Back Door Slam 'Coming Up For Air' album

22-year-old British guitar whiz DAVY KNOWLES & his band BACK DOOR SLAM have a busy 2009 ahead of them: their second studio album COMING UP FOR AIR--produced by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton and mixed by Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Who)--will be released digitally May 19 and in stores June 16. On top of this--having wrapped a three-week solo acoustic tour with guitar legend Jeff Beck in April--DAVY will be on the road with the band throughout the summer playing a number of nationwide club dates and major summer U.S. festivals including Lollapalooza, Rothbury Festival and Mile High Music Festival plus three imminent one-off dates opening for rock supergroup Chickenfoot (Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, Chad Smith).

Ahead of the new album, Blix Street Records have also recently released BACK DOOR SLAM: LIVE FROM BONNAROO, a live set featuring tracks from their acclaimed performance at Bonnaroo 2008. Initially available digitally only, a vinyl release will follow soon.

COMING UP FOR AIR features 11 brand new studio recordings comprising nine DAVY KNOWLES compositions, a compelling cover of George Harrison’s “Hear Me Lord” and a special bonus track: “Taste of Danger,” a duet with singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke. DAVY added “Taste of Danger” to his album for his fans after Brooke released the soulful and dynamic duet as a single on the Bad Dog Records label and added the track to her own album The Works, which originally contained her solo version of the song. The duet version was re-recorded with DAVY in early 2009. If “Taste of Danger,” which made a huge impact at radio during its first week of release (most added in the “Triple A” format, with 13 stations across the country) turns out to be a hit, it will be a special bonus for everyone.

DAVY describes COMING UP FOR AIR as “the next step musically,” stating that he is “a better musician now, a better songwriter now so the songs are better and the playing is more fluid.” The album also represents a new musical platform for DAVY KNOWLES and BACK DOOR SLAM, following their debut album ROLL AWAY in 2007 and the departure of two BACK DOOR SLAM members in 2008. The new album was recorded in Los Angeles at Sage and Sound studio with Fritz Lewak (drums) and Kevin McCormick (bass)—Jackson Browne’s rhythm section—and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench adding keys. DAVY says, “We cut all of the rhythm tracks all together in the same room…It was all tracked at the same time so you really get that live feel.”

While a bulk of the album was written by DAVY, the new album also sees him teaming with a few new co-writing partners, which is how he was originally introduced to Frampton. “We ended up writing a song together [“Keep On Searching”] and it just worked so well, straight away. There was obviously musical chemistry there, and eventually I roped him into producing the album.” DAVY adds: “I have had many different influences. The beauty about writing with someone else is that you get their influences too, all of their past, all of their history…Sometimes they’ll steer you in a direction that you wouldn’t take by yourself, and that’s the beauty of it.”

DAVY produced the album’s two acoustic songs himself (“Amber’s Song” and “Saving Myself”), but the writing partnership with Frampton quickly led to Peter signing on to produce—the first time he has produced an album outside of his own. Frampton also served as a musician on a number of album tracks. “With ‘Hear Me Lord,’ Peter came in and joined us on guitar and backing vocals. He had played acoustic on the original Harrison version all those years ago, which somehow made it seem even more special. On ‘Keep On Searching,’ and ‘You Can’t Take This Back’--the songs we wrote together--he came in and played too. It was great. It was a lot of fun. He is exciting to play with. He really gets into it and you feed off that.”

COMING UP FOR AIR kicks off with the title track, a song that shouldn’t be new to BDS fans as it has been a staple in their live show for a while. It’s followed by “Riverbed” which captures the emotion of a tragic train crash that happened near Mobile, AL. DAVY explains that he “saw a documentary about it on the TV when I was in a hotel room somewhere. It was fascinating yet so tragic—a ‘wrong place-wrong time’ tragedy. There was a tugboat on the Mississippi River that got lost in the fog; there was a first mate that was inexperienced and they had basically gone up the wrong creek, had gotten lost and hit the pillar of a swing bridge as it crossed the river. The swing bridge hadn’t been anchored properly and it split the tracks. Then an express train came across it and plunged into the river and it was horrific. Six months after seeing this story I still had this in my head as something to write about.”

