Nine Below Zero Duo
Nine Below Zero’s founding members, Dennis Greaves and Mark Feltham, get back to their blues roots performing a series of intimate, acoustic concerts as a duo. Covering songs by blues legends such as Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo and Leadbelly, they also play unplugged versions of well-known Nine Below Zero material.
Their love of the blues began at an early age for both Mark and Dennis. Two of Dennis’ uncles were blues fans, and both had big collections of blues albums. It was listening to these records that encouraged NBZ’s frontman to pick up the guitar. Mark on the other hand had an uncle in the Merchant Navy, who used to bring harmonicas back from his travels overseas.
The pair first met in the late 1970s, during the punk-era, when Dennis decided to form a blues band; Mark was recommended to him as a harmonica player. By an amazing coincidence they were living 14 houses apart on the same housing estate.
Dennis says ‘with these shows we are really trying to go back to the stripped down simplicity of early blues being played in its rawest form on acoustic instruments. To see Mark perform in this environment is truly a masterclass and it’s a little daunting for me to be playing acoustic guitar. No hiding behind the Marshall amp!’.
The duo have toured throughout the UK, playing in locations ranging from the intimate environs of St Pancras Old Church in London to the northerly splendours of Inverness. Their shows never fail to bring their fans closer to the band and the musical influences that first brought them together.