Dec 142009

Featured Artist: Oli Brown

Better Guitar Playing, Blues, Featured Artists Add comments

UK Blues, way ahead of schedule

Oli Brown

When I was a younger man… ok ok, a much younger man, I used to tell time by how long I had been playing guitar. High School graduation? …that was when I’d been playing for five years. First apartment? Uh… let me see… that would be 7 ½ years by my guitarian-calandar. 30 years later, I have come to use slightly more conventional time-measurement tools such as Microsoft Outlook, or other commonplace mechanisms. I still secretly gauge the passage of years and months this way, but often chastise myself as it is not how long you’ve been playing, but what you play that matters most.

Well, this Oli Brown thing is a head-scratcher. This kid had never picked up a guitar before 2002, and he can play, he can definitely play. This completely throws off my guitarian-calendar; a guy this young is not supposed to play with that kind of fire. Well, he does.

Already an experienced road-dog, Oli had opened for such Blues legends as Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor and Taj Mahal before even seeing 17 candles on a cake. Let’s see, who was I opening for when I was 17? Hmmm.. let me think.. oh yeah, seven dancing poodles and an Elvis Impersonator in the basement of an Elks lodge.

But I digress.

What impressed me most about Oli’s playing is his command of the instrument. His riffs riffle out of the guitar like they were the projectiles of a trigger-happy marine. High, Low, everywhere you go on the neck, this kid puts out a blistering wave of sound that is both round and sharp at the same time; great tone & superb technique, a deadly combination.

The Oli Brown band officially commenced their adventures in March of 2007, shortly after Oli met drummer Simon Dring and bassist Fredy Hollis. Since then they have toured the United States twice and much of Europe. One need only type his name in the Google search bar and hit the return key for an indication that all this effort has been time well spent. Of course, anyone can pack a van full of equipment and drive all “uber-all”; it’s what you make of that time that truly determines if Trix are in-fact for kids. Considering that the Oli Brown band was the only UK act to participate in the 2007 International Blues Convention in Memphis, these kids are clearly not wasting anyone’s time. Shortly after this Memphis victory, the band was featured on Ardent Sessions, an online broadcast of up-and-coming musicians, which airs on breakthruradio.com. The page featuring the Oli Brown session received over a million hits in the first three weeks. Not too shabby.

After signing with Blues label Ruf Records in 2008, “Open Road” was released to critical acclaim from the likes of Classic Rock, Mojo & Guitarist Magazine. Immediately sent out on tour, the band spent the rest of the year opening for Johnny Winter, Robben Ford, Walter Trout, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Devon Allman’s Honeytribe, Jon Cleary and Buddy Whittington. Much the same for 2009 and extensive tour plans are in play for 2010.

One of the things that I find so annoying about going to see the latest greatest Blues Guitar sensation is that there is always some poor sap that sings the first two verses, and then has to stand aside while the featured gunslinger flails about (for-ever and a day), and then that aforementioned sap has to step back up to the mic to sing the last verse… wash, rinse, repeat. Yawn. Not the case with Mr. Brown; he sings his own songs, and sings them well. Some may have a hard time swallowing blues from a 19 year old, but he does seem to have some conviction, and that is what matters most. Once you start to care what anyone thinks, you are done. I get the sense that Oli does not give a rat’s ass if anyone approves of his blues; he just wants to play guitar. A good man.

INTERNET LINKS

Official Oli Brown MySpace

Official Oli Brown Facebook

Official Oli Brown Twitter

Official Oli Brown Merchandise

GUITARS

Vanquish “Oli Brown Signature” model

Brazilian mahogany body and neck with master grade book matched maple burl top to the body and headstock
P90 pick ups custom wound to Oli Brown specification for a “hotter” sustaining tone
Custom hardware in gold and nickel
Recessed Vanquish thru body tailpiece
Hand rubbed oil and wax finish
10-52 gauge strings
Buzz Feitien tuning
24.75 scale length

Stonetree custom: Solid