Everyone gets the blues, says Skip McDonald, who should know. The legendary guitarist gets them - like, really gets them - more than most. "The blues are a fact of life," he adds in a Dayton, Ohio twang undiminished by two decades of UK living. "It doesn't matter where you are. The blues have no boundaries."
An old school bluesman in the tradition of everyone from, say, Howling Wolf and Leadbelly to Blind Willie Johnson, McDonald channels the past into the future through his internationally regarded project, Little Axe. A project that is more than just a band: "Were a collective of different people who, at certain periods, come together to create great work." Founded in the early 1990s, with five acclaimed albums to their credit, Little Axe are redefining the blues for the current generation.
Their melting pot is large, and bubbling. Here are addictive rhythms. Soulful vocals. Pinches of dub and funk, reggae and gospel. Oh-so-subtle samples and innovative electronics. And underpinning it all, McDonalds shimmering blues guitar licks, conjuring a space where the dirt roads of the Deep South meet the shiny lanes of the Information Superhighway. "We take the tones and feelings of the old blues and put todays stamp on it," says McDonald from his north London base, a home/studio that doubles as Little Axe headquarters. "We make music you can feel, taste and touch."
Little Axe, then, are in constant motion. After a series of studio-based, effects- laden albums - and thats albums, not records ("I like to play tunes that connect, tell a story") - they have returned to their roots on Bought For a Dollar, Sold For a Dime. For the first time in 17 years the original crew met, pressed flesh and played live. "Its old school thinking," muses the diminutive McDonald. "Back in the day when Stax and Atlantic were doing albums everyone would pile into the studio and played together. That was the 60s, the boom time for live music. That was m....... more
Everyone gets the blues, says Skip McDonald, who should know. The legendary guitarist gets them - like, really gets them - more than most. "The blues are a fact of life," he adds in a Dayton, Ohio twang undiminished by two decades of UK living. "It doesn't matter where you are. The blues have no boundaries."
An old school bluesman in the tradition of everyone from, say, Howling Wolf and Leadbelly to Blind Willie Johnson, McDonald channels the past into the future through his internationally regarded project, Little Axe. A project that is more than just a band: "Were a collective of different people who, at certain periods, come together to create great work." Founded in the early 1990s, with five acclaimed albums to their credit, Little Axe are redefining the blues for the current generation.
Their melting pot is large, and bubbling. Here are addictive rhythms. Soulful vocals. Pinches of dub and funk, reggae and gospel. Oh-so-subtle samples and innovative electronics. And underpinning it all, McDonalds shimmering blues guitar licks, conjuring a space where the dirt roads of the Deep South meet the shiny lanes of the Information Superhighway. "We take the tones and feelings of the old blues and put todays stamp on it," says McDonald from his north London base, a home/studio that doubles as Little Axe headquarters. "We make music you can feel, taste and touch."
Little Axe, then, are in constant motion. After a series of studio-based, effects- laden albums - and thats albums, not records ("I like to play tunes that connect, tell a story") - they have returned to their roots on Bought For a Dollar, Sold For a Dime. For the first time in 17 years the original crew met, pressed flesh and played live. "Its old school thinking," muses the diminutive McDonald. "Back in the day when Stax and Atlantic were doing albums everyone would pile into the studio and played together. That was the 60s, the boom time for live music. That was m....... more
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