The era of the Duo Couple Band Is Back!
Boy Blu is a musical duo that features American singer-songwriter, guitarist and drummer Lisa Blu and Irish singer-songwriter, producer, and renowned guitarist/bassist, Sean O’Connor from the legendary Irish band The Lookalikes and frequently with Thin Lizzy.
They both combine their talents and passion for music to bring an eclectic mix of rock, pop, soul and blues. They experiment with genre conventions to bring a truly unique listening experience that can’t be heard anywhere else.
https://www.facebook.com/boyblue20
Interview by Tim Brown
When and why did you start playing?
Lisa-
I started as a drummer at age 12 playing in church. I have been playing in bands, writing, and now singing lead for about 45 years.
Seàn-
I was a “late starter” on the guitar as I didn’t have one until I was 21, but I always sang in school and various choirs and I always spent a lot of my time listening to music.
Which famous musicians do you admire?
We admire a lot of classic rock bands and artists like Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, and Zeppelin to name a few
Were you influenced by old records & tapes?
Lisa-
For me, records like “Edgar Winter, Rod Stewart, Gary Wright, Billy Squire, Peter Gabriel and Prince” were just a few of my biggest influences and records that I listened to as a kid and teenager. They helped form my early years as a musician, especially John Bonham on drums and Prince vocally.
Seán-
I listened to everything my older brother had, and later on my friends and I would swap albums around regularly. I liked bands like Free, Pink Floyd, Wishbone Ash and Deep Purple, but I listened to a lot of different music – Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Strawbs, and Roy Buchanan to name just a few.
How long have the two of you been playing together as a band?
Lisa-
A little over two years, we started at the beginning of the pandemic and from two different countries!
We know you just spoke a bit candidly in another interview about your personal relationship, did the romantic side of the band start right away?
Lisa-
That’s a great way to put it hahah!
It took about a year for us to be able to travel to know for sure we had a connection beyond music. So whereas the connection started right away, as we spent 6-8 hours a night, every night on the phone, it took another year for us to actually get to visit and spend time together due to the pandemic.
Seán –
Yes, we literally cancelled the plane ticket a few times because the countries had not yet opened the borders for travel due to the pandemic. But eventually, we were both able to fly.
Do you perform in public?
Lisa-
Again due to the pandemic we have only done one live show out in public, the rest have been live streams which is just as fun but can be challenging technologically.
Seán-
Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, there were literally no gigs allowed in Ireland at all of any sort, and I couldn’t fly to America because of the travel ban, so we’ve been restricted to doing live streams.
Let’s Talk about your music and your last work.
Lisa-
We just released our latest which has that traditional classic rock vibe and a message on top of that. The song is basically about being human.
Seán-
We’re constantly writing and working on songs – the last one was “All The Things” – and we’re almost finished with the next one, so it’s a pretty constant flow.
What are the plans for the future?
Lisa-
we are writing and recording original music constantly so that’s still the plan for the near future.
Seán –
We’ll keep writing and recording and we hope to release an EP in the spring of 2023, and an album later in the year.
How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?
Lisa-
I started out on drums and played drums/percussion as well as did some back up singing for most of my career. I picked up the guitar about 3 years ago and have always been able to fiddle around on the keys/piano so I have been branching out away from drums a lot more these last few years. Now, I am writing, recording and co-producing original music so I am happy my musical career is continuing to evolve.
Seán –
I started out playing in a covers band at the weekends and working a full-time job so every spare minute was spent learning songs and how to play them. I eventually decided that music was more important to me and decided to do it full-time and write my own songs. As my playing was evolving and improving, my writing and recording were getting more polished too and I’ve been fortunate to work with top-class musicians, engineers, and producers that I’ve learned a lot from.
Could you briefly describe the music-making process?
Seán –
We usually “bounce” ideas off each other and Lisa generally does the lyrics and I do the music, but we both write lyrics and music so there’s nothing “set in stone” about the writing process between us. We both come from the “pre-YouTube” era and we both like Classic Rock so we tend to write the type of music that we’d enjoy listening to – real musicians playing real instruments.
M.T.V.rock 