Roomful is a New England treasure. With over 30 years on the road, Roomful is still one of the country's hardest working Blues bands. Coast to coast people nod their heads in agreement when you ask if they are fans of Roomful.

       They have won a number of awards over the years. Since 1983, Roomful of Blues has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, in theTraditional Blues and Contemporary Blues categories, the most recent for Turn It On! Turn It Up! in 1996. They were voted Blues Band of the Year in 1996 and 1998 in the Down Beat International Critics Poll. In 1998, 2001, and again in 2002, Roomful's horn section, led by veteran sax man RichLataille, won the W.C. Handy Award for Best Instrumentalist.What is "new" about Roomful? Let me start by mentioning what is not new, the band is still as vibrant and exciting as ever.

       Original band member, Rich Lataille is still swinging on tenor, and has written a cool instrumental about his friend Bob Enos, called "Where's Bubba?" with some Pink Panther style trumpet from the man himself. Rich wrote the song because they always have a hard time finding Bob (who is usually out smoking a stogie) when they have to go back up to play. BobEnos is still adding his ultra cool accents on trumpet and even chiming in on a song or two with Chris Vachon, lead guitarist. Chris is very happy with the new lineup, singing a couple of numbers and keeping tight with the rhythm section. Their new bass player, Brad Heline, is an accomplished musician with many years of Blues under his belt. You may remember him from Susan Tedeschi's band. Brad is working hard and looking like he is really enjoying himself. That is one important part of being together as a band, it is vital that the musicians are enjoying themselves and eachother, it makes for a more cohesive sound.

       "We are really happy playing together," Chris Vachon told me, "this particular group is great and it is fun to go to work. I can't even call it work right now, it has been so much fun."
There are three new Marks. Mark Defresne, on vocals and harmonica, Mark Earley on baritone sax and Mark Stevens on piano. Let's start with Mark Defresne, on harmonica and vocals and front man for the band.

       "After Sugar Ray left the band a friend of Mark's, Roger Neighbors, who owns The Grand Emporium in Kansas City, Missouri, encouraged Mark to send us a package, but we had just hired Mac Odem." Chris Vachon explained.Mark remembers "I had my own band in Seattle and we opened for Roomful in Tacoma WA and later I got a call from Bob Bell asking if I might still be interested." Mark had always been a Roomful fan and he always wanted to be in the band. His wife, also a big Roomful fan, encouraged him to do it. They are working on moving their lives from Seattle, Washington to Rhode Island.
       
        "Musically, I am really enjoying the band. I like the traveling, and the camaraderie in the band is really good. Things are going well, everybody is really excited. We all get along and are pretty close.Musically, we are on the same page. We all want success for the band and everybody wants to add new material and at the same time, we all love the old songs of the past. We are slowly developing our own musical personality over time." Mark Defresne said, thoughtfully.
     
       Mark is an interesting guy. He has a mind like a trap, and he is the trivia king! He is also a record collector. "I started out my musical education listening to R&B and Soul music, because that is what I was exposed to as a kid, but I have been expanding my repertoire over time.

 

When I started playing harmonica I got into the acoustic Blues of Muddy, Sonny Boy, and then expanded into the four piece Chicago Blues band sound- Magic Sam, the Kings, and at the same time I have always loved the Swan Silvertones and The Blind Boys of Alabama as well." Mark told me.

"They picked one of my tunes for the band, 'Two For The Price Of Ten,' which I recorded with Kid Ramos and members of Hollywood Fats' band." Mark stated. Now fronting Roomful, with his comfortable rapport with the audience and good sense of humor, Mark is a great addition to the band with his harmonica and strong three octave voice. 

"Mark worked in a record store for years and is bringing some good influences.

He is involved and very interested in Roomful, he's really into it, in his heart." Chris intimated. Chris also told me that the band is happy to have a harmonica back in. "We really missed it. There were a couple of real popular tunes we couldn't do without harp, and they are back in, i.e. 'She'll Be So Fine' written by Chris, which made some real headway as a hit on the radio." Two of the Marks have contributed a wonderful boogie woogie number called "Check Bouncing Boogie," with the words provided by Mark Defresne and the killer boogie woogie piano by Mark Stevens, their new piano player.
      
          He is one of the really talented young bucks (from New England) who have made such a big impact in the Blues scene, all over the country. He and Troy Gonyea went out to the west coast, a number of years ago, to play with James Harman. Highly sought after, they made quite an impression on the west coast boys and toured with Kim Wilson, but that's another story. Mark joined Roomful a couple of months ago, and has already injected some of his youthful vigor into the band.

        Mark Earley is the new baritone and tenor sax player. Originally from Ohio, Mark started on alto at age of ten, and first worked professionally traveling with the Guy Lombardo Band at the age of nineteen. Mark moved to Boston in 1995, spent two years honking and walking the bar nightly at Jake Ivory's on Lansdowne St. and then spent five years with John Keegan and Madhouse. As a longtime fan of Roomful of Blues, he feels really at home in their legendary horn section. Jason Corviere is their new 24 year old drummer, there is plenty of punch in his performance! Jason comes from Swanton, VT where he learned drums at a very young age, from his father, and has played with Eddie Kirkland, Johnny Marshall and Soul singer Lou Pride.
       
        "Now that we have a stable new group, we wanted to do a recording and we will have a CD available at the web site, and at gigs, for our fans."
       
        It is a recording of great covers, for example, a tune that Joe Turner did called 'You're Driving Me Crazy,' with a big horn arrangement thing going on, kinda like going back to where we were 6 years ago with a bigger band sound. We also did 'Stranger Blues' by Elmore James... it came out with a garage band sound, it is so raw." said Chris enthusiastically.
      
         "The band is only traveling about 220 days a year because things have thinned out. We used to do about 300 nights, but alot of clubs have dried up, since 9/11. It is very necessary for us to travel because we couldn't make a living around here, with a band this size.' Chris told me.
       
        "We notice being in CA it is quite different, they weren't as effected by 9/11 as the east coast was. There is more attendance out there. We have noticed a big difference in the NY crowds, but it seems like there are half as many people, as before 9/11. The bad economy doesn't help, either."
       
        The Midwest has also been slow. But we have done alot of work in Virginia and Washington DC area, and that area has been great."The entertainment industry has its ups and downs just like any other business, but Roomful has thousands of loyal fans, they are still indemand. The wheels of their big bus keep rocking and rolling them to their appreciative fans all over the country.
       
        Chris added "We have a brand new web site going up. Go check out all the new stuff and get our CD when it is ready. We hope everybody will come out to see the new band and they will enjoy what we are doing as much as we do!"

-Diana Shonk- Publisher, The Blues Audience newsletter