February 8, 2008

Televised Tune: On the Tube This Weekend

Gimme Shelter documents the Rolling Stones’ tumultuous tour of the United States in 1969. Over the course of the film you get a behind-the-scenes look at how the infamous Altamont

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HT Giveaway: Last Chance For Langerado

We’ve got less than a month to go until Langerado, and I just can’t stop thinking about leaving the cold of NYC for the comfortable warmth of Florida. As if

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Housekeeping: A Brief Note of Minor Import

Serving as this here rag’s editor and director of day-to-day operations couldn’t possibly be a better hobby-gone-wild. For the past 17 months it’s truly been a pleasure to serve as

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We’re Back Door Slam from the Isle of Man

For Back Door Slam, it all started with C-sharp.

Seventh grader and budding guitar prodigy Davy Knowles approached Adam Jones in their Isle of Man schoolyard and asked whether the young bassist could play in that key. Jones snickered and replied, “Of course,” and the rest will one day be history. Drummer Ross Doyle eventually joined his mates behind the kit, and now nearly a decade later, their Back Door Slam blues trio is touring thousands of miles from home to support their brilliant debut album, Roll Away.

BDSlam
BDS’ Davy Knowles at ACL 2007 — photo by Danfun

And even though “Back Door Slam from the Isle of Man” sounds more akin to the name of an XXX movie in San Francisco’s Castro District, they’re nonetheless building a solid name for themselves. The blues stars-to-be seem to constantly be on the road, headlining club gig after club gig and opening for more established [nostalgia] acts like REO Speedwagon, Styx and George Thorogood, earning their stripes the old-fashioned way by organically building an audience, rather than growing exponentially with hollow blog endorsements.

The precocious trio — think early Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble or Rory Gallagher — wrapped up another tour of the States last week, but they’ll be back here soon. They’re loving their growing slice of Americana so much that they’ll return for their fourth tour of the States later this month, a run that begins in Anaheim in late February and ends at the Beale Street Music Festival in early May.

I sat down with the three members of Back Door Slam before their recent show at New York’s Mercury Lounge, and since I try not to contribute to the delinquency of minors (only one of them is 21 years old, the other two are 20), we shared Cokes and Sprites as they shared tour stories and their impressions of the road to stardom. Read on after the jump for much more on the best young band of blues musicians on the road today…

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Friday Mix Tape: Starting Off Pornosonic

You gotta love an edition of the Friday Mix Tape that begins with unreleased ’70s pornofunk and ends with Mason Jennings. If that doesn’t scream eclecticism, I suggest cleaning the

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Leftovers: What Deaner’s Talking About

Dean Ween continues to provide outrageously brown content on his NING blog. Just yesterday Deaner shared some amazing shots from his photo collection. Where else can you see photos of

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Hymns: Knitting Factory, New York, NY 1/31/08

At the Zombieville VIII party at the Knitting Factory, a variety of styles and acts were on display, but the talented up and coming musicians owned the spotlight.  Hymns, were a delicious throwback to 70’s country-rock and blues. 

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