Jamie Browning (lead vocals, author, composer) and Iain Green (drums, back up vocals, composer, arranger, musical director)
WITH (most recently): Jason Farrar (bass, back up vocals) and Adam Rawski (guitar).
WITH (summer out of town line up): Andrew Stewart (bass) and Dave West (guitar, back up vocals)
WITH (thanks to): Jerome Tucker, Dane Wedderburn, Curtis Robinson, Kenmi Chank, Damon Hines, Victor Cruz, Justin Snikkar, and Frank Horvat.
STUDIO BLUES ELEMENT:
BABY'S GOT THE BLUES (2005)
Jamie & Iain were joined by Rod Phillips R.I.P. (B3 organ), Michael Fonfara (piano & B3 organ), Dave 'Slopie' Powell (piano), Bryan Huntley (bass), Alec Fraser (bass), Michael Keith (guitar), and Kenmi Chank (guitar) for "Baby's Got The Blues", produced by Alec Fraser.
ARE YOU READY (2008)
Jamie & Iain were joined by Jason Wilson (piano, B3 organ, Rhodes), Justin Snikkar (bass), Kenmi Chank (guitar), Garfield Stoddart (guitar), and Rebecca Campbell (back up vocals) for "Are You Ready", produced by Jamie & Iain.
Influences
"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best." ~Henry Van Dyke~
What do people really mean when they ask who your influences are?
The people that inspire us do not necessarily inspire us to sound LIKE them...
Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown, James Brown, Louis Jordan... they are just a few of the folks that Blues Element covers if a cover song suits the moment.
Ruth Brown is the main reason why Jamie started singing and writing jazz & blues.
A surprising number of people have told us that our original tunes remind them of Steely Dan. (see our blog on that subject)
Iain and Jamie both LOVE Prince. Iain wants to produce and arrange like Quincy Jones. Jamie has been to almost as many punk gigs as Iain has played Soca gigs.
Iain's top 5 are:
Duke Ellington,
Miles Davis,
The Police,
Bob Marley, and
James Brown.
Jamie's top 5 are:
David Bowie,
Iggy Pop,
Nick Cave,
Ruth Brown, and
Nina Simone. Although she is considering changing this to a "Top 6" so she can add Martha Wainwright.
Some of the other artists that one or both of us likes or at least liked at some point on the path to here and now, in no particular order: Thelonious Monk, Grace Jones, Billie Holiday, Julian Fauth, P.J. Harvey, AmoebA QuichE, Paul Simon, Bauhaus, Kate Bush, Buddy Guy, Johnny Cash, The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Sonny & Brownie, Sonny & Cher, Hafdis Huld, Ronny Size, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Saturnalia (of the 1/2 dozen or so bands we know of with that name, we mean the one that was from Toronto), Ray Charles, The Jam, Dead Can Dance, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Pretenders, B.B. King, Seal, King Tubby, Ann Magnuson, Daphne's Purple Closet, The Supremes, Tabarruk, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, Lee Scratch Perry, Tina Turner, Groovy Religion, DropDeadBeats (of the 3 bands we know of with that name, we mean the one that was from Toronto) and all the other musicians and bands that we have added as friends - there are too many to list here!
So, does that answer the question?
Oh, and a big thanks also goes to Ernst Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature (Kunstformen der Natur) for our background image. As a scientist he was pretty much a fraud, but as an artist he was pretty much amazing. If you like this image and are curious you should Google Ernst Haeckel to see more of his amazing work.
Thanks for visiting. This is where we are supposed to put our bio, but our bio is posted in a few other places already. But we decided we might as well at least include a mini bio here.
Blues Element
Main Ingredients:
Composers Jamie Browning and Iain Green
1 bowl of blues
1 pinch of pop
1/2 jug of jazz
1/4 cup of country
A dash of folk and a splash of funk
Jamie sings
Iain drums
Mix well (with others)
Toronto's Blues Element is the vehicle that has been bringing the song writing skills of Jamie Browning and Iain Green to the stage and into the studio with the help of the best session players money and barter can buy.
The duo has yet to find their fellow Musketeers (all for one and one for all!) but has instead enjoyed working with an amazing array of talent for their first 2 album releases and live performances since they started writing together in 2004.
They are currently writing songs for cd 3 which they hope will someday join "Baby's Got The Blues" (2005) and "Are You Ready" (2008) in the collections and on the programs of d.j.s worldwide.
2004 - writing and recording
2005 - 10 track cd "Baby's Got The Blues" is released
2006 - BGTB track "It's Not You" included on the soundtrack of Canadian film "Chicknapping"
2005 - 2007 - writing, performing, recording
2008 - 12 track cd "Are You Ready" is released
- AYR track "Good Strong Drink" included on 272 Records cd compilation "Blues Highway Vol 1"
- writing and performing
2009 - ? - writing, performing, recording, releasing?
