2011, 22-year-old British guitar sensation Oli Brown returns to the UK
for his biggest headline tour to date, which starts at the Manchester
Academy on April 11th.
Described by Mojo as "the hottest young pistol in British Blues",
Oli's UK tour will coincide with the release of his new album "Here I
Am". Tickets are available from 0844 478 0898, www.thegigcartel.com.
Since the release his 2010 album "Heads I Win Tails You Lose", Oli has
been constantly on the road with tours across Europe, America, Canada
and New Zealand. The album was produced by Mike Vernon (Fleetwood Mac,
Eric Clapton), who came out of retirement especially to work with Oli.
In October 2011, Brown was hand-picked for a 25-date UK tour with the
legendary John Mayall & The Blues Breakers.
Manchester Academy (April 11)
York The Duchess (April 12)
Edinburgh The Caves (April 13)
Glasgow O2 ABC2 (April 14)
Aberdeen Lemon Tree (April 15)
Newcastle O2 Academy2 (April 17)
Nottingham Rescue Rooms (April 18)
Birmingham O2 Academy2 (April 19)
Exeter Phoenix (April 20)
Bristol The Tunnels (April 21)
London O2 Academy Islington (April 22)
OLI BROWN - "HERE I AM" - OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
So here he is. The great white hope of British blues. The young man
blues sensation. The rock 'n' roll alchemist who fires a bullet-belt
of influences into the mix. The heart-on-sleeve songwriter who bleeds
onto the lyric sheet and solos like his soul is hard-wired to his
fingers. The mover, shaker and rule-breaker, who drags the dusty
conventions of the blues into the millennium by the hair.
But if you thought you knew the real Oli Brown, you don't know the
half of it. Please allow him to introduce himself. Three albums into
his career, Here I Am finds Oli letting down the barriers, showing his
cards, turning the spotlight on himself and defying you to turn off
your stereo. "The new album is called Here I Am," he explains,
"because I'm saying, 'this is me'. People know when something isn't
believable. I'm just trying to be honest."
Here I Am is the sound of an artist on the crest of a wave. When Oli
hit the studio in Nottingham after a triumphant 2011, he had the
plaudits of fans, press, peers and heroes ringing in his ears, a
truck-load of trophies and a huge weight of expectation. Most
22-year-olds would have felt pressure, but with his dream team around
him – drummer/producer Wayne Proctor and bassist Scott Barnes – Oli
rode the red light and chased down 12 classic songs to hand over to
Magic Garden Mastering's Brian Lacey (fresh from The Black Keys' El
Camino album).
It's a tracklisting that runs the gauntlet, from Thinking About Her's
grooving ode to a seductress, past the desolate break-up blues of All
We Had To Give, to the stinger missile Solid Ground that features Paul
Jones on harmonica and signs off the album with a slam-dunk. "Ain't
tryin' to be no Jimi or Stevie, I wanna be my goddamn self," Oli roars
on the title track, and even on covers of Donny Hathaway's I Love You
More Than You'll Ever Know and Nikka Costa's Like A Feather, he has
both hands on the wheel. Oli Brown has stepped it up. Again.
It's a long climb from the schoolyards of Norwich to the top table of
the British blues scene, and hard to believe that Oli Brown has scaled
it in just four years. "I didn't have any career ambitions until I
started playing guitar in 2002," he notes. "Blues was always in the
background, but what really hit was the first Stevie Ray Vaughan album
I bought. When I started playing, Hendrix was my first influence. He
was a showman, too, setting his guitar alight. I've never done that!"
With his chops primed, Oli soon went public, playing impromptu Norwich
jam nights where "we didn't even know what we were playing, but it
taught me a lot". The pivotal moment came at 15, when he was invited
to the US as the guest of Blinddog Smokin': a support slot that
morphed into a mentoring scheme, with Oli sharing bills with Buddy Guy
and Taj Mahal, and being schooled after-hours by his hosts. "Before
that, I didn't care what the music was, I just wanted to solo," he
admits. "But while I was out there, they taught me everything about
the blues, about stagecraft, about walking tall and speaking to the
audience."
Oli would return to the US with Blinddog Smokin' several times, while
he also cites the wisdom imparted by legends including Robben Ford,
John Mayall and Walter Trout. Fast-forward to 2008, though, and the
student had become the master, and when Ruf Records label boss Thomas
Ruf witnessed an explosive UK gig he signed Oli on the spot. Things
moved fast. That same year, the precocious bandleader burst out of the
blocks with Open Road: a dazzling opening shot that fused funky cuts
like Psycho with heart-rending solo showcases like Missing You. "There
aren't many 12-bars on there," Oli said in 2008. "I try to get across
a few different styles, but I haven't had any purists shout at me
yet!"
So it began. With that first release, the press woke up to what live
blues fanatics knew already, and promptly showered Oli with champagne,
with Blues Matters! voting Open Road the #2 album of 2008, and Classic
Rock declaring the singer had "the blues under his fingernails like
few of his peers". The flattery stepped up a gear when the Oli Brown
Band became the only British act selected for 2008's International
Blues Convention in Memphis, and some measure of his exploding profile
came when Oli was invited by John Fry of Ardent Studios to record a
live session… which scored 1.3 million hits in under a month.
The buzz was building, and by 2010, it caught the ear of legendary
British producer Mike Vernon, the veteran of such benchmarks as 1966's
Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, who was lured out of semi-retirement
to helm second album, Heads I Win Tails You Lose, and capture a
light-footed tracklisting that mixed up scuttle-buttin' grooves like
Evil Soul and room-shakers like Real Good Time. On release in April
2010, it was clear this kid was more than alright, and the press duly
threw star ratings like confetti, with Mojo dubbing Oli "the hottest
young pistol in British blues", Uncut praising "a British bluesman to
rival Trucks and Bonamassa", and Classic Rock voting Heads I Win #3
blues album of the year.
With the 2010 British Blues Awards toasting him as Best Male Vocalist
and Best Young Artist, some musicians would have rested on their
laurels and watched the royalties roll in. Not Oli Brown. He once said
that "blues needs to be heard live", and it's true that while he tears
it up in the studio, his natural habitat is the darkened stage and his
favourite sound the roar of the crowd as he blasts songs skyward with
his signature Vanquish guitar. In 2011, Oli toured the UK, Europe, New
Zealand, Canada and America – even charming Uncle Sam with a
high-profile breakfast TV appearance – and scored another haul of
trophies at the British Blues Awards (Best Band and Best Album). The
year concluded in schoolboy fantasy-style, playing 25 gigs with John
Mayall. Somebody pinch him…
So where do you go when you've hit the top? The answer, for Oli Brown,
is back on the road, as he supports the April release of Here I Am
with a major UK headline tour. For this 22-year-old, blues isn't just
a job, an easy pay-cheque or a shot at cheap celebrity: it's his
passion, driving force and raison-d'être. "I picked the wrong genre of
music to be a celebrity," Oli laughs. "I just wanted to be a credible
musician and get respect from people." With Here I Am, it's mission
accomplished.
"The hottest young pistol in British Blues" - Mojo
"A British Bluesman to rival Trucks and Bonamassa" - Uncut
"Brown's fretwork really stuns" - Classic Rock
"His singing voice is compelling" - Guitarist
Official Website - www.olibrownband.com
Facebook - http://on.fb.me/hlnujD
Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/olibrownband
Reverb Nation - http://bit.ly/qnV7qF
Myspace - http://mysp.ac/1IRjkM
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