[Harp-L] Sitting in in Madrid



I was in Madrid tonight, and I discovered a locally well-known blues club called La Coquette.  Dropped in to check out the band, "Edu Manazas and Whiskey Tren", a solid quartet of 2 guitars, bass, and drums playing Chicago blues and early rock.  The room was an old, old cavern, brick everywhere, exactly one exit (which is not tops in my opinion, but what're you gonna do?).  Lots of people smoking--as my local guide explained to me, smoking in bars is against the law in Madrid, but nobody pays attention to that fact. 

It was like being back in 1965, with the smoke filled room and the band's sound entirely dependent on the amps onstage, the volume loud enough to rock you but not so loud that you couldn't have a conversation. Manazas sings great and plays electric guitar finger-style, which was very cool to see and hear.  The rest of the band plays the grooves the way they ought to, with lots of attention to dynamics.  I ended up sitting in for several numbers, including "Sweet Home Chicago", great fun for all involved. Wasn't able to set up my Fireball V, so shared the vocal mic, which was loud and clear, plenty of tone to work with even if I would have preferred something more amped-up for this style.  Great to see lots of young, hip Spaniards hanging out to hear the blues and obviously enjoying themselves.  If you're in Madrid and craving blues, check out La Coquette.  No cover, no minimum, and they obviously know how to pick a blues band.

The set was recorded (live to a Zoom H4N set up right in front of the band), and I exchanged emails with the guy doing the recording, so may be able to share the tunes at some point.   
 
On a different subject, I'm starting rehearsals soon for my new band LightninRick, so stay tuned. Current lineup is acoustic/electric drums with electric harmonica through my RP355 and RP200, music aimed at big riffs with big sounds.  Should be new and different, in case anyone is craving that.  My website redesign is underway too, so I'll have plenty of cool new stuff to show off there when the band starts recording.  

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick



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