Félix Rabin is a singer-songwriter and gifted guitarist. The
French 23 year was inspired by musicians like Jimi Hendrix,
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Pink Floyd.....his style embodies these
influences and blends contemporary Rock, with inventive riffs
and moody melodies.
Loving music as long as he can
recall, the desire to play came suddenly and when Félix picked
up his first guitar at 15.......this is when the story began.
After touring around France, playing several times at the
prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland where he was
born and lived since childhood, Félix is now ready to take his
music and open doors in new territories. Fortunately, one of
these is the UK!
Given the amazing response he has
received after only a handful of appearances in this country, he
says; "As a French guy, I really can feel that music is much
more into the culture of English people - I mean you can feel
that Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and all the other great ones come
from here !"
Eliana
Cargnelutti Band is the solo project of Eliana Cargnelutti, a
guitar player and singer from north Italy. Eliana is the new
hope of the rock blues and one of the rare real front women of
the European scene. She’s a strong singer, a crafty guitarist
and she plays a flavour of rock blues with a bit of everything
in between: electric funk mixed with pop and raw rock, tight
blues grooves.. Her sets truly have something for everyone.
Eliana’s first CD is “Love Affairs” with Scott Henderson as
special guest; her second CD “Electric Woman” come out in
January 2015 for Ruf Records Label, and also her 3rd CD is a Ruf
Records Label project: “Girls with Guitars 2015” and Eliana has
been on tour throughout 2015 from Europe to Us with this band.
We
are two brothers, Alessandro and Marco Cinelli, and we come from
Latina, Italy. Musically we grew up together, on the trail of
all the artists that our father Domenico, a true music lover,
used to show us. He would spin records all day long, and just
from a very early age we used to dance to Stevie Ray Vaughan not
even knowing what his face looked like. Dad used to play guitar
in church, and used to drum for fun. Marco picked up the guitar
at the age of eleven, Ale started the drums when he was seven.
We have a four year gap between us so let’s say we started
together. We used to spin records and play along, sing and fool
around swapping instruments all our youth. Marco left to live
abroad and four years later so did Ale. We finally reunited in
London in from 2015 to play every now and then, since Marco was
still living in Paris, and steadily from 2017. We didn’t have a
band then, nor an intention whatsoever to form one. Ale, who was
the one who knew more the scene in the city, soon got well
esteemed as a session player and became a steady house drummer
in most of blues jams. Marco would come occasionally to play and
got introduced to the bluesmen ring, so that soon we could host
our own show under the name of the Cinelli Brothers. We met this
fantastic bass player Enzo Strano, a Sicilian guy settled in UK
since teenage. He impressed us right away for his massive stage
presence, his magical touch on the bass as well for his
simplicity. The kind of bass player you know how great he is
when you play with someone else. Enzo joined the band
immediately as he previously jammed with Ale and got to know him
better. We started as a trio at the Ain’t Nothing but Blues bar,
like most of the blues bands in London. We used to play songs
from Muddy Waters, BB King, Bo Didley, Willie Dixon, Elmore
James, but also Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway,
everything that made sense to us. We loved to shuffle jazz,
blues and soul in the same night, feeding people with different
sonorities. The sound was unique and the crowd truly went crazy
each time we performed. Marco has got an Arline Tuxedo as “axe”
that he bought second hand in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He plays
with thick strings dropping the tuning in D, and he never plays
plectrum, solely fingers. His voice is soulful, but he can
phrases the right blues notes. Ale plays smooth, but groovy, and
the pocket is there. Most of the time we are indisciplined and
lousy as the show presses, but the machine works like a
clockwork. People go nuts dancing on the table. One day Marco
came up with this Muddy’s tune, “Forty Days and Forty Nights”
and he said he was never going to play it anymore without an
harmonica, because what makes the song special is just the
messing-around chops of Little Walter over Muddy’s lead. We
decided to call Rollo Markee on Harmonica for our next show. He
is a wizard, he can bend notes like we’ve never heard before.
