Although I´m not the greatest fan of high energy blues this one I have to admit is a scorcher:
Have it on a worn LP and was pleasantly surprsied to see the entire thing on YT. Mark Feltham on harp, had some serious chops down alreday in -77. Blues with a very punk attitude.
I like this British band Nine Below Zero very much. Especially the superb harp player Mark Feltham. I've seen them live a few times here in Sweden. They can't play a proper slow blues. But why should they? They are not a blues band. It's a mix of pop, rock, punk and a little blues.
Oj, fyra svenskar! The only time I´ve seen NBZ Mark Feltham was NOT in the group. Kind of a letdown, esp. since I was interested in what he would bring to the stage in terms of equipment.
Pistolcat is right -- live albums are often great, in particular when it comes to this kind of music. And when the audience´s enthusiasm is as palpable as on this night at The Marquee. (Live albums with crowd noice edited out sort of begs the question ...)
Martin - If they had a harp player when you saw them and Mark wasn't there, it would most likely have been Billy Missgivens. Who is also a damn fine player. When I last saw Mark he was using a Shure 545SD into a Fender Champ and a '59 Bassman RI and no effects. He had a very, very overdriven sound.
@Kingley. Thanks for the info. Yes Billy Miskimmin -- and nothing wrong with him, not at all.
So he had BOTH a Champ and and a Bassman? Linked? (I´m very ignorant in these matters.) His overdriven sound here has a warm quality to it that I like -- but I think there are some YT videos where he sounds distorted and quite a bit harsher.
Yes linked. He was using the Champ into the Bassman. Like many people he has used various rigs over the years. For quite a while he was using a Fender Twin Reverb.
Billy Miskimmons has his own band the Mercy Lounge in Ireland. He is a class act and mikes a vintage champ for sound. He might like Misgivings as a nom de guerre.
I saw Billy Boy Miskimmin when he played with The Yardbirds at Club 100 in London a couple of years ago. He was great and his style is perfect for this kind of rock music.
Mark Feltham has much better technique and can play bluesier and more subtle than Billy Boy.
Gerry McAvoy, the former bass player in Nine Below Zero, wrote in his book Riding Shotgun (mainly about his years playing with Rory Gallagher but also a little about Nine Below Zero), that Billy Boy had to leave the band since he wasn't really perfect for the band. I don't remember the exact words.
Håkan
Last Edited by Hakan on Feb 20, 2013 8:21 AM
