Back Door Slam: Brits & blues, sans booze

Davy Knowles

, front man of the red-hot, blues-rocking trio

Back Door Slam

, is getting a little tired of the "good for your age" compliments. More to the point, he's weary of being denied access to the music he loves.

Speaking from the recent concert-rich South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, Knowles groused, "The only shows I could get in to see here were the all-ages events, heavy on the emo scene, which is not my cup of tea."

Knowles said he was a lot more interested in "going to the smoky bars to meet and listen to the blues guys," but he's still a month shy of turning street-legal.

Fortunately, one blues legend, Guitar Shorty, was sharing the bill with Back Door Slam at their own show at Austin's open-air Opal Divine, the only liquor-serving club that Knowles and his bandmates (bassist Adam Jones and drummer Ross Doyle) were allowed into, because they were working there.

"Truth is, I was miffed that Shorty was third on the bill," Knowles said. "He's the sweetest guy, and so good. No one should go on after him. But we were the show closers."

Being the hot young things on the blues scene does have advantages. Just as the teenage Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd did in the late '90s, BDS is pulling in a fresh-eared and enthusiastic audience, as well as some older heads, for its crunchy, full-throttle attack on the blues.

As heard on the group's debut album, "Roll Away," their love-struck, done-somebody-wrong originals and occasional covers ("Outside Woman Blues") are easy to like, cranked up with Knowles' surprisingly mature and assured vocals, and clearly evoking the late 1960s, early '70s music he discovered in his dad's record collection.

We're talking U.K. talents like the power trio Cream (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker), John Mayall and the late, "sadly underrated" Irish talent Rory Gallagher, plus classic American soulmen like Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles, and a few contemporary ringers like Robert Cray and John Hiatt.

Knowles started playing out at age 13 in club jams with "guys in their 50s," and his supportive dad as mentor/supervisor, on the tiny Isle of Man where he was raised.

A picturesque vacation destination located in the Irish Sea, famed for spawning the Bee Gees and for sometime visitor Pete Townshend ("who came and stayed when his professional musician dad was working here"), the island "was a great place to grow up, very nurturing," said Knowles. "But when your world is defined by 12 miles, it's also one you're anxious to leave."

Back Door Slam, named after a Cray song, got its big break through inadvertent circumstances. The U.S. label Blix Street Records was sniffing around a local recording studio about two years ago for tapes of a young singer who had won an Irish talent contest (Stars in Your Eyes) by imitating Blix's biggest artist, the late Eva Cassidy.

Studio owner David Armstrong used the occasion to give the Blix blokes recordings he'd made with Back Door Slam. Blix passed on the girl but jumped for the band. They've been hauling butt to the U.S. ever since.

"We've been over here for tours six times in the last 12 months," detailed Knowles. In that brief time, they've soared from unknown club openers to headliners at joints like World Cafe Live, where the trio returns on Tuesday for a sold-out show.

They've also been winning exposure at major festivals like Lollapalooza and the upcoming Bonnaroo, and as "special guests" on tour with George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

"The whole point is supporting good people and stealing a little bit of their audience - in the nicest way," shared the musician. "And there's nowhere better to do it than in the U.S., where the blues has been an incredible part of your history, and a kind of folk music that's always going to be around."

Back Door Slam also has had doors open to collaborations with producer/engineer Eddie Kramer. He's most famous for his work with psychedelic blues guitar hero Jimi Hendrix, to whom Knowles' fret work is sometimes compared, especially in concert settings when he can really crank it up.

"We were originally going to remix one track for radio with Eddie," Knowles detailed, "but wound up recording four tunes in October to see if he would be a good fit for the next album."

Knowles has been writing new songs with "the most astonishing guitar player," Oliver Leiber, son of famous songwriter Jerry Leiber, and also with Marc Nelkin, "who's written with Corinne Bailey Ray. At this stage, it would be stupid for me as an artist to be closed minded, to say 'I've got a record deal, I don't need help from anyone,' " he said.

"That's a ridiculous statement. I need to grow, expand my vision. Oliver is a far better guitar player than I'll ever be. Just sitting in the room with him will improve my playing massively. And as far as the songwriting thing, I've got a long way to grow."

Not that he's in a hurry.

"Anyone into the blues is not really thinking about striking it rich," Knowles said. "You should play music because you love doing it, never think about it being massively popular. If you can make a living and hang in for the long haul, you're doing what most people can't, and you're incredibly lucky." *

World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, sold out, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com.