Alastair's interview with John Rhys for Bluepower.com
http://www.bluepower.com/show.jsp?id=34

By Ted Mills, News-Press Correspondent

Blues-rock fans have been warming themselves to the fire under Alastair Greene’s lightning fingers for several years now. This Santa Barbaran lad with the flowing locks and the flaming licks has put in stage time at SOhO, The Avocado Festival, The James Joyce, Zelo, Tsunami, and Absinth in Santa Barbara and at The House of Blues and Club 705 in Los Angeles

His Quicksilver finger work has likened comparisons to Stevie Ray Vaughan. His voice – what he jokingly calls “controlled shouting” – comes from somewhere deep and fierce within. He’s just released a live CD, “Official Bootleg: Live In L.A.,” that displays the fine interaction of his quartet, with Jack Kennedy on Bass, Tom Lackner on drums, and Steve Utstein on Hammond Organ. This last touch really brings back memories of the late 1960s/early ‘70s rock scene.

The eight-minute jam on “Afro Blue”, a John Coltrane number colored with melodies and chord sequences from “My Favorite Things,” also shows how close the band gets to jazz, as indeed were a lot of those bands. “You do that Coltrane song in a rock style,” Greene says, “And it becomes like the Allman Brothers.”

The story of white rockers searching for their roots and ending up at the blues is as old as The Rolling Stones playing “Little Red Rooster” and hanging out with Muddy Waters. But by moving ahead, Greene and his band are taking a step back from their regular blues-rock to traditional blues. So what we hear on the live album is not where the band is at now?

“No,” says Greene with a laugh. “That was where the band was for two years until recently.”

Since that gig, he adds, organist Steve Utstein has moved to Oakland. Mitch Kashmar, like Lackner and Kennedy also formerly of The Pontiax, has joined as lead vocalist and on blues harmonica. Greene is stepping back from the microphone for a while.

“I knew I didn’t want to go back to a trio,” he says, “So when Mitch came in it was a bit of a weight off my shoulders,” he says. “And Mitch knows thousands of songs. He comes steeped in the traditions of Chicago Blues.”

Greene has been a Santa Barbara boy most of his life, except for two years spent at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. The oldest of five children, Alastair grew up in a house full of Beatles and Stevie Wonder playing on his mother’s record player. In high school, he had been a pretty typical teenager, into Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen. But it wasn’t too much to trace the origins of 80s hard rock and metal back to the blues.

Older friends lent him records: B.B. King’s “Live At The Regal,” and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells’ “Play The Blues.” “I thought, ‘Oh this is where it comes from!’ It was a life changing moment.”

Despite wanting right then to play the blues instead of rock, it was hard for someone so young to find fellows his own age who shared his enthusiasm. But it was also the history of blues, as opposed to the endlessly rejuvenating world of rock, that daunted him. “There was a lot I needed to learn. I wasn’t ready at that age. I knew it would be a transition over time, and I would one day be ready for it.”

After returning from Boston, Greene formed the rock band Scarecrow, which lasted three years, then the trio Spitting Bull (“Yep, that was the name”). It was on the local gig circuit where he got to know the Pontiax.

In 2001, he released his first album, a solo affair, titled “A Little Wiser.” It received good reviews in Vintage Guitar Magazine, Blues Onstage, and All Music. But it equally revealed the divisions in the blues purist world. “Some magazines wouldn’t review it,” he said. “It was too Southern rock sounding. Too far out.”

“Blues-rock is a genre unto itself, you know,” he says. “It’s white guys with big amps.”

Though he doesn’t want to kowtow to anybody’s idea of what he should play, this current switch to more traditional blues should please the purists.

“I’m drawing a lot on the styles of Albert Collins and Magic Sam. The goal is to be true to the music; to not rehash ideas, but to be respectful at the same time.”

He adds: “Traditional blues is about emotion and conviction.”

Greene has a manager and publicist and says it’s nice to have a “support group. But it’s still down to me to get out there. The goal is still just to play and be able to pay Santa Barbara rents.”

That means touring. There’s a nationwide blues scene, typified on the California coast by clubs like Café Boogaloo in L.A. and Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco.

“California is a big state,” he adds. “There’s a lot of space between venues.” Greene is also focused on taking the band to the East Coast and possibly to Europe, where France, Germany and Holland all have big blues scenes.

It does seem, however, that blues, even blues-rock, has dropped out of the national consciousness. During the ‘80s, when Greene was growing up, the charts were filled with computer-made pop, yet still had room for George Thorogood or The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The blues scene now exists in a fan-run underground much in the same was that Phish rules the “jam group” scene, needing little mainstream publicity to turn a profit.

