| Album nearly done... | Sun, 5 Oct, 2008 |
We have finished with all the recording and mixing... that leaves the mastering to be done over the next week and a bit. So, I should have box-loads of the new CD ready to sell in time for Christmas!
| In the studio at last! | Fri, 23 May, 2008 |
...and I have the photos to prove it:
| Festivals | Sat, 12 Apr, 2008 |
The Paul Garner Band have been booked for the Northill Blues Festival, on 12 July. There's a few other choice acts on the bill such as John Crampton and, fellow antipodean, aussie guitar-maestro Gwyn Ashton.
I'll also be doing a few festivals with other bands this year: Malaga with West Weston, Silda Jazz (Norway) and Guiness Jazz Festival in Dublin with Oo-Bop-Sh'Bam.
Also, studio dates are finally booked, for May. I very much hope to have the new PGB album done by end of July.
| Be More Forthcoming... | Wed, 20 Feb, 2008 |
Well four months on and we're still rehearsing new material for the forthcoming album. We are really working hard to make it something special! Aiming to be in the studio by end of March. In the meantime we're playing much of it live at our regular gigs.
| Rehearsals | Thu, 15 Nov, 2007 |
Just want to let you all know that the band are currently rehearsing for a new album, which should be out at the start of next year. Once again it'll be full of original material, some of it we've been road-testing live for the past year, and some totally new stuff. To hear a preview, get on down to one of our regular gigs. Here we are at Ain't Nothin' But blues bar, Soho:
| Live in 'The Blues Room' | Mon, 4 Jun, 2007 |
We really enjoyed playing our recent gig at Ryde Theatre on the Isle of Wight. It's a lovely venue and a lovely bunch of blues-loving folks running these events. They have some great acts like Ian Siegal playing there. We took some video of our show which is up on YouTube, click below:
| German Tour | Fri, 1 Jun, 2007 |
I had a lot of fun in Germany with Holly Roberts and the band. It was nice to have a chance to introduce my music to a new audience and we went down really well every time we played, even though we were usually billed as a different band!
More photos up on
Flickr.com| On Tour in Germany | Sun, 6 May, 2007 |
I'm helping out my friends who were in Damien McCabe's Real Feel band after he had to drop out of their tour, for personal reasons. We are playing ten dates in ten days over in Germany and it should be a lot of fun! Will be doing a mix of my original material and some funky soul-jazz stuff, featuring Holly Roberts on keyboards.
| Bringing It All Back Home | Mon, 5 Feb, 2007 |
I recently got back from a visit home to New Zealand. It was a chance to catch up with my family, and as it happened
my Dad was just releasing a new CD so I was there for the launch party. It was like old times, playing with him again. I also did a set with Nigel and Warren, who were the rhythm section on my Love vs Blues CD.
| Blues In London! | Mon, 16 Oct, 2006 |
We're playing at the second of these new monthly nights put on by
bluesinlondon.com.
It's a nice venue and well worth supporting blues there I reckon. Good music too of course, be sure to arrive early and catch Adrian 'Son Of Blues' doing a solo set before us.
Hopefully we can jam a bit too...
| Fun in France and Sardinia | Tue, 15 Aug, 2006 |
Just got back from a great trip to Europe. The Paul Garner Band played a set at the
Blues At Bardies festival. Other artists featured included Ian Siegal, Matt Schofield and Sonny Black.
More photos up on
Flickr.com
Afterwards I continued on with Claudio to Sardinia and we did a gig there, an idyllic beach-front location!
| lovevsblues.com | Thu, 18 May, 2006 |
I have launched a new website, to sell my CD direct to music-lovers in the UK. The CD is still available from
CD Baby (USA) and
Amplifier (NZ) but the new site:
lovevsblues.com provides a much more convenient option for those of you who (like me) are living in the UK!
| Oo-Bop Sh'Bam! | Fri, 24 Mar, 2006 |
Got a bumper load of gigs in the diary at the moment. You can catch me and Claudio doing my original sets at the Green Note in Camden again in June, with some dates at Ain't Nothin' But coming up too.
I've recently recorded an album with 7-piece Jump/Jive outfit,
Oo-Bop Sh'Bam. This is a top-class band fronted by Jackson Sloane, formerly of "Rent Party", and the album is being released by an Italian label. I've been getting my T-Bone on!
| Now available for download... | Thu, 1 Dec, 2005 |
My album
Love vs Blues is now available for download from Apple's iTunes music store.
If you have the iTunes software you can download tracks for 79p each (or U.S. 99c). Cool eh? If you have iTunes, just
click here.
| Blue in Green | Wed, 5 Oct, 2005 |
Green Note is a new vegetarian cafe-bar and live venue in Camden. Featuring jazz, blues, folk, roots and world music, along with plenty of good vibes. Catch me there on Friday 21 October...
| Bobtje Blues | Wed, 5 Oct, 2005 |
A really great review just in from Belgium:
"...I’m not talking about his sublime guitar-playing only. The man owns one of the most magnificent voices I heard on CD this year. In a number of songs he even made me think about Jamie Cullum, the young million-selling artist, who personally is responsible for the rebirth of jazz in the UK."
See the
reviews page for full text.
