Erica comes in and you know this song should be a first class hit. Not many people can put out such a powerful as well as beautiful blues song as “Payin’ Dues”.
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The Erica Brown Band can do more than just blues. They do a song by The Band called “Shape I’m In”. “Bring Back The Quarters” is more of a slow country song. “In The Can” reminds me of the Allman Brothers in the late 70’s.
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While this band does get radio play they are deserving of much more. As you will hear in the podcast it is time for the Erica Brown Band to go national. Please help by calling your local radio station and request their songs. Below is a link to their website where you can buy their CDs so please, if this music speaks to you like it does me, support this great band.
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The Erica Brown Ban d is:
Erica Brown - Lead Vocalist
John Woodhead, Lead Guitar
Rich Sallee - Bass
Scotty Rivera, Drums
Jim Ayers - Keyboards
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Guitar solo of the week is “Hard Faith”
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Songs heard in the podcast are:
I Spent A Month There One Night
Cajun Moon
Everyone Hears Different Music
Payin’ Dues
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Erica Brown Band Website
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Erica Brown Band MySpace page
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To buy their CD’s

039 - Mark Knoll Band - Warning! You Will Want To Buy This CD If You Listen

A1 Mark — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:51:13 +0000

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Mark Knoll about
his CD High Time. Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast.
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This is the second week in a row I’ve had a knock out CD. The very
first time I heard this CD High Time I was in love with it. It’s great
rock & blues with loads of great guitar solos. Everything about this
CD seems so natural and in the right place. It’s like Mark Knoll looked
at my top twenty records and spit out something new as a result of
hearing those. Did I tell you about all the guitars and great solos?
Oh, how about the unexpected surprise of keyboardist Ricky Peterson.
Ricky just got off the road with Fleetwood Mac and had a week off
before going on tour with John Mayer. Mark was laying down the basic
tracks that week so Ricky came over to play keyboards. If you
remember Brian Auger’s record, Closer To It!, Ricky Peterson’s
keyboard playing reminds me a lot of that. What makes this so much
better than most of Brian Auger’s records is that this is not a lot
of keyboards. Ricky does his parts very tastefully and then we’re back to
guitars. Mark said he just let Ricky break loose and do what he wanted
on the five songs he plays on.
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Mark Knoll was born in North Dakota where he started playing guitar
around six years old. Mark started listing to The Beatles as well as
The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, and then the roots of their
music. This led to Mark falling in love with the old blues artist like
B.B., Albert, and Freddie King and his favorite Albert Collins. Mark
played in bands all through high school. He ended up at Musician
Institute in California, which was a great learning experience. Mark
played in a lot of different kind of bands as well as backing up other
musicians like Little Richards, Chuck Berry, played with Bonnie Raitt
a few times. He always was content to be a guitar slinger while
staying in the background. After a while he found this was not really
furthering his career. Mark decided to make his own CD.
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High Time took Mark Knoll about two months to write. Then he went into
the studio where the recording took about two months. Mixing was done
on down time over about three months in order to save on money. The
creation of High Time took a little over half a year to write and
record. Mark calls the CD “rippin’, bluesy, rock, and
fusion…high on energy…with good old fashioned song craft”.
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The first song is “Gotta Give It Up”. Mark described this as being kind of
like a Steve Winwood song from Back in the High Life days
(1986). This came together from two other songs he had been working
on and combined the two.
The song is about drug addition and how he has known people that have
had problems with it. As the song says “You gotta give it up, you
gotta put it down”.
Right from the very start of the CD, Mark is playing a great guitar
intro to “Gotta Give It Up”. As soon as I heard this song I knew this
was a keeper.
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The next song is a little faster and more upbeat, good lyrics about
all the problems we see in the world and how “It’s Gotta Matter
To Ya”. Part way into the song Mark does a solo that any of the
top-notch bands of the early seventies would have been highly praised
for. Then Ricky Peterson does a cool organ solo. A few minutes later
it sounds like Jeff Beck showed up with the last solo.
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Mark Knoll told me that the song “High Time” was inspired by Jimmie Vaughan.
It’s like something the old blues artist would have done. Mark will
sing a line, then play a line, then sing a line, and so on. Kind of like
what B.B. King is so good at doing. With Mark’s guitar playing it’s a
real treat to hear. The song is about people looking for more meaning
in their life in a spiritual way.
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“They Don’t Cry” is about the problems going on in this country. How
the politicians are lying to the people about why we are at war then
give you something to divert your attention as they pad their pockets.