Greene thinks the band, now renamed Mitch Kashmar and The Alastair Greene Band, can make it.

“For bands that have been doing it a long time, time takes its toll. But this band’s fired up. We’re the straight-up real deal. We’re out for blood.”

top

VINTAGE GUITAR MAGAZINE

This is one of those discs that harkens to a time when I was growing up, but fits perfectly in our time.

Greene is a wonderful blues/rock player. It's the kind of playing that us 40-somethings grew up with, but doesn't seem to exist amongst the younger crowd.

"Ramblin' Mind" kicks things off and shows exactly what I'm talking about; nasty blues/rock fueled by a killer tone and a wah solo that'll bring a quick smile. And it only gets better from there. "Get My Wings" is a tough, rowdy, ultra-speed boogie with nasty Albert King-style bends that kick off a hellacious solo. The title cut has some big rhythm guitars (like most of the album) and cool slide. Southern  Rock (in the best sense) comes to mind. Same for "Other Side Of The World".  

The sweet sound often associated with the likes of Duane Allman makes a strong appearance.

There are nice acoustic rock ballads too. "The Long Way Home" fits that bill. And "Chico" is an acoustic instrumental that lets Greene show off his  nice touch. If slow blues is your deal, check out "Love Too Strong" with its masterful solo that builds to a shattering climax. "Off The Edge" is one of my favorite cuts. It's a slightly-skewed shuffle with a tone to die for on a nasty solo.

Greene's vocals are not great, but certainly adequate. And, it's his guitar playing and writing that carry the day here anyway. If you long for the rock of the early-mid '70s, when it was dominated by players influenced by the blues, this one's for you.

- JH
  Vintage Guitar Magazine
  http://www.vintageguitarmagazine.com 

top

Minor 7th

Slip Alastair Greene's "Chico" into your CD player and you're reminded of Eric Johnson's mature and thoughtful acoustic fingerstyle instrumental "Song for George" on his great blues/rock classic "Ah Via Musicom". Go one or two tracks on either side of "Chico" on Greene's self-titled debut CD, however, and like Eric Johnson's CD you are blown away by some of the most blistering and authentic power blues since the heyday of SRV, Johnny Winter and the Allman Brothers Band. Alastair Greene clearly has more than one voice and one volume, though, as evidenced by the acoustic numbers on this release. "The Long Way Home" is a clever acoustic re-jiggering of a twelve bar format in minor mode which creatively integrates mandolin and banjo (also played by Greene), and features a very non-bluesy vocal chorus which soars in a produced but likeable way similar to Edwin McCain. The acoustic slide on this number betrays the likelihood that Greene's spent some serious time listening to Duane Allman, or more recently, to Warren Haynes. Still, this is overwhelmingly an electric blues album which smokes very close to the point of combustion at all times. "Love Too Strong" is a "slow" blues that cooks in the way that "Stormy Monday" from the Allman's "Live at Fillmore East" also did. "Get My Wings" opens with a Hendrix-ism straight from "Crosstown Traffic", and thankfully, little such Hendrix-isms are heard all over this recording so that one is reminded that Jimi's music didn't die with him in the 60's. It just takes a gifted guitarist like Greene to remind us. 
- ©Alan Fark
  http://www.minor7th.com 

top

Alastair Greene - A Young Man To Watch!

Performing at what this writer believes is one of the worst venues in Los Angeles, Alastair Greene made believers of the few people assembled inside B.B. King's at Universal City.

Mr. Greene has a completely unique style. His combination and utilization of the flat pick and finger-style methods are dazzling and accurate. This is a young man who has done his homework on all styles of the blues with a bit of jazz thrown in for color. His slide work is reminiscent of Ry Cooder. There's a slight difference in tone and choice of notes but the effect is 
the same. Deep, throaty, and sensual.

Alastair Greene combines old school blues with modern rock and makes every song soar. From a whisper to a scream, the band practices musical dynamics to the max. Such use of dynamics is inspiring to hear. The audience was enthralled from the first tune to the last.

Mr. Greene's band is of the highest quality, consisting of Jack Kennedy on bass, Tom Lackner on drums, and Stevie Utstein on Hammond B3. The set at B.B. King's was played and performed by Greene with great manual dexterity and technique combined with a remarkable sense of humor and intelligence. The band is as solid as they come and underplay everything to perfection. The pockets created by Kennedy and Lackner are undeniable and rock solid, becoming excellent canvases for Greene's musical explorations.

Apart from the venue, it was a true pleasure to witness Alastair Greene and his excellent band. Keep an eye out for Alastair Greene. He's one musician with which to be reckoned. Accept no imitations!

