It's the same all over: everybody's got the blues. Every major metropolis, jerk-water burgh, or wide spot in the road has its share of legends, mavericks, and mainstays. There's no shortage of guitar slingers, harp blowers, and howlers. But not every town has a band capable of such nonchalant elegance and ease as Rochester's The Electro Kings.

Since 2000 this band has worked the local club scene with its take on classic blues, in particular that era when the blues was getting more and more rambunctious. The music calls back to the time when rock 'n' roll first reared its head, still not ready for prime time. An era of twilight between Howlin' Wolf and Elvis Presley. An era that spawned everything - like The Electro Kings.

"As Muddy Waters said," says Electro Kings front man, Luca Foresta, "the blues had a baby and named it rock ‘n' roll.'"

Harmonicat-crooner Foresta cuts a mean two-tone, gabardine profile beneath the crown in this electro kingdom. His harmonica is clearly a homage to Little Walter. He sings casual and cool, but in such a way that carries as much wallop as Big Joe Turner used to, howling with the band from across the room. On any given night, in the gin joint du jour, the walls could be dripping with the dance floor's steam heat. Yet The Electro Kings hardly break a sweat; unruffled, their hair remains perfect. Foresta - and the whole band for that matter - makes it look good, and makes it look easy. And it's the little joints where the band shines.

"For me," says Foresta. "I love the small clubs - compact, intimate, people are listening, hopefully there's room to dance. I like the closeness of the audience, having them right up in my face."

Over the years Foresta has dealt with a rotating crew. However, the current line-up is solid and looks like it should reign for a while, as it blends so well with a swinging get-up and jump. You can blame a good deal of that on Mike Graham, the man with the big hands on the upright bass. Graham comes from more of a slap-style rockabilly background and applies it brilliantly, along with drummer Aron Nacman (Nacman spent some time drumming for John Mooney). Switching from rhythmic chops to the slide guitar is Aleks Disljenkovic, a well-known slinger around the scene, who has played in groups including The White Hots.

Though blues was all around him, Foresta didn't really take notice of the music until 1989. That was the year he saw James Cotton at the long gone and legendary BK Lounge on West Main Street.

"I remember watching him," Foresta says. "And that opened up my eyes as far as what to do on stage, how to sound."

It was a defining moment, but not the only one. In 1990 Foresta went to the Chicago Blues Festival, where he saw Charlie Musselwhite playing with Honeyboy Edwards, Sunnyland Slim, Willie Dixon - the list goes on.

It was then that Foresta picked up the harmonica. His style developed quickly, what with his broad appreciation of the various styles. He listened to the masters but didn't want to be a copycat.

"I find it's hard for me to follow someone right to the T and do exactly what they do," he says. "Maybe it's just that I can't retain everything they do. I just get the basic idea and go off on it with my own riffs. By listening to different players, you get your own mix."

Hot rodding your own harmonicas helps, too. "I rebuild them," Foresta says. "I make new combs out of different wood, like Brazilian or ebony, for different tones. I also build my own amps."

Foresta's incredible tone starts with one of his custom harmonicas blown through a Green Bullet mic and out either one his homemade amps. It's a beautiful tube amp sound, born out of necessity.

"I can't afford to buy the vintage ones," he says.

But being flush or having lean green, blues is more of a feeling to him. "It's the stories," he says. "The feeling I get playing the blues... I feel like I have a close connection to the blues. It's a very down-to-earth music, it tells a story of a person's accomplishments, their economic level - or the lack thereof. Blues is a feeling. You hear it and then you feel it. You start playing and it comes out."

Foresta says an Electro Kings album will be out sometime in the coming year. With band members stretched thin with families and other bands, the recording process has been slow going. The inevitable disc will aim to capture the band's trademark blue flirtation with early rock 'n' roll. And though it will no doubt jump and swing, as the band does nightly onstage, Foresta promises to "keep it in the blue."

The Electro Kings

Saturday, January 7

Salinger's, 107 East Ave.

10 p.m. | Free | 546-6880

theelectrokings.com