Anyone in this group from the UK familiar with harp player Justin Holly? I met him here on the West Coast of FL a few years back. He played at a jam and is a fantastic harp player. Was curious to his where abouts and if he's still in the UK palying music.
The backing band in the video is from Cardiff, Wales and used to be known as Snatch It Back. The venue is the Blue Dragon Blues Club in Cardiff. One of those deals where the club takes over a pub one night a week.
Snatch It Back were one of the best blues bands in the UK for over 20 years, playing the UK pub and social clubs. They were quite popular in Holland as well where they were on an independent Dutch blues specialist label.
Snatch it Back band was founded and fronted by harp player and vocalist Chris Reese with Dave Durnly-guitar and Paul Higgins-bass who are both in this video. Can't quite tell if the drummer is who I think it is.
Chris's day job was working at Spiller's Records in Cardiff, the oldest record store in the world. Every time I came into Cardiff I would make a point of stopping by and talking to Chris. I can't tell you how many records and blues artists Chris turned me on to.
Snatch It Back were pretty much a traditional blues band, in some ways the South Wales Fabulous Thunderbirds. However, Chris wrote "Bail You Out" which appears on Dave Edmunds D.E. 7th but was never actually given credit. The song is listed as "copyright control".
Sadly Chris started suffering sever memory loss, perhaps some form of early onset Alzheimer's a few years ago and no longer performs.
I'm proud to say these guys are all friends of mine though I've been out of touch for a few years. Really good to see they're still out there and cookin'. ---------- LSC
Justin is awesome he plays through two (two FFS!) basemans. Dave Dearnaly is a custom guitar maker in Cardiff. I know all the guys too and the BD club is my local club - whey hey! I still jam almost weekly with Paul Higgins (the plank spanker)at a local jam session
@ianharpo - I fronted Sting Like a Bee, who you may or may not have heard of. Went through a lot of players but the core band was Bob Watkins on bass and Paul Westwell on drums. Guitarists, Pete Matheson, Mickey Gee, Graham Williams, Vince "VZ" Thomas and Tich Gwilym were all with me at one time or another. Lincoln Carr was the first bass player. Bob, Paul, Vince and I did a reunion tour last year.
When you see Paul or Dave please mention Steve from S.L.A.B., now in Austin, say Hi and give them best regards from me. ---------- LSC
Hi all, any questions you have at all feel free to ask.! The band J alexander and the Blues Devils has come around from the circumstances mentioned above. It was Chris Rees the founder of Snatch it Back who first inspired me to start playing and singing. i used to grab lifts of The Dearn when i was 14 to go and watch them every week @ the Royal Oak. I shall be ever grateful to Chris and his inspiration an wish him all the very best. For the Record i use a Meteor as my main amp and sometimes link it with either a Bassman SJ4-10 or my 1960 fender concert.
Anyhoo, for those interested, this clip was from the last day of Enler Blues Festival. It was early afternoon and the boys asked me to talk about harmonicas for an hour or so, i did not need much persuading!! this clip is Hoodoo man, i just want to say that i really enjoy playing acoustically. i practice acoustically and only use my amps when i gig.
Hello, fellow Welsh harp player! I wish I was blessed with an opportunity to give talks on harmonica for hours! The way you practice is probably spot on, I mean, after all, a good acoustic tone makes for a killer electric tone (unless your mic crap)
Whereabouts in wales... how about putting some details on your profile? I'm in Hereford, that's nearly Wales. ---------- "Come on Brackett let's get changed"