- John Rhys Eddins
  www.bluepower.com

top

This one was a surprise for me, a pleasant surprise, or maybe even an exciting one. I really never had heard any Alastair before, why I don't know. You would think someone with this much talent would be a household name, but that's the music world, sucky acts on TV, blocking your view of the good ones, sad but true. Anyway, on with the review. If you like your blues with a hard driving edge, or maybe what you could call jamming blues, Alastair is your man. There are several, very different styles on this CD ranging from nice and slow to blistering fast. You get some Wah-Wah, distortion, but acoustic too. The majority are hard guitar driven songs, all but two were written by Alastair. I talk about guitar work a lot here, I must say the vocals are well done too. The band behind Alastair deserves a lot of credit also, I would think just keeping up would be something, but they really do a great job. I hear bits and pieces of all kinds of music in this one, that's good too, lots of influences makes for 
lots of music, with a little something for all. Again, down home delta blues it ain't, hard hitting, jamming, even rocking blues it is.

- Chris Puyear
  Blues On Stage
  www.mnblues.com 

top

Alastair Greene's CD A Little Wiser showcases a blues/rock powerhouse, with a strong baritone vocal delivery, prodigious guitar chops and a knack for gutsy songwriting. Greene cranks his Gibson and moves from merciless guitar athleticism to whizzing slide work to achingly melodic and well-turned lines - even his acoustic guitar gets into the act on tracks such as the neo-bluegrass cut "The Long Way Home". The Albert King cover song "Love Too Strong" demonstrates Greene's ability to nail an expressive slow blues, with an ultra-tasty solo that will take your face off as the intensity peaks. With only two covers, and nine songs written or co-written by Greene, it's clear this guitarist knows that to get noticed in the blues world it takes great original tunes and a definitive style. A Little Wiser is going to open a lot of doors, open a lot of ears and help Greene land more high-profile gigs that should guarantee himself a long career in the blues.

- Guitar Nine Online
  www.guitar9.com 

top

Alastair Greene
BB KINGs
Studio City 10/16/02

The Players: Alastair Greene, guitar, vocals; Jack
Kennedy, bass; Steve Utstein, keys; Tom Lackner,
drums.


MATERIAL: Alastair Greene takes you back in time by dishing out legendary numbers by Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, John Coltrane and Albert King. Greene gives credit where credit is due then rocks the songs his way. Besides being a fantastic guitarist he's also a good songwriter heavily influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Allman Brothers. His blend of worn blues and classic rock implies he's done his homework
and found the right tunes to complement his style.

MUSICIANSHIP: The rhythm section of Kennedy and Lackner are experienced at playing for the song. Whether they're waiting for Greene to pounce, or hammering out solos of their own, both prove themselves worthy. Utstein's big organ sound sweeps attention towards him as it accents the guitar work. The band's sense of unity was apparent, especially during their retro-rock version of "Afro Blue", a jazzy tune made famous by Coltrane. Lackner provided a percussive intro, which paved the way for Greene and Kennedy's harmonic blowout that Utstein mimicked and taunted.

PERFORMANCE: After testing all the bells and whistles on his guitar, a particularly jaw-dropping moment occured during Albert King's "Love Too Strong" where Greene had the audience in the palm of his hand. The song began with a slow goove and a whole lotta "hey baby's" until the band stood back for Greene's solo. He turned down the volume and plucked his strings so quietly it built tension in the room.

SUMMARY: Greene is a fantastic blues guitarist with a preference for less well-known material, But, even in the midst of legendary tunes, he stood out and depicted a signature classic-rock sound. In fact, he's so good, his mentors would certainly approve.

- Deanna Segretarian
  Music Connection Magazine

top

"Alastair marries the rich tones of (the bright end of the) blues with sinfully accessible first-rate songs. The result is a record that is engagingly smooth yet indicative of something with a sense of history.

'A Little Wiser' is one of the best blues/rock albums I've ever heard."

- Martin Popoff
  Author of 'Southern Rock Review Book' and 'The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal'
  www.martinpopoff.com

top

I hope no one pinches me and wakes me up, for I surely must be dreaming. After having been a big music fan of the 60s and 70s, the mainstream and I lost touch with one another beginning with disco and on through the 80s, 90s, and hundreds. During those years, I pretty much lived on a steady diet of offshore blues/rock and rock bands and an occasional US indy artist or two. While I am in awe of the great talent as displayed by all the current crop of pre-Gillette Foamy using guitar phenoms, their lack of experience leaves their music a bit too shallow for my personal taste, but also gives me great hope for the future. Recently, however, I have been noticing more and more new bands arriving on the scene armed with a new brand of music which seems to have bridged the gap between what was, and what is to come. 

