Savoy Brown New Album to Release on August 28- Presale Now Available!
Mark Pucci Media
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2020
Contact: Mark Pucci (770) 804-9555 / mpmedia@bellsouth.net
EXTRAORDINARY NEW SAVOY BROWN ALBUM, “AIN’T DONE YET,” AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON
LEGENDARY BRITISH BLUES ROCK BAND RELEASES NEW ALBUM ON AUGUST 28TH VIA QUARTO VALLEYRECORDS
NEW SINGLE, “ALL GONE WRONG,” AVAILABLE JULY 10
Legendary British Blues Rock band Savoy Brown, led by founding member Kim Simmonds, will release their exciting new album, “Ain’t Done Yet,” August 28thon Quarto Valley Records. The CD format of “Ain’t Done Yet”can be pre-ordered from Amazon at: smarturl.it/vwokct. “All Gone Wrong,” the album’s first single, will be available starting July 10that http://smarturl.it/3eu4t3.
The new album follows their critically acclaimed 2019 release, “City Night.”
Bruce Quarto, QVR founder and CEO said, “Quarto Valley Records is honored to continue working with Savoy Brown on this second QVR release, “Ain’t Done Yet,” which is now one of my all-time favorites. It’s full of great energy that is the trademark of all their blues-rock music. Everyone who hears it will immediately agree that Savoy Brown ain’t nowhere near done yet.”
“The new album continues the approach I’ve been taking with the band this past decade,” says guitarist/singer/songwriter Kim Simmonds, who formed the band in 1965 in London, England, and is one of the longest running Blues-Rock bands in existence. “The big difference with the new album is the multi-layer approach I took to recording the guitar parts. It’s all blues-based rock music. I try to find new and progressive ways to write and play the music I’ve loved since I was a young teenager.”
Simmonds has been the group’s guiding hand from the first singles released in 1966 through this newest effort, Savoy Brown’s 41st album. On the new record, Simmonds (guitar harmonica, vocals) is joined by his long-running bandmates Pat DeSalvo (bass) and Garnet Grimm (drums).
“Ain’t Done Yet” was recorded at Showplace Studios, Dover, New Jersey. Simmonds produced the album and worked closely with studio owner and engineer Ben Elliott. It’s a studio he’s used many times before and it has a rich history of blues-rock musicians recording there, including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Leslie West.
“This is the sixth album I’ve made with Ben Elliott since the 1990s, and on previous ones I’ve had various guests join me, including Hubert Sumlin, Lonesome Dave Peverett and Duke Robillard,” continues Kim. “Shortly after making “Ain’t Done Yet,” Ben Elliot died. I have dedicated the new album to him. It will be the last album recorded at Showplace Studios.”
Energetic blues has been the calling card of the band from the beginning, but Simmonds infuses the 10 tracks on “Ain’t Done Yet” with a new spirit and vitality – plus some serious guitar chops – in a variety of styles and roots sounds that transcend the Blues-Rock idiom. “I emphasized song content on the new album, and left room for band improvisation,” he admits. “For instance, there are two acoustic-based songs and also two six-minute songs where I’m able to stretch out on guitar solos.”
“Ain’t Done Yet” kicks-off in high gear with the album’s first radio focus track, “All Gone Wrong”. “I’ve always liked ‘All Gone Wrong,’ and it’s one of my favorites on the album,” declares Simmonds.
Savoy Brown will support the release of “Ain’t Done Yet”with a late summer tour that extends through 2021.
The three-piece line-up of Kim Simmonds, Pat DeSalvoand Garnet Grimm has established itself as the longest-running consistent line-up in the band’s history, now going strong for more than 10 years.
KIM SIMMONDS’ TRACK BY TRACK COMMENTS
All Gone Wrong
I’ve always liked the lead off album song “All Gone Wrong” and it is one of my favorites on the album. The song is just my take on someone looking back at the past and that person feeling that life hasn’t quite worked out as expected. I used my Gibson Flying V for the solos.
Devil’s Highway
This song is about someone living a life (pick whatever aspect of life you imagine) and having to put up with all that goes with it. The good and the bad. I layered guitars using my Gibson 335.
River on the Rise
This is an acoustic based song and I play slide guitar as the lead instrument. I was thinking along George Harrison lines and how he played slide. Therefore, I used my Dean Tagliare guitar, which is a Stratocaster type instrument. It has single coil pick-ups along with humbucking pick-ups. It even sounds raga inspired to me.
Borrowed Time
About an older person looking around and feeling that the end of life isn’t that far away. Ben Elliott had an old “Multivox FullRotor” piece of equipment that I used to get the unique guitar tone. I felt the guitar needed a special character to add weight to the lyrics
Feel Like A Gypsy
I’ve had this song in some form or other for years. My friend John Shelmet helps me sort out the songs I write – good, bad, and indifferent. He suggested this one and I am glad I took his advice.
It took me awhile to find the right key and sort out the lyrics…what to keep and what not to keep. It is one of the songs where I do a long improvisation at the end.
Jaguar Car
I always like to play a boogie. It is part of the bands history and stems directly from the influence that John Lee Hooker had on me as a young teenager. This is a track I played harp on. The story is about a guy owning a Jaguar car and it being his reason to be. There is a sensual undertone to the lyric.
