Inventing the Disco Blues

We accidentally invented a new genre, and it’s hot. Let me tell you about the background story of the “Disco Blues”, which is both a song and a genre.

Combining disco music with blues

Late January 2022. Everything started with a simple guitar lick and a mail to my Canadian collaboration partner, Garrett Kirby. He convinced me to try some blues, so implemented a common blues progression. Working in a ping pong music collaboration, we exchanged stems and ideas resulting in a song, where both composed and improvised their instruments. In one of these stages, Garry sent me some funky rhythm guitars, that reminded me of the 70s. I had the urge to try a 4-to-the-floor beat. Using an acoustic drum set, it still sounded disco. Garry sent me a groovy bassline, I played the organ and improvised a piano and acoustic guitar solo. The disco blues was born, a combination of blues rock with disco beat and funky basslines, but none of us thought that this combination sounds so rad.

What are the distinguishing features of disco blues?

What exactly makes a song sound bluesy? Is it the improvisation? The use of 7th chords? A certain progression? There may be plenty of answers, but in this case, I’d say that the blues is hidden in the guitar parts. The disco is in the 4-to-the-floor drumming and the smoothness of the sounds. This genre takes you back to the 70s while sounding the same blues as disco. Being old school is hot right now – Just look at Elton John, who released a top 10 hit with Dua Lipa that brings back the good old 70s. There may be more prominent examples of old school sounding modern.

How does it sound like?

Right after the composition, we decided to add vocals and asked Michael Karns, who comes from jazz piano music and worked with us on “Going My Way” last year. He tells a story of an interesting encounter in a bar that works well with our 70s feeling. Later, Valerie Cox joined us for background vocals, giving that special blues feeling. Today we released our song on SoundCloud and YouTube. Check it here:

It’s cool to invent a new music genre, but it also has to be represented in terms of artwork. We wanted to have a 70s looking cover that reminds both of disco and blues. I dusted off my graphics tablet and drew whatever came into my mind. If you want to take a look into the drawing process, check this speedpainting YouTube video on my channel.