YUMI SED finds out a little about the musical journey of local blues lad JIMI BEAVIS of JIMI BEAVIS & THE 385S ahead of their appearance at the Brisbane Blues Fest.

After winning the Blues Association of South-East Queensland’s Performer Of The Year award in 2009, Jimi Beavis and his band are excited to be reaching an ever-growing audience of both young and old blues lovers.

YUMI SED: Tell me a little about your personal musical journey.

JIMI BEAVIS: I have always been interested in music in some way, my sisters always played it. As my teen years progressed, I guess I became more and more interested ... I had played trombone and the piano on and off but I started playing guitar and writing songs. A shoulder injury meant I could not play for very long so I began to sing more and when I came upon a chance to play harmonica, I took it. I saw Mojo Webb at the Alley Bar and started to learn off him and any other blues musicians – harmonica player or otherwise. There are a plethora of amazing blues musicians in Brisbane and they have all taught me something.

YS: Do you find the Brisbane music scene to be nurturing or do you find audiences to be a little lazy?

JB: Yes and no. Blues audiences are a little different to the indie scene. I find that most people who come to see us generally like what we do. It’s more that it is hard to get people to come to see you because there are not many places who will put on blues. I don’t think many people who don’t know a great deal about blues respect blues musicians. We have to reach those people, though don’t we? And the more we play, the more we will.

YS: Harmonica – difficult or ‘prison’ easy?

JB: Once you learn how to play it, you can progress as fast as you like, but it is difficult at first to learn how to play the scales because the breathing is not easy and you need to breathe right to bend notes to get that blues feel. And when playing the blues scales, they don’t always follow logic, some notes are easier to bend than others. Then you have the various positions to play – the more positions you can play, the more variety and styles of music you can play. The hardest thing to do is get that thick, fat blues tone, which is the difference between an amateur and a professional.

YS: So the Blues – relevant or overdone?

JB: Depends on who is doing it or who is listening to it. If you’re not particularly interested in blues it is not relevant for you. Is the Stevie Ray Vaughan clone thing overdone in blues? I would say so. Is Eric Clapton still relevant to blues? Some people would say it is, although I personally listen to other blues guitarists. I think there is a perception that blues is for old people, that it is something that white Australians can’t do, that contemporary roots musicians are more important for any number of reasons… What blues is to me when it is done the way I like it, or when I am playing it and the band is just hitting it, there is an indescribable feeling, a reason for living and a passion that just gets you there in the gut. But isn’t that the same with any music?

JIMI BEAVIS & THE 385S perform at the 18th Annual Brisbane Blues Fest, Saturday Mar 13 at The Jubilee Hotel with The Trophy Brides, Doc Span & Ross Williams, The Mojo Webb Band and more. www.myspace.com/thejimibeavisexperience

Be first to comment on this article

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*