Budda Power Blues - Fifteen Long Years (2019)

Budda Power Blues have a new record, and it’s called “Fifteen Long Years”. It’s a celebration record, and the first in Vinil format. Since it marks the band’s 15th birthday, it’s a collectors edition, limited and numbered, with a digital download card, so you can listen to the music anywhere.

BUDDA POWER BLUES were born in 2004 with the goal of being a laboratory band, where the three musicians could adventure into the improvisation world without any commercial compromises.

But soon the band took off and got bigger than any of its members ever imagined. They recorded the first record in 2005, in Ferro, Covilha, naming it “Wanted”. It includes 3 of Budda’s own creations and several covers. This record sold out pretty soon, and in 2008 they release their 2nd record“Busted”, at Gaia Blues Festival, where they performed alongside Shemekia Copeland and Sherman Robertson.

This 2nd album features 3 of Budda’s original songs and 10 other very personal twisted versions of some classics. At this time the band starts to get known for their twisted covers and their power improvisation and long jams, being able to be simultaneously musical and entertaining.

The band tours all Portuguese festivals and in 2010 and release their 3rd record, honoring the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys record. They named it “Kind of Gypsys” because, as usual, the band turned Hendrix’s record upside down and completely changed the arrangements. In order to keep the spirit of the original record, Budda and his band mates went to studio with no previous rehearsals, and for two days they worked and recorded live on tape the entire album, jamming and creating on the flow of the moment. It was the first record they made live and with no overdubs, and it captures the real spirit of this power Trio, and of the original Band of Gypsys. The mixing approach was also influenced by that period of late 60’s and early 70’s, as the drums are on the left, the guitar is on the right and the vocal and bass are at the center. The record was remixed and remastered in 2011, with a more conventional mix, after the first edition sold out.