Deep Blue Sea
If you like your blues updated into contemporary musical language, Deep Blue Sea is the kind of band you’ve been looking for.
From their cosmopolitan line-up to their eclectic range of influences, they are stunning proof that the blues — far from being a dead genre, like something you’d find in a jar of ether — is alive and evolving into something breathtakingly interesting right before our eyes and ears.
Little Devils
The earliest incarnation of Deep Blue Sea was born under the name Little Devils. Naming the band after a childhood nickname earned by the band’s bassist, they soon morphed into Deep Blue Sea and the lineup was complete. In addition to Londoner Graeme on bass, the new incarnation featured Amanda Dahl from Stockholm, Sweden on drums, guitarist Iago from Galacia, Spain. Fronting the band is Dregas, the band’s sole American, hailing from Los Angeles, California.
With the new lineup and moniker in tow, the band was ready to take on the London rock scene. And they found an unusual route to do so.
Diving Deeper
The first step in conquering the rock music world with their international lineup and blues-influenced sound was getting animated — namely providing the music for an internet-based three part graphic novel called “Blues in Buckle.” The novel features the adventures of a fictional band and Deep Blue Sea was thrilled with the opportunity to give them a voice.
Recorded at the Harpenden R&B Festival, follows in the tradition of great rock and blues albums that had been recorded live.
But establishing a voice of their own has been just as thrilling a process. Their recently released album Live it Up was been released and made available on a number of formats and has reached the top ten in IBBA radio playlists during the summer of 2018. The band’s future seems bright, but even better, it’s a future that is still being written.
Recommended Album
If you want to know what the blues will sound like in the future, Deep Blue Sea’s 2018’s release Live it Up would be a great place to start. Blues purists may object to the enormous debt the band owes to the realm of recent guitar-based rock, but make no mistake: Live it up is as worthy an inheritor of the mantle of Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson as any ‘pure’ blues band.
Lead singer Dregas’ vocals shine best on The Thrill of it All, but the album’s closer Wounded is where all the elements come together most urgently. Deep Blue Sea’s debut album follows in the tradition of strong live blues performances. And even better, it promises more great music to come.
Live it Up 2018
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