Mesmerizing Blues by the Dave Jackson Band

If you enjoy really good classic rock and roll, you can always pick up the blues influences. From the great music of Blues, Rock and Roll was born and what I really enjoy is when I find some good kick ass rockin blues. I would like to introduce you to my recent find that I have been enjoying, the Dave Jackson Band. Dave delivers intense grooves wrapped in spellbinding solos that you are magnetically drawn to. We had the opportunity to talk with Dave Jackson and we are pleased to bring you that interview:

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Music Junkie Press: Thank you so much Dave for talking with us here at Music Junkie Press. How old were you when you first started playing guitar?

Dave: I grew up in Africa and when I was five years old, I made my own guitar out of a tin box, part of an old broom handle, some nails and rubber bands and I just went out and played. I had no idea, I just made it up but it seemed to entertain people. I would sit around and basically jam with local guys who had guitars and I would join in on ‘African folk songs’.

Music Junkie Press: That is awesome that you made your first guitar!!! Can you remember what the first song was that you could play in its entirety?

Dave: That’s a difficult one. I’ve never actually sat down and learned a song. Most of everything I play is just improvised and the songs we record and play ‘live’ just evolve and grow as we play them. I can remember my parents saying, “Can’t you play a tune?” And I would reply, “I just did…it was my own composition and it was composed as I went along”. I could never have been a concert pianist, I would have changed all the notes. I do have a vast classical collection, as well as a jazz collection. I’m more of an ‘avant-garde’ blues guy. Though come to think of it, I do remember my Brother taking trumpet lessons and I picked it up one day and ran through the ‘Kenyan National Anthem’. That was my first and last attempt at trumpet.

Music Junkie Press: I love that your music just flows so freely. We can really feel that in your songs. Do you have a particular song writing process or ritual?

Dave: Not really. I write most of my songs away from an instrument. I can be on a train, or walking down the street, or I might hear part of a conversation that sparks off an idea. Normally, the lyrics and the basic melody are all in my head before I pick up my guitar.

Music Junkie Press: We understand you were involved with ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’ and sold your ‘limited edition live’ recording, where you donated the proceeds. How did you get involved with ‘TCT’ and will you be releasing any more of the live recordings?

Dave: We first met Phil Hargreaves on ‘Facebook’. He regularly puts on gigs at London’s ‘100 Club’ and basically, we asked if we could help. Unknown to us, they recorded the gig and a while later, they presented us with a complete package. It was actually a ‘thank you’ from them, but we saw it as an opportunity to raise a little more money. Phil is now ‘Corporate Ambassador’ for ‘TCT’. We’ve since done another gig for them and hope we can continue to help. No plans to release any more live material at the moment, although our first album was actually recorded ‘live’ in the studio with no overdubs or repairs and it does live on the edge sometimes.

Music Junkie Press: That is wonderful how you helped with the cause. I hope you keep us updated if there are ever going to be more releases so we can help as well. I hear that you are working on your 2^nd album. How is that going and what can we expect from this new album? Do you have a title yet?

Dave: We’ve had all the material written for ages. Its just a question of production. Do we try and ‘produce’ this one, which I’m not a big fan of, or do we just do the same as we did for the first one…just play through the songs and whatever happens is whatever happens. But we’ll see. There’s pressure on us to do a big production on it, but there’s no way in hell I’m gonna spend more than the time it takes to plug in to get my guitar sound. We don’t know how we’re going to play a song until we play it. We’ve never rehearsed and some of the tracks on our first album were the first time we’d ever tried the song. We are however experimenting with ‘tuning down’ to ‘C’, much to the dismay of our blues fans. Is there a title yet?……well…there have been a few. So far, ‘Seven’ is the favourite.

Music Junkie Press: Tell us about your guitar and rig rundown?

