# Urban Blitz

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Blitz
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> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=July 2011}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name            = Urban Blitz
|image           =
|caption         = 
|background      = non_vocal_instrumentalist
|genre           = [Rock](/source/Rock_music), [protopunk](/source/protopunk), [art rock](/source/art_rock)
|occupation      = [Musician](/source/Musician)
|associated_acts = [Doctors of Madness](/source/Doctors_of_Madness)
}}

'''Urban Blitz''' is an English rock musician, best known for his "eerie and atmospheric"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=doctors_of_madness |title=Doctors of Madness |publisher=TrouserPress.com |date= |accessdate=2014-08-24}}</ref> (Ira Robbins) [electric violin](/source/electric_violin), baritone [violectra](/source/violectra) and [lead guitar](/source/lead_guitar) work with the 1970s London [protopunk](/source/protopunk) [art rock](/source/art_rock) band [Doctors of Madness](/source/Doctors_of_Madness).<ref name="Robbins">Robbins, Ira "[https://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=doctors_of_madness Doctors of Madness]", ''[Trouser Press](/source/Trouser_Press)'', retrieved 2011-07-10</ref>

However, Blitz had considerable earlier musical experience, graduating from a classical background to hone his skills on the London late 1960s, and early 1970s club and [pub rock](/source/Pub_rock_(United_Kingdom)) scene. He travelled to Italy in early 1973, to play with the Neapolitan Italian / Celtic chanteuse, Jenny Sorrenti. He lived and rehearsed with Sorrenti's band, 'Saint Just', in the House on the Lake on [Lake Bracciano](/source/Lake_Bracciano), that led to the album of the same name,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiDrTVVM5zE  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/GiDrTVVM5zE |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title="La Casa Del Lago" by Saint Just (Italy, 1974) |publisher=[YouTube](/source/YouTube) |date=2010-07-21 |accessdate=2020-05-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref> but before the recording, Blitz left Italy to join the Doctors of Madness in June 1974.

With Doctors of Madness, Blitz further developed his unique counterpoint [electric violin](/source/electric_violin) style, incorporating a [garage rock](/source/garage_rock) edge to complement the Doctor's nihilistic, manic, approach to [rock music](/source/rock_music);{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}} using [fuzz box](/source/Distortion_(music)), [wah-wah pedal](/source/wah-wah_pedal), [phasing](/source/phasing), [echoplex](/source/echoplex) and [reverberation](/source/reverberation) to appropriate effect. He cited avant garde violinists [Jean-Luc Ponty](/source/Jean-Luc_Ponty), [Don "Sugarcane" Harris](/source/Don_%22Sugarcane%22_Harris) and [John Cale](/source/John_Cale) of the [Velvet Underground](/source/Velvet_Underground) as his main influences; having largely rejected his early classical training.

Blitz was also an adventurous violin designer and maker, and in the early 1970s produced the first ‘skeleton’ electric violin design that is widely copied and adapted in mass-produced electric violins today. Blitz's multifaceted lead guitar work also made a significant impact throughout the Doctors' music.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

In the mid 1970s, Blitz did occasional freelance studio work, playing the electric violin solo on "Watch Out Carolina", produced by [David Essex](/source/David_Essex), for [The Real Thing](/source/The_Real_Thing_(group)), and he also showed some flair as a producer himself, working with York [punk rock](/source/punk_rock) band The Jermz<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111004220404/http://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/JERMZ.htm] </ref> on their singles "Powercut"<ref>{{YouTube|n9WL1iownJY|"Powercut"}}</ref> and Me and My Baby.<ref>{{YouTube|pYlURTR6S0M|"Me and My Baby"}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blitz, Urban}}
Category:English rock musicians
Category:British alternative rock musicians
Category:British rock violinists
Category:British male violinists
Category:English rock guitarists
Category:1951 births
Category:Living people
Category:Protopunk musicians
Category:Electric violinists
Category:English male guitarists
Category:21st-century English violinists
Category:21st-century British male musicians

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Urban Blitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Blitz) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Blitz?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.