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Mark said he really liked Jeff Beck’s Blow By Blow and that style influenced his
song “The Bird Flew”. Robben Ford is someone else who
inspired Mark on this instrumental track. This really will remind you
of Beck in his jazz-fusion days.
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Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ”The House Is Rockin’” is the last great old
time rock song Mark could remember someone doing. He felt it was time
for a new one so he wrote, “It’s A Ball”. Great upbeat fast rockin’
song to end the CD with.
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Just like last weeks show on Smokin’ Joe Kubeck & Bnois King I could
go on and on about how good this CD is and why you should buy it.
Hey, just play the podcast Mark Knoll’s guitar playing and song
writing abilities are all you need to hear to get you to buy this CD.
If you’re like me and like that early seventies rock and blues sound
you’re going to love this. Did I tell you about all the guitars and
great solos, Oh, guess I did.
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Songs in the podcast:
1. Gotta Give It Up
2. High Time
3. The Bird Flew (This Bird Has Flu)
4. They Don’t Cry
5. That’s A Ball
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Guitar solo of the week is from “It’s Gotta Matter To Ya”
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Mark Knoll Band Website

Mark Knoll Band MySpace page

Buy Mark Knoll Band’s CD High Time at CD Baby Website
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Thanks to Mark Knoll for taking the time to do the phone interview and
making this show possible.
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Thanks to our good friend Barry McCabe who turned me on to the Mark
Knoll Band by way of Barry’s newsletter. Hey Barry, Mark said Mick Taylor
was a big influence on him in the early days.
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Check out this podcast I found, BluzNdaBlood really good blues music.
Dave’s been doing this show for two years. Some of the people he plays songs by are
Michael Burks, Eddy Clearwater, Kenny Neal, Hubert Sumlin, Koko Taylor,
Tommy Castro, Marcia Ball, Mike Zito, and many many more great blues people
you will love to hear.
Don’t miss his show # 27 interview with Watermelon Slim.
As you probably know Watermelon Slim won two awards at the May 8th 2008 Blues Music Awards
(formerly W.C. Handy Awards) one year after Dave did the interview with
Watermelon Slim.
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038 – Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King – Release Their Must Have CD Blood Brothers

