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Lazer Lloyd (self-titled)

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Lazer LloydLazer Lloyd, Israeli blues-rock singer/songwriter and guitaris­­­­t Lazer Lloyd’s self-titled album, is packed with 11 new electric and acoustic original songs and a cover of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay.” Released on CD and vinyl, Lazer Lloyd follows the critical success of his 2013 stripped-down acoustic solo album, Lost on the Highway and his 2012 electric CD, My Own Blues (chosen by the Israeli Blues Society’s for best 2012 blues album). The new album was written and recorded in two Tel Aviv studios (Sonic and Papa) during a period of intense songwriting throughout 2014. Lazer gives voice to his experiences shuttling between a demanding touring schedule on the stages of Israel, as well as in Russia and North America.

Lazer’s music is influenced by blues, gospel, southern rock and the great guitar traditions of power and groove from Jimi Hendrix to Wes Montgomery. Known by many as Israel’s King of the Blues, he cites B.B. King as one of his biggest inspirations in music and in life. He also draws on the blues work of Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Son House, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert Collins, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter and Santana. Lazer has taken his signature songwriting to another level with guts and groove that won’t quit, and is becoming a favorite with global blues and blues-rock audiences. During the recording sessions, he was joined by his regular Israeli bass player, Moshe Davidson, and studio pros Kfir Tsairi on keyboards and Elimelech Grundman on drums.

Lazer says, “I really am happy finally with how things came out. Hopefully, I can help release some pain from someone’s heart and make them feel good. I think blues in all its forms continues to generate a devoted following because it’s real; it’s about everyone’s life story and it heals.”

He also used a wide array of guitars to get specific sounds he wanted in each of the songs. “All of my guitars are always messed up because I’m always looking for a unique sound somewhere between a Gibson 335, a Fender Telecaster and a Stratocaster, so I usually have homemade stuff that I’ve changed the pick-ups on at least 100 times,” he confides.

Lazer’s songs talk about the raw energy of both the Godly and animal soul driving a person in opposite directions; life on the road and the dark times when a person feels alone and enslaved; and breaking away from where the record company thought he should break it from. “But man makes plans and God laughs – from a strange twist of meeting a homeless man in New York City’s Central Park, I played a concert with a hippie rabbi, who convinced me to play with him in Israel to check it out and I fell in love, so I’m there more than 20 years.”

Other tracks express the reality of the ultimate oneness of the world and to internalize the fact that if you hurt someone or – God forbid – kill them, you are hurting or killing yourself. “My original concept for the song was for so-called religious terrorists,” says Lazer.

Born Lloyd Paul Blumen in New York, Lazer moved at a young age to Connecticut with his parents.  Eliezer Pinchas Blumen is his Hebrew name. Lazer is short for Eliezer and Lazer Lloyd is a combination of his Hebrew and English names. Growing up in Connecticut, at age 15, Lazer was already playing in night clubs along the Connecticut shoreline. At 18, Lazer went to Skidmore College to study music under Milt Hinton (bass player for Louis Armstrong), Randy Brecker (Blood, Sweat and Tears), and Gene Bertoncini.

After college, an A&R executive at Atlantic Records organized a showcase for Lazer in Manhattan with plans to send him to Nashville to work with producer Garry Tallent (of Springsteen’s E-Street Band fame). One night in New York, Lazer played a gig with the legendary singing rabbi, Shlomo Carlebach, who invited Lazer to play with him in Israel and he quickly decided to take his music to the Middle East in 1994. Once in Israel, Lazer joined Reva L’Sheva as their lead guitar player. With few blues fans in his new home country, Lazer became a trailblazer, as he wrote and performed his own blues tunes mixed with the classics and built an audience for the blues in a country where it was an exotic delight.

On his 2015 North American tour, Lazer is performing his new material backed in the Midwest by notable blues veterans Johnny B. Gayden (Albert Collins and Johnny Winter) on bass, and in the West by Ron Perry (John Lee Hooker) on bass, with drums by Kenny Coleman of the Chicago Blues Kings and previously Koko Taylor and Sugar Blue, among others.

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