Back Door Slam

From today’s b, the paper

Saturday At Artscape, many flocked to the Saturn Stage to check out one of the hottest young guitar phenoms — 21-year-old Davy Knowles of the U.K. trio Back Door Slam. But let’s not forget about the band. Bassist Adam Jones and drummer Ross Doyle can lock into a groove that ordinarily would take years to perfect.

The group’s debut, Roll Away, commands attention with Knowles’ dirty, Clapton-like riffs, Jones’ strutty bass lines and Doyle’s thunderous percussion. Knowles’ voice is at times a deep, booze-soaked growl, and at others, elatedly pop-suited. It makes their youth pretty unbelievable.
The trio sat down before last week’s performance to talk and play music.

Ross, tell us how you hooked up on the Isle of Man.

Ross: We’re all in the same year (grade). Davy started the band about four-and-a-half years ago. We were 16-17 years old. We had a different bassist player who left to go to university. We got Adam about two years ago and have been touring America for a year and a bit now.

Adam, tell us a little bit about the Isle of Man. … It gets mixed up with another island.

Adam: Yeah, it gets mixed up with the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Man is roughly thirty miles by twelve. It’s in the middle of the Irish Sea between Ireland and England. There are about 80,000 people on the island.

And, Davy, how were you guys getting hooked up with blues music?

Davy: Through my Dad, and raiding his record collection. I have an older sister as well. She used to get this magazine called The Blues Collection. From her room, I could hear Howling Wolf and Bo Diddley. Chuck Berry, I think, was the first artist I was really going for when I was around 7.

Adam, you guys have played in front of some big crowds, including on the Isle of Man, when you had a chance to play for The Who. So what was it like to hang out with Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry?

Adam: Yeah, we got the chance to open up for The Who, which was great because they had Pino Palladino on bass, my hero! It was pretty mind-blowing! It was definitely one to remember.

Back Door Slam’s interview airs on the WTMD Morning Show at 9 a.m. today on 89.7, public radio from Towson University.

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