You never know when unknown music will raise its head and stare deep into your inner most being, and when it does happen, you got’ve to be as the quick brown fox and jump fast. So the other day I was brain dead, looking at Facebook, when a rather routine scroll pulls up a post of one Matt Schofield, those what know me are fully aware that I am a hardcore dedicated follower of Mr Schofield. Needless to say, I was locked in immediately to the contents of said post. Which stated, and I paraphrase, that Matt was going to be featured on the new live album by King of the World with a release date of Oct 1,2024. My first inclination was a quick “Heck Yeah New Matt stuff”, or similar words to that effect. My second thought was who is this band? Well alright, time for a treasure hunt, so it’s off to see the wizard, Mr Google. A couple clicks later and I find that KOTW (that’s how we insiders refer to them) is based out of the Netherlands, they been together a bit more than 10 years. They have five albums out two of which will be referenced here. Having jettisoned google in favor of Amazon Music, I randomly picked out albums “Royal Ten” and “Live at Paradiso”. I am happy to report that the Blues is alive and well in the Netherlands. What a glorious discovery!
KOTW grabs you by the throat, shoves you against the wall and says “Dig This”! “Pressure” opens the Royal Ten album, nice funky line from bassist Ruud Weber that has just a hint of a nod to Freddie King’s Palace of the King, accenting Stef Delbaere’s guitar work, lots of crunch but not too dirty, great tone. “Money Talks”, Soulsearchin”, Someone Like You”, just good fun blues-rock, with good vibes and great vocals. Then “Time to say Bye Bye” hits one square in the eye, a ballsy growler of a blues tune. Now don’t miss “Eyes of a Child”, “Judgement Day”, we end Royal Ten with “Let it Roll”, eight minutes of blues, blues-rock guitar, vocals work with B-3 solos to boot. Just tremendous! But what about the live album? Sit tight I’m getting there.
KOTW’s Live at Paradiso, get ready to move, groove, funk down, and other rock-n-roll cliches! Let’s fire things off with a cool SRV tinged shuffle, “Messing with my Mind”, it’s a driver, designed to get you on your feet and moving. Up next we have “On My Way Back Home”, lead by a strong infectious groove from bass player Ruud Weber. “If You Want To Leave”, lovely slow blues, lots of great guitar work, smooth lines, great tone. Follow that with the gospel stylings of “Let’s Go Get Stoned”, wow are you seriously still sittting down? Come on! There is nothing on this album I didn’t like! On our way thru the album you get a great version of Freddie King’s “Woman Across the River” and a smoking slow blues in “Beating Like a Drum” to finish things out. What a great band! A big thanks to my friend Matt Schofield for turning me on the these guys. If they ever make to the DFW area, I will be one of the first in line. Go check them out.