If you'd like more details you can also visit us here. There's also tons of reviews and feedback there about our 2005 (and 1st) release, "Baby's Got The Blues" as well as a few other tunes. But admittedly, it is a rather boring website. We've spent zero dollars and not much more in time on it. Sorry. Music uses up all of both commodities :)
Here's another place to visit us and hear a few other tunes: Blues Element at MusicDirectx - Discover, Download, Watch
To contact the band remove the extra bits from: blues (at) blueselement (dot) com
MUSIC: For a while we were rotating 4 tracks at a time from the new album "Are You Ready" here on MySpace along with 2 songs from our 1st cd "Baby's Got The Blues". We've just switched to half and half - 3 songs from each cd are now on the player. We are pleased and amazed that BGTB received airplay in over 30 countries and is still receiving regular airplay, most recently/at the time of writing this in Belgium, The Netherlands, St. John's Newfoundland, Montreal and Kamloops B.C.
"Are You Ready" was officially released in January 2008 (see video below) and we've started to receive radio play lists and emails from djs around the world. (France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Australia, Spain, Portugal and the U.K., Georgia, Texas, New York and Nebraska in the U.S, and Kamloops, Montreal, St. John's, Waterloo, Hanover, Thunder Bay, Ottawa & Toronto in Canada so far)
ARE YOU READY - shot during sound check at our January 2008 cd release party at the Cadillac Lounge (sorry about the sound...we plan to replace the clip someday with one that has sound from the board, but in the meantime...)
Are You Ready - The Apollo, Thunder Bay Ontario, August 2008.
Born Knowing - Live From The Rock, Red Rock Ontario, August 2008.
Blues, G! and Not Thinking Of You - Live From The Rock, Red Rock Ontario, August 2008.
Well, you can read our BLOG to get the lowdown on downloads of the new cd. Also, this
link will take you to a page on our main site that will let you know where to get our cds via digital downloads. (most likely we are available at your favourite online store)
OR, get at least BGTB here now while you're thinking about it! (we do plan to post the Snocap store for "Are Your Ready" also, if it ever becomes available.)
Also, for your listening pleasure and shop at home comfort, :) Blues Element is NOW AVAILABLE at CD Baby in hard copy cd for those of you (like us) who still collect cds:
Things are going well with the new condo. You know how it is though with a new place. It takes time to really break it in LOL. Other than that things are good. Are you working these days?
Hey there, watching your vids a bit. I saw the one of you at the Apollo in my city, Thunder bay. I will have to keep a schedule of such things again. I missed seeing you, and I remember you saying you were perhaps going to be in the area.
I'm listening to all my music contacts music tracks more thoroughly and will get to yours soon.
Thanks for the nice comment, I was really busy, apart from you, I haven..t really checked out the music of the other bands on the 272 copilation.I really like the vibe of your music, great voice, beautiful tunes, keep it up, Sören.
Hey there! Thanks so much for for the add and the very lovely comment. Much appreciated, and a genuine pleasure to sit back and savour your sounds. Delicious!
If you fancy a copy of my wee album with full length tracks rather than snippets on my page, you can either just click on the album cover on my page or visit http://www. mirandabarber. com/listen. html and I would be more than happy to send you over a signed copy.
Hey Blues Element! Thanks for the add and for loving our song on the 272 records compilation :-) We love your song too, great music!!!! Best wishes, DAN
Jamie and Iaian..such a sweet/kind comment my friends...I greatly appreciate your friendship! Have a wonderful weekend ahead and hopefully, we'll talk soon! Always my best..
HEY!!!!!!! WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!!!!!! YOUR MUSIC IS AMAZING!!!!!!!! I VISIT OFTEN TO HEAR YOUR TRACKS!!!!!!!!!! HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!!!!! GREETINGS FROM ATHENS, GREECE!!!!!
I wish you a wonderful weekend. Sincerely Peter Tschirky
Think twice before…. Text by Peter Tschirky
Think twice before you eat a fish. the animal died in Lake Victoria in Africa.
Think twice before you buy a cheap T-shirt Child labour is cruel.
Wake up, wake up Go with open eyes through the streets You are not alone in this world
Think twice before you use the car in the city. the black dust sticks in your lungs.
Think twice before you buy Coca Cola. In India, the water level drops.
Wake up, wake up Go with open eyes through the streets. You are not alone in this world.
Think twice before you privatize the hospital Maybe you're sick tomorrow.
Think twice before you eat a hamburger. Junk food is nothing for your body
Wake up, wake up Go with open eyes through the streets. You are not alone in this world.
Think twice before you take drugs. Many farmers have paid with their life in Colombia.
Think twice if you choose a new president. War and peace shake hands.
But why I tell you this? Deep inside you exactly know what about I'm talking. Wake up, wake up Go with open eyes through the streets. You are not alone in this world.
