After seeing British blues hero John Mayall back in 2019, I knew there was an audience for classic blues and blues-based rock in Budapest. I just didn’t know where they went to get their music fix. The only Hungarian act I knew of was the institution known as Hobo.
Born László Földes in 1945, Hobo officially retired in 2011 according to his website, but this also lists performances he’s giving in June. Aged 80, he recently formed the Budapest Blues Band and did a show at the Zene Háza with legendary Hungarian blues men including Jenő Fekete, Zoltán Nemes and Laca Varga.
While I applaud the fact that Hobo’s fire has most certainly not gone out, I prefer to see and hear my blues up close and personal and not in an auditorium.
Fortunately, I discovered The BluesSteel who play in Budapest at, for instance, Csili Alsóállomás, Harat’s Irish Pub in Kálvin tér and the Lámpás at Dob utca. There’s also the Muzikum Klub & Bistro at 7 Muzeum utca in District VIII, and the Renegade at Rákóczi utca 17, which combines “the atmosphere of American blues bars with the high standards of our tattoo parlor.” The band have yet to play these last two.
Established in 2006, The BluesSteel has been playing in its current four-man lineup (Zoltán Kárpati on drums, Tibor Vajda on bass, András Horváth on keyboards and guitarist and lead vocalist Péter Vámos) since 2018. The band has a classic, crunchy rock-orientated blues sound that comes across powerfully when they play live, and Vámos is a frontman worth watching.
Should a promoter want a larger ensemble, they’re joined by Ferencs Kecskés on sax and occasionally by Balázs Szalóky on trumpet and go out as The BluesSteel and Friends. For some shows, the band is joined by a female vocalist. Recently, I spoke to Vámos about his life as a Hungarian bluesman.
Aged 49, he grew up in the final years of socialism. “Music was always part of my life,” he tells me. “I started by learning the violin as a child. After a couple of years of this, I changed to the piano. When I was 16 or 17, I picked up an acoustic guitar. A month or so later, I bought my first electric guitar. Since then, I mainly play electric but sometimes piano and blues harp.”
A teenager in the 1990s, when Hungary opened up to the West, Vámos could listen to just about any Western rock band that took his fancy. “I had several friends who were older than me who had large music collections, and they educated me as to what was out there. I was open to all kinds of music; today, I listen to classical, electronica, hip-hop, rap and heavy metal, but my real passion was for the blues,” he says.
Vámos’ heroes are, perhaps unsurprising: Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore and John Mayall. He’s also into traditional blues from Leadbelly to Muddy Waters and is half of a duo that plays this kind of music.
When it comes to guitars, Vámos owns several but he mainly plays a Gibson Les Paul, a Fender Telecaster and a Stratocaster, the choice of most modern bluesmen. As he says, “With these three, I can play anything I want to.”
Alongside classics by their idols, The BluesSteel perform originals that Vámos writes with keyboardist Horváth. They came up with the originals on The BluesSteel’s album titled “What is the Blues?” The album covers a range of styles from the traditional-sounding title track to the heavier “What do you Want From Me?” and my favorite “Nothing Remains the Same.”
The album was recorded at Csend Studio in Budapest. Apparently, professional recording studios are easy to find in Budapest, as are rehearsal rooms. Some studios offer both. Good to know if you’re a musician reading this.
“What is the Blues?” is an appropriate album title for Hungarian audiences. The global blues rock scene is in good shape. Every few years or so, a new blues-influenced act comes along. But the style is not popular in Budapest right now.
“There are only a few bands playing the blues in the city,” Vámos explains. “And not many places offering this kind of music. This is sad because we, and bands like us, don’t have lots of places to play. For audiences, though, it means that they get to see only the bands that survive by being really good.”
On average, The BluesSteel play a couple of gigs a month in Budapest and across Hungary.
The audience the band does manage to play to may not be stadium-size, but they are enthusiastic. “The average age is around 40,” Vámos says. “In the city center, there are some places where the bars get very crowded with foreigners. They’re mainly from Europe, but we’ve also met some guys from the U.S. and Brazil. Foreigners are more likely to be into this kind of music than Hungarians, although we are seeing the scene in Budapest change as