We are thrilled to announce thatBig Boy Bloater and The LiMiTswill be releasing their new albumLuxury Hoboon Provogue/ Mascot Label Group(Joe Bonamassa, Black Stone Cherry, Walter Trout, Monster Truck) on26[sup]th[/sup]February 2016.
With a fascination for textures and subtle narrativesLuxury Hobosees Bloater in a tougher, deeper and more expressive mode following a bout of depression in 2013 which has led it to take a lot darker and personal tone.
He confesses, "I never felt I was prone to that kind of thing". Opening up, he continues, "I had a breakdown, the album centres around that we've got all these great things but are still pissed off and medicate ourselves to be normal." For a while life was put on hold whilst he tried to focus in on looking after himself and getting back on track and this fed into the albums' mild dystopian outlook which is littered with moments of dark humour, wit and twists.
"The basic idea of the title" Bloater explains, "is we are all luxury hobos these days, we get to go here, there and everywhere but no one has it the hard way now do they? We all have our luxuries, it's that juxtaposition, I think the whole album is about the modern day life and society."
His Tom Waits-esque gravelly vocal delivery, coupled with the distinctive and dynamic guitar style has seen him build on the blues foundation offering insights into rockier territories, aided and abetted with his ability to weave story-telling around barbed observations.
This approach has led to praise fromImelda Maywho has confessed to being a "massive fan",Jools Hollanddeclared him "one of the greatest bluesmen of our time" andMark Lamarrpersonally funded a vinyl single run just so he could have a copy and radio has been a regular guest onBBC RadioforJools, Mark,Paul Jones, Craig Charlesas well as Imelda's RTE show.
His career has taken him around the world and has seen him perform at the top of theWorld Trade Centre,was voted the 'Best Band of the Weekend' at theViva Las Vegas Festival, Nevada - has supportedCarl Perkins, played withWanda Jackson, Paloma Faithand appeared at festivals such as;Latitude, Secret Garden Party, Hop Farm, Jersey Live, ABC Roskilde, BluesFest, Barcelona's Hayride, Sweden's A-Bombers. He has lead the Rhythm Riots Kings of Rhythm band at theRhythm Riot Festivalsince its inception and was personally invited to record at Abbey Road forPaul McCartney.
"I get this blues tag all the time and I don't think of myself as a blues artist" he confesses. "I've got so many more influences than that, there is so much I want to bring in, for me when I made this album I was thinking more rock 'n roll, the edge of that 70s pub R&B type thing, I was listening to loads of stuff like Mott the Hoople and T-Rex, there's a lot of that on this album too."
He has toured regularly with friend Imelda May, who featured onSweet & BrownandEvery Path Has Its Puddlefrom 2011sBig Boy Bloater and The LiMiTsalongside jazz-funk legendSnowboy(Jamiroquai, Amy Winehouse).
Immortalised in book form, he has been featured as an 'R&B Guitar Icon' in;Rock & Pop: The Complete History, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of MusicandBlues: The Complete History.Currently the presenter in the hugely popularThe Blues Magazine ShowforTeam Rock Radiowhere his charismatic and down to earth personality perfectly suits the shows format and has given him the chance to interview some of the greatest artists both past and present including; Robert Cray, Walter Trout, Mud Morganfield and Dan Patlansky amongst others.
The album kicks off with the swiping rumbling ofDevils Not Angelswhich is about being wary of people who you first meet as they may be deceptive and into the gloriousIt Came Out of the Swamp' a song about attacking what you don't understand. "I wanted to do something swampy as well," adds Bloater. "I literally saw it as a creature coming out of the swamp and wanted this sound in the background, it's just one chord throughout the song pumping away, a relentless onslaught of this thing coming out of the swamp ' its misunderstood which you can hear in the line ''it was cold and hungry, it just wanted to eat, but all the people, chased it up the street',they attacked what they didn't understand."
The Devils Tailis an ode to the YouTube generation and the fame hungry who will do whatever it takes to get noticed that starts off with the line'If you wanna get the devil's attention try stamping on his tail'whilstI Love You (But I Can't Stand Your Friends)is a bullet to the point andI Got The Feeling Someone's Watching Mefollows on fromThe Devils Tailin which it observes and highlights the fact that we're constantly captured via cameras and followed by CCTV. "It almost started as about being in a padded room with a two way mirror, in a way that ties back to the last song and the Youtube generation of being filmed all the time," he explains.
Luxury Hobo Bluesis a twist on the traditional blues song, or an anti-blues ode if you like and is the most autobiographical on the album dealing with his everyday life and having to medicate his brain whereasRobot Girlfriendis a darkly comic tale of the future of dating.
All Things Consideredis a beautiful respite, "this is probably the best song on the album" he proclaims" I really wanted to do something with that Stax vibe to it, the rest of the album is quite full on and I just wanted to calm it down a little."
Album closerNot Cool Mancomes from when they supported George Thorogood and the Destroyers and had to provide the full PA for the slot which they went over by one minute to have a grumpy roadie glare and say'Not cool man' which inspired the songs' fictional mankini wearing lothario.
"Writing this album is a bit of a change from the last one, I wanted to write these biting songs, but didn't want to be too negative either, so I added a little twist to the end to say I didn't really mean it or something more positive" he adds. Having always self-produced all his own records, this time he enlisted the ear of Adam Whalley to help bring out what they produce live and it brings the production quality to the next level.