Tonight I was pretty chuffed, Paul Jones played one of my tracks on his blues show on
BBC Radio 2! He even linked it back to the classic B.B. King track he'd just played: "There we had two songs about Love vs Blues..."
| Northern exposure... | Thu, 7 Jul, 2005 |
Recently had the enjoyable experience of playing the 2005
Shetland Is. Blues Festival, with
Joshua Blue.
We arrived as something of an unknown quantity I think, but after a stonking set on Saturday night we were promoted to the closing slot at the main venue on Sunday.
It sure was a long way, but we had a great time and enjoyed the generous Shetland hospitality. See you again!
| Busy gigging schedule | Wed, 1 Jun, 2005 |
I'm currently in demand and playing for three top-class blues line-ups in London and beyond.
There's
the Bluematics, who play around twice a month at Soho blues venue Ain't Nothin' But, classic '50s-style with sax and harp.
There's the
Greg Derham Band, a 7-piece outfit featuring Hammond organ and horns, playing a funky set, usually at Viva Viva in North London.
And there's
Joshua Blue, featuring dynamic front-man Cliff Campbell, poised to conquer the national blues scene.
| Back in London... | Mon, 14 Feb, 2005 |
I'm back in London now, via a jam night in Vancouver... just going through the process of finding somewhere to live, putting the band together again etc.
In the meantime I have a couple of gigs with the Greg Derham Band, a wicked line-up with organ and horns, playing funky jazz and blues.
| More reviews | Thu, 6 Jan, 2005 |
"Paul Garner offers a classy collection of songs that hark back to the days when musicians, rather than computers, played music... For those who like their music 'real', this is well worth checking out.”
Tim Page - NZ Musician magazine
"This band sets wonderful moods which is a great asset for a songwriter to have and this is an album of really good songs, unlike so many other blues albums..."
Ross Mortimer - Rooster Blues, Australia
See the
reviews page for full texts.
| Back from Japan | Thu, 6 Jan, 2005 |
Had a great time in Japan in the run up to Christmas. Was a chance to play in some top venues like Blues Alley in Tokyo and, seen above at, Kyoto RAG (note Lou Donaldson's signature on the wall!). Also a chance to eat some interesting food, like... jellyfish tentacles. Mmm!
I'll be back in London in exactly one month's time.
| Reviews for Love vs Blues | Thu, 9 Dec, 2004 |
The first reviews for my album are starting to come in and I'm delighted to say they're universally positive! Some quotes below, see the
reviews page for full text. Got a particularly good review from the respected 'Blues in Britain' magazine (8/10, recommended).
"Love vs Blues shows that Paul Garner is a fine talent. His style occupies the same sort of territory as Ronnie Earl and Sonny Black, with a measure of Anders Osborne thrown in for good measure. Hopefully blues clubs up and down the country will be booking him when he gets back from his December tour of Japan because, on the evidence of Love vs Blues, Paul Garner certainly deserves to be heard by a wide audience."
Gordon Baxter - Blues in Britain magazine
"What is most surprising... is what a good songwriter he is. The twelve songs here are all his originals and half of them sound less like new songs than undiscovered blues classics."
Derek Jacombs - The Weekend Sun, NZ
| Radio Play | Mon, 11 Oct, 2004 |
'Love vs Blues' is getting airplay in a few places. Mike Butler is playing it regularly on his show, 'Riffin Da Blues', broadcast in the Bay of Plenty [Sunday 6:30-9:00pm, Sun FM & Moana 1440AM]. It's also on air in Norway, 'Blue Note' on Nye Radio Larvik.
And kiwis all over, listen out this Saturday because it'll be featured on National Radio, 'Homegrown', 3-5pm.
| Update from Paul | Tue, 21 Sep, 2004 |
Hi folks. The CD is now available online from
Amplifier. I am in New Zealand at present and hope to announce some local gigs soon. Japan is all go in December. Back in London in January!
| Big in Japan | Sat, 12 Jun, 2004 |
More exciting Blueprint news... we're touring Japan for a couple of weeks in December, with gigs in Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka. More dates to be confirmed.
Also, while 'downunder' Paul has recorded an album with a one-off band of NZ's finest musicians. Called 'Love vs Blues', the album features 12 of Paul's originals. More details here soon.
Paul will be back in London in January '05, so stay tuned! Peace, Love and Blues...
I was so excited, I forgot to ask the guy with the digital camera to send me some photos of us and Duwayne. On the off-chance you read this mate... we'd love to see 'em:
paulgarner@yahoogroups.com| Going Out In Style... | Mon, 19 Jan, 2004 |
I'm off travelling round the world for the next 6-12 months, so our gigs on Fri and Sat were the last ones for a while!
Friday night was particularly special because
Duwayne Burnside and
Luther Dickinson of the
North Mississippi Allstars came down after their gig at the Borderline. Duwayne even borrowed my guitar and did the last song of the night! Oh, and tabloid-fodder
Billie Piper and
Chris Evans were there too... she didn't want my autograph but Chris seemed to be enjoying it ;)
Thanks to everyone who's ever come down and made our other gigs so much fun, and I'll see you all again before the end of the year.
Paul Garner. 
