2014 marks the 25th anniversary of B.B. and the Blues Shacks. They bring their Silver anniversary tour celebration to the Golden State this fall. They have dates on the books in San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz as well as in Southern California. I thought it would be appropriate to re-visit a conversation I had with the blues brothers from the Rhineland, Andreas and Michael Arlt.

As part of this year long celebration the band released an outstanding new album entitled, Businessmen.  We look forward to hearing these guys live in just a few weeks. In the meantime it is business as usual here at the JUNCTION as we have been listening to the new album with a great deal of regularity.

For almost 25 years and counting the German blues band, B.B. and the Blues Shacks has been thrilling audiences with impecable musicianship and exuberant live performances. With more than a dozen albums under their belts, and countless concert and festival performances, these five musicians are heading to Southern California for a mini tour. There the band will perform four separate, very rare nightclub appearances. Those lucky enough to catch any of these shows will be treated to some of the best contemorary blues being performed anywhere. The band is led by the brothers Arlt. They are guitarist Andreas and his younger brother, vocalist and harmonica player Michael. I recently caught up with Andreas and Michael Arlt. We talked about their lives in music, their band B.B. and the Blues Shacks, as well as their upcoming shows in Southern California.

David Mac (DM): Where are you guys from?

Michael Arlt (Michael): We come from a small village in the southern part of lower Saxony, Germany. I still live in that area in a town called Hildesheim. Some blues musicians may be familiar with this town as there is a blues club here called, “Bischofsmühle”.

DM: Do you come from a musical family?

Michael: It is kind of funny because our parents don’t play any instrument and they mostly listen to some kind of awful German music. But our grandpa was a very busy musician way back in the fifties. He played upright bass and tuba. So maybe it just skipped a generation.

DM: What are some of your first memories of listening to music? 

Michael:  I remember my older brother was playing guitar in a dance band. They did weddings and stuff like that. He used to pay me some money for lyrics. So I was listening to a lot of stuff just to find out what the lyrics were.

DM: Let’s get that guitar playing, older borother in here. Andreas, was the guitar the first instrument you played?  

Andreas: I started playing flute, but very soon I started playing the guitar.

DM: Andreas, did you have any music teachers, mentors that helped you as a young person?

Andreas: Not really. Most of the music we found ourselves. I practiced guitar in dark rooms with closed doors for many hours a day. I started playing to vinyl records, which was more difficult than with CD’s or other digital media.

DM: How did you get started playing and singing music?

Andreas: I guess it was at school. I practiced guitar very early. But the passion for music came with blues and soul music. When I heard this music is when I really got started.

DM: Michael, do you remember the first time you heard American blues?

Michael: You have to work your way back to this kind of music. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and there was no blues on the radio or TV. Everybody was listening to a music called “new German wave” over here. That was real crap music. It was an awful kind of plastic music. I turned my back to this and tried to find something more real.  I was listening to some old Stones records. I was interested in who wrote some of the material and by looking and searching on the vinyls, I found all those cool names like Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, B.B. King and so on. I bought all that stuff and found what I was looking for. It sounded like real music made from real people.

DM: When was this? How old were you?

Michael: That was in the late eighties. I was about fifteen years old.

DM: What were your thoughts as it relates to hearing this music for the first time?

Michael: I remember one of my first records was a Walter Horton and I thought, ‘Man that sounds really shitty.’ After a while I got used to that old sound. Listening to that rough old sound was absolutely new for me and I had to get used to it.

DM: Michael, how did you get started playing and singing music?

Michael: I started out blowing harp in my brother’s band. He mentioned that it looked stupid for me to just be standing there on stage doing nothing when I wasn’t blowing. So he decided that I had to sing because otherwise I looked too dumb (laughs).

DM: What attracted you to the harmonica in the first place?

Michael: I was just knocked out when I first heard someone blowing the harmonica. Also, it was an instrument I could afford. I was pretty much on my own blowing the harmonica and listening to blues. None of my friends could hear what I heard in this music.

DM: Let’s talk about some of your musical influences.

Michael: On harmonica it’s the same guys everyone loves, Little Walter, Rice Miller (Sonny Boy 2), George Smith, Slim Harpo and so on.

When it comes to singing, my favorites are the soul singers. To me the soul singers are real monster singers and they really knock me out. Some of my favorites are James Carr, Sam Cooke, Spencer Wiggins and Al Green.

DM: What was your first band experience?  

Michael: My first band was and still is B.B. & The Blues Shacks. I never did anything else besides this. My brother brought me in because I was trying to play harmonica and their old player got fired.

DM: Were there others in your community who listened to or played this music?

Michael: No, there was no one interested in live music and there was no interest in blues music at all.

DM: I hope that has changed.

