At what point does a blues-influenced band start or stop being a “blues band”? That’s the existential question plaguing the 22-20s’ Martin Trimble, leader of one of the UK’s most talked about, but perhaps mislabeled, new exports.
“There’s early Stones or Yardbirds bluesy-ness in there somewhere,” says the 21-year-old singer and guitarist, “but it’s not like we’re playing 12-bar or shuffles. We’re a lot less conventional than that.”
In fact, very little about the 22-20s’ rise has been conventional. What started as a band too rock for London’s blues scene and too bluesy for the Coldplay and Travis set ended up in a good ol’ fashioned bidding war won on the strength of only three songs. They were the same three tunes used on a live EP, 05/03.
“We thought it better to admit we had just a handful of real songs and put them on a live album rather than put them at the center of an album loaded of bad songs,” explains Trimble.
The band’s proper Astralwerks debut, a self-titled affair huge already in the UK and hitting stores here next month, is equal parts Cream and Secret Machines, which is to say their intense version of modern blues comes enveloped in a wall of sound. Trimble is acutely aware that a strong SXSW showing is key to replicating the kind of excitement the 22-20s have generated across the pond. If only it were so easy.
“We can be fairly awful or really great,” acknowledges Trimble. “There is no middle ground for us. The best gigs are the ones where things go wrong and we have to rescue it from the edge. That’s what makes it a gig. And sometimes it falls apart beyond repair anyway. Either way it’s a lot of fun, isn’t it?”
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.