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THE SENSATIONAL KING BIZKIT BLUES BAND
Haltern / Westphalia, 27.9.91

THE BLUES OF JOY
Some of the German audience do not know them. Some have heard rumours about Dick Heckstall-Smith: “He is supposed to have played with many great bands”, I am told confidentially by the bloke standing next to me. Some others know exactly what it is all about!

An English band in smalltown Haltern: The Sensational King Bizkit Blues Band. It’s a must for music lovers. The pub “Zum Schwarzen Adler” (where Goethe – as other rumours have it – once spent the night) is absolutely packed. At exactly eight o’clock the band starts with “A Good Fool is Hard to Find” and – it, hardly takes one minute and everyone in the pub is on their side. Magic switched on. There is no need for mediators, you can virtually touch the music, it’s all there. You can see the guys right in front of you and the music is inside you. The Blues you have always wanted to hear! No tricks, no false moves, no light-show, no American down-south-must-be-black-mentality. Just classical Blues, as fresh as dewdrops. They are all right there: the listeners, the voice, the saxes, the guitars and the drums; what bundles of joy. The music is earthy and sophisticated, Chicago from the British Isles, “Double Trouble” with the “Poll Tax Blues”.

Richard Everitt (vocals) sounds authentic in every way, Glenn Kendrick and Adam Clarkson (guitars) harmonize in every way- and yet, their solos are very different in character, full of tension and sometimes even breathtaking – as if the Blues were a new-born Babe.

Dick Heckstall-Smith and the highly-talented Ben Weston (tenors and sopranos) climb through layer upon layer of brass. They gambol and frolic – and play it very seriously – bound and freed by each other, by the Blues and by Jazz influences. The sensitive and subtle Richard ‘Butch’ Butcher (drums) and Richard Todd (bass) round off the line-up of the truly sensational Band.

What a great night! Many of the people decide to travel the 35 miles to Munster, for their next gig in two days time. You evidently can’t get enough of KING BIZKIT.

Written by Hans Szrama, 37, English Teacher and Blues fan from Haltern, exclusively for BLUEPRINT.

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