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DON'T PLAY THE BLUES! YOU HAVE IT
Blues is not something you play; it's something you have. Like a
blessing, or a disease!
I developed it as a teenager, with my first hormone rushes.
My childhood was extremely protected and desperately boring; we
had no TV, only listened to classical music and spent all our weekends
trekking in the Alps.
Then I spent the summer of '65 at my grandmother's, in the US, and
during that magic season I discovered Disneyland,
the subtle eroticism of Ian Fleming (reading "From
Russia with Love" on an endless coast-to-coast trip in a Greyhound
bus), the '65 Mustang and, while coming back by ship, my
first kiss!
But what really changed my life was watching the Rolling
Stones on TV, playing Satisfaction! I
immediately bought all the records they had released and, when I
came back to Italy, I pestered my father until he bought me a bright
red Eko electric guitar and, as they say, “the
rest is history”.
Fact is that, at that time, the Stones used to play a lot of blues
numbers, and soon I was curious enough to want to listen to the
original artists: Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and John
Lee Hooker touched my soul. Their rough, raucous voices
and their way of playing – which sometimes sounded quirky
and clumsy to me but always soulful and “right” –
gave voice to my agonies like no impeccable opera classic had ever
done.
I discovered that I had the Blues and that I had to sing
it.
Since then Blues has been my secret music, the one I play when I’m
alone and feel heavy inside.
The first group that we formed, Alberto Camerini
and I, was called Dreaming Bus Blues Band, but
soon our success as "cantautori" (singer-songwriters)
prevailed and the blues remained a secret passion to share, now
and then, with other lost souls like Fabio Treves
and Andy Forrest.
In 1997 I also played a few terrific gigs with Rudy Rotta
and Louisiana Red,
A couple of years ago I was invited to sing at a memorial concert
for Giulio Capitozzo, the unforgettable drummer
from the 70's band AREA. Patrizio Fariselli,
Ares Tavolazzi and I played Diesel for
the first time together after the legendary session for the album
bearing the same name. Pippo Guarnera was on Hammond
and Vince Vallicelli played the drums.
Meanwhile, musicologist Franco Fabbri, editor of
a live music show entitled "The Music Room"
and broadcast on RAI Radio3, had the idea of inviting me to do a
special show on the blues. I remembered my intense jam sessions
with Massimo Martellotta during the recording of
my Cinquantanni CD. His train was late and we went
on the air with no chance to rehearse. Despite this, the five tunes
we improvised sounded extraordinarily authentic and the bootleg
has become a cult classic among fans... When Vince asked me to go
on a blues tour, I knew I had finally found the right guitarist.
Meet "Anima*Blues".
Eugenio*Finardi
Milan, March 2005
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