Jamie Browning (lead vocals, author, composer) and Iain Green (drums, back up vocals, composer, arranger, musical director)
WITH (2008 home games line up): Jason Farrar (bass, back up vocals) and Adam Rawski (guitar).
WITH (2008 away games line up): Andrew Stewart (bass) and Dave West (guitar). WITH (upcoming/2009): combinations of Jason Farrar (bass, back up vocals), Adam Rawski (guitar), Justin Snikkar (bass) and Russell Williams (guitar).
WITH THANKS TO (2005 - 2007): Jerome Tucker, Dane Wedderburn, Curtis Robinson, Kenmi Chank, Damon Hines, Victor Cruz, 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.
CD NUMBER 3 (2009 or 2010)
Jamie & Iain will be joined by....? STAY TUNED!
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?
"Without music life would be a mistake." ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche~
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, all mixed up together so you get a sense of what it's like to stand in front of the cd racks and try to decide what to listen to at any given moment: Thelonious Monk, Grace Jones, Billie Holiday, Julian Fauth, Dubmatix, Nirvana, Frank Sinatra, Frank Nevada, PJ Harvey, AmoebA QuichE, Paul Simon, The Jam, Bauhaus, Kate Bush, Buddy Guy, Johnny Cash, The Velvet Underground, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Patti Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Sonny & Brownie, Sonny & Cher, Hafdis Huld, Ronny Size, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Nick Drake, The Cramps, Robbie Robertson, 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, Dead Can Dance, Karen Dalton, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Pretenders, The Funk Brothers, B.B. King, Seal, King Tubby, Antimatter, Ann Magnuson, Angelique Kidjo, Dinah Washington, Daphne's Purple Closet, The Supremes, Tabarruk, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, Lee Scratch Perry, Tina Turner, The Stranglers, Groovy Religion, Neil Diamond, T. Rex, She Keeps Bees, DropDeadBeats, (of the 3 bands we know of with that name, we again 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? What was the question?
"He who sings scares away his woes." ~Cervantes~
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic
hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
There's also a negative side." ~Hunter S. Thompson~
"Music rots when it gets too far from the dance. Poetry atrophies when it gets too far from music." ~Ezra Pound~
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 enjoyed working with an amazing array of talent for their first 2 album releases and live performances since they started writing together in 2004. Currently, although not quite the Four Musketeers (all for one and one for all!), the guitarists' revolving door that was set in motion when Kenmi Chank had to return to Japan has at least stopped spinning. The amazing Adam Rawski has been thrilling Blues Element's live audiences, and the also amazing Russell Williams has been a fine sub and 2nd guitar when budget allows. Bass duties are being filled in rotation by 2 of Toronto's finest; Jason Farrar and Justin Snikkar.
Preproduction has now begun for cd 3, which they hope will join "Baby's Got The Blues" (2005) and "Are You Ready" (2008) in homes on and on radios around the world.
2004
- writing & 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 comp "Blues Highway Vol 1"
- AYR voted 6 in the CHMR FM 2008 Blind Lemon Top 20 Canadian Blues Albums
- writing & performing
2009
- Blues Breaker feature on House of Blues Radio
- AYR track "(In) The City" included on the soundtrack of Canadian film "In Fear and Faith"
- writing, performing
2010 and beyond
- writing, performing, ...licensing songs to other artists and soundtracks?! 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! Making 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: We decided to take advantage of the full ten song limit here on MySpace and we've posted half and half; 5 songs from each cd are on our 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 released locally in January 2008 (see video below), but what exactly is a "release date" anyway? For an indie band it is probably the day the boxes of cds arrived from the plant, because a worldwide coordinated release to radio and retail is just not something we can pull off. As of late 2009 the cd still hasn't been sent to all the stations that might play it, or to pretty much any of the media that might review it... Despite that we have been receiving 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) and we are raring to give it another go with our newest batch of songs.
ARE YOU READY - shot during sound check at our January 2008 cd release party at the Cadillac Lounge
Here are more Blues Element videos neatly tucked into a YouTube playlist to keep this page tidy. Just click the arrows to scroll through the list:
If you'd like to add Blues Element to your record collection we'd be happy to be there! We always have cds with us at our gigs, so please come over and say hello!
Also, this
link will take you to a page on our main site with digital download shopping links and info. (most likely we are available at your favourite online store)
Also, for your shop at home comfort Blues Element is also available at CD Baby in hard copy cd for those of you (like us) who still collect cds but are perhaps too far away to come over and say hello:
Thanks for adding us! if you've already registered, then please send your press kit asap if you haven't registered, do so asap http://northamptoncommunity.ning.com
Sorry for not having been in touch awhile - been rather busy! Just wanted to say that your valued friendship continues to be appreciated. Have you checked out my MySpace and web site (www.faberoptime.com) recently? Oh and did you subscribe for my free newsletter (using the form on site at page right - high quality, low quantity, no spam!)? You might also like to take a look at some of my vids on my YouTube channel too! www.youtube.com/faberoptime Take care and keep in touch. Best, Faber. "Just a guy trying to make the world a better place."
The Rivoli better get ready, because tonight VEDETTE, Canary Mine and Little Foot Long Foot are coming to party, and bringing all of their party people. Each act is super-pumped to bring you their best set EVER, and we can't wait to see you there! If you miss out, then you'll be one of those sucky "I missed out people", and someone will play a sad, farty old tuba song in your honour... Don't be like that. This one's definitely gonna be a party, and you won't believe what's in store for you. So c'mon by the Rivoli tonight! 334 Queen Street West (which is basically at Queen & Spadina.)
What's up Blues Element!! Here's a batch of our next shows - c'mon out ;)
THURSDAY OCT 22 - SNEAKY DEE'S w/ Forces & Sun Satelite SATURDAY NOV 7 - RIVOLI w/ Canary Mine & Little Foot Long Foot FRIDAY NOV 13 - BLUE MOON (Queen & Broadview) w/ Exxtra Juicy, Frankie Whyte & The Dead Idols, Johnny Alexander SATURDAY DEC 12 - RANCHO RELAXO - (No news on who we're lined up with yet).
Shane Murphy's new album "Street Money Miracle" is coming out in Canada on October 21st and in France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium in January 2010! More info on www.myspace.com/shanemurphyevents
Vedette is playing tomorrow night (FRI OCT 10th) at the Silver Dollar Room (NW corner of College & Spadina). Joining us are Actors & Architects who are releasing a new CD as well as Nature Move Faster and Palace of the End! C'mon out! It's Thanksgiving long weekend and there is plenty to be thankful for... including live music in this great city... AND BOOZE!!! So are you comin' or what?
All is going well... I am still doing the cruise ship gig. I think this I did all the traveling I wanted. I am going back to T.O. next year. I am going to school there; I figure I can buy some time and stay for a couple of years while I figure things out in order to stay there longer. I will keep you posted. I looks like I'll be around in March and; I am really looking forward to be part of the B. Element's "starting lineup" again.
