Scott McKeon has given a lifetime of dedication to his craft as a
guitarist. Initially inspired by his dad’s love of blues, soul and rock
music, he took up the guitar at the age of four and has developed a
reputation as one of the UK’s most in-demand guitarists, both in the
studio and performing live.
Scott was raised in southern England
on a diet of Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent,
Hank Marvin, and other 50s rock n roll music, as well as Stevie Wonder,
Steely Dan, Motown, RnB, and soul, through his parent’s record
collection. Scott’s dad, Geoff, was a successful guitarist in his own
right, with his band The Diplomats opening for The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers in the early 60s, with offers to go to Germany to perform.
By
the time he was eight, Scott was playing a full-size Strat and was the
face of a Fender ad campaign to inspire a new young generation of
guitarists. Around the age of ten, a friend of Geoff’s showed Scott and
his Dad a video tape of Stevie Ray Vaughan performing at Austin City
Limits. This ignited Scott’s love of the blues and set him on a path to
discover more about Texas musicians such as Freddie King, Lightnin’
Hopkins, Doyle Bramhall Sr and Jr,
and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. This led Scott to listen to artists
including Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Eric Clapton and BB King, all of
which were influences on his playing in these formative years.
In
1998, Scott was the winner of Guitarist Magazine’s Young Guitarist of
the Year, writing and performing his own song at Wembley Arena. Scott’s
father sadly passed away shortly after this time, when Scott was 13
years old and already fronting his own blues band, playing most weekends
in pubs and clubs around the south coast of England.
At 18, a
demo CD was passed onto Jakko Jaksyk of Level 42/King Crimson, who then
passed it on to Paul Crockford, Mark Knopfler’s manager, who started
representing Scott. This culminated in the release of his debut album ‘Can’t Take No More’
- an energetic and raw take on modern electric blues rock, produced by
Jesse Davey of UK blues band The Hoax. To promote the album, Scott
toured extensively in the UK, Europe and US, sharing stages with Eric
Clapton, Derek Trucks, Arc Angels, John Mayer and Sheryl Crow at Hard
Rock Calling, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, The North Mississippi Allstars,
BB King and Joe Bonamassa, as well as playing at The Montreal Jazz
Festival, Mont Tremblant Festival, Glastonbury, and making TV
appearances in the US.
In 2010, Scott released his second album,
‘Trouble’, on Mascot Provogue Records and again toured extensively to
promote the record. This self-produced album crossed over to the
rock/pop genre, with emphasis on song writing coming to the fore, after
spending time in Nashville writing and hanging out with fellow guitarist
Tyler Bryant earlier that year. The album featured guest performances
from David Ryan Harris from John Mayer’s band, and legendary UK
guitarist Robbie McIntosh. The release of the album led to Scott touring
and opening shows for Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr and the Arc Angels,
and to making his first performance at the Royal Albert Hall supporting
Joe Bonamassa. Scott also wrote and produced music for Robert Knight’s
‘Rock Prophecies’ Documentary, which won him a RIIFF award for Best
Soundtrack. The makers of Guitar Hero Five also sought him out in order
to have a track from ‘Trouble’ on their game, as did the makers of the
TV show LA Task Force.
After moving to London in 2010, Scott
found himself in demand as a session musician, playing both live and in
the studio, with many artists including Zigaboo Modeliste, James Arthur,
Emeli Sande, Lana Del Ray, Van Morrison, Andreya Triana, Ed Sheeran and
Rebecca Ferguson. Working outside of the blues genre widened Scott’s
musical palette.
In 2014, Scott got a call to play in Sir Tom Jones’ band, alongside Robbie McIntosh
and Pink Floyd drummer, Gary Wallis. The blues, rock n roll and gospel
orientated set allows Scott to call on his early influences and travel
the globe, recently completing the fifth year of working with Sir Tom.
Performances so far have included five European tours, three tours of
the US and South America, and tours of Australia and the Far East, as
well as TV appearances including Later… with Jools Holland and TFI
Friday, and playing New Orleans Jazz Festival in 2019.
Scott founded his own band, Rufus Black, in 2017, with UK blues/soul singer Gavin Conder, guitarist Ben Jones, and drummer Russ Parker. Their debut album, ‘Rise Up’,
influenced by British Blues bands like Cream, Free and The Faces, was
released the same year and was met with critical acclaim. The band have
since seen their following grow and have been packing out venues and
festivals across the UK and Europe.
In 2016, Scott travelled to
the Fender factory in Corona, California, to meet with Master Builder,
Dale Wilson. Dale designed and built a replica of Scott’s distinctive
1962 Fender Strat - a process which took around a year to complete, when
the finished guitar was shipped across the pond to Scott.
Early
2018 saw Scott playing with one of his musical heroes, Eric Clapton, as
part of the house band for an annual charity event (also featuring
pianist Paddy Milner
and guitarist and singer Marcus Bonfanti of Jawbone), Paul Jones and
Friends, which also saw performances from Van Morrison and Sir Tom
Jones.
In 2019, Scott joined Schiller, one of Germany’s biggest electronic artists, for his ‘Morgenstund’
tour, playing 15 arena shows all over Germany. Later that year, Scott
joined guitarist and singer Doyle Bramhall II’s band for part of his
European tour for shows in Sweden and Denmark. Scott has also been part
of John Illsley from Dire Strait’s live band for the past 3 years, and features on John’s latest album, ‘Coming Up for Air’.
Scott’s third album, 'New Morning'
out April 23 2021,is an earthy, raw, guitar-lead record, showcasing
Scott's range and ability as a guitarist. The album was recorded live in
the studio at RAK in London, capturing the energy and spontaneity of
the sessions, and was produced by Paul Stacey (Black Crowes/Oasis), and
features Jeremy Stacey (Sheryl Crow/Tal Wilkenfield) on drums, Rocco
Palladino (Tom Misch/ D'Angelo) on bass, and Gavin Conder (Rufus
Black/The Kondoors) as vocalist on several tracks.
The first single 'Third Eye Witness' released in February 2021, has already made it onto Spotify’s 'Modern Blues Rock' playlist alongside international artists including The Black Keys, Alabama Shakes, Kurt Vile and Gary Clark Jr.
More
recently, Scott has been working in a producing role with other
artists, with albums due for release later in 2021. You can also catch
Scott performing live with his own 'Superjam' group comprised of some of the UK’s top musicians.
Scott has also a signature fuzz pedal and signature pickups, modelled on his ’62 Strat.
https://www.scottmckeon.co.uk/