Dave: Ah, this one! I have many one-sided conversations aimed at me about guitarists and their special set up, and I do listen and pay attention, I promise. At the moment, for smaller gigs, I have a ‘Fender Blues Deluxe’ and for larger gigs, a ‘Marshall 100 watt head’ with a 4 x 12, but I’ve played through ‘Fender Twins’; ‘Fender Bassmans’; ‘Vox AC30s’; ‘Mesa Boogies’ and other amps I don’t know the name of. My main guitar is a ’62 re-issue Fender Strat’ and I have a ‘Tokai SG’. I’ve tried ‘Les Pauls’; ‘Telecasters’; ‘Epiphones’ and a whole bunch of others. I don’t have any particular preference, it’s the music I care about. I know it’s supposed to be the ‘holy grail’…the search for that ‘special’ sound and I’ve seen guitarists with racks of studio gear and amplifiers behind perspex screens with expensive studio microphones in front of them, but I’ve never heard a sound like when I heard ‘Buddy Guy’ way back in 1968/9 playing a ‘Fender Strat’ straight into a ‘Fender Bassman’…that’s ‘live’. I do have a bunch of pedals lying about. Some I’ve been lent, some I’ve been given and in there are a ‘Fuzz Face’, a ‘Tube Screamer’ and a ‘Boss something or other’…there’s even a ‘Line 6 Crunch Tone’, which I think I actually bought. I use one or more sometimes…or not. Maybe I’ll look around for something else one day. String-wise, I use ‘D’Addario 12’s’, I guess ’cause we’re tuning down . They never seem to break on me and for more straight blues stuff, I tune them up to ‘D’. I was lent a new pick the other day, think its called a ‘ChickenPick’. It seems to be working really well.

Music Junkie Press: That is quite a rundown. I love the sound of a Fender Strat for blues! If you could go back and talk to your 14 year old self, what advice would you give yourself?

Dave: I would simply say, “Follow your heart, be true to yourself and never listen to anyone else”. I’ve spent most of my life in a musical wilderness playing music I wasn’t true to, just to earn enough money to support someone else’s lifestyle. My heart was empty and my soul was nowhere to be found. Just when I’d reached rock bottom and there was nowhere for me to go, I met my now wife, Janet. She put me straight and made me promise I would never again be anything other than myself. I’m doing now what I should have done all those years ago.

Music Junkie Press: If you could take any song from any other genre and blues it up and turn it into your own style, what would it be?

Dave: What, you mean like ‘Jimi’? Wow….if I could do something like that. I wish I knew where Jimi came from….I’d go there and spend the rest of my ‘nine lives’ just meditating and trying to understand. Its a very difficult one for me. I’m so ‘in’ the ‘blues thing’ at the moment. I do think about it sometimes, and who knows….maybe some heavy classical piece with all the chord structure taken out and just a drone tuned way way down, or maybe taking an ‘Indian Classical Raga’ and just jamming for hours.

Music Junkie Press: Us here at Music Junkie Press believe that Music can heal our soul, comfort us and help us through any situation. Do you have any particular story or time where music helped you through something that you can share with our audience?

Dave: Yeah…It’s not a straightforward thing for me though. All my life, I’ve been a performer and when I’m being true to myself, my heart is full and my soul soars. I can see the audience react accordingly, and most people tell me how my music took them back to good times and took them right out of what they were going through at the moment. I’m sure some great pieces of classical music have more far reaching affects. I know that my music has helped me through some very dark times, but I’m still not ready to talk about that.

Music Junkie Press: We are looking forward to hearing more from the Dave Jackson Band and will share all the links to your social media sites. Lastly, is there anything else you would like to share with our audience?

Dave: Yeah….be nice to one another. Peace and Love is a good thing. Never stop learning and always be generous to those who want to learn from you.

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We thank Dave for his time and his great words of advice. I hope we all can listen to them and I am sure we can work to make the world a better place. You can watch Dave Jackson and his band as they perform a favorite of mine, “Born Again Bluesman” which will have you instantly hooked on Dave’s vocals and sweet playing. I am really excited about hearing more from the Dave Jackson Band. Check them out on their social media sites so you can keep up to date on their show dates as well as stay on top of when their next album is set to release!

~ Marisol

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