They met at Rock Camp, and in three short years Blues Mafia has become one of the freshest blues bands around. The group performs this Saturday at the Roots Music Concert at the Pioneer Museum.
Details:
Blues Mafia will join Guitar Shorty and Blues Specialists for the Blues and R&B Roots Music Concert at the Pioneer Museum this Saturday, July 25. More information at www.pioneermuseum.com.
Blues Mafia web is www.myspace.com/bluesmafiamusic
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Blues Mafia
by Phil Houseal
July 22, 2009
The backstory of Blues Mafia may conjure the plot of High School Musical, but these youngsters hold advanced degrees in wailing blues, rock and R&B.
Max, Kai, Chris, Pat and Sasha met at Rock Camps in Austin. (How come there were no Rock Camps when I was a teen? We’d get together and play Herb Alpert tunes.)
That was three years ago, when they were just kids. Now the band members range in age from 17 to 21. Yet they have the seasoned sound and resume of music pros. That’s no surprise to Sasha, singer for the group.
“Most of us have been playing since we were 8, performing live since we were 16, and traveled all over the world, so we have been doing this a long time,” she said. “I wouldn’t say we finished paying our dues, but we’ve played in some pretty crappy places.”
They showed enough talent and cred to win second in Blastbeat World Finals in Dublin last year. Now they have an 8-song original CD out and are packing classier venues, including the Roots Music concert at the Pioneer Museum this weekend.
The band members deny they are musical prodigies. But several have parents who were musicians, so they had early exposure to many genres of music. In fact it was a common love of Led Zeppelin that first drew the core together.
“We kind of had an obsession about them,” Sasha explained. “Of course the blues is something we all had in common. We loved Double Trouble and Stevie Ray Vaughan.”
But in their brief existence the band has brewed up a sound all its own that is drawing attention. “We play blues rock and roots music, with a little bit of soul in there,” Ortiz said. “We really try to stay true to roots rock.”
Sasha explained that they don’t really have a choice of what to play.
“My voice is really loud, so it is going to go in the direction of loud rock or country,” she explained. “I like county music, but that is not what we want to do. We love rock music. I think it’s fun, and there are not many female rock singers out there.”
In “Some Young Ladies,” she belts out her feeling.
Some young ladies like silver
Some young ladies like gold
I don’t care what some young ladies like
This young lady likes rock and roll
Listening to and talking with these kids shows the irrelevancy of age. I asked how they handle skeptics who don’t think teenagers could possibly understand, let alone play, the blues.
She thought for a moment, then skewered the idea.
“Blues is a feeling, it is not something you can put in a category and say only this kind of person can sing it,” she said. “I am singing what I feel and I can’t help what I feel.”
Music figures in the future of these youngsters, even if that means playing it with other groups. All but one are out of high school, and college looms. But Sasha has no doubts about her path.
“I’m making music a career,” she stated, while acknowledging how hard it is to “make it” in music. “What is making it, anyway?” she asked. “We are having a good time, picking up fans along the way, and making a little money. I think we are completely happy.”
Sasha has advice for other kids thinking of pursuing a music career.
“Remember why you appreciate the music,” she advised. “Do you just want to be a rock star, or do you feel if you couldn’t play you couldn’t go on living? If it’s that, go for it. If your parents support you, great. If they don’t, that just helps you write better songs.”
She also has a message for Fredericksburg blues fans.
“Definitely first and foremost we have a love for the Texas blues,” she said. “If you are ready to go see a young, refreshing show, there is no one like us out there, and you are going to see an exciting show. We take our music very seriously, but we still want to have a good time. For those that come out to see us, we hope they have a good time, too.”