Eric Sardinas Brings the Delta Blues to Bluesiana (2007)

 The village of Vrba (Velden) sits next to Lake Wörthersee, once part of Slovenian lands, and with its landmark “Our Lady” church it makes an ideal, or rather an ideological, spot for cultural goings-on. It’s just over an hour’s drive from Ljubljana, and you might end up with the same fate as our regular RockLine crew on a blues night at the Bluesiana Rock Caffe club, which this time got spiced up by the American-Cuban stallion Eric Sardinas and his power trio.

Charlie Daniels once wrote a song called “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”. In it, Charlie sings of a duel between the devil and a fellow named Johnny, who face off in a fiddle showdown. Everybody probably knows how it ends: Johnny wins, and the devil has to slink back to hell and practice his licks a bit more. That’s more or less how you could describe Eric Sardinas’ playing and the whole picture of his show. His performance makes you suspect the guy signed his soul over to the one down below a long time ago, and the energy of his live act could easily be compared to the famous Paganini, who also used to stir up the spirits of the crowd and make the ladies’ skirts fly up in his day.

Architecturally, the Bluesiana club reminds you of a good old Gorenjska “oštarija” (country inn), except that instead of some bowling alley, its basement rooms have been skillfully converted and soundproofed, which makes for unhindered live shows by world-famous, well-regarded jazz-blues-rock names. The most fascinating part is that all of it happens a stone’s throw from the Slovenian border. Bluesiana holds around 300 people, and as usual the crowd packed it to the last corner this time too. Sardinas’ regular presence here, where he’s practically at home, is also proven by the countless photos and other music memorabilia on the walls of Bluesiana, where Eric’s image takes up, by rough estimate, a good 30-40% of the wall space. The friendly owner, Mrs. Gudrun, welcomed us warmly and thus busted the taboo about forced, across-the-board “yodeler” reserve. Her relaxed nature probably has something to do with the half-Dalmatian blood running through her veins.

Anyway, the show, originally announced for 8:30, kicked off a good hour later. First to greet us on stage, in his Texan American, wearing a poncho and cowboy boots, was bassist Levell Price, or as the guy later dubbed himself, the “Texas stud”, along with drummer Patrick Caccia. Patrick has faithfully backed Eric at his live shows for several years, while Levell only joined on the last tour, for the release of his latest album Black Pearls. Soon after them, and after the first assault on our ears, the tiny but nimble Eric came bouncing out of the crowd, which at Bluesiana partly blocks the otherwise unrestricted access to the stage. Personally, his physical appearance reminds me most of Prince, or Symbol. At the same time, his skinniness and small frame, thanks to a lower center of gravity on stage, give him a more snake-like mobility and help his playing speed. Despite Eric’s small stature, his fingers are impressively long, as you can see for yourselves in the “close up” shot. The lineup was complete, the amps started to hum, and the first bluesy Voodoo Chile attack followed in the song I’m Worried. In the middle of the second song, though, Eric pulled off something unbelievable and, lately, very rare in blues. He unplugged his otherwise electrified dobro, brought the vocal mic close to it, bent down to the mic himself, and served us a double dose of unplugged delta blues. What magic, I haven’t heard such a raw performance of the blues since John Lee Hooker.

Eric is a master of plugged-unplugged music-making, which only confirms his general leaning toward primal Mississippi delta blues and his choice of a dobro instead of an electric or country jumbo guitar. The trio then played “Liar’s Dice Blues”, followed by “As the Crow Flies,”, where Eric got a “little” too carried away with the Bluesiana wall of sound and the decibels (dB), as the meter shot past a hefty 130dB and into ear-pain territory. The cause was Hendrix-style cosmic experimentation and sonic interference between Sardinas’ dobro and his Marshall. We have to realize that Sardinas is not your typical blues rock guitarist; his live shows are a nice example of what his studio albums, thanks to their polished studio production, simply can’t deliver. His performance thus represents a transition between different musical genres. With that, Eric smashes stereotypes and earns a place among the best, like Hendrix, Vaughan or Clapton. The only visible difference that sets Eric apart from those giants is the color of his voice. None of them could “squeeze out” such a primal, chipped and raspy voice as Sardinas manages to, even though they were all capable of soloing and singing at the same time. In that respect, Eric is the real deal.

Let’s also touch on his “image” here. Again Eric recalls a hybrid between Hendrix-style hippie vibes and the more modern “Prince”-like crowning glory. His alligator boots, bell-bottom pants (tailored from shiny silk), silky butterfly-collar shirts and the obligatory vest and sheriff-style “John Wayne” hat only highlight his shoulder “Snake Tattoo”, while also expressing the American notion of a slightly nostalgic Texan macho playboy. Some people call Eric’s dress style the “Four Roses outfit.” That’s not a bad thing at all, if anything it fits the style and delivery of Eric’s music perfectly and gets the ladies even more willing.

We in the RockLine crew felt that willingness too, later, after the show ended, when despite a promised interview with Eric we waited a good hour, visibly tired, in vain for his kind invitation. Owner Gudrun did everything in her power, but Eric was allegedly too tired from the show. According to unofficial information, the guy was recharging his batteries backstage with one of the aforementioned willing Austrian groupies. Well, fair enough, we’ll let the guy satisfy his already battered bluesman’s soul, and we mutually agreed to move the interview to a summer date, when Eric shows up in these parts again.
The spectacle went on at an unchanged pace, Eric danced tirelessly around the stage, while the other two members of the rhythm section at times looked visibly exhausted, and we in the audience felt deeply sorry for them. Clearly the man has no shortage of stamina of one kind or another, and is capable of wringing out not just the crowd but also the members of his own band. I’ll mention just one more song, “Down In The Bottom”, where Caccia and Price each served up a solo spot of their own. Interesting, but for a demanding listener still too technically unpolished, though bluesy in expression. Meanwhile Eric vanished from our sight, only to reappear on stage soon after, this time with a bottle of beer in his hand. What followed was by now a well-rehearsed show, where Eric plays with the slide technique, using a beer bottle instead of the classic metal slide. After tirelessly shaking the full bottle, a beer shower for the front rows usually follows, but this time Eric considerately spared us and, at just the right moment, a “Coitus interruptus” of sorts, gently tossed the bottle to the floor instead. The Berghoff brewery also put this kind of show to good use, shooting a 30-second commercial skit with Eric that you can easily catch if you’re a skilled internet surfer or on one of the satellite channels.

After two and a half hours and one encore that recalled the duel described at the start, the visibly drained but cheerful trio left the stage for good, and our ears, already pleasantly ringing, got their well-deserved rest. The aforementioned wait for the promised interview followed, and then we said our goodbyes to Bluesiana and the friendly owner Gudrun, to whom we promised a quick visit at one of the many concerts announced for this year. The best way to wrap up this report is with Eric’s own words, which go something like this.

“The blues is an emotionally pure form of music. If you’re not speaking from the heart with true emotion or being honest with which you are… you will be revealed.” – Eric Sardinas

And Eric lived up to that once again.

Text and photo: Thomas Breznik