Rocking In Louisiana
It is my nod to where the music I love was born. The story is about a person going to Louisiana to forget responsibilities and to simply have a good time. I used my steel dobro to give the song the traditional vibe and that acoustic feel runs under the whole track.
Soho Girl
I have had this song for years but was not happy with it. Originally, the song was recorded for an earlier album. My initial idea was to write about a London Soho girl but there is also a Soho neighborhood in New York City. Either way, it is about having an exotic girl as a girlfriend.
Crying Guitar
I’ve also had this instrumental in the vaults for ages and again John brought it to my attention. It has been a tradition of mine from the very first Savoy Brown album to feature an instrumental. This slow and moody one was perfect as an album closer.
Booking: Charlie Davis at Paradise Artists
Management: Debbie Lyons at Savoy Brown Management
SAVOY BROWN – BIOGRAPHY
Blues-Rock became the catch-all phrase in the late 1960s to describe Savoy Brown’s music along with that of contemporaries including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and Jimi Hendrix.
In fact, in the 2013 movie, “Jimi Hendrix: All Is By My Side,” a Savoy Brown song co-written by Simmonds was included in the soundtrack.
Many of the band’s singles and albums have appeared on the Billboardcharts. Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980’s songs such as “I’m Tired”, “Train to Nowhere”, “Tell Mama” and “Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone” became Hot 100 entries.
Two of the band’s albums in the 1970s, “Looking In” and “Hellbound Train”, appeared on the BillboardTop Fortycharts. This pattern continues today, culminating with “Witchy Feelin’,” the band’s 2017 album, reaching #1 on the BillboardBlues Chart.
Along the way, Savoy Brown has toured continuously, making it one of the longest running blues rock bands in existence. Through the years, the band has headlined concerts at many prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Fillmore East, the Fillmore West, and London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall.
Savoy Brown, having established national status in the 1970s, provided other groups opportunity. Kiss opened the bill on a Savoy Brown national tour as did ZZ Top, The Doobie Brothers and many, many more acts.
Former members, having cut their teeth under Simmonds’ leadership, have gone on to complete their careers with other bands. Among others, these include singer Dave Walker with Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath, Bill Bruford with King Crimson, Andy Pyle with the Kinks and Paul Raymond with UFO.
Many familiar names have recorded and toured with the band including Hughie Flint (original Blues Breaker with John Mayall) Miller Anderson, Stan Webb, and Dave Olson (Robert Cray Band).
Three other band alumni – Lonesome Dave Peverett, Roger Earl, and Tony Stevens, went on to become the founding members of the multi-platinum act Foghat.
A resident of the USA since 1980, bandleader Simmonds has received many accolades himself. These include placement on the front cover of Guitar Player magazine, enshrinement on the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame and acceptance in many regional “Halls of Fame” in the USA and Canada.
“I have always opted for a non-mainstream, yet complimentary, music route,” says Kim – “one that would allow me personal and artistic freedom. In the end, it seems I’ve had the best of both worlds.”
Savoy Brown helped spawn the 1968 UK Blues Rock boom and later opened the eyes of many 1970s American teenagers to their own home territory blues artists.
More than 50 years later, Savoy Brown remains a formidable, progressive Blues Rock force. The three-piece line-up includes Kim Simmonds on guitar and vocals, Pat DeSalvo on bass and Garnet Grimm on drums. This trio has established itself as the longest-running consistent line-up in the band’s history, now going strong for more than 10 years. Their legacy continues with the coming 2020 release of“Aint Done Yet” released by the Californian-based record label, Quarto Valley Records.
Savoy Brown and Kim Simmonds have a body of work that is matched by only a small portion of musical artists. As they continue to tour the world, young and old find inspiration in their timeless music, classic style, and ageless performances.
LONDON’S BRITISH BLUES EXPLOSION IN THE MID-60’s
The British R&B boom of the early 1960s led directly to the British Blues Explosion in 1968. The original London R&B boom led by The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Pretty Things and, to some extent, The Beatles, quickly moved into mainstream pop and left a vacuum in the London clubs.
This vacuum, in London, was filled in the mid-1960s by John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton and Savoy Brown’s Blues Band featuring Kim Simmonds.
Both bands became headliners at major London clubs such as The Marquee, establishing a “blues night” in the midst of the mainstream soul and popular music on the charts at that time.
As headlining pioneers of the new blues movement, Savoy Brown gave a platform to emerging bands in other areas of the U.K. Bands such as Ten Years After and Jethro Tull were opening acts to Savoy Brown on the blues nights at the Marquee.
Chicken Shack came to London from Birmingham and, along with the early Fleetwood Mac, established themselves on the scene.
John Mayall, Savoy Brown, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Chicken Shack and Ten Years After became the “big six” blues bands at that time. In fact, a 45 rpm single was released by The Liverpool Scene called “I’ve Got These Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, John Mayall Can’t Fail Blues” with a mention of Savoy Brown and Jethro Tull in the second chorus to round out the full song story.
Hits soon followed for these bands (Savoy Brown cracking the charts in the USA in 1969) and the blues movement quickly gave way to the heavy rock of Black Sabbath, a band rooted in the blues in the earliest days of their existence.
The British Blues Boom was a phenomenon, never to be repeated, and it remains one of the foremost U.K. music movements of all time.