Interview with guitarist Philip Gruber. An interview by email in writing.

Dear readers, get to know more about our US/EU Jazz – Blues Festivals and the activities of our US/EU Jazz – Blues Association in the capitals of Europe, we will soon publish program for 2024, enjoy in the August – Prague, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw, new addreses this year, also in Amsterdam, Budapest. You can see the report about the first concert of this year’s festival next to this interview.

Jazz Blues: – First, let’s start out with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music. How exactly did your adventure take off? When did you realize that this was a passion you could make a living out of?

Philip Gruber: – I grew up in a small town in Austria where life as a child was just beautiful. Surrounded by nature we could do anything we wanted and imagined. When it comes to music, my dad listened a lot to his vinyl collection like Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Massive Attack, so basically the usual ones. My Grandfather listened to John Lee Hooker, BB King, Muddy Waters and so on. So I grew up listening to a lot of great music.

OUR US/EU Jazz and Blues Festivals 2023

My dad once asked me “Why don’t you want to learn and play the guitar? You could play some songs at a campfire and impress the girls…” and I thought “Yeah, why not”. Play guitar, making music with friends is a passion, from which I do not make a living out of. In real life, I repair machines for paper industry.

JB: – How has your sound evolved over time? What have you been doing to find and develop your own sound?

PG: – I listen to a lot of different artists, and I like its. So obviously my sound is defined by I taste in music and the gear I are using. Lately everything is getting smaller and more lightweight. And with the power of digital modeling the possibilities are getting more and more.

JB: – Have you changed through the years? Any charges or overall evolution? And if so why?

PG: – I evolve over time. Now I are more into the details of sounds. Whatever fits the song better. The overall sound is basically the same, it gets a bit more fine tuning here and there, to fit the song…

JB: – Can you share any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions over the years?

JB: – A young blank musician who has probably never played with anyone except an unknown band like himself. the sad thing is that there is no goal of progress for such an alleged musician, because if there was, he would have understood how to cooperate with the media and its festivals.

There could be talk or advertising about your CD

JB: – In your opinion, what’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?

PG: – When you play a lot, jam a lot, with your band or with other musicians, you learn a lot. That makes something with you. You are evolving social intelligence, what makes you a better person and brings you further in life.

JB: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; are you okay with delivering people the emotion they long for?

PG: – I take the audience on a journey. Through ups and downs, as is the case in the blues. The audience follows us.

JB: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of standard tunes are half a century old?

PG: – Show them! That’s the only way. My neighbor’s children are listening to a lot of AC/DC, because their father listens to it. Now, with all the streaming platforms, the find other classic rock bands and love them! That is the way in my opinion.

JB: – John Coltrane once said that music was his spirit. How do you perceive the spirit and the meaning of life?

PG: – That’s a hard question. Making music, drowning in it, to be in that very moment, no thinking about future or past. Just be. That is something we should aim.

JB: – If you could change one single thing in the musical world and that would become reality, what would that be?

PG: – The world of music is constantly changing. Over the years, electronic music has come to the fore. But rock and blues/jazz is coming back. New radio stations, new cultural associations that look after bands are constantly working on it and people want to go to concerts again. With drums, guitars, Hammond organs, handmade music. We will hear this again on the big radio stations in a few years. So the music world is in constant flux. There is no need for any change from outside.

OUR US/EU Jazz and Blues Association 2023

JB: – Whom do you find yourself listening to these days?

PG: – Lots of different genres, mostly to Philip Sayce, Henrik Freischlader, Sir Oliver Mally, Massive Attack, Pink Floyd, Masters of Reality, Larkin Poe, Led Zeppelin, King Buffalo, Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, Jeff Beck, Imelda May, Herbert Pixner Projekt, Gov’t Mule, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, Cream, Bonnie Raitt, Bjorn Berge, Tears for Fears… there is so much good music out there… and so little time..

JB: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine: where and why would you really want to go?

PG: – I think we all know the answer. Woodstock 1969. Why? Magic happened. That’s why.

JB: – Do You like our questions? So far, it’s been me asking you questions, now may I have a question from yourself…

PG: – They’re good questions. Making you think a bit deeper. A question from me? That’s difficult. I just want to thank you for this opportunity answering some questions.

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Interview by  Elléa Beauchêne