Titanium Blue

stevew@thedailytimes.com

If you go into Brackins Blues Club

on Saturday night, stop by the ATM

if you plan on hollering out for “Free-
bird” or “Mustang Sally.”

The band on stage — Kansas City-
based trio Titanium Blue — will play

‘em, but it’s gonna cost you.

“Our standard rule is that it’s $100

for us to play ‘Mustang Sally’ and

$500 for us to play ‘Freebird,’” guitar-
ist and vocalist Kurt Allen told The

Daily Times recently. “It’s not that

we don’t know how to play them,

but why would we? I’m always want-
ing to do something that hasn’t been

done yet. I’m always pushing and try-
ing to find new variations of old stuff

to do that has a really sick groove to

it, something you can’t help but bob

your head and tap your foot to.”

Allen started playing guitar when

he was 9 years old, but his love of

the blues goes back a few years pri-
or, when at 6 or 7, he heard Led Zep-
pelin’s “Heartbreaker” on the radio.

Jimmy Page’s dive bomb opening riff

sank its hooks deep, he said.

“I was like, ‘Oh, yeah — that’s what I

want to do!’” Allen said.

He started tinkering with the blues

in middle and high school, but his

classmates were all into metal and

hard rock, so that’s what he played as

well. Eventually, after touring with

a few bands and playing with most

of the rest around Kansas City, he

decided to get back to the basics.

“When I got into my mid-20s, I

said, ‘You know what? I’m gonna get

back into playing the blues or blues-
rock,’” he said. “Eventually, I got tired

of playing everyone else’s stuff after

so many years. In a lot of bands, it

seemed like you were playing the

same songs no matter what band you

were in, so in 2010, we formed Tita-
nium Blue and put an emphasis on

doing things a little different.”

Allen’s influences aren’t house-
hold names, but if you’re into Brit-
ish blues-rockers from the 1960s and

‘70s, you’ll recognize them: Gary

Moore, Peter Green (who originally

founded Fleetwood Mac), Rory Gal-
lagher and Alvin Lee among them.

The first piece of the Titanium Blue

puzzle was drummer Kellan Moore,

who played in the Midwestern coun-
try band County Road 5 for roughly a

decade; he and Allen found each other

on Craigslist and decided to throw in

together. After a previous bass player

developed health issues, they found

David Wood on Craiglist as well.

“He’s the youngest, but he comes

from a strong rock, jazz and Motown

background, and we’ve kind of fused

everything to where we’ve got ele-
ments of blues, funk, rock, jazz and

soul in all of our stuff,” Allen said.

Think Delta blues filtered through

British Invasion rock, updated for

2016 with funk and grit. There’s a def-
inite Black Keys vibe, but the down-
and-dirty edge to Titanium Blue has

more in common with acts like the

Black Diamond Heavies or Scott H.

Biram. Live, there’s no telling what

astute musical observers might wit-
ness: Allen was recently informed by

one fan that during the performance

of a Titanium Blue original called

“Better Think Twice,” he was playing

dubstep on the guitar.

“We live to play live shows; that’s

what we want to do,” he said. “Getting

on the radio and doing interviews,

that’s all great, but I want to be play-
ing. There’s nothing like that thrill of

being in front of people, and wheth-
er it’s four or five or 400 or 500, it

doesn’t matter — we’re going to tear it

up to the best of our abilities.”

Just don’t go expecting to hear tired

retreads of standard blues-rock num-
bers. Not unless you bring a fat wad

of bills, that is.

“We’re not going to roll in and play

a whole lot of stuff you might hear on

the radio,” Allen said. “About half of

our show is going to be original mate-
rial, and the rest of the stuff is going

to be what we call the deeper cuts.”

COURTESY OF TITANIUM BLUE

TITANIUM BLUE — KURT Allen (from left), Kellan Moore and David Wood — will play Saturday at

Brackins Blues Club in Maryville.

TITANIUM BLUE

WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10

WHERE: Brackins Blues Club, 112 E.

Broadway Ave., downtown Maryville

HOW MUCH: Free

CALL: 983-9800

ONLINE: www.titaniumbluemusic.com

Delta blues by way of England

Titanium Blue dives deep, every time - Steve Wildsmith, Daily Times, Maryville, TN.