User:Jamblasters/Jamblasters

In 1996 Lee Grove aka Riley Waters and Hilliard Walter or Hills as he is known to most of the music loving community, decided that the music Riley was writing was ready to present to the world. After an excellent response at a jam night at Johnny Be Goods one of southern Ontario’s number one live entertainment hot spot’s. THE JAMBLASTERS confirmed that they were on the right track.

A good friend, Alan Affeldt, would host the jam night along with the help of some other friends of THE JAMBLASTERS. Often we would be joined by the magic fingers of Bruno Mambella who later became well known as the sound technician for acts such as Holly Cole, and Kim Mitchell. On that particular night Riley introduced one of his classic riffs to the ears of both Alan and Bruno and a magical moment took place. The guidance of Brad Brown on the drums was the icing on the cake for Hills and Riley.

The standing ovation was roaring. Hills went back to his table where the waitress greeted him with a tray of burning Zambuka. To say the least Hills was dumfounded. Riley sat back and enjoyed the attention as if he knew everything would unfold as it did!

Alan told Riley that he would be available for any session or live work Riley needed him for. Bruno simply went back to the job of making the room sound the way that only Bruno could.

Hills and Riley remember this night as if it happened only yesterday. Rarely does an artist feel so appreciated by the people they perform for.

Once again after years have passed Riley and Hills have reformed and put the song writing skills of now both Hills and Riley to the test. The direction has taken the two music lovers into the depths of the Delta Jump blues. The response once again has overwhelmed the two Kitchener, Ontario musicians. Hills first submitted the 1997 recordings of Riley’s work to the web site MP3.com. After realizing that 2,000 downloads of the old tracks took place in a couple of months, Hills Informed Riley and said why don’t we submit the music to the musician’s website Garage Band. Riley decided why not. THE JAMBLASTERS had all six tracks of their LIVING THE BLUES album in the charts for the next 6 months. The track titled HELLHOUNDS climbed to position 18 in Oct of 2008.

This prompted the recovering of the master tracks of the LIVING THE BLUES 1997 session which was recorded at Nelson McCrossan’s Sound On Sound studio. Riley and Hills had to travel to just north of Hanover Ontario to find the CD which was being carefully taken care of by one of Riley’s good friends Randy Hafermehl.

So here we are in 2008 writing music that through the years withstood the test of time. It was during a BB King performance at the Centre In The Square In Kitchener Ontario that Hills was slapped in the face by the words of BB King. “The blues masters are all getting older and many are not with us any longer. Hills was saddened by the thought and decided that the music that seemed to drive him heart and soul would be the place to focus his talent. Riley simply awaited the indecisive vocalist as Riley himself is considered a true man of the blues the time to play is when it happens.