I noticed this first with the California based band Stone and most recently with the tremendous recording from New York's Jesse Evans and the Crash. I hope that this current invasion of bands such as this will revolutionize mainstream rock music, as did the legendary one from the UK in the early 60s. 

My latest find in this genre (which I simply categorize as "American Rock") comes by way of California artist Alastair Greene and his debut release "A Little Wiser". While this recording is predominantly rock, it contains considerable blues and classic rock flavorings, though I would be doing the recording a disservice to call it exclusively a blues/rock CD. It is a most enjoyable recording which covers a lot of musical territory and styles. Greene is a multi faceted guitarist, solid vocalist, and exceptional song writer. Within the body of this work, you will find elements of blues, blues/rock, southern rock, alternative, and it includes impressive work both with and without amplifiers. Greene's guitar work is ferociously aggressive, distorted, and wah-wah loaded at times but gentle as the new fallen snow at others. Greene is primarily and solidly supported on the recording by Jack Kennedy on bass and Tom Lackner on drums, who are just about as good a rhythm section as you will hope to hear. 

The set opens with a very Walter Trout like rendition of Muddy Waters' "Ramblin' Mind", followed by a smoldering and hard rocking Greene original "Get My Wings". The title track is next, and gives the listener some idea of the diversity of talent that Mr. Greene possesses, as the song opens with a simple acoustic guitar, which gives way quickly to a very evil sounding, Jeff Healey like electric slide, with the entire song having a bit of Black Crow flavoring to it. More variety of style follows, with an almost Leo Kottke type of acoustic instrumental "Chico". One of my two favorite tracks on the set, "Other Side of the World" is next, which initially sounds like a Southern rock anthem, but gives way later to Greene's powerful distortion rich guitar. This one has spent a lot of time in my player, along with my favorite track Greene's almost bluegrass arrangement of "The Long Way Home", which oddly enough is an acoustic song which features Alastair Greene on acoustic guitar, National Steel, banjo, mandolin, bass, and drums. In a recording so rich with powerful electric guitar, I would have never guessed that my personal favorite would be a song like this but it is truly outstanding. Besides, there are plenty of other tunes, in particular Greene's cover of Albert King's "Love Too Strong, loaded with nuclear guitar just for you fret freaks. 

The CD is available from the Alastair Greene web site at www.agsongs.com. If you like guitar driven classic rock, blues/rock, or just plain excellent rock music in general, you are going to want a copy of this one. This comes with my patented "you really ought to buy this one even if you own more CDs than your wife likes now" seal of approval. 

- Tom Branson
   www.Bluesrockers.ws

top

If you are starved for '70s era influenced hard rock blues a'la Allman Brothers or Stevie Ray Vaughn you would do well to check out guitarist/vocalist Alastair Greene's debut CD A Little Wiser. Greene displays a monstrous ability for full-on blues rock anthems. While some blues purists will no doubt chafe at his distorted Gibson bombast, those who prefer their blues amped up should be deafeningly pleased. Simply, he goes for it. Greene has a strong, baritone voice that often distorts his mic as the song reaches an apex. There is a live feel to the album with few pauses between tracks, almost as if Greene and friends ran the set down in one take. Complimenting Greene's heavily distorted and wah wah'd aesthetic is the Hammond B-3 organ of Jim Calire who's juicy keyboard smears keep things funky. Also an adept acoustic musician, Greene displays a romantic side on tracks like the bluegrass infused "The Long Way Home" which showcases his steel-string guitar, banjo and mandolin prowess. 

- Matt Collar
  All Music Guide

More about the album, "A Little Wiser" on All Music Guide!

You've probably already seen Alastair Greene. The veteran ax-slinger who in more than a decade of playing music in Santa Barbara has backed everyone from honey-and vinegar-voiced folk-rocker Kirstin Candy to blues fixture The Pontiax to funk cover-band The Bomb to the alt-country rock of David Cowan's Claude Hopper. 

Now, there's Alastair Greene solo. 

After 10 years of paying his dues laying down the licks behind other frontmen, honing his chops all the time, Greene has released his first CD. The title, A Little Wiser, refers partly to his long journey slogging it out in rock 'n' roll before finding his own voice in the blues. 

"Back when I was in high school, some friends loaned me records by B.B. King, Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and other blues guys, and I thought, 'This is it. This is what I want to be playing,'" recalls Greene, who turned 30 last year. "But it took a while to get going, because most people my age would rather play rock than the blues. Maybe that was a good thing, though, because by the time I got there I think I was more ready to play blues. It's not the kind of thing you take lightly. There's a certain responsibility if you want to do that music legitimately. There's a strong lineage to follow. Those people took it seriously, so you need to, too. You have to dedicate yourself to it."