He’s got this weird sound coming from his amp that sometimes can
buzz like a fly or snort like a buffalo. He brought us to an
higher level, and boy did we sounded bluesy! To expand the sound
beyond we would call a guitar player or a keyboard player, among
which our favourite was Alberto Manuzzi, an other fellow
countryman. With this quintet formula we had a couple of
successful shows as the crowd started really to be pissed that
we didn’t have any record to sell, any website, nothing. We
decided to write some songs and record an album. Marco had
written already a bunch of blues songs so the writing task was
rather easy. He’s got skill in producing and organising
recording session, and with his brother decided to make an album
the old fashion way, all analog and live-in-the-studio. We
wanted to have something that sounded like the records that dad
used to spin. A great blues record! We went with the quintet
featuring Strano, Markee and Manuzzi at the Soup Studio, London.
Everything was finalised, rehearsed, recorded and mixed on the
spot, tape and plate reverb included. We recorded seventeen
songs in three days, between covers and originals, but in the
end we decided to release twelve tracks, due to the limited
vinyl capacity. Ever since the record went out, we had the
feeling that the response was quite good. People started to
buying it at our shows and we would find our songs played at the
radio as well as in album-reviewing blogs. Bar owners, festival
programmers, bookers and music lovers from great part of Europe
started contacting us to come play here and there. We toured in
UK, France, Spain, Holland, Italy, Portugal and Germany not
fully realising how powerful the impact of the band was. For us
it’s all about having fun on stage, rock the necks and play some
dirty gritty blues and rhythm ’n’ blues. The performance may
sometimes start in a way and end in a completely different one.
We might end up in some thirty minutes long medleys, as well as
some psychedelic rock moments. We can also go funky sometimes.
All that matters is that truth and honesty are there, without
pretensions. We love to step on the footprints of our heroes,
but we love to be ourselves doing it, without thinking we have
to do this or that. Music is also freedom and above that we feel
the connection of our brotherhood. The result is always unique,
fresh, and true. Zoë
Schwarz Blue Commotion
Zoë
Schwarz Blue Commotion: “A serious band with unique songs, tight
instrumentation, and a powerful woman up front… edgy vocals, and
scorching guitar solos.” - Blues Blast Magazine, USA 2017 “A
truly independent and original band". The whole band, in its
entirety, creates a luxurious and irresistible sound, displaying
great skills and artistic finesse. Zoë Schwarz’ dynamic and
commanding vocal delivery is both eclectic and suave at the same
time; just like a chameleon, one part Janis Joplin, one Billie
Holiday, and one Nina Simone”. The band’s exciting live set is
based around rootsy originals; featuring strong catchy riffs,
interesting arrangements and exciting grooves featuring Rob's
electrifying, and unmistakable touch and flow on guitar. The
highly accomplished rhythm section of Pete Whittaker-Hammond
organ and Paul Robinson-drums (Nina Simone, Van Morrison, The
Proclaimers, Paul McCartney to name a few) bring massive musical
authority and the ability to push the music in unpredictable and
exciting directions. Zoë Schwarz Blue Commotion have made a
considerable impact these last five years, and is one of the
band’s that have added a fresh approach and vibrancy to the UK
jazz & blues scene.The
Ryk Mead Band
The Ryk Mead Band, are
indeed a blues band but by definition a lot more. A Stunning
Power Blues, Jazz, Rock Trio. Through playing many different
styles of music it has always been the case that the blues has
had a deep influence on whatever type of material I’ve played.
As time progressed, so did the inclination to select the more
obscure and less trodden path of song and material I wanted to
play. It's hard to say whether this is my influence on the other
members of the band or if the others have joined because they
feel the same about the way music has influenced them. Whatever
the case my band has developed a style of its own. When i play
live the set may change from night to night. We might suddenly
change an arrangement or change direction at any moment within a
song. The basis of the song stays the same but things change,
imagination and feel for the moment take over; something new is
created. Not even the guy’s in the band know when it's coming.
This creates a tension and excitement that means things evolve
and develop night by night. With hard work it becomes possible.
This makes every gig potentially electrifying and new.
A howlin’ blues three piece - harmonica, guitar, drums –
modelled after acts on the Fat Possum label such as RL Burnside
and T Model Ford and in the tradition of Hound Dog Taylor and
the like. But we also throw in a good heap of Little Walter and
New Orleans music, including Professor Longhair and James
Booker, making for a unique mix. We’ve been featured in Blues in
Britain and our debut CD, a mix of originals and covers, has
been getting radio airplay on blues programmes around the
country and the US. Our motto: “Work all day for money, fight
all night for love.”
SOLID ENTERTAINMENTS Presents...
LINCOLN BLUES FESTIVAL