Robert James

Marshal Lee

Uncle Vic

B Man

Robert James is our lead vocalist and a smooth harmonica player. He has a number of great sounding harmonicas in different keys to give him a fantastic sound. He and Marshal Lee have collaborated on most of the bands original songs. Robert James was very persistant in his pursant to find the right bass player for the band. He called Brian constantly to come play the blues with Deep Fried Blues.

I ("B Man") for one am grateful he was so persistant. Thanks, Robert James.

Marshal Brizendine is a smooth bluesy rhythm & lead guitarist and vocalists playing with our band. He plays a beautiful Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocastor guitar. He and Robert James have collaborated on most of the bands original songs. Marshal is also the bands musical coordinator.

Victor Negrete is the mean drummist of the band. He loves listening to the blues in his blues alley. Uncle Vic plays a vintage Rogers Drum set and he's a dynamo on the drums and a awesome Conga player.

On March 24, 2001, Uncle Vic played the congas with Mike Mazalic's band, "Common Ground" at the Iron Hog Bar in Victorville, California.

Uncle Vic is very kind. He purchased a cool "Deep Fried Blues" sign and a bass drum skin with the bands name on it so that we can have the feel of a professional blues band when performing.

We'd like to send a special thank you out to Uncle Vic for the efforts and thoughtfulness he displayed for the benefit of the band.

Brian Colson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of five years old. He grew up with his mom, dad and two younger brothers, Kevin and Juan Colson. Brian grew up listening to music all of his life. His dad, Isidore, loves listening to music and has played a guitar by ear since he was eleven years old. He was inspired by his Uncle Jake as a kid growing up in Natchitoches (Cane River), Louisiana .

Brian's dad played the guitar for the troops in the U.S. Army while stationed in Souel, Korea and he continues to play for family and friends in New Orleans, LA., Los Angeles, CA. and Henderson, NV. He started a band with his friends called "The Spidells" and for many years they performed at local clubs in the Los Angeles area. Brian's dad wrote two original songs called "Just One Smile" and "Yes, my darling" which he still sings today. The band would practice in the Colson garage on weekends and the boys enjoyed listening to the band but most of all liked playing with the kids of the band members. Lots of times the wives would get together also and the practice would turn into a party.

Brian always wished he could play the guitar but just never really got interested enough to learn. He was more interested in playing games and sports with his friends. He did learn to play a few basic chords his dad taught him on the guitar but he never really enjoyed playing music because it was hard to learn.

At the age of nineteen he was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis which effected most of the major joints in his body, primarily his hands and knees. This prevented him from playing a guitar. A few years after he was diagnosis, a family friend and band member, Bernard Baltazar loaned his Gibson bass guitar to Brian and that was his first experience with a bass. He tried to play but never really studied enough to get the hang of playing so the instrument was put away for safe keeping and returned to Ben. He even got encouragement from his Uncle Burnell who also loaned him a bass. This time he wanted to learn so bad he got a teacher named Herb Mickman out of Hollywood. The lessons costs $30 bucks and hour and Mr. Mickman was a great bassists and pianists. During the lessons Herb told him he needed to buy a quality bass. In 1981 Brian purchased a beautiful black, Fender Precision Bass which is the same bass he plays now. Because of the costs of the lessons and the drive to Hollywood he quit after just taking three lessons. Once again, he never really learned to play and the bass was put in its case and away for safe keeping.

This time the bass would stay there until in or about October 1998 when Brian was laid off his job at Wells Fargo Bank and he had lots of time on his hand. He was bored so he pulled out his bass, books and tapes. He started on a journey that would lead him to really learning how to play a bass guitar. He began by learning to lay down some simple blues bass lines and it really started to sound like music. He practiced everyday for months and started understanding how the notes fit together to make such wonderful sounds.

One afternoon he went into the Guitar Center to purchase some new strings. While there he met one of the most incredible musicians he had ever heard in his life. A young twenty year old kid named Mike Mazalic. Brian and Mike clicked right away and before long Mike was teaching Brian how to really play the bass. One day Mike asked him if he ever thought about playing with a band, he said "you're good enough to play with a rock or blues band" . Brian just thought he was jiving him and laughed. He told Mike that this guy had been asking him to come play with his band for a while because they needed a bass player. He told Brian that he should go and play with them, he said "you can do it, trust me". Robert James called again and this time Brian accepted and the rest is history. Robert James, Marshal Lee, Uncle Vic and the bass player now known as "B Man" have been playing for just over a year and together their making some really jamming "Deep Fried Blues".

On March 24, 2001, B Man and Uncle Vic played the blues with Mike's band, "Common Ground" at the Iron Hog Bar in Victorville, California. That same week, Brian played the bass with a blues legend named, Bernie Pearl and his band at Yesteryear's Blues Club in Pomona, California.

Brian has got so involved with music and playing the bass, he wrote the lyrics to two songs, "No Other Woman" and "Come'on Back". He and Mike collaborated on the musical arrangements and the songs really sound great. Both songs were a big hit as Brian and Mike, accompanied by his dad, Uncle Vic on drums, Robert James and Marshal Lee, performed the songs live for the first time for family and friends at last years Labor Day Blues Jam at the Colson pad in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Brian also wrote a theme song for the band called "Deep Fried Blues Boogie". He and Mike again collaborated on the musical arrangements. The band will be performing this song and other originals at local blues clubs in the southern California area soon........

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