Tokyo Tramps will be making a special New Hampshire appearance this summer. The three piece blues band from Boston is slated to kick off the Barnful Of Blues Festival this year, August 1, 2015. Barnful is hosted by Granite State Blues Society.
Tokyo Tramps are bassist-vocalist Yukiko Fujii, her husband Satoru Nakagawa, and current drummer Tim Carman. Fujii came to Boston from Tokyo, Japan to study music at Berklee College Of Music. Nakagawa, who attended college in Louisiana first, also moved to Boston to study at Berklee. He hails from a rural part of Japan. For several years, Tokyo Tramps also maintained a series of drummers who were also from Japan, keeping their trio unique.
Fujii, who made herself available for a few brief words, said she and her trio mates are looking forward to playing at the Barnful of Blues Festival.
“We are so excited to be a part of Barnful of Blues Festival,” Fujii exclaimed. “We were given a special mission to kick off the festival. We will do it.”
Tokyo Tramps have not played a lot of gigs in New Hampshire, contrasting with their hectic gig schedule in Massachusetts. But, they do have a presence here.
“We played at Village Trestle, Dolphin Strikers, J’s Tavern, Fody’s Tavern, and so on,” Fujii said. Their upcoming Barnful appearance will likely kindle further Granite State interest for the trio due to its visibility.
Summer blues festivals are always a treat for Tokyo Tramps. “We like its relaxed and fun atmosphere,” Fujii said. “We can meet new audience and make new friends.”
Tokyo Tramps have a few special songs ready for the Barnful of Blues Festival. They will likely have a new CD coming out by the end of the year, and they will feature songs from that recording project those at Barnful.
“One of the theme songs of this new album is ‘Winter always turns to Spring.’” It’s originally from a British poem but Japanese people have it as a proverb: even if it’s tough now, good thing will happen, just like beautiful Spring always comes after harsh Winter. Last couple of years was very tough for us, so we wrote this song to keep our hope and faith.” Some might say that is what the blues is all about.
Tokyo Tramps’ upcoming album will be blues based but the trio will stretch the blues out in the directions that were initially inspired and made possible by blues.
“We are working hard on it,” Fujii said. “We will do guitar overdub session soon, then we will think if we need to add something else to it. This CD will not be just blues. Satoru plays a lot of fuzz guitar like Jimi Hendrix while he got traditional slide guitar like Elmore James as well. Our groove is getting funkier, modern funk like Meters, Little Feet, and Dr. John. You will hear a lot of different stuff that we learned from our 15 years of musical journey.”
You can see and hear Tokyo Tramps at The Barnful Of Blues Festival on August 1, 2015 at the New Boston Fairgrounds in New Boston, New Hampshire.
Here is more info:
Schedule:
12:00 Welcome and National Anthem 12:05 The Tokyo Tramps 1:00 Delanie Pickering 1:20 Shor’ty Billups 2:30 Arthur James 3:10 The Mike Crandall Band 4:15 Delanie Pickering 4:40 Michelle “Evil Gal” Wilson 6:00 Sugar Ray and The Bluetones
* 12:00 pm to 7:30 pm – gates open at 11am – general admission
The Barnful of Blues Festival is a family-oriented music event with all profits donated to the Webster House of Manchester, New Hampshire. This all-day, rain or shine event takes place at the Youth Center in New Boston, NH (aka – Fairgrounds on Route 13) and features the best blues and R&B bands New England has to offer!
RAIN OR SHINE! If it’s a nice day, the festival takes place outside. If it’s threatening rain, the festivities are moved inside into the HUGE barn on site.
Bring chairs, blankets, coolers, sunblock, bug spray and dancing feet!!
No glass! No grills! No hibachis!
Sorry…NO PETS ALLOWED!
Tickets are $20 until July 30th
http://www.granitestateblues.org/
