Babylon Shakes to become The Blouse Brothers in 2020
Photo by Christopher Carroll ROCK Photography
Babylon Shakes to become The Blouse Brothers in 2020
Big news for Babylon Shakes as the band appears to be on the verge of dissolving so that it can continue as The Blouse Brothers. Babylon Shakes and The Blouse Brothers are two different bands but with the same line-up consisting of lead vocalist / guitarist Chris Clark, drummer Jeff Mortimer, guitarist Gary Jordan and bassist Dave Elmore. Babylon Shakes released one EP titled Exile To The Velveteen Lounge Vol. I in April 2018 and a full-length album via label HighVolMusic titled Exile To The Velveteen Lounge in February 2019. In April 2019, Babylon Shakes announced that they were also starting a new group titled The Blouse Brothers to show off their “acoustic side.”
Photo by Christopher Carroll ROCK Photography
The following message was posted in part on Babylon Shakes‘ Facebook page yesterday:
“When we began as a trio almost 2 years ago, we had absolutely no idea what the future would hold or where life would take us. We set off with no expectations and we had the time of our lives. We made some incredible music and we met some truly wonderful people all the while growing and evolving as a band-as friends-and most importantly as brothers. We are all students of the game and we study intently the artists and songs that bring meaning to our lives and we absorb it and take it all in. After we became a four piece band, we got to know each other even better and we discovered that we all shared similar passions for even older rock n roll, blues and country music. Before we knew it a fire had been lit and a creative wellspring had opened up into a different sound that we felt wouldn’t represent the Babylon brand name so we created The Blouse Brothers to showcase this new original material. We realized that not only had we found a new sound, but we found the voice of the band. More importantly, we found the heart and soul that we had all been seeking as lifelong musicians.
Photo by Christopher Carroll ROCK Photography
We will continue playing scheduled Babylon Shakes shows throughout 2019, but starting next year we will forge ahead full time as The Blouse Brothers. Babylon Shakes merch and music will all still be available directly through the band or through HighVolMusic. Your support and your friendship are everything to us and we hope you will follow us as we begin this great new rock n roll adventure.
Sincerely,
Chris, Jeff, Gary, Dave”
In an interview with Sleaze Roxx back in May 2019, Clark explained why Babylon Shakes decided to also form The Blouse Brothers as he indicated:
“Initially, we were just going to do acoustic Babylon shows, playing our songs and some covers as well. Maybe a few select gigs closer to home and allow us to become even tighter as a band. We started playing acoustically just for fun and to get Gary and Dave up to speed in the new line-up. So at the same time we are doing all of this, we also really begin to dive deeper into our influences — Rolling Stones, Faces, Allman Brothers, Gram Parsons, etc. Bringing Dave into the band and his wealth of musical knowledge fed into this more ’70s rock vibe. We started hanging out in downtown Staunton, Virginia — an older college town — and this whole new burst of inspiration began to happen. We started writing songs like crazy and they are absolutely amazing! More acoustic blues, country, soul driven songs. I’m singing in a different, more soulful kind of voice that I didn’t even know I had. There are more vocal harmonies and extended jams. The only caveat is that they are so different from the vintage sleaze sound of Babylon that we felt like we should call it something else. So the Blouse Brothers has sort become our alter ego. Same guys — just a different sound. We will be recording later this month so hopefully there will be some audio available soon.”
Babylon Shakes‘ “Making A Million” video:
Babylon Shakes — Making a Million [Official Video]
MakingAMillion #BabylonShakes #ExileToTheVelveteenLoungeSubscribe to be alerted when we add new videos – http://bit.ly/SubscribeHighVolMusic | From the albu…