A1 Mark — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:06:35 +0000

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Smokin’ Joe Kubek about his CD Blood Brothers. Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast.
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This CD is 55-minutes long, with 14 songs of pure joy. There is not one song I’d want left out. After listening to Blood Brothers for the first time, I liked every song. After a few more listens, I was in love with Blood Brothers. Smokin’ Joe Kubek’s Texas blues/rock guitar playing cuts through everything and gets you hopping. Then you have the rich full sound of Bnois King’s (pronounced buh-noyss) guitar that really compliments Smokin’ Joe’s guitar sound. Bnois also handles all the vocals, which is good because you would not want someone getting in the way of his great voice. Bnois could be a hit just as a singer. His vocals are so rich and full. Stop Drinking is a Lightnin’ Hopkins song. The other songs are written by Kubek, King, or another collaborator. The songs are full of great hooks, great guitar, and great vocals. Hey, it’s a great CD! The best review for this CD is to just listen to the songs. They sell themselves.
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The start of Joe Kubek & Bnois King’s lives are pretty much the same as the lyrics to the song Coleman Avenue. Even though Bnois wrote the lyrics, the story is pretty much the same for both of them. At a young age they heard the blues and knew that would be their calling in life. Many years later they would be on many stages trying to recapture that feeling of their youth. Joe made it clear that music is the only thing that really mattered to him. At the age of 14, Joe was playing in bands and touring throughout Texas. At 19, Joe was backing Freddie King and ready to go on tour, when Freddie passed away from heart failure. Joe also jammed with Albert King and on other occasions with Stevie Ray Vaughan who he became good friends with. In the late eighties Joe asked Bnois to sit in with his band and was amazed by how good they sounded together. Bnois has more of a jazz sound which works very nicely with Smokin’ Joe’s more blues/rock sound. From then on the two have been working together. From 1991 to 2008 they have put together 13 records on 4 different labels. Blood Brothers is an album released by Alligator Records. They tour a lot like Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour”. For the last 17 years or so they have been on tour. The songs on Blood Brothers were written during the last tour. When they got to the studio it was more of a fine tune job on the songs.
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Blood Brothers opens with “My Dog’s Still Walkin’”. Joe pointed out that there was a lot of musical influence from Jimi Hendrix. After Joe told me that, I replayed the song and could see what he meant about Hendrix’s roots. The great thing about the song is that it isn’t a Hendrix song with new lyrics. To me it sounds like a great new song with an awesome opener too.
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“Don’t Lose My Number” is their beefed up Texas version of Jimmy Reed’s song “Going To New York” with Joe on slide guitar. The song is hard kicking with great lead guitar and Bnois voice is tough sounding.
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In the early years, Joe and Bnois would listen to a cassette tape of Lightnin’ Hopkins which had the song “Stop Drinkin’”. They always liked the song so for years they’d play the song live. Now for the first time you’re going to get to hear Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King do this on their CD. Their version is eight minutes of great electric guitar picking. It’s like the first time you heard Cream do “Crossroads”. Yes, it’s Robert Johnson, but it’s really souped-up. This is more like Smokin’ Lightnin’ Hopkins and may very well become the definitive version of “Stop Drinkin’”.
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In my opinion, “Must Be Karma” should be a crossover hit with any station that plays adult rock. While the song is blues and rock, it’s not real strong on either. It’s the perfect blend of both. A song that should reach out to a much larger crowd than would normally listen to the blues. This song, to me, has hit written all over it, the hooks, the beat, and the story. Bnois voice so wonderful. I can’t imagine anyone hearing this song and not liking it. Then again I think most of the people nominated for Grammy Awards are not good enough to be on this show.
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While I’m talking about great hit songs “Coleman Avenue” must not be overlooked. This is much more of a blues song than “Must Be Karma”, but just play it for someone. They can’t help but love this great song. “Coleman Avenue” really creates a feeling of being out on the streets late at night. The mood is set just right for a story about Bnois falling in love with the blues as a young man and how this is the feeling he is trying to recreate throughout his life. This is something most people can relate to. Finding something in their youth that they love so much (music, cars, sports, whatever). It’s the driving force of their adult life. The only thing I’d change on this song is to make it twice as long, maybe in concert they will.
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“That Ring Don’t Mean A Thing” Bnois sings about a friend having an affair with someone who they know had a wedding ring on and how they should have known better. The song is a hard stomp with nice piano work by John Street and a great guitar solo.
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Like “Coleman Avenue” they set a bluesey mood for “The Pleasure Was All Mine”. I almost feel like I’m walking through a foggy dream. There are also two very contrasting lead solos. One at 2:10 and the other at 3:57.
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Blood Brothers closes with “Troubled Dreams” which contains one of Joe’s favorite guitar solos. This is another hard kicking song. Almost like an encore to the CD. One last chance to stand up and cheer.
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While I left out some songs to talk about, it does not mean they are not good songs. Just trying to keep you from being here all night when you could be listening to the podcast.
“Flame Thrower” is a good upbeat song.
“Freezer Burn” is a firey instrumental with a lot of guitar, in tribute to Albert Collins (The Iceman).”Midlife Crisis, Midnight Flight” is a fun, upbeat song. If you’re getting a little older like I am you’ll relate to the somewhat funny lyrics. Love this song.
“Bumpy Ride”, “Cold Folks Boogie”, and “Out On A Limb” all good songs.
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Like I said before, Blood Brothers is 55-minutes long without any songs you’re gonna want to skip over. I’ve only been listening to this for about three weeks and there are also a bunch of other CD’s I need to get to know for the show as well as others I’d just like to hear. Yet, Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King is who I want to listen to over and over.
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The songs played in the podcast are:
1. “My Dog’s Still Walkin’”
2. “Don’t Lose My Number”
3. “Coleman Avenue”
4. “Must Be Karma”
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The band is:
Smokin’ Joe Kubek - Guitar
Bnois King – Guitar and Vocals
Paul Jenkins – Bass
Dave Konstantin – Drums
John Street – Keyboards
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Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King - Website
Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King - MySpace page
To buy Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King’s CD Blood Brothers
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Check out other great CDs on Alligator Records
Like new ones by Michael Burks, Eddy Clearwater, Janiva Magness, Roomfull of Blues, and Marcia Ball
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I’d like to thank Joe Kubek and Bruce Iglauer for their time and help in putting this show together.
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037 - Mark Farner – From Grand Funk Railroad To The Rock Patriot

