Liverpool O2 Academy 2, 15 November 2010

Philip Sayce was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, and grew up in Toronto, Canada, from the age of two. He grew up in a musical household and was exposed to his parents’ eclectic record collection that included Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder and Dire Straits. When his parents took him to an Eric Clapton concert, he was awestruck. He was instantly drawn to the guitar.

By the time he was 15 he was playing guitar in his first band and soon became a regular fixture on the Toronto club scene, where his fluid soloing and guitar skills won him many fans. With an insatiable appetite for jam sessions at the likes of Grossman’s Tavern in Toronto, Sayce began rapidly distilling his own guitar style and tonal palette from a melting pot of influences that included Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, and in particular Stevie Ray Vaughan, to whom he is most often compared.

As a teenager, Sayce was held in such high regard that, after jamming on stage with one of his heroes, guitar player and fellow Canadian Jeff Healey, he was invited to join Healey’s band. After three-and-a-half years with Healey’s band, playing gigs with them at the Montreux Jazz Festival and around the world, Sayce felt it was time to move on.

In 2001 he moved to Los Angeles and joined Uncle Kracker, and was with the band when they had their massive US No.1 Drift Away. He starred in and wrote the music for the short film Cockroach Blue, directed by the award-winning Robert Crossman, which received high acclaim when it was shown at the Woodstock Film Festival. Then, in 2003, Grammy and Oscar winner Melissa Etheridge came calling (”very talented - like Stevie Ray Vaughan,” she enthused), and he enjoyed an “awesome” time playing and recording with her band until 2008.

April 2010 saw the release of, INNEREVOLUTION, Philip Sayce’s most recent studio album recorded with his current touring band - keyboardist Fred Mandel (Queen, Supertramp, Elton John, Alice Cooper), bassist Joel Gottschalk and drummer Ryan MacMillan (Matchbox 20). Some of the songs co-written with Richard Marx, busbee, Mike Bradford, Dave Cobb and Marti Frederiksen among others, establishes Philip Sayce not only as one of the finest blues guitarists, but also as a musician, singer and songwriter with tremendous talent.

The Show

“Philip Sayce’s guitar-driven retro blues rock sound is rich and raw. His high-energy blues and soul vibe is packed with original style and explosive impact. During tonight’s show fans can expect him to perform songs from his first album, Peace Machine, and his second and most recent album INNEREVOLUTION, released by Provogue Records.”