Hey, Blues guys, if you haven't already, meet kingB. May I introduce to you Ian Clark on drums, John 'Cat' Corlett on bass, Ian Grierson, harmonica, Ian Phillips, guitar, Claire Johnson, lead vocal, and yours truly, John Lanyon, guitar.
Claire is the new kid on the block, having joined the band a mere eight years ago, while the rest of the band has played together for about seventeen years. We're based in West Oxfordshire.
We love to play live and over the years have had the good fortune to appear at clubs, festivals, parties, pubs, weddings, street gigs, a blues history conference, a motorbike shop and even the opening of a Coop store! Presumably "every little helps". Is that right?
Lots of people have helped us along the way. Pete Boss (The Elmores, The Bluehearts), one of Britain's truly great guitarists, inspired us to start the band. The Cornbury Music Festival invited us to open their very first show in 2004, and put us on stage with the James Taylor Quartet and Jules Holland. Philip Guy-Davis gave us our first blues club gig at the Famous Monday Blues in Oxford, then has made us a regular feature alongside his host of international stars. The Chichester Real Ale and Jazz Festival, the Gloucester International Rhythm and Blues Festival, Music at the Crossroads and the Riverside Festival have helped bring our blues to a wider audience. LeBurn Maddox guaranteed a wild time every time we played The Flowing Well (Sunningwell, Abingdon). Michael Taylor of Hats Off Studios held our hands when we made our first attempts to record.
We came to the blues in different ways. Ian Grierson can show you his Cavern Club membership card and posters from 1960s gigs at the 100 Club. Cat would lie in bed in his early teens and hear his neighbour play Jimmy Reid harmonica licks in the empty street at night. Ian Clark allegedly learned to play the drums in a pub from Chris Leslie of Fairport Convention, while John's first blues song was Frankie & Johnny, sung by his dad. Ian Phillips started to play blues in a band as a teenager. Meanwhile Claire made her debut on stage at the age of eight, performing in Old-Time Music Hall. We still do other music, but what keeps us focused is a deep-down, full-on feel that the blues is the heart of it all.
Residencies at local pubs helped us develop new material and work at our stagecraft. We've also tried to rehearse once a week. Every blues band has to consider the balance between blues standards and original material. It's not been easy to create new songs but when we have, we have been amply rewarded. Listen out for "Kickin' Out Time" and "Countdown to the Blues" as examples of our work.
It's been harder to get gigs recently. Since the credit crunch the live music scene seems to have contracted. Promoters and landlords seem less willing to take a chance. We have responded by developing side-projects, playing more parties, and home recording. We've discovered how wide and detailed the recorded soundscape can be even with just a home computer, a mixer and a couple of microphones. Nuances that get lost in live performance can be expressed.
The blues is a simple form to learn, but it's much more than a form. It's a way of looking at the world. It grants permission to express emotion and in this buttoned-up world that's got to be a good thing.
We'd love to hear from you on our Facebook or MySpace pages. We'd like it even better if you visit our website www.kingb.biz - or of course come on over to a gig and say hello.
John Lanyon
All articles © Blues in Britain magazine.