Happy Holidays From The Savoy Blues Band

On behalf of the band, I would like to wish everyone a merry and safe holiday season. This is the time of year that nobody should have the blues.

The band will be back for gigs in the New Year. We'd love to see you there. Dates will be posted on the calendar over the holidays.

Warmest wishes,

The Band

Recent News Clippings

As promised, here are a few news clippings from the recent performance the Savoys had at the Blue Turtle. You may have to click on the images to enlarge them.

Jesse Zubot Featured on CBC

You might find it strange that I am writing about another artist on this page, but for those who know a bit about us, will know that Juno Award Winner Jesse Zubot has close ties to the Savoys -- and I mean, very close ties.

The Savoy blues band were thrilled to have an opportunity to make music with Jesse in September at a private function in Kananaskis. What made this possible, is that Jesse's father, Orv, is an integral member of the Savoy Blues Band.

Jesse was featured on CBC today, discussing his music career, and his record label, Drip Audio, whose mandate is to provide a channel for the promotion and distribution of eclectic music.

The "big four" recording labels have spent the last two decades trying to squander every last penny out of the music industry, that there is little room for anything outside the norm. These labels don't even give their artists the leeway to make art for arts' sake. The popular music of today is hardly groundbreaking, featuring fashion and sex appeal over talent.

It seems more and more, that music artistry is a dying art, only available through word-of-mouth, DIY, and (very) small and independent labels.

I enjoy seeing people like Jesse, talented as they are, establishing niche markets for struggling (an starving) eclectic musicians who wish to create art that isn't pre-packaged, homogenized, beaten to death, boring, acceptable for ears of all ages, American Idol-esque, whole grain, non-trans-fats, crap that is crammed down our throats via television and radio. Instead, I am looking forward to seeing what artists Jesse Z. has on his roster. It might rekindle my faith in the recording industry.

Drink To Santa

We received our first press appearance in the Medicine Hat News today! Our guitarist Bill was interviewed yesterday with respect to our upcoming performance at the Blue Turtle this weekend.

On Friday, December 8, the Savoy Blues Band are special guests at the Blue Turtle, 937 - 13th Street SW. As this is a fundraising event, there will be a cover charge of $5.00 per person at the door. All proceeds will be donated to the Santa Claus Fund. The entertainment begins at 9:00pm.

We are excited to be part of this evening gala. This is a perfect opportunity for locals to come out, support a good cause, and enjoy some local talent.

We will also being performing at the Blue Turtle on Saturday evening, however there will be no cover charge for Saturday's performance.

Hope to see many of you there!

Salutations

Mark has been gracious enough to invite me to co-author on this blog with him. Online, I am referred to as MC Fro; an alter-ego I created for myself long ago. I think of it like being a superhero -- aside from my mundane day job, I become something else on the interweb, and on stage on weekends.

For those of you who do not know who I am, of my interests and passions, I invite you to visit my little corner of cyberspace: mcfro.blogspot.com. It's my filthy little hovel that is always a mess, and in a perpetual state of renovation. Enough about me; I have plenty of time to talk about myself on my own website.

Mark and I have been in discussions with what we want this site to be. We hope the other members of the band will join in and share their thoughts and experiences to you, the readers and fans. I know there are many of you out there; many people arrive at my personal site searching for information on the Savoys, and they are coming to my site from places as far away as Vancouver and Winnipeg, which is interesting to see, since the Savoys have only played one out-of-town gig in Kananaskis Country.

One other aspect Mark & I have agreed upon is the inclusion of a calendar of upcoming performances. One will arrive shortly, once we set up a Google Calendar service. Until then, you can view our upcoming performances here.

That's about it for now. Keep it groovy.

Initial Posting

Well now, I guess I have to learn all this fancy dancy computer crap after all!

I'm Mark Ayley, bass player for the Savoy Blues Band working in and Around Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada and I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the band.

As I'm the new guy to this unit I hope I get all the details right, if not, look for corrections as soon as the guys chew me a new &%^$#!

Original members Orville Zubot (gifted) on Sax & harmonica & Bill Gill holding down guitar duties have been around forever (or so it would seem) playing standard blues format. I'm not sure how long Cam Has been with the band (kick ass trumpet & various noises & raps). Mike Bischke has been on the skins for just over a year now and I just came on board a couple of month's back.

For those folks out of the area, we play a fairly traditional blues set (mostly 50's, 60's 12 bar) in a small market area where people really don't seem to have a clue about great blues! Consequently, on the wrong night, we've become very adept at clearing a full room!

So now we get to the reason for this site.

We have introduced some more upbeat R&B and Funk material to the set with great results, all the while trying to stay reasonably close to our blues roots. Songs by the Blues Brothers (Soul Man, Everybody needs Somebody, Hey Bartender), Average White Band (Pick Up The Pieces), War (Low Rider), have had great results with our audience and we would like to hear others ideas for new material.

We are not a Rock Band and simply will not start doing the played to death ZZ Top or ACDC faux blues stuff, nor are we about to get into SRV etc. as there are local bands (check out the Hudec Bros.) that are doing a great job of that already, besides, with the killer horn section we have, we really want to exploit what makes us unique to this area.

We'd love to hear from other bands who deal with a love of Blues in a small market, and anyone who has suggestions for material that's fresh and addictive (see "groove").

Enough of my dribble for now, Thanks for checking this out and hope to see you at our show!

Hang on to the Groove
Mark