Andy Walo

Bio:

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I grew up in Stockholm, Sweden in a household filled with music. My dad, a Navy Captain used to play tons of Big Band era Jazz records.. Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Tommy Dorsey and Louis Armstrong. My mom was totally into Mahalia Jackson, Gospel & Classic Country.. Patsy Cline etc. I was the youngest out of five kids and after my older siblings got older & moved out, they left all their great 60's music behind.. Music I wouldn't normally get exposed to, growing up in the Eighties. So I inherited lots of Rolling Stones, The Who, Donovan, Motown and Beatles! I remember when I was five, I spent nearly everyday at the turntable listening repeatedly to The Beatles 'White Album'.. I couldn't get it through my head how in their later years they were kind of 'spaced out & out of tune' but STILL sounded so good! Four years later I bought a geek classmate's toy-guitar for 50 cents, and with only two strings I eventually figured out a few guitar-melodies. A year later my dad got me my first 'real' guitar (An Acoustic Spanish/Classical guitar with nylon strings) I fell in love right then & there! I was playing in my first band at age 14, we did Beatles and Stones songs note for note. A few years later, Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin became huge influences. After high school I became more curious of Blues and early Rock and Roll, I wanted to know what my heroes were listening to! I watched a friend's video with Albert King one night.. and I knew I had found the Blues.. From that day on I've felt more comfortable with Blues than ANY other music. My raves were Jimmy Reed (still is), Albert Collins, Otis Rush and John Lee Hooker - At eighteen, during my Military enlistment process (All Swedish males between 18 & 34 had to by law, spend about a year in the Military) I had put in a request to my recruiting officer for a position in the elite Paratrooper Regiment.. and yes, I was all-gung-ho & restless for my Army days to begin. However, my enrollment was canceled when I was invited to visit neighboring country Denmark for work which gave me the opportunity to play music full time.. and this really changed my life-path dramatically. Soon after that, I was invited to Sussex, England and later on to Chicago. I guess it may have been decided by 'weird cosmic fate' for me to play guitar in life instead of setting up 'Perimeters on battlefields'. My father had traveled quite a bit during the 'Cold War' when old Soviet Union was lurking at our doorstep, and I've always respected his achievements growing out of humble beginnings, taking his first job as a sailor on Cargo Ships when he was a teenager, and after joining Navy reaching the full rank of Submarine Captain as he chose to stay in deep waters. My Dad actually played a little guitar when being off duty/on leave in those early days. So who knows.. since I continued his 2nd passion Music, Fate may finally have reached full circle now - I was now based in Central Europe and established myself as a full-time musician, living and performing in Denmark and England from 1989-1993 ***************************************************************************** I met Aaron Burton (former bass player with Albert Collins) when they toured Denmark 1992. They saw me perform at a club in Copenhagen, and his drummer Tino Cortes who's now one of my best friends, is the person who actually convinced me to move to Chicago in the spring of -93, I'd been most places in the states as a kid but had no clue I would ever live in Chicago. In Chi-Town I sat in with all the Blues-greats; Buddy Guy, Big Time Sarah and soul singer Otis Clay. And almost right away was asked to go on the road with people I didn't know anything about. I shared tours & stages with Bo Diddley, J.J. Cale, Canned Heat, Koko Taylor, The Ohio Players and classic rock heroes the Blue Oyster Cult, all this during my first years in Chicago! Someone who had heard me play at a Jam kept saying nice stuff about me to the road manager for Junior Wells, I soon auditioned and in 1995, I became the lead guitarist for Blues legend Junior Wells. I spent the next two years touring the world with Junior Wells and our eight-piece band. We played everywhere.. Europe, Japan, every state except Alaska! And really cool shows too.. like the 1996 New Orleans Jazz Festival with Allman Brothers Band and B.B. King. I also played lead-guitar on the last two records Junior made before he passed away from cancer; We recorded Grammy Nominated "Junior Wells Live at Buddy Guy's Legends" (two days after returning from playing twenty nine shows in thirty days in Europe) Junior had pneumonia during the show but still kicked ass!. The second album "Junior Wells - Live Around The World" was recorded live in Europe & Japan and my lead-guitar stood out a little more ** Junior Wells: 1934 - 1998 - God Bless! ***************************************************************************** After Junior Wells died from cancer in 1998, I didn't feel like going back playing clubs & bars in Chicago so I moved to Los Angeles.. I had some family in Long Beach and I've always loved So Cal. I played with some local bands at the beginning for work but I turned down a couple of big offers because I really wanted to start from scratch in Calif. My Trio thing started around 2002.. I wanted to play music that was completely honest & true to my roots and though half of that is Blues, I also wanted to play original songs in the Blues/Rock vein of Free and Led Zeppelin or the Who.. All the sounds I grew up combined with Chicago Blues, which I simply can't stay away from. ***************************************************************************** " - Andy Walo Trio have built a strong following mainly in the South Bay. They perform 15 - 20 shows a month throughout Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. "Live Your Life" - Andy Walo (available on: www.itunes.com www.amazon.com and www.cdbaby.com) was Released In March 2004 by Philadelphia indie-label Canadian-American Records, the full-length CD includes the folksy "Traveled" which charted at No. 1 on the Australian Indie Charts and pure rock songs such as title-track "Live Your Life" and "We Are Together". In August 2004, Andy performed at the Annual Harley Davidson Festival in Sturgis, South Dakota Featuring Kid Rock & ZZ Top. He also spent six weeks touring Northern Europe in the summer of 2005. In 2006 Andy Walo & friend Stephen Rowe performed in Nashville, Tennessee. opening up shows for 80's Aussie band Men At Work. Andy Walo Trio received a standing ovation at the 2008 Long Beach Blues Festival where they performed opening for Booker T & The MG's, John Mayall & Chuck Berry with others, this lead to the band performing Headline Stage at the 2009 Long Beach Blues Festival. Since 2007 Andy Walo Trio performs several shows monthly at the House Of Blues in Las Vegas, combined with gigs all throughout Southern California. New CD/EP Flamethrower released May 2009 - "

Member Since:

October 05, 2005

Members:

*** Andy Walo Trio and Andy Walo Band: Andy Walo - Guitar & Vocals + Various 'backing musicians'

Influences:

Chicago Blues & Soul - Big Band Jazz - Euro Classic Rock (in particular The Who, Led Zep, Free & Black Sabbath) - The Beatles & The Stones - Inventors of Texas BluesRock; ZZ TOP, Johnny Winter.. Any true music, from Sex Pistols to Gregory Isaacs.. Jimmy Reed.. Albert Collins... - Heroes; Jimmy Page.. James Blood Ulmer

Sounds Like:

Buy tunes at www.itunes.com

Record Label:

No Label - 'Live Your Life' = Canadian/American