Michael: We have been making a living at playing blues music for a very long time now. I’m very thankful for that. So somehow our audience likes us over here.

DM: Your first record I believe dates back to the mid 90’s.

Michael: We made our first record in 1994 after we’ve spend four weeks in the states. That’s when I fell in love with your country. We traveled from Chicago down to Memphis and then further to New Orleans. When we got home we recorded our first record.

Andreas: We had already been together for five years. The record was all original material with only one T-Bone Walker cover. We were moving in the right direction but looking back on it, it is not very strong. 

DM: What was the reaction to your music in Germany?

Andreas: It was really difficult for a German band to build up a crowd. Nobody expected a good traditional blues band from our country.  I mean early on we had gigs when no people showed up.

DM: This might be a good time to talk about the European blues scene.

Andreas: The European blues scene is pretty busy these days. We have great bands in Scandinavia and fantastic players in Belgium, Holland, Italy and France as well. It’s sad that blues-rock became extremely big. This is not our music and I think it is confusing for some people because they sell it as “blues”.

DM: That happens everywhere, Andreas. There will always be a large market for bad taste. You have played over here a few times since that first trip you talked about.

Michael:  Since our first trip over to the states we have been trying to come back as often as possible. We opened up a show for James Cotton at Buddy Guys Legends in Chicago and played some club gigs.

DM: Then there was your big Doheny Blues Festival appearance, out in my part of the country back in 2008. You destroyed the place.

Michael: That is where we first met Dave. That nearly knocked me out...we had too much fun.

DM: I would like our readers to know that you are the only international band to play the Doheny Blues festival twice as they brought you back in 2011 and you actually played both days. This is also extremely rare, if not unprecedented.  Your 2011 return was based on the fact that the festival organizers put out a questionnaire asking people who they would like to see play the festival again. Of all of the literally hundreds of bands that have played that festival over their long history, B.B. and the Blues Shacks were in the top five. Congratulations!

Michael: We have Jeff Scott Fleenor to thank for that. He booked us the first time. He had been familiar with our music for a long time. We are very glad the people liked what we were doing.

DM: Let’s talk about the other members of the band besides the brothers Arlt.

Andreas: We still have Henning Hauerken on upright and electric bass. He has been with us since 1995.  Since 2003, we have Dennis Koeckstadt. He is a great talent. He is the top European piano and organ player. The newest member of the band is Jochen Reich our drummer. He is a great drummer from Hamberg, Germany.

DM: You have a recent album that came out last year on Crosscut Records which is just outstanding. Let’s talk about your 2012 and most recent album, Come Along.

Andreas: We are very proud of this album. We are happy with the songwriting.

Michael:  We wanted to do songs that are groovy, that also have an interesting bridge or something. We didn’t always use the regular twelve bar blues structure. You know, a bit like Little Milton did in the 1960’s when he recorded those great Chess Records tunes like Who’s Cheatin’ Who. Stuff like that.

Andreas:  There are some soul parts to the record but we are a blues band and Come Along is definitely a blues album.

DM: You are coming back out the States in a few weeks for four dates here in Southern California. What do want to do while you are here besides play music of course?

Andreas and Michael: SHOP!

Michael: ...and have some good Mexican food. Both of these things are more fun in California than in Germany.

DM: I could hook you guys up with some GREAT Mexican food. You should try Art Martel’s wife Patti’s Chile Verde and our own Velinda the Taco Girl will be at the Tiki Bar. What are your interests and hobbies outside of music?

Michael: I like to ride my motorcycle. It’s a Triumph Bonneville T 100.

Andreas: Soccer, hey man we are Germans!

DM: What’s next for B.B. and the Blues Shacks?

Andreas: We are very excited about our four shows in Southern California in a few weeks. We are planing on making a new album later on this year. Next year is the band’s 25 anniversary. We want to put something big together for that.

DM: What is it about this music that has inspired you to make it your life’s work?

Michael: To me this music is real music. It’s not fake. I mean listening to B.B. King’s live recordings can change your life. I still have to learn a lot and I always find something new that knocks me out. Andreas and I are also record collectors and there’s still a bunch of material that we want to hear.

DM: What is your favorite part about being a blues musician?

Andreas: Being able to make a living doing what we love. That’s the most important thing.

DM: What would you like people to know about yourself and the band B.B. and the Blues Shacks?

Andreas: We are basic guys who just love the music and the people around our gigs. We are easy to work with and are looking’ for some fun around the world.

Michael: Just come along with us and have a good time.

DM: What should I have asked you?

Andreas: Would you like to play more in the Untited States? Yes!!!!!

DM: I’ll see you guys in a few weeks.

Michael: We can’t wait.

Andreas: Thanks Dave!