T-Bear & The Dukes Ice Machine (CD)

T-Bear & The Dukes of Rhythm

T-Bear & The Dukes of Rhythm have been the blues ambassadors of Arvika since 2004, composing and interpreting r&b and blues like there was no tomorrow. They are on a mission.

Broadcasted all the way from Tokyo to Timbuktu, with two studio albums so far, T-Bear and his hellhounds have won global respect within the blues community. T-Bear regroups his troops, according to your wishes: festivals or clubs, horn section or harmonica? Ok, it’s often cold in Sweden, but T-Bear’s blues glows. It glows with passion and honesty, in the firm conviction that the blues is here to stay.

”They don’t make them like that anymore”
When you've been around on this earth for a while, that thought does come to you once in a while. It could hit you when you see a nice old car, a music instrument, a real "old school" personality being interviewed on the TV…. and if you're into the blues, this thought definitely comes more often as the years keep passing by. Our heroes pass away, and many of the young musicians who try to pick up this heritage will sound like scholars for a long time before they might come out as a full-fledged blues musician.

But here's a guy that startles you as soon as you hear the sound of his guitar, his voice and the way he deals with the tradition. Raw and direct, well not "too raw" but just sounding like himself. A straight-forward approach, with that special "bite" that we associate with some of the great bluesmen.
Where does he find it? Maybe in the deep forests of Värmland, a sparsely populated region in Sweden, near the Norwegian border. But mostly in his deep long-term love story with the blues, with heroes like Albert Collins, Albert and Freddie King, Luther Allison and other great representatives of modern electric blues with a twist of funk. And one thing he has in common with these musicians is that he will never play a set with only shuffles, but keeps varying his tempos and beats. Not only is he a natural talent on the guitar, but his expressive and direct voice and his creative songwriting contribute to his sound, raw and mature at the same time.

The band T-Bear and the Dukes of Rhythm was started by Torbjörn Solberg in his hometown Arvika, Sweden, in 2004, and they have released 4 CD's with their previous lineup, including a horn section: "Let The Sweet Talk Flow" and Broadway Twist.
They released their CD "Icemachine" 2013 and now recently released their new record "Time Is A Healer".
The band members are Torbjörn Solberg T-bear git/vocal, Henrik Berg drums, Fredrik Kaudern bas, Emil Wachenfeldt pi/org.