Bman's Blues Report

I hope you all have a great New Year! I thought it would be fun to do a 2011 Crankshaft year end review, here goes: January 2011: Finished recording the album "Junkyard Rhythm" after four months of collaboration with 14 local musicians. February 2011: Finished the album cover art for the new release. March 2011: Threw a CD listening party where Crankshaft fans chose three singles for the radio promotion campaign. Directed and co-shot the music video "Neighbor Boys," one of the singles chosen from the new CD. April 2011: Pressed 2000 copies of "Junkyard Rhythm," as well as 250 promo copies. Mailed over 100 copies of the new album to college and independent radio stations nationwide. May 2011: Released "Junkyard Rhythm" at Lee's Liquor Lounge, and despite tornado warnings, I-94 being closed downtown, and competition from Art-A-Whirl that weekend, over 150 people attended! June 2011: Junkyard received play on over 25 FM radio stat...

Bman: Hi Crankshaft. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I stumbled on your music on Youtube a few months ago and I really dug your style. I have a particular love for guys who are willing put it all out there by themselves. So when did you learn to play guitar? Crankshaft: I learned how to play guitar in 1996 when I was 12. How I got my first guitar is a hilarious story. My uncle had a Squire Strat and Marshal amp that he didn't use. I wanted it really bad. He also was planning on building a shop to work on heavy equipment at on some property he purchased the year before. Right about the same time my step dad replaced the old combination wood/oil furnace (which you can burn used motor oil in from a shop) in our basement with a new natural gas one. He tried to sell it in the paper for a couple weeks and gave up. He told me if my dad or any of his friends would like to have it they were welcome to take it for free. So I jumped at the opportunity, I offered it to my un...

Forging his own brand of high-energy, low-brow Upper Mississippi blues, the one-man band powerhouse Crankshaft has been gigging around Minneapolis for nearly three years. Expanding his fanbase with every frenzied performance, Crankshaft earns his living as a musician and is taking his show on the road following the release of his new album, Junkyard Rhythm. Born into this world from gas station cassette tape collecting semi-truck drivers, Alex “Crankshaft” Larson was introduced to blues, rock 'n' roll, and R&B as a pup. In 1996 he traded a combination oil/wood stove to his uncle for his first electric guitar and amp. In April 2008, while self-employed as a contractor, he started practicing as a one-man band and was playing shows two months later. Larson self-produced and released three albums during the next two years. In 2010, he decided to hang his hammer up for good and focus on his music. Larson's newest release, Junkyard Rhythm, features a backing band, ...