Key Grip lives and breathes by the motto, “It’s Gotta Swing”.  They aim to set a high bar for blues in the ACT.  Key Grip has been cultivating its audience and carving out a reputation in Canberra as a band to watch.

Band leader Leo Joseph set up the outfit when he returned from the US back in 2005 after 12 years living overseas, mostly in Philadelphia.  “I really want Key Grip to be firmly in the grey area between blues and jazz so that it can explore the many shades that the blues genre has to offer.  I know we have Canberra’s finest ‘bluesicians’ in the outfit, and it has become the band we play in when we are not playing on other people’s bands,” says Leo. “At a Key Grip gig,” he continues, “we are going to give you up tempo and slower tunes, tunes with tasty, interesting progressions, great lyrics and well, tunes that just need a bit of work to get right. When the ingredients are all cooking and it’s working like a well-oiled machine, it’s to die for and we know we’ll see people up on the dance floor”.

Key Grip bring colour and texture to their sound by way of the Gripping Stuff Horn Section with its various saxes, Leo’s piano and Hammond, the vocal prowess of Angela Lount as well as Leo doing vocals, Canberra’s finest blues guitarist Dave Blanken and a rhythm section you’d go a long way to match, featuring Mitch Preston on drums and James Luke on bass.