Behind the Scenes – Meet Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues!
The 2024 Cool Blues Show features five world-renowned blues musicians, food trucks, an art installation, artisan vendors, games, the Expedia Cruises Blues & Brew Beer Garden with beer by Trading Post and the hangout area by Freybe Gourmet Foods, and more!
It’s all happening on July 26, 2024 from 4-11pm at Fort Langley Community Park!
Our incredible line-up features:
Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues Band
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
Miss Emily
Silent Partners, a tribute to B.B. King
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne
We sat down with each of the five headliners to find out more about them, what inspires them, how they got started and more. Check out all the blogs here → https://www.fortlangleyjazzfest.com/news
This week, we caught up with Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues!
Tom Lavin dreamt for many years of creating a group that could seamlessly mix rock and roll with Chicago-style blues and horns. He says, “That sound wasn’t out there yet, and I was eager to hear it, even if I had to put it together myself.”
The group collided when Tom played guitar at the ‘Spinning Wheel’ alongside Brady Gustafson the band's original drummer), Willie McCalder and Tom's brother Jack. “I thought maybe that could be the nucleus of the band I had in my head. I started bringing in horn players to jam, named the band, and we were off and running!”
Read the full interview below!
Introducing Tom Lavin & the Legendary Powder Blues Band
1. Tell us about your band name.
Back when the band started, I thought folks had the wrong idea about the blues – that it was sad music. But real blues guys will tell you blues is what you play when you’re down and want to feel better. I wanted to make happy blues, not dark blues. Hence the name Powder Blues – the colour of the sky – of hope - of men being boys (buoys).
In the early days, people had the perception that blues was saloon music played by guys in jeans and T-shirts. For a time we dressed in three-piece suits and ties (pre-Blues Brothers) because I thought that perhaps this would aid folks in taking what we did seriously.
2. Why did you start the Powder Blues Band?
I had the sound of a band in my head and had already been trying, for several years, to put together a group of guys that could make the sound I heard, based on mixing rock and roll with a Chicago-style blues with horns band sound that I had heard growing up.
Had anyone been doing that already it would have been simpler to just go buy the record. But that sound wasn’t out there and I was eager to hear it, even if I had to put it together myself. When I got a call to play guitar at the Spinning Wheel with the original drummer, Brady Gustafson, Willie McCalder and my brother Jack, I thought that maybe that could be the nucleus of that band in my head. I started bringing in horn players to jam, named the band and we were off and running.
3. You headlined Montreux - why stay in Vancouver when Europe loves you?
At first, our reception in Europe was somewhat mixed. The crowds all responded ecstatically but the European music journalists questioned why white guys would play the blues, notwithstanding my Chicago origins. I was at a press conference at the Montreux, Switzerland Jazz Festival fielding those questions when a good friend and Powder Blues fan, John Lee Hooker, came to the rescue adamantly informing the press corp in no uncertain terms, that we were ‘the real thing’ and that color had nothing to do with it. I think because John Lee was so respected, they listened and accepted us at face value.
I chose to live in Vancouver in 1969, at 19 years old and have never regretted it. I’ve raised four kids here and love the city and Canada so much that I finally renounced my ‘dual’ US citizenship and became proudly, solely Canadian. I’m widely traveled and love many different parts of the world - Europe is a great place to visit and play music but this is my town.
4. Is there one song that you just love playing to people after all these years?
One of the best things about playing blues and playing with the incredible musicians I share the stage with is that blues, like jazz, is a form of music based on improvisation. Subsequently, each of the tunes we include in a performance can surprise us when the chemistry is just right. Bottom line – I love playing music. I’m a lucky guy. I don’t play out of economic necessity; I do it because nothing else quite turns my crank the same way.
5. What’s your favourite gig ever?
There have been so many over the years. Opening for the Who at the Pacific Coliseum in 1980 and getting an encore even though the Who was on next. The old Montreal Forum sold out in 1981 when the entire crowd lit their cigarette lighters to bring us back on stage. You could feel the wave of heat roll across the stage. Montreux in 1983, playing the same stage with so many of my boyhood heros; Willie Dixon, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, John Lee Hooker. 1981 in Austin Texas sharing the bill with a little-known, undiscovered guitarist named Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Learn more about Tom Lavin & the Legendary Powder Blues here → https://powderblues.net/
Get your tickets!
Group tickets: Buy 5 tickets and get 1 FREE (that’s a savings of $65!)!
VIP Experience: For $89.50, you’ll receive an exclusive VIP entrance, reserved premium seating (BYO chair/blanket), VIP line access at the beer garden, backstage Meet & Greet with Blues Show headliners, and a 10% discount on festival tees!
Regular tickets: $65
Get your tickets here → https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2024-cool-blues-show-tickets-764908400617