A fusion of Pop,Rock,R&B grounded by the blues.
Strong vocals and melodic songwriting with weeping guitar solo's inspired by Robben Ford and Larry Carlton

9 MP3 Songs
BLUES: Jazzy Blues, ROCK: Progressive Rock



Details:
"Open up the letter"...

is the first album with my band. There's plenty of guitar work, while vocals are constant through out... I guess you could call it a kind of Blues, Jazz, Soul album.
Before I had recorded about 30 originals using a drum track that over time were narrowed down to 8 to be recorded with the band. Paul Howe (saxaphone) contributing to "Music is the language" and "I'm a rich man", is a great writer. Paul listens to alot of Dony Hathaway and this shines through in his lyrics that are short and straight to the point with a real Soul style approach. My writing and playing comes alot from the more modern Blues artists such as Robben Ford and Robert Cray. I was brought up however from my parents to Roy Buchanan, Bob Segar, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic and many more... One of my favorite singers is Steve Winwood (check out his latest album "About time").

I listen to alot of guitar... the best show I've ever seen was Chris Cain 'live' at the Thredbo Blues Festival Austalia in 2001. He absolutly blew me away... the hairs on my arms were jumping out of my skin. I was lucky enough to be busking at the Festival when he came up to me. Later I was eating pizza and drinking beer and talking music with one Blues's great's. He was such a nice guy with big heart. There are two guitarist in Sydney that I also admire and have influenced me greatly. They are Ray Beadle and James Muller. Two completly different styles but play both with the same passion and fire that I aspire to...

I am very lucky to have such a great band, I love all the guys. We played alot at a little bar called BB's on Bondi beach where we always ripped up a storm. We would play mainly originals with a few Blues classics thrown in. I have currently finished writing songs for a new album during my stay here in Bali that again will be funded from gigs and the previous record. It's very hard today for musicians to get there music out there and heard... I just thank people like CD Baby that help promote new artists. I will be back in Austalia from Nov to play the new repetoir and perform at the Byron and Thredbo Blues Festivals. I have just started recording my new album that will be out in July. The information about it will be on my new website.

"Open up the letter" was recorded over 3 months with Pro tools at my house in Coogee beach Australia. It was something I wanted done to preserve the many electric moments we had playing together as a band. One of the funnest parts were the horn arragements of which I would grab a guitar and harmonise with Paul the different sections trying not to get too crazy. We both agreed that the simpilest parts were the most effective. This gave the album a nice little touch. We wern't so fortunate to have 4 Saxes at our gigs. However, "live" the band always sounded full...rich in interplay and full of spontaneaty. The great thing about the studio is that it allows you to put horn parts in and vocal harmonies. We've had alot of fun messing around, but at the end of the day it was the songs that spoke for themselves.

When I sit down and write a song it is always the melody first. I feel, that is the focuss and the heart of the song. The lyrics are of course just as important but with the right phrasing and a few key words alot can be brought to life with just saying a little. I feel it's important for the music to be doing just as much of the talking, after all thats why we listen to it. Alot of the songs on "Open up the letter" are about love or something to do with a woman. Tracks like "Love is a feelin" and "I'll be waiting", "Time is breaking my heart" plus the title track, all have that same sentiment.I was listening to alot of Robert Cray ballads at the time, which I think in turn gave me that lovers edge to mix romance and conflict, exploring the boundaries of love in a different setting other than the straight blues.

I hope you all enjoy "Open up the letter"

Simon Kinny-Lewis