Saturday  21st  September  :  BILLYBOY Miskimmin (NI)    Doors 9pm   -   Adm €10

Alice Cooper is quoted as saying Billyboy is “The best harp player I’ve heard since Paul Butterfield”. No matter who joins this harmonica wizard on stage, be it Jeff Beck, BB King, Jimmy Page, Bruce Willis, Ray Manzarek, Nine Below Zero, The Doors, The Yardbirds, Marc Almond (Soft Cell) or Stiff Little Fingers; he’s played, worked or guested with them all. And all are agreed on one thing, the sheer energy of this bad boy’s Blues Harp playing is palpable! Wait till you wrap your Mouth around this organ.

 

After nearly twenty years touring America, Europe, Australia and even parts of Asia and Africa with bands like The Yardbirds, The Doors, Dr Feelgood and Nine Below Zero, harmonica great Billyboy Miskimmin has returned home to Belfast to form his new band Mercy Lounge. Continuing his involvement in Belfast 60’s garage sound taking the Maritime mantle, this is Belfast reincarnate.

They’ve just finished in studio with hit producer Mudd Wallace (Therapy?) working on new material and the result is The Cold Hard Ground EP;  a dynamic mix of Billyboy’s personality driven high energy R&B vocals coupled with his world renowned emotional power and jaw-dropping technique. The EP also includes ‘Let’s Get Naked And Boogie’,  ‘Can’t Keep a Good Man Down’,   and ‘Straighten Up And Fly Right’.

In 1995 he was headhunted by Nine Below Zero, one of the key British blues bands of the era. As a full-time player Billyboy’sLittle Walter-influenced musicianship blossomed, his playing live on albums like Give Me No Lip Child and appearing to an audience of over 60 thousand car racing fans at the world famous Le Mans; alerted the blues world to a major new talent.Bruce Willis, himself a harmonica player, became a fan hiring Nine Below Zero to play at the Hollywood premiere of hisTwelve Monkeys film and even sitting in with the band. Billyboy’s reputation quickly spread beyond the blues world playing sessions for Stiff Little Fingers, Marc Almond and others.

In 2003 The Yardbirds recruited Billyboy, his soloing becoming one of the band’s most distinctive features, as the soloing ofEric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had been in earlier times.

The Live At B.B. King Blues Club Album provided irresistible proof of how integral Miskimmin’s playing had become to the band’s sound. Billyboy’s solo harmonica licks on the “I’m A Man’ track taken from that live album was famously featured onThe Simpsons Season 19 Episode 1 series.

With The Yardbirds, Billyboy became part of rock and blues aristocracy, playing with legends such as B.B. King and The Doors,  earning accolades not only from Alice Cooper but from Jimmy Page, Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley), Hubert Sumlin (Howlin Wolf) and many others.

Cold Hard Ground is officially launched at 1pm Saturday the 7th September at Tower Records Dublin, followed by a ‘not to be missed’ live gig with Billyboy Miskimmin’s Mercy Lounge at  JJ Smyth’s Dublin Saturday 21st September.