Philip Sayce & Marcus Bonfanti: UK Tour starts Nov 7th 2010

Philip Sayce, former guitarist with Jeff Healey band,  Uncle Kracker and Melissa Etheridge, will embark on a nationwide tour in the UK starting at the Manchester Academy 3 on Sunday 7th November.

Sayce’s guitar-driven retro blues rock sound is rich and raw. Fans can expect Sayce to perform songs from his first album Peace Machine, and his second and most recent album INNEREVOLUTION, released by Provogue Records. Described by many as an emotive singer and an exceptionally skilled guitarist, Sayce’s live shows features a stunning interpretation of Neil Young’s classic Cinnamon Girl; a song that featured on his debut album Peace Machine (also released by Provogue Records).

Sayce’s touring band includes bassist Joel Gottschalk and drummer Fritz Lewak (Melissa Etheridge, Jackson Brown, Peter Frampton), while he takes on lead vocals and guitar.

Philip Sayce was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, and grew up in Toronto, Canada, after his family moved there when he was two years old.  When his parents took him to an Eric Clapton concert, he was awestruck. He was instantly drawn to the guitar. By the time he was 15 he was playing guitar in his first band and a regular fixture on the Toronto club scene, where his fluid soloing and guitar skills won him many fans. Sayce began rapidly distilling his own guitar style  from a melting pot of influences that included Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, and in particular Stevie Ray Vaughan, to whom he is most often compared.

As a teenager, Sayce was held in such high regard that, after jamming on stage with one of his heroes, guitar player and fellow Canadian Jeff Healey, he was invited to join Healey’s band. After three-and-a-half years with Healey’s band, Sayce felt it was time to move on. In 2001 he moved to Los Angeles and joined Uncle Kracker. He was with the band when they had their massive US No.1 Drift Away. He starred in and wrote the music for the short film Cockroach Blue and in 2003 Grammy and Oscar winner Melissa Etheridge came calling. Sayce enjoyed an “awesome” time playing and recording with her band until 2008.

During his stint with Melissa, in 2005 Sayce released his debut solo album, Peace Machine, using what he describes as Etheridge’s “shit-hot” band. Recorded live in the studio, it’s full of raw, high-energy, low-maintenance retro-blues delivered with startling punch and real style, and showcases Sayce as soulful, powerfully expressive vocalist as well as a supremely talented guitarist and all-round musician.

With his jam-club years in his pocket, live is where Sayce shines brightest.  His band performs with a potent mixture of power and finesse, and as the focal point he regularly pulls the trigger and unleashes visceral, unforgettable guitar solos.

April 2010 saw the release of, INNEREVOLUTION, Philip Sayce’s most recent studio album recorded with his current touring band - keyboardist Fred Mandel (Queen, Supertramp, Elton John, Alice Cooper), bassist Joel Gottschalk and drummer Ryan MacMillan (Matchbox 20). Some of the songs co-written with Richard Marx, busbee, Mike Bradford, Dave Cobb and Marti Frederiksen among others, establishes Philip Sayce not only as one of the finest blues guitarists, but also as a musician, singer and songwriter with tremendous talent.

There’s the driving, exhilarating opener Changes, with its guitar-motif nods to Hendrix and The Beatles; the broken-heart questioning of Are You Ready, and the thrown-it-all-away regret of the pulsing Bitter Monday. The funked-up, get-down Little Miss America, on which Sayce pushes his voice to the edge, and at the other end of the intensity scale is a diamond among other gems on the album: Daydream Tonight, a mid-tempo, slow-burning ballad delivered with passion and giving off a hint of the piquancy of some of a young Lenny Kravitz’s finest, most soulful moments.

The album also includes a cover of the Automatic Man song My Pearl. “I just love the song,” Sayce enthuses. “I wanted to bring my love of funk and soul to this track, and it's so much fun to play.” More varied than Peace Machine, and overall more sophisticated and more polished in terms of songwriting, sonics and performance, INNEREVOLUTION is a stylish, engaging and thrilling album that should bring Philip Sayce to the attention of a lot of new fans of guitar music.

UK blues rock guitarist Marcus Bonfanti is very special guest on Philip Sayce’s UK November tour.
With appearances at many of this summer’s festivals under his belt, including Glastonbury, Maryport, Hopfarm and Secret Garden as well as playing the prestigious South By South West festival in March, guitarist and vocalist Marcus Bonfanti is fast building a reputation as one of the most exciting acts on the UK live circuit.

Having learnt his trade playing 3 sets a night, 6 nights a week, he is no stranger to live performing. Together with his band, featuring Scott Wiber (bass) and Alex Reeves (drums), he’s been playing shows up and down the country throughout 2010 to promote his current album What Good Am I To You?, which has already been credited as one of Classic Rock magazines’ Top 50 releases of the year.

Twenty eight year old Bonfanti was born and raised in London to an English mother and an Italian father.
Self-taught as a guitarist, Marcus has already packed plenty in, from LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) to top level session work, from school days as a trumpet player to learning guitar licks in his bedroom to the strains of Led Zeppelin’s Black Dog.’