Supersonic Blues Machine will be releasing their brand new live-album, Road Chronicles on July 12, 2019 via Provogue/Mascot Label Group. Road Chronicles is their first live album, following the release of two acclaimed studio records, West of Flushing South of Frisco (2016) and Californisoul (2017). The recordings capture the band on their first European headline tour, and was recorded during their show in Brugnara, Italy on 20th July 2018.
The show was the final one of a 10 date tour that started at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London and took them through Switzerland, Poland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain and finally bassist Fabrizio Grossi’s native Italy. The legendary Billy F. Gibbons joined the band throughout the tour, and it was the first run to feature fast-rising UK blues-rocker Kris Barras on lead vocals and guitar, taking over from Lance Lopez.
“The funny thing is,” remembers Grossi, “that we were not planning to record a live record, the recordings we were capturing were just for me to study and evaluate at the end of the tour, but as soon as were done with the last show in Brugnera, the promoter was celebrating with us and asked me “do you have a flash drive with you so I can give you tonight’s recordings?” That’s when I realized they recorded all the tracks isolated, and the curiosity started creeping in. Gibbons was with me when I first opened up the tracks. I couldn’t stop smiling.”
As there weren’t any plans to record the show at the time, they approached it like any other and things just fell into place. It just felt perfect; the weather, the setlist, the band were tight and then there was the crowd. “The cheers, noises and crazy antics people do when they come to see us, it’s extremely humbling and energizing” explains Grossi.
The set list weaved through the two Supersonic albums – ‘West of Flushing’s….’ (‘Remedy,’ ‘Whatchagonnado’ and ‘Running Whiskey’) and ‘Californiasoul,’ (‘I Am Done Missing You’, ‘Elevate’ and ‘Broken Heart’) as well as some ZZ Top classics and surprises thrown in. “The beauty of this band is that we always bring around or have guests joining us on stage, we get used to hearing our music taking the most unexpected turns and shapes every night,” he says. “As soon as the intro tape stops, we kind of unleash the Kraken….the Soul Kraken,” he laughs. Drummer Kenny Aronoff, Barras and Grossi are the faces and the core of the band with The Reverend Gibbons and the party is rounded off with Alex Alessandroni Jr. on keyboards, Serge Simic on guitar and Andrea and Francis Benitez Grossi on background vocals.
With a prolific career as a producer, mixer and bass player Grossi has worked with some of the finest musicians around today pulling into an array of eclectic styles, from Steve Vai to Tina Arena, Nina Hagen to Alice Cooper as well as Glenn Hughes, Dave Navarro, George Clinton, Joe Bonamassa, Leslie West, Zakk Wylde, Ice T, Slash and Paul Stanley to name a few. New York native but Indiana raised Aronoff brought with him the experience of working with a huge collection of artists such as John Mellencamp, Smashing Pumpkins, Meat Loaf, Brandon Flowers, John Fogerty, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Joe Cocker amongst a host of others.
An incredible list of collaborators gives the band added warmth and propels it on to another level; Billy F. Gibbons, Walter Trout, Warren Haynes, Robben Ford, Eric Gales, Joe Louis Walker, Steve Lukather, Chris Duarte all have joined the band on record and/or live, with them all having a deep and personal connection to Grossi and Aronoff.
“We could have done records and shows that was jam packed of famously random guests, but we didn’t want to do that. That’s not the idea.” He elaborates, “They’re not just guests, those guys are part of our family and just happened to show up on that song, these guys will always be part of our life, they are so important to the sound of Supersonic Blues Machine.”
The complete track listing includes “I Am Done Missing You,” “I Ain’t Fallin’ Again,” “Remedy,” “Can’t Take It No More,” “”Watchagonnado,” “Elevate,” “Bad Boys,” “Let It Be,” “La Grange” (feat. Billy F. Gibbons), “Broken Heart” (feat. Billy F. Gibbins), “”Dust My Broom” (feat. Billy F. Gibbins), “Running Whiskey” (feat. Billy F. Gibbins), “Got My Mojo Working” (feat. Billy F. Gibbins), “Going Down” (feat. Billy F. Gibbins), “L.O.V.E.,” and “Hard Times.”
The band will make these appearances amongst others in the near future – each with special guests Billy F. Gibbons and Joe Louis Walker:
7/30 Madrid, Spain – Noches del Botanico
8/02 Notodden, Norway – Notodden Blues Festival
8/03 Combloux, France – Megeve Blues Festival – Combloux