Greene knows as well as anybody that playing blues isn't all that technically challenging on the face of it. After all, how difficult is it to master three chords and 12-bar progressions? 

"In theory, it's not hard at all," Greene says. "The tough part is making it authentic. Especially if you want to rock it up, or take it somewhere new. That takes a great deal of focus. Even when I was playing rock 'n' roll, I was heavy into the blues so that it would come out more like what (Jimi) Hendrix or Vaughan did. To be so immersed in the blues that the vibe is always there."

Indeed, A Little Wiser -- which sports nine of Greene's originals among its 11 songs -- plays like a smorgasbord of blues styles, from the Allman Brothers southern rock of "The Long Way Home" to the Chicago R'n'B flavor on several tracks or even the Howlin' Wolf meets East L.A. blues (think Los Lobos' Cesar Rosas) of "I Know You Love Me." But while he sounds equally at home in styles from Chicago to the Mississippi Delta to Austin to Southern California, everything is laced with Greene's spacious yet driving touch. 

"I'm an amalgamation of all the influences I've absorbed, which gives me a unique sound," Greene explains. "You can hear the guitarists, but also singer-songwriters like James Taylor. I love to let it go, but it's good to rein in the horses when it's necessary and just play tasty. It's easy to latch on to a single blues style, which is what most guys my age do. Straying from that vein is much more difficult."

What's also been difficult is finding like-minded musicians to play with here on the South Coast, which is not exactly hotbed of the blues. But Greene has been working on and off with a rhythm section featuring bassist Jack Kennedy and ubiquitous drummer Tom Lackner, both of whom supported him on the album. Now that the CD is done, he's hoping to find steadier work, using the album as both a calling card for booking agents and an audition for record companies."

"We'll see where it goes, what presents itself," Greene says. "I'd love to have a label get interested, but I just want the CD to get me on the path where I can do this for a living."

Which may be easier said than done, since blues is notoriously a tougher genre to crack as a professional, with even established bands often barely making ends meet. 

"Playing blues is a choice, but it's not necessarily commercial suicide," Greene says. "There's a market out there -- not the MTV crowd perhaps, but a culture that exists, a circuit you can play where you can make a living. And every once in a while, blues comes to the mainstream. Someone gets discovered or a new sensation hits."

If opportunity comes knocking, Greene, a little bit older and little bit wiser, will be ready.

MONTECITO JOURNAL Music Column For Feb. 13, 2002

- Steven Libowitz 

top

Traditional blues isn't the beat of Santa Barbara's graceful guitar marauder Alastair Greene, who's more locked into wildman fretboarding in the post-Stevie Ray Vaughan vein. This guy is too much, dishing out heated, distorto solos on demand and singing with nice gritty warmth. He generally behaves like the gifted musical youngster that he is, but there's also an aptness to the title of his debut CD, 'A Little Wiser', a creatively textured thing co-produced by Greene and Robinson Eikenberry.

Greene can dig into bluesy feeling with dedication and taste. He also goes artfully nuts on solos like the one in "Love Too Strong" (illustrating that love can be a fearsome, mood-smashing potion). His vocals turn grungy, a la early Captain Beefheart, on "I Know You Love Me," with ace harmonica-man Mitch Kashmar as fitting foil. Next, "Sing Me The Song" has a rock-blues splank with a Led Zep-ish riff, a reference we also hear on the memorable, slide guitar-coated title cut. Greene's palette also include alt-rock folk-blues ("Chico"), and a muscular revisionist take on the Muddy Waters tune "Ramblin' Mind." Great stuff from the "home of the blues."

- Joe Woodard 
  Santa Barbara Independent
  January 31st 2002

top

"Alastair Greene is a guitarist I enjoy listening to. Over the years I watched his playing mature into a distinctive style many try to achieve which contains the fire of Texas Blues. You will enjoy both his music and his energy."
- Seymour Duncan

"Alastair's a great cat. One of the best young rocking blues guitarists I've seen in a long time. Watch out for him." 
- James Shane, Canned Heat

"I played a gig with Alastair one night when he dug so savagely into a slow blues I could swear he was foamin' at the mouth. I moved to the other side of the bandstand."
- Mitch Kashmar, The Pontiax 

"Keep playing the blues!" 
- Kim Wilson, The Fabulous Thunderbirds

"Allright Alastair!"
- John Mayall

"I really like it when you do your thing."
- Ike Turner

top