Blues Mafia

Sasha Ortiz, Chris Copeland, Kai Roach, Max Frost & Pat Mertens – the members of Blues Mafia – were first brought together by Austin School of Music owner Dave Sebree and guitar teacher Cid Sanchez as essentially a “select team” of musicians who were all unusually accomplished for their age.  They quickly found that they shared a love for classic rock, old-school blues, funk, jazz and soul, and a desire to evolve that music the next steps down the road.

They formed a band and played some initial gigs at top Austin venues such as The Paramount, The Glenn at the Backyard, and First night, soon finding a home base at Jovita’s, a venue known as the launching pad for artists like Seth Walker, The Gourds, and Gary Clark, Jr.    Over the past 3 years, they’ve played many of Austin’s top venues, including Antone’s, the Saxon Pub, Threadgill’s, Momo’s, and Tim’s Porch (formerly The Backyard).

In January 2008, they explored management and recording options in LA and played The Roxy, the AC Supper Club and Molly Malone’s.  A win at the Blastbeat regional finals in May, 2008 got them tickets to Dublin for the World Finals in December, where they placed second and made friends with other young artists from all over the world.

In fall 2009, they are concentrating on venues outside of Austin, such as Houston's famed Walter's on Washington, and San Antonio's upscale Luna Live.

They paid for their first recording in the summer of 2007 through a win in a band competition, working with engineer Chet Himes at ASM studios in a one-day marathon, self-produced session that resulted in a 3-song CD.

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS, their debut album released March, 2009, was produced by Dave Sebree, again engineered by Chet Himes.  All the songs are original, except for one written for them by Hudson Mueller of Austin’s award-winning folk duo, The Hudsons.  The album title refers to the many artists the band admires who came before them.  Some are known only around Austin, some are world-famous. Like many of them, the members of Blues Mafia fell in love with the blues and started playing professionally before they were 21.