Manhattan Beach Blogs

LUKE MULHOLLAND is a rare young talent. At age
19, he could easily be considered at once a guitar
virtuoso, a prolific songwriter, and a vocalist blessed
with a voice that sounds wise beyond his years. His
music effortlessly blends the blues, rock and pop
together with a phenomenal guitar style that has
earned him the admiration of fans and fellow
musicians alike.

After receiving his first classical guitar at age 10,
Luke quickly progressed from playing “little classical
ditties” to “playing power chords” in the vein of
bands like Blink-182 and Limp Bizkit, to finally trying
to master the guitar technique of music from his
parents’ generation, such as Jimi Hendrix and Led
Zeppelin. “I realized there was more guitar talent
from that music than there was from current music,”
Luke says. “So, I started learning how to solo and
got into oldies stuff, and it just blossomed from
there.”

By 13, Luke was writing songs and performing
locally in Toronto, Canada. His father took him to his
first open-mic – “I think I did a cover of [J.J. Cale’s]
“Cocaine,” he remembers – and soon after, Luke
was sneaking out of his house in the middle of the night to play only a couple songs at various
open-mics before stealing back home in the wee hours of the morning, his parents none the
wiser. Luke explains, “Once my father introduced me to playing live, I got addicted to it. It was
the most fun I’d ever had.” Meanwhile, Luke was busy at work holed up in his bedroom, writing
and recording his debut album Road Home by himself on a sixteen-track digital workstation,
handling all guitar, bass, drum programming and vocal duties. On first listen to a playback, his
father almost didn’t believe that the music was Luke’s.

Six years, three more albums and countless gigs later, it’s incredible to consider what this guitar
whiz kid has achieved. After winning a vote-based competition on local radio station Q107 for
track “Baby Stay With Me,” he opened for Bon Jovi in Toronto, playing to a crowd of 18,000 and
receiving accolades from Richie Sambora for that night’s performance. He performed to a crowd
of 10,000 people at 2007’s Burlington Rib Festival. He has also opened for Loverboy, late guitar
legend Jeff Healey, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Blue Oyster Cult, Dickey Betts and Mountain –
not to mention his headlining shows in the US and Canada. “At this point, I’d like to play live as
much as possible,” says Luke. “And the shows are just getting better and better.”

Luke’s latest record, Further, represents for him “a breakthrough in all aspects of the
music…the lyrics are getting more poetic, the music has more freedom and jamming, and
everything else in my life is expanding, too.” The album was recorded in December 2007 in
Toronto, and found Mulholland taking a more active role in the production: “I think every artist
should be involved with production, or should at least have a say, because it’s their music.I was in there the entire time with the producer, talking about how it should sound. It finally
came out how I wanted it to – and hopefully that will continue.” The young artist couldn’t be
more pleased with the result, which involves extended jams and psychedelic keyboard work,
declaring it “the album I’m most proud of.”

The album features the single “Drowning.” The song is a jubilantly bouyant pop tune, highlighted
by acoustic guitars and sly blues guitar leads underneath Mulholland’s confidently laid-back
vocal. According to the artist, the song deals with “love in its most innocent form,” detailing his
relationship with a girl who has been, in Luke’s words, “the best friend I’ve ever had….one
who’s always been there for me and always had the right things to say.” As Mulholland sings in
his inimitably gruff – yet tuneful – style, “Good friends have come and good friends have gone/I
never knew what a true friend was until you came along.”

The album’s title track, “Further,” simmers with a slow Delta groove, with Mulholland masterfully
exploring lower registers on his guitar. The lyrics play upon a cryptic beckoning with potentially
dark undertones, as the verse refrains, “Take my hand, child/if you want to be free.” Luke
explains that the song’s theme relates to his feelings about the album as a whole: “It’s all about
expanding one’s mind, and exploring new territory.”

With the organ-augmented waltz, “The Last Verse,” Luke laments the disappearance of the
classic rock he fell in love with years ago: “The song is about remembering a time when music
was pure and true to the heart. In the lyrics, I used the metaphor of a young girl who died before
her time – that’s really what the loss of that music seems like.” Elsewhere, the singer/songwriter
expands on themes of unrequited love, as in “My Angel,” a bright, swaggering bluesy tune,
imbued with a promise to always be there if needed – “When you’re all alone and cold/And
there’s no one else to hold/I’m gonna come for you,” sings Luke.

Concurrent with his burgeoning musical career, Luke is attending the world-renown Berklee
School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Luke says his attending Berklee has been “the best
thing I’ve ever done….I do music for homework now, which is great!” According to Mulholland,
Berklee can only help him on his musical path: “I’ve never been so immersed in music in all my
life, and I’ve been truly freed up to work on my guitar playing. Going to Berklee has made me
listen to the whole band; I’m listening to every instrument now, not just the guitar.”

Luke Mulholland is touring the United States alongside classic rock legends, and preparing
material for a follow-up to Further, which he cheekily suggests could be called Even Further.
All signs point to a long, fruitful career for this young prodigy. “I’m surprised and happy with all
the work I’ve done,” he says, “but I still have a long way to go. I can’t possibly envision doing
anything else.”

• Jun 16, 2013 — The Independent, San Francisco, CA
• Jun 18, 2013 — Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA

Philadelphia-based Three Legged Fox became a fixture on the eastern rock circuit after winning the University of Delaware’s 2006 Battle of the Bands — their first performance. The ensuing three years have seen 3LF expand their regional fan base as far east as Massachusetts, as far west as Ohio, and north to south from New York to North Carolina, performing regularly at scores of top venues. They have shared the stage with such national recording artists as Jeffrey Gaines, SOJA, Rebelution, John Brown’s Body, Passafire, Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad, and Ballyhoo, and are planning their own national tour in support of their second album, “Not as Far” (2009).

The band’s first album, “Ideas,” (2006) received airplay on more than 170 radio stations nationwide, and led to support from one of Philadelphia’s leading alternative stations, Clear Channel’s Radio 104.5-FM, where they performed two live broadcasts and earned a spot on the station’s “Locals Live” compilation CD.

Members Kyle Wareham (lead vocals, guitar), Mike Brody (lead guitar), Eric Weisenstein (bass), and Kory Kochersperger (drums), compose the band’s original songs together with a deft, nuanced style that blends Wareham’s soulful vocals with the band’s sophisticated instrumental stylings, enhancing their songcraft rather than competing with it — the mark of a mature musical approach.

3LF’s second album, “Not As Far,” was produced by prominent recording engineer/producer Chris DiBeneditto at Philadelphonic Studios, and features guest performances by members of several national acts including G. Love Special Sauce, Slightly Stoopid (both fellow Philadelphonic recording artists), SOJA, and John Brown’s Body. Fans will find plenty of the reggae influences that marked their first album, but the band’s continuing evolution as it explores other aspects of the “organic roots rock” genre is evident in the increasing variety of influences to be heard among the album’s 13 songs.

• Jun 13, 2013 — Freebird Live, Jacksonville Beach, FL
• Jun 13, 2013 — Antone’s, Austin, TX
• Jun 13, 2013 — Visulite Theatre, Charlotte, NC
• Jun 13, 2013 — Smith’s Olde Bar, Atlanta, GA
• Jun 14, 2013 — Trees, Dallas, TX