FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: October 2007
CONTACT: Ed van Zijl, Provogue Records
mail@provoguerecords.com
marie@waltertrout.com
GUITAR GREAT WALTER TROUT
SIGNS WITH PROVOGUE RECORDS
Guitar great Walter Trout has signed a new deal with
Provogue Records, an independent label based in The Netherlands specializing
in guitar heavy blues rock. Other artists on the Provogue label (Europe
only) include Joe Bonamassa , Rick Derringer, Leslie West, Pat Travers,
Scott McKeon, Julian Sas and Eric Gales. Walter Trout's first release for
the label (Provogue's first release for the U.S. market) is scheduled for
late spring/early summer '08.
Walter Trout first signed with Provogue in 1989 where he released 5
albums: 1989's live CD "Face the Music", "Life In The Jungle" (1990)
"Prisoner Of A Dream" (1990), "Transition" (1992), and "No More Fish Jokes"
(1992). He left the label briefly to go with Silvertone in 1994. After one
release, Trout returned to Provogue in '95 and released 3 more albums:
"Breaking The Rules" (1995), "Positively Beale Street" (1997) and "Face The
Music" (2000). Trout signed with German-based Ruf Records in 1999, releasing
a half dozen albums for the label. The Provogue label has established itself
as one of the strongest brands in blues rock in Europe with it's latest
success story being Joe Bonamassa.
The Provogue Records label, debuting in the United States in 2008, will
be distributed by Megaforce/Sony RED Distribution. They plan approximately 4
releases a year.
"After 9 years with Ruf Records world wide, I feel the time had come to
try a different label. I have had a great run with Ruf Records, who has been
instrumental in establishing my career in the USA. I will always feel a debt
of gratitude towards Thomas Ruf and Ira Leslie who had the vision of
bringing my music to my homeland and who worked tirelessly to end the
'Walter who?' era in the United States. My history with Provogue Records
goes back to the very beginning of my European career in the early 1990s,
and I have watched them grow and get better and better in recent years.
Their focus is on guitar based blues rock, and I am proud to be part of
their roster." (Walter Trout)
Born in 1951 and raised in a music-loving home in Ocean City, New Jersey,
WALTER TROUT felt the calling to music at a young age. His first instrument
was trumpet, playing in the school band. A chance meeting with the mighty
Duke Ellington catapulted Trout’s pursuit of a professional music career
– what Walter terms "a turning point" in his life
– when Walter’s mother orchestrated a meeting with
jazz legends Ellington, Cat Anderson, Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves for
Walter's tenth birthday. The seed was planted about a career playing music.
In the mid-'60s Trout switched to electric guitar after hearing an album
that changed his whole appreciation of music. The Paul Butterfield Blues
Band featuring Mike Bloomfield cemented Walter’s musical ambitions towards
the blues and the electric guitar. In those vinyl grooves, Walter heard the
guitar speaking to his soul, expressing what words could not. In his late
teens and early 20s, Trout played in numerous New Jersey bands, competing at
the time for rank with "Steel Mill" featuring a young Bruce Springsteen. In
1973, he packed up his belongings and drove to Los Angeles.
In L.A. Trout developed into an ace sideman playing with Finis Tasby, Pee
Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulsom, and Percy Mayfield. Trout often teamed with
Hammond B3 wizard Deacon Jones and the apprenticeship continued in the bands
of John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thorton and Joe Tex.
By 1981, Trout’s reputation led to the invitation to join venerable blues
rock band Canned Heat, where he remained through 1984. When the call came to
join the legendary John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Trout jumped and found
himself sharing the spotlight with fellow guitarist Coco Montoya. Trout and
Montoya lifted the band to a new level, as Mayall’s Bluesbreakers enjoyed
unprecedented album sales and high profile tours in the US and abroad. Trout
felt that playing with Mayall was as close to his childhood dream as he
could get.
The Danish record label Elektra was interested in Walter Trout's solo
potential after witnessing an inspired performance when Trout led the
Bluesbreakers band while Mayall was out with an illness. Walter Trout
decided it was time to go solo. He gathered musicians he knew from Los
Angeles and formed The Walter Trout Band. After Elektra went out of business
in 1990, Provogue Records bought the rights to Trout's first two studio
recordings: 1990's "Life In The Jungle" and "Prisoner Of A Dream". The 1989
break with Mayall quickly segued into immediate extensive touring of Europe,
playing large venues and music festivals, and Trout's music was heard on
mainstream radio. In the early '90s Walter Trout had several radio hits in
Europe and charted with his unique style of blues rock. Throughout the
decade, he continued a non-stop touring pace, releasing 8 recordings and
developing an incredible following in Europe, but coming home to little
fanfare.
The self-titled WALTER TROUT, released by Ruf Records in 1998 was Trout's
first "official" domestic U.S. release. Shortly after, the band renamed as
Walter Trout and The Free Radicals began an extensive touring pace state
side, steadily building his U.S. fan base and bringing their high energy,
impassioned live performances back home. Since that time Trout released half
a dozen CDs in the U.S. on Ruf Records and continued his frequent touring,
splitting time more evenly between continents.
"Walter Trout isn't just a great guitar player...he works from the heart
with a flawless and fiery edge. When Walter Trout plays, he owns you." David
Wilson/The ToneQuest Report
RECORD CO: PROVOGUE RECORDS, P. O. Box 231, 2650 AE Berkel, The
Netherlands
www.provoguerecords.com
For
additional information please contact:
Personal
Management:
Fish-Net
Productions, Inc.
(714)
235-7749 phone
(714)
960-6482 fax
management@waltertrout.com
Booking:
Intrepid
Artists
www.intrepidartists.com
(704)
358-4777 phone (704) 358-3171 fax
staff@intrepidartists.com
Publicity:
USA Publicity Ruf Records
www.rufrecords.de
352-527-1680
phone/fax
rufpublicity@tampabay.rr.com