Another standout track is DAVY’s cover of George Harrison’s “Hear Me Lord.” “I am not particularly a religious guy,” DAVY says, “but I absolutely love this song and I mentioned it on the off-chance to Peter that we do something like a bonus release but we started playing it and ended up saying ‘No, this needs to go on the album.’ It is almost like a duet with Peter. There’s a lot of guitar playing going on. ‘Tear Down The Walls,’ ‘Mistakes’ ‘Coming Up For Air’’ were all songs I had written a while ago and started playing live towards the end of the last tour. They always went down really well. ‘Tear Down the Walls’ [slated as the albums first single] always got the crowds up and rocking but, to be honest, none of them really came together until I got in the studio with Peter and the guys…they really grew up there and now I can’t wait to get them back on the road!”

Here are some other songs DAVY cites on the album:

“With ‘You Can’t Take This Back,’ Peter came up with this bass riff and he called me up and said ‘We’ve got to work on this’…and that’s how the song came about. The words that came out were how I was feeling at the time, what was going on in my life, important decisions, and that’s really what it was about. And that comes out subconsciously when you are comfortable with someone.”

“’Country Girl’ is about my sister. Me and my sister are very close. She’s a little older than me and I wouldn’t be playing music without her. She moved to London and basically she hated it. I wrote this song called ‘Country Girl’ because her heart really didn’t belong there, it really wasn’t the right place for her and I don’t think she quite realized how obvious that was.”

“I am really, really fond of ‘Saving Myself’ because it’s got that smoky Delta blues feel and I play it on my National steel body guitar and I really love that because it is harkening back to the roots of the music I love, the start of it all and that’s very important. The kind of music I’m into has such a vast history. I’m a bit of a musicologist. I love all of the history behind it.”

DAVY has been steadily garnering critical acclaim for his dynamic musicianship and, in 2008, appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and CBS’ “The Early Show” with BACK DOOR SLAM performing “Come Home.” A live version of “Come Home” is currently available for website use and additional media assets are also available, including video clips of live performances and “get-to-know” clips.

press quotes
“…talented like very few bluesmen these days. He shreds like a young Robert Cray and wails like the love of his life was just hit by a truck. Live, Back Door Slam reminds me of the Black Keys... Highly recommended.”
--Nick Anderman, Village Voice

“…a 21-year-old guitar monster with the voice and looks for pop stardom.”
--Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix

Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam tour dates
Sat 5/16 Annapolis, MD Chesapeake Bay Blues Fest
*Sun 5/17 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
*Tue 5/19 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy
*Fri 5/22 Chicago, IL Park West
Sat 6/6 Atlanta, GA Virginia Highlands (Dave FM radio show)
Sun 6/7 Chattanooga, TN Riverbend Festival - Under the Bridge
Mon 6/8 Chattanooga, TN Riverbend Festival - Bessie Smith Hall
Tue 6/9 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley
Thu 6/11 Nashville, TN Exit Inn
Sat 6/13 Wilmington, NC The Soapbox
Mon 6/15 Philadelphia, PA World Café (Record Release Show)
Fri 6/19 Aurora, IL Blues on the Fox Festival
Sat 6/20 Fort Wayne, IN BBQ Ribfest - Headwaters Park
Sun 6/21 Columbus, OH Basement
Tue 6/23 Indianapolis, IN Birdy’s
Wed 6/24 Cincinnati, OH Southgate House
Fri 6/26 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre
Sun 6/28 Des Moines, IA House of Bricks
Tue 6/30 Milwaukee, WI Summerfest w/ Buddy Guy
Thu 7/2 Rothbury, MI Rothbury Festival
Sat 7/4 Thunder Bay, ONT Thunder Bay Bluesfest
Fri 7/10 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
Sat 7/11 White Plains, NY WXPK radio show
Fri 7/17 Steamboat, CO Old Town Pub
Sat 7/18 Denver, CO Mile High Music Festival
Sat 8/1 Prairie du Chien, WI Prairie Dog Blues Festival
Thu 8/6 Bethlehem, PA Musikfest
Sun 8/9 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza
Fri 8/14 Alexandria, VA Birchmere
Sat 8/15 Cockeysville, MD Hot August Blues Festival
Sat 8/29 Paola, KS Paola Roots Festival
Sat 9/12 Springfield, MO Greater Ozarks Blues Festival
Fri 9/18 Fredericton, New Brunswick Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival
* denotes dates with Chickenfoot

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Back Door Slam - Coming Up For Air