Bristol based, the John Fairhurst Band are a newly formed trio fronted by their eponymous songwriter. Drawing from Rock, blues and world music, with a penchant for slide guitar and a distinctive deep growling voice, his songs, delivered in pure raconteur style, narrate all the hardships of life on the road
For the first time, John Fairhurst will be releasing his new album – and the preceding singles – accompanied by a powerhouse rhythm section of Bristols young guns: Toby Murray & Pete Episcopo.
For a taste of their sound, check out this video for ‘Breakdown’:
The new releases is a turning point in the career of John Fairhurst, marking the shift from solo artist and duo member to power rock blues trio. In the course of his career so far, he has spent the last decade travelling the world and supported the likes of Fun Lovin’ Criminals, performed with world beatbox champions Bellatrix and Reeps1 and the late, great, blues legend Johnny Winter. He includes Winter among his fans, as well as Robbie Macintosh of The Pretenders and Indian Sarod Master, K Sridhar– just a small indication of the quality of his live show.
The new material is the fruit of first class production: Alex Beitzke (Jamiroquai, Florence and The Machine, Nigel Kennedy, Ed Sheeran, Prince) , Paul Cartledge (Tony Visconti) and mastering engineer Ray Staff (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Clash).
This fantastic pedigree of collaborators is the result of a prolific approach to gigging, playing between 200-250 gigs a year between 2011 and 2014. Highlights include taking to the stage at SXSW in Austin, Texas, playing the Roundhouse in London and opening for Johnny Winter on his European Tour. That’s not to mention countless festival appearances and 35 gigs at Glastonbury alone since 2008, including a performance this year on The Glade Stage.
All highly impressive for a career that he “fell into” almost by chance. Taking a tumble down an unmarked manhole while labouring on a building site, Fairhurst had little mobility for a year following a serious knee injury. He used some of the money from the accident compensation to immediately buy a National Resonator guitar, playing it incessantly for the year he was bed bound, truly feeling the blues. It’s during this year that he really developed virtuoso finger-picking techniques and found the sound which carried him across four continents.
LINKS:
http://www.johnfairhurst.com
http://www.facebook.com/johnfairhurstband
http://twitter.com/JFairhurstMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnFairhurstMusic/videos
http://soundcloud.com/john-fairhurst
