Mr. Blotto was born in Chicago as an off-night vehicle for musicians who loved each others playing but were in different bands at the time. The only rule was that they would only play what they loved. That philosophy continues today and has led Mr. Blotto into unique musical situations.

Mr. Blotto takes the Jam band asthetic into areas unfamiliar to the standard Jam Scene. They have been known to cover entire albums by Led Zeppelin and the Who as well as perform entire shows of Country and Reggae. Artists as diverse as the Grateful Dead, the Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson and The Velvet Underground have seen their material interpreted by Mr. Blotto in the 2000+ shows the band has performed in the last 15 years, yet covers only pepper the bands hefty catalog of original material stemming from five studio albums and other unreleased crowd favorites.

Nick Bell’s background comes from Moscow, Russia. He is originally from Chicago, IL and that gives him a tremendous feel for the Blues. What better city than Chicago!? With a mix of spending his childhood in Europe, and living in Chicago, his musical admirations spanned between two continents. Growing up on cassettes and CD’s of Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, The Beatles, Rainbow, Nazareth, and countless others, introduced him into the music we know as the Blues and artists such as Gary Moore, Walter Trout, Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, and likewise, this loop stretches on and on and on.

Around the time he was 16 years old, he was introduced into a Blues based band out of the Suburbs of Chicago. For a few years the band spanned with little direction of where they were headed. Countless musicians walked through the group, and the main focus was the enjoy the music they were playing. In due time the group picked up tremendous steam, and got the notice of the Chicago music communities, and Legendary Illinois musicians all over. All the while, the young guitarist’s skills were being fine tuned and honed through personal ambition and replication of the music from his heroes. With no formal musical training, Nick has shown to audiences all around, that music does come from the soul. With notice from organizations such as “ROCK CHICAGO MAGAZINE” and “NEW LIFE RADIO”, the talents of the young guitarist has been featured on the Air Waves, and pages of prominent sources of entertainment. The endorsement and ability to share the stage with some of Chicago’s finest established bands prove that shows from this guitarist are not something you want to miss.