A1 Mark — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:58:47 +0000

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) about his cd For The People. Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast.
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Mark Farner was the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist for one of the biggest American rock bands of the seventies, Grand Funk Railroad. Grand Funk Railroad sold 25 million records and played to sold out arenas around the world, they accumulated 17 gold and 11 platinum records. Some of their big songs are “Closer To Home (I’m Your Captain)”, “Mean Mistreater”, “Time Machine”, “Inside Looking Out”, “Footstompin’ Music”, “Rock & Roll Soul”, Walk Like a Man”, “The Loco-Motion”, “Shinin’ On”, “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Bad Time”, and “We’re An American Band”. In the interview (podcast) I did with Mark Farner he talks about his time in Grand Funk Railroad, but this article is going to deal with his solo record. For more information about Grand Funk Railroad listen to the podcast or go to Mark Farner’s Website.
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Mark Farner’s newest CD is called For the People. He is the self proclaimed Rock Patriot. As a proud citizen of the United States of America, Mark Farner is telling the Americans that there is a big problem going on in this county and you better wake up to it before all your freedoms are taken away. The title track “For the People” and “Where Do We Go From Here” in my opinion should be required listening by all American citizens. These two songs are the most important songs any American can hear this year. If Bob Dylan put these songs out the media would be screaming about what Dylan has written. They’d be telling you in the papers, on the radio, and on TV, “this is the most important song Bob Dylan has written since “The Times They Are A Changing”. Well this may be the most important song since “The Times They Are A Changing”, but Mark Farner The Rock Patriot wrote it, and hardly anyone is playing it. Thanks to Mark Kerr’s Blues Nation podcast, I’ve got to hear the song “For the People”, a lot. What’s wrong with the radio stations? Why have they not taken the time to play these important songs? This is not some guy their listeners have never heard of, this is Mark Farner the man who gave us “I’m Your Captain”, “Footstompin’ Music” and “We’re An American Band”. The leader of Grand Funk Railroad, one of the biggest American bands of all time. The media has ignored this record but you can save the day. Call your local radio station and demand them to play these songs. Mark said the reason he wrote “For the People” is to provoke people to think about where we are as a nation and how we got here. Mark’s tired of the media and the government telling us lies about everything. The war, the oil, the money. Who is really in control of these things? Why are we as a nation doing what the people of America do not want our government to do? Who is really running this country, the government or rich Europeans that control our banks? What ever happened to “by the people and for the people”?
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These are the words to Mark Farner’s song
                  “For the People”
There’s a ghost in the White House
The memory of a man,
A man who loved his people,
A patriot for this land
But we no longer prosper,
We just try to scrap up the dough,
We can’t even pay the interest
On the money these idiots borrowed,
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People waking up there’s a question I’ve got to ask,
I want to know what happened to,
All the people, by the people, for the people
We let it slip away to the government,
Money spent, can’t pay the rent,
And it’s just another day in America,
It’s just another day in America,
It’s just another day in America,
Another day back home.
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Apathy in the people,
Brained washed by TV, …
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It makes me want to just throw up
When I think about the IRS,
People waking up there’s a question
I’ve got to ask,
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I want to know what happened to,
All the people,
By the people, for the people
We let it slip away
Too much government, money spent,
Can’t pay the rent,
And it’s just another day in America,
It’s just another day in America,
It’s just another day in America,
Another day back home.
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Now do these words make sense to you, do you agree with what Mark is saying? Then get out there and call your radio station and demand “For the People” so other people can hear these words.
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“Cry Baby”: This is about when you had a spat with your wife, and you want to talk to her with out getting smacked in the head with a frying pan. It’s much more palatable in a song than coming right out and saying it.
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“Same Ol’ Feeling”: This song is about freedom and the love that is in our heart. Our desire to make things better for people around the world despite what our government is doing.
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“This Time” was performed live for a while and will have a video at http://www.markfarner.com/
Mark’s wife says this song makes her feel a movie is going on.
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“You’re My Girl” has had some radio play as well as a great guitar solo, that yells that Mark Farner still has it in him.
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“Symptoms” is the wresting match between out spirit and flesh. Mark gave the example of two Indians talking. The father explains there are two wolves inside you, the good wolf and the bad wolf. His son ask which wolf will win, the father says the one you feed. So it is with us. The spirit will only win if we free it.
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“Where Do We Go From Here” is another very powerful message.
These are just some of the lyrics to the song
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There’s got to be a reason, I feel so bad inside,
Can anyone else see, we’re a nation facing suicide,
How could they take them, the freedoms that our fathers won.
There’s got to be a reason, it’s not too late to be undone.
We better take a new direction, but Where Do We Go from Here,
I’m thinking about my soul perception, they’ve lied to my people, here
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I asked Mark if it takes longer to write a song like this with such deep lyrics. He said no, the songs just come as a wave and most get written in less than a half an hour. Mark writes some of his music like “Where Do We Go From Here” on the keyboards. He likes to write songs with other people just to learn more about how to write songs. There is a large back catalog of songs he has written over the years. These songs have never been recorded and may be put out for other artist to record soon.
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Even though I spent more time talking about the lyrics of the songs, I do not want to skip over the music. “For The People” is a rock anthem song, plenty of guitar and pounding drums. The kind of song that makes you want to get up and pump your fist in the air.
The CD, For The People, has hard rocking songs, rock ballads, love songs like “Nadean”, (a song for his wife), and even some pop rock the could be big hits if the radio stations would just let you hear them. Mark Farner’s guitar playing is as good as ever and his singing is still very soulful. Just because this does not have Don or Mel on it does not mean it cannot sound like Grand Funk Railroad. Even though Mark was just one third of Grand Funk Railroad he was the lead singer, writer, and guitarist for the band. Maybe one third of the members but more like two thirds of what the band was doing. Lawrence Buckner, the bass guitarist, and drummer Hubert Crawford, on this CD, do a great job on their instruments. If you ever liked the sound of Grand Funk Railroad you will love this cd, Mark is moving on up.
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I saw a Mark Farner concert in 2006 he did one hit after another with two or three songs from this CD. The concert was just as good, probably better than when I saw the We’re An American Band tour. The concert had a lot of power and energy, Mark was all over the stage playing better than ever and his voice was in great shape. Mark took time to talk to the audience about the old days of Grand Funk Railroad and what was going on in his life now. He talked about some of the songs he was playing and how they came about. Hearing Mark’s stories was just as important to me as hearing the songs. Halfway through the show I leaned to my wife and said “How is Dave Mason going to top this, he’s doing one big hit after another”. Julie shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t know it makes no sense to me.” Now Dave Mason was good when he came out and we in enjoyed his show, but you could tell everyone was there to see Mark Farner. A lot of people stood all the way through Mark’s show then sat the rest of the night. If you have a chance to see the Mark Farner tour this year don’t let it pass you buy. You will really have a good time. Mark and his band put out 100%.
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The Band is:
Mark Farner – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion
Lawrence Buckner – Bass
Hubert Crawford – Drums
Paul O’Jibway – Keyboards, Sax, Percussion
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For The People was recorded at the famous “Swamp” where most of the Grand Funk Railroad records were recorded.
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On the inside cover it states this is a tribute to:
“The Spirit of Liberty, the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States of America and to the Patriots of this country who are the hope of freedom.”
God bless what’s left of America!”
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Mark Farner still rocks just as good as ever, don’t miss his tour or the CD For The People. It really does have the two most important songs you will hear this year or next.
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Songs played on the podcast are:
1. Cry Baby
2. For the People
3. Same Ol’ feeling
4. Symptoms
5. Where Do We Go From Here
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Mark Farner Website
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Mark Farner MySpace page
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I’d like to thank Mark Farner for taking the time to be on this show as well as Mark Bowsher for all his work in setting this up.
Mark Bowsher is also the one who gave us this rare photo of Grand Funk Railroad.
From Mark to Mark and Mark, Thank You Very Much.