Image By Rob Blackham

SARI SCHORR AND THE ENGINE ROOM 2016 UK AND EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

BOOK TICKETS VIA BANDS IN TOWN: http://bandsintown.com/SariSchorr

AUGUST

August 4-5 Notodden Blues Festival Norway
August 26 Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Altwood Rd, Maidenhead, UK
August 27 Varenwinkel Festival, Herselt, Belgium
August 28 Seacroft Double Festival, Norfolk, UK
August 29  Great British RnB Festival, Colne, Lancashire, UK
August 28 Seacroft Double Festival, Norfolk

SEPTEMBER

Sept 9 Darlington RnB Club, The Forum Music Centre, Darlington, UK
Sept 5 Half Moon Putney, London, UK (Album Launch)
Sept 10 Blues Club, Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
Sept 11 Winchester Discovery Centre, Winchester, UK
Sept 14 The Tunnels, Bristol, UK
Sept 15 Southern Pavilion, Worthing Pier, West Sussex, UK
Sept 16 New Crawdaddy, Billericay Town FC Billericay, UK
Sept 17 Old Town Hall, High Street, Hemel Hempstead, UK
Sept 23 Selby Town Hall Yorkshire, UK
Sept 24 The Iron Road, Evesham, Worcestershire, UK
Sept 25 Hope Tavern, Caistor Rd, Holton-le-Moor, Market Rasen, Lincs, UK
Sept 28 Vonnies Blues Club, Cheltenham
Sept 29 Cranleigh Arts Centre, High Street, Cranleigh, Surrey
Sept 30 B.A.R Festival, France

Image By Mark Hughes

OCTOBER

October 1 Hereford Blues Club, Booth Hall, Hereford, UK
October 6 Bar Brunel Bridgewater, UK
October 7 Deux Rivieres Blues Festival, Brittany, France

Producer Mike Vernon’s first encounter with Sari Schorr

I first met Sari in Memphis in January 2015 when I went there to receive a Lifetime Award at The Blues Foundation Awards.  She introduced herself mentioning that she would love for me to produce her debut album, even though she was aware that I was in semi-retirement.

We spoke for around 10 minutes and both agreed to stay in touch.  I had a flash back.  Sari reminded me of Martha Velez, another artist I worked with back in the late 60s/early 70s.  I produced two dynamite albums for Martha on Sire Records.  The first of those, “Fiends and Angels”, became a cult release featuring an ‘all-star’ line-up that included Eric Clapton, Duster Bennett, Mitch Mitchell, Chris Wood, and a host of others. 

Later that night I was due to go out on the town to check a few bands out but felt jet-lagged, so I went to bed early!  It transpired that I missed a golden opportunity to catch Sari on stage. She jammed with John Del Toro Richardson at The New Daisy Theatre on Beale.  The following morning everyone was talking about it.  I missed out on the perfect opportunity but there you go!

Sari and I continued to correspond on a regular basis. She continued to send me song demos and links for videos where she was featured mainly with Joe Louis Walker and Popa Chubby.  I gradually began to get the picture.  Sari was a great songwriter and a powerful vocalist who could command a stage with pretty much anyone else you would like to mention!  That’s when we decided to hatch a plan. 

I made arrangements for her to fly to Spain so we could get to know each other better; spend time going through all her songs (and there were many) and also to work on some new ideas.  I contacted my good friend, guitarist Quique Bonal to work with us.  We spent three days together and came up with three excellent ideas.

I then made arrangements for us to go to Seville and lay down demo tracks with a top-line rhythm section featuring Nani Conde (bass), Jose Mena (drums) and Quique (guitar). When we finished the recordings, the demos sounded like masters.  At that point, we never looked back.  One year later we have A FORCE OF NATURE!

Ironically, I never did get the chance to see her perform live until many months after we first met.  I took a giant leap of faith and wanted to work with her based on gut instinct.  She is an artiste that has great songs; a formidable voice; a great look and an electrifying personality.  She is the consummate professional, always on time, helpful and understanding.  She delivers every time.  She’s intuitive.  I think we’re a perfect match for each other in the workplace. We’re both Scorpios and share consecutive birthdates - 20th and 21st November respectively.  There’s a few years between us though! 

When I finally experienced Sari perform live, I was not disappointed.  I’ve always known that when the time was right (and that also implies when the BAND is right), she will give everything she has. It seems to be working right now. Every live show just gets better and better.

Image By Mark Hughes

Recording the new album was nothing short of a total pleasure.  We did have logistical problems though.  She is in Brooklyn, New York, and I am based in Malaga, Spain, and the recording studio and the rhythm section are based in in Seville, Spain.  Subsequently, we had to do quite a lot of recording in the UK to get the two guitarists, Innes Sibun and Oli Brown, on board.  The efforts involved have been worth it.  This project has been, perhaps, the most rewarding of my career. 

I took a huge chance.  I put my heart and soul and expertise into making an album with a singer who had been overlooked for far too long.  I put my money where my mouth is…simple as that!  I managed to get Walter Trout involved, too.  He’s now a huge fan of Sari’s work.  This is only the beginning. Believe me, there’s so much more to come.  The follow-up album will be a ‘killer’ and will feature lots of surprises. 

Sari is destined to become a major star in the world of blues rock.  Between us we “have created a monster” (Lamont Dozier’s words not mine, so to speak) and the future looks bright.  I also think that the power and emotions that Sari creates during her concerts has been reproduced on the debut album.  It’s all there. In fact, I find it quite hard to listen to the entire album from start to finish.  I feel myself gasping for air.  The power of her vocals and the weight of the band are almost too much to handle!

I’m proud of this production.  I look forward to seeing her and the band as many times as possible.   I trust her implicitly and constantly watch out for her back!  I know that those feelings are reciprocated.  We could not have made this great record without that being so.  It was meant to be, plain and simple.  This is just the beginning of something truly monumental.

http://www.sarischorr.com/

http://www.movinmusic.co.uk/mike_vernon_mighty_combo.htm

Check out the new Tweet Interview: https://mobile.twitter.com/Peter_Noble/status/770546197555769344