About Me
The Duo
Mike Chase, after many years performing abroad as a solo artist (in Europe as well as Zimbabwe and South Africa, where he lived and performed with artists such as Dollar Brand, now better known as Abdullah Ibrahim) returned to the U.K. where he became a founder member and lead singer with the Mid Life Crisis Blues Band.
In February 1998 Mike, searching for a permanent guitarist for his new band met Dr Ika, a fellow musician looking for ways of fusing Blues with Jazz, Hip-Hop and House music to make a potent cocktail of styles - in fact, Blues for the 21st Century! As a result, Dr Ika joined Grapevine Blues .
Dr.Ika (pronounced Eeka) comes from Tbilisi in Georgia and was twice voted top guitarist in the U.S.S.R. before coming to the West. He has played with top jazz and blues musicians such as Jimmy Smith, Vagif Mustapha Zade, Richard Roberts, Tom Levin and has twice (once in Georgia and again in Sweden) performed with the legendary B.B.King - an unusual claim to fame from an ex- neurosurgeon.
The Band
As well as playing as a duo, Mike & Ika are joined by fellow musicians Ivan Hoe, Dave 'Roy' Rogers and Dave Lennox to form the Grapevine Blues Band.
Ivan Hoe is an outstanding drummer from Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s Ivan’s second stint with the band and he replaces Richard Newman (ex. Rory Gallagher & Alvin Lee Bands). It’s great to have Ivan back.
Dave 'Roy' Rogers on bass is the other half of the rock steady rhythm section. He has previously played with, amongst others, the great Bernie Devine Blues Band.
Dave Lennox ..boards played with Blodwyn Pig for 5 years and has also played with Al Green, Ginger Baker, Herbie Hancock, The Equals, Thin Lizzy, Chris Montez, Dave Berry and Geoff Achison and the Soul Diggers to name but a few. Dave adds an exciting new dimension to the band.
The Future
The first album was ‘Neo Blues’. This album contained not only original material, such as the darkly humorous and semi autobiographical ‘Immigration Blues’, but also an outrageous arrangement of ‘Cross Roads Blues’ that would have Robert Johnson spinning in his grave. Also included are other favourite Blues standards done in
Grapevine's unique style.
This was followed by the sensational “Live at The New Crawdaddy Club†C.D. Featuring Andy Thompson on Tenor Sax.
Dr Ika then issued an album of entirely original material called “Dr Ika's Blues...†featuring not only Mike but also the superb Helen MacDougall and the great ‘Papa’ George. This album was released on the Blues Matters label.
The latest C.D. “The Best of.......so far!†is a compilation of songs from the three previous C.D’s plus two previously unreleased tracks.
The Band has always enjoyed playing and recording with other artists such as Andy Thompson (Dire Straits, Sting & Elton John Bands), Bass player Pete Stroud (Peter Green Splinter Group), Danny Bryant and Ritchie Milton.
Recent highlights include a meeting with the legendary guitarist Peter Green (Mike’s especially proud of his beloved Fender Telecaster since Peter signed it for him) playing many major festivals alongside people such as Buddy Guy, The Yardbirds, Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne, Pentangle, Stan Webb (Chickenshack), Wilko Johnson and twice with the fantastic Gary Moore. (On one memorable occasion the band even had the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as a support act!)
In the meantime, Grapevine continue to gig, either as a band, or more frequently as a duo, up to six times a week.
They have been repeatedly featured on radio programmes, such as Paul Jones' ‘Jazz me Blues’ on Jazz F.M. & The Voice of America’ plus many other radio stations in countries around the world including: - Alaska, Argentina,
Australia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, U.S.A. and on both national radio and television in Ika’s native Georgia, where they are due to visit in 2009.
Grapevine Blues is approaching their 1,500th gig - always being rebooked at every venue. Not surprising when they sound this good!
