The HAMBURG BLUES BAND - feat. Krissy Matthews & Vanja Sky
This time with Vanja Sky as a special guest - she is Croatia's answer to Sheryl Crow and Norah Jones. An artistic career could hardly develop any more rapidly. Five years after learning to play the guitar, Vanja recorded her debut album with renowned artists of the international blues scene. The highlights of her meteoric career include close collaborations with greats like Bernard Allison and Mike Zito, as well as her debut album "Bad Penny," recorded at the Bessie Blues Studios in Stantonville, Tennessee, the workshop of Grammy-winning producer Jim Gaines. This was followed by her second, significantly more rock-oriented album "Woman Named Trouble," which was selected by ROCKS MAGAZINE as one of the best records released in 2020 alongside AC/DC, Deep Purple, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen.
Over 40 years of St. Pauli Blues! For four decades, five guys have been touring through crowded clubs, belonging to the best that the European blues scene has to offer. The Hamburg Blues Band stands for intense, cleverly arranged, and live-stunning roots blues that regularly leaves purists mentally shaken. The group around lead singer Gert Lange, often compared to Joe Cocker, mixes hard-hitting guitar blues rock playfully yet tradition-conscious with soul, psychedelic, rhythm & blues, boogie, and even ventures into jazz territory.
In 1982, Hamburg singer and English saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith founded the Hamburg Blues Band spontaneously after a midnight session at the legendary Hamburg venue "Onkel Pö". "Dick Heckstall-Smith was our key to the British blues scene, our Brit-blues connection. He was to us what Alexis Korner was to the Stones & many others," Lange says today. Therefore, it's not surprising that over the years, the band also toured with scene stars like Jack Bruce, Chris Farlowe, Mike Harrison, Arthur Brown, and guitar heroes like Clem Clempson & Miller Anderson becoming band members. "Furthermore, we had the great fortune that Dick Heckstall-Smith introduced us to the legendary lyricist Pete Brown (Cream) back then, who wrote our lyrics until his death in 2023 and was also a welcome guest on our tours."
Hamburg's renowned blues/rock vocalist Gert Lange, voice of various advertising spots (including Carlsberg Beer) and the title song of the German Film Award-winning road movie "Burning Life," and the fabulous rhythm section, bassist Reggie Worthy (Ike & Tina Turner, Eric Burdon, Stoppok), drummer Eddie Filipp (Inga Rumpf, Sweet, Clem Clempson Band), and the young exceptional 32-year-old guitarist Krissy Matthews, an allied band that works with consistent impact, complemented by their ability to control dynamics on demand and spice with perfect harmony vocals.
Names like Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, or even Pete Townsend come up when talking about the only 32-year-old Krissy Matthews. They are said to have influenced the guitar style of the young exceptional guitarist, and indeed, Matthews's playing is anything but one-dimensional. At times, he sounds fresh and raw, then quirky and wild. He first stepped on stage at the age of three, received his first guitar at eight, and was struck by the blues at eleven. A year later, he met John Mayall during a performance in Norway, and the godfather of white blues wasted no time and brought the twelve-year-old on stage. Colleagues, critics, and the press are full of praise; "This guy is the real deal" (Beth Hart), "Oh boy, this kid can play" (Hubert Sumlin).
Even after 40 years, the Hamburg Blues Band continues to surprise audiences and presents their unique sound far from any clichés. The "Friends For A LIVEtime VOL. II" tour promises a musical firework with real characters and originals for the audience.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
