John Landis’ 1980 musical comedy The Blues Brothers is a much-loved film, full of car chases, clever humour and fantastic blues and R&B numbers.
But for Blues Roulette’s Ben Wicks, who brings The Blues Brother Revue to Geelong this weekend, the film changed the course of musical history.
“By the late 70s a lot of labels had essentially evolved out of big band R&B stuff, and the focus of pop music had really changed in a very short period of time,” he said.
“When they decided to make the film Dan Ackroyd just got on the phone and called Steve Cropper and Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn and said, hey, do you want to come and do this thing?’
“And these absolute titans of R&B and blues music had nothing in the calendar; they had months available to go and work on this silly film. That speaks volumes to where blues and R&B was at, in a pop culture sense.
“The Blues Brothers was really important to revitalising blues and R&B. The whole thing probably would have dried up and died, had it not been for The Blues Brothers.”
Blues Roulette’s 11-piece big band features Paul Slattery and Vincent Bradley in the roles of Jake and Elwood Blues.
Wicks said he was “really blessed” to have so many “incredible musicians” in the show.
“For me, it’s about breathing life and vibe into this music, and the band being excited by the music means it’s inescapable that the room is then excited,” he said.
“We’re just trying to bring a party, bring the circus that is the Blues Brothers.”
The Blues Brothers Revue is at Piano Bar on Sunday 30 November. Visit trybooking.com for tickets.
