From New Jersey to Memphis, the hardest-working blues-rock band on the East Coast talks new music, “Islands and Streams,” and their upcoming stop at The Lizzie Rose.
by Danny Coleman
originally published on Rock On! This Week’s Sound Bites…July 9, 2026 (NewJerseyStage.com)
“Very well; and you? We’re hoping you can come to The Lizzie Rose on Friday July 31; come as our guest, come enjoy the racket, it’s a wonderful room to play,” laughed the always jovial Conrad Warre of the Boston based blues/rock band Bees Deluxe as he discussed that upcoming Tuckerton show, their stop at Jamey’s House of Music, their upcoming new record, the International Blues Challenge and more.
Bees Deluxe are seemingly either on the road or in the studio as they are one of the hardest working bands on the East Coast and possibly beyond. So it comes as no surprise that they are currently in the process of both.
“We’re in the studio working on final mixes and we’ve got a short run,” began Warre. “We’re doing Worcester, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania up and down the East Coast, we just got back from Rockland, Maine which is like four hours north of us; maybe we’ll get to Florida again, that’s always fun.”
Known for their improvisational nature as well as a penchant for upbeat rockin’ blues music, Bees Deluxe has had some recent and past luck in a truly international competition, the International Blues Challenge; for those unfamiliar, that’s where Blues Foundations from all over the world send winners of local blues band competitions to Memphis, TN every January for what is perhaps, the largest Battle of the Bands the music world has ever seen.
“We won the New Hampshire IBC last year which sent us to Memphis in January of this year. We played two nights at BB King’s on Beale Street and we went through to the semi-finals which was kind of unexpected but great fun. We stayed for Saturday to watch the finals from the Orpheum Theatre which has fabulous sound and is such a very nice theatre. So, we said, “What the heck, let’s enter again.” So, we re-entered and we won again, so we’ll be going back again this coming January.”
“We absolutely adored Memphis,” he continued. “As you know, when you’re in the IBC, they give you a lanyard with a pass that lets you in everywhere; it’s like getting the golden ticket in Willy Wonka’s factory. So, we went to all of the clubs and saw all of the bands that we could and sat in where we could. I met Christone “Kingfish” and my new favorite band from France called The Blue Footed Boobies who were incredible. They were really astonishing, a three piece with very abrupt stops in their music that kind of frightened you, it was good.”
Getting farther than expected in the IBC is always a pleasant outcome and one that Warre, who is from the UK can appreciate given he has seen talent from both sides of the Atlantic “Pool.” However, he feels that he and his band mates may have lost an edge, when during their five song set for the Memphis judges they diverted away from their original music and chose to perform one cover song in their brief set. Conrad says they won’t make the same decision again in January of 2027 and the production of this new album along with their love of improv are great first steps to ensure they don’t.
“An album of all original material; you mix it and then you hear it and you’re like, all I hear are nothing but mistakes,” he said with another laugh. “I’m willing to leave some mistakes in but I don’t want it to be riddled like Swiss cheese (Laughs). While you’re doing that, of course you go home and write new material and you’re like, “Can we record this instead? No, no, you don’t have time! Finish this before you start the next one (Laughs).” I’m the main writer but Carol, our keyboard player writes a lot of tunes too. Lately, I’ve been asking her to come up with lyrics for music that I’ve written because she’s also a writer; a published writer. She used to write for “Parents Paper,” she had a weekly column that was turned into a book. In the olden days, I would write the music, then write the words, bring it to the band and they would add their parts to it unless I had something that was like a motif that had to be repeated or used somewhere. So, it’s as collaborative as we dare make it and we typically record all four people simultaneously and we try to follow the some or all rule which is, if someone makes a mistake, you make it look right. Improvisation is the fun of doing this. I can’t imagine anything more constricting than being in a tribute band where you have to play the same solos note for note every night. I might as well be at home, there’s no joy in that. You hope the audience digs it enough that they’ll let you go off to places that you haven’t been before. So, when we’re recording something we’ve rehearsed and something goes wrong, we’re like, well, that’s the new version. Another thing, we kind of stole this from Little Feat which is called Islands and Streams; do you know the expression? When you’re playing music and you’re on the “Island” this is a piece of rock that we’ve written. This stone we can walk on with grass and trees but now we get in the water and we don’t know what’s gonna happen until we get to the next piece of rock. I typically tell the bass player, “We’re doing it the way we want to do it but when we get in the water, you’ve got a free hand, go nuts!”
Their tours are not of the six month or longer variety. Instead, they choose the weekend warrior route or possibly a week or two but one thing is definite, they tour often and have some stops they consider a home away from home.
“We’ve got a local Cape May band opening for us at The Lizzie Rose called Eclipse who I hear are threatening to play some Pink Floyd before us, so that will set the mood. The night before, we’ll be in Harlem, New York at The Shrine World Music Venue which is a favorite stop for us and the night after we’ll be with our old friend Jamey at Jamey’s House of Music in Lansdowne, PA; have you ever been there? It’s a wonderful house and like going home for us, just like The Lizzie Rose. We’re doing as much new material as we can without frightening the audience. I hope we get 90 minutes; you know me, I don’t like taking breaks in the middle of a gig. Most gigs we do are about three hours and I loathe to break in the middle of it until somebody cries uncle. I’d rather keep going because you build momentum and sort of fall into the flow with greater ferver if you keep playing. There is a venue we play in Washington called Madam’s Organ, have you ever been there? They have a print out on the side of the stage that is very specific about what time you start, what time you stop, what time you break and what time you come back on; they penalize you if you mess it up. So, the first night we played there, we hit at 10, we played until 11:30. So, we went until 11:30 and we stopped to take our 15 minute break and the room cleared out. I went to the sound guy and said, “Are they gone?” He said, “No, they’re all outside smoking.” Sure enough, 15 minutes later, the place filled up again to the brim (Laughs).”
When can we expect the new album? Warre seems fairly sure it’ll be ready by the Fall.
“We are hoping to get it in the shops by October which is around the corner. To release an album, you need a three month head start to get graphics, a one sheet and all the files ready and whoever is gonna help you publicize it and get it to the papers and magazines; magazines need it at least a month ahead, that’s kind of like the launch plan.”
To discover more about Bees Deluxe, their tour schedule and music, please visit www.beesdeluxe.com
Tickets for the Lizzie Rose Room July 31st performance here.