CARDINAL BLACK - JANUARY CAME CLOSE EUROPE 2024

SUPPORT: sun's sons

In August 2023, they wowed audiences on Joe Bonamassa's 'Keeping The Blues Alive at The Sea Mediterranean' cruise, then the Welsh soul/jazz/blues band Cardinal Black announced their first exclusive concert in Germany (Hamburg, headCRASH) for November 2023 and have now confirmed their first tour of Germany for 2024 - with seven shows. Their current debut album "January Came Close" is still available in stores.

From powerful guitar riffs to soulful ballads - the music of Cardinal Black leaves no one cold. The Welsh band brings soul back into rock music and has a real guitar hero in its ranks in Chris Buck. Their unique mix of blues, jazz and rock will also thrill the audience in Stuttgart (February 27, Wizemann Club).

Sometimes it takes years to become an overnight success: in 2010, the Welsh musicians Tom Hollister (v), Chris Buck (g) and Adam Roberts (dr) joined forces and immediately became a hot insider tip under the name The Tom Hollister Trio, promoted by well-known stars of the scene. Steve Winwood, for example, invites the band to record at his Wincraft Studios. This was followed by a triumphant performance at the Sonisphere Festival and a flight across the Atlantic to record their debut, with former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven looking after them. But they don't feel comfortable in the USA, the adventure fails, the expectations are not compatible with reality: Singer Tom Hollister drops out while still in the USA. "We had the typical reasons for breaking up," explains Buck. "Creative differences and all that. But we realized very quickly that we could actually trust each other very well."

Over the following decade, the friends kept running into each other and stayed in touch. Finally, in 2019, Chris Buck was named 'Best New Guitarist in the World' by a magazine. And rightly so, as his reputation as one of the most innovative guitarists with a high recognition value was beyond question. His colleagues and the music industry also celebrated the musician. But he was not the only one to make a name for himself: Drummer Adam Roberts became one of the most renowned session musicians, while singer Tom Hollister made a name for himself as a tour manager. The three friends remained in constant contact despite their different areas of work and kept their musical connection alive through spontaneous jam sessions.

So it was only a matter of time before they reunited as a band: "We had accumulated so much material that we got back together and realized how much fun we were having playing. When jamming the old stuff, the new songs came naturally. You could say we're the oldest new band in the world," summarizes Chris Buck.

Together with bassist Sam Williams, a new era began in 2020. And their success proved them right: just 24 hours after the release of the first single 'Tell Me How It Feels' in May 2021, Cardinal Black managed to knock Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds off the top of the iTunes rock singles charts. A four-song self-titled EP followed in summer 2021, also reaching number one on the iTunes Rock Albums chart and the Amazon Rock Best Sellers chart - all within 12 hours of release. With their debut "January Came Close", they even knocked US superstar Taylor Swift off pole position in October 2022, and their debut "January Came Close" also reached number 78 in the German offshoot. Just one month later, they supported Peter Frampton on his farewell tour in the UK before embarking on a festival tour of Europe in the summer of 2023. Not bad for a band that only got back together in 2020. After their German debut in Hamburg in 2023, we can now look forward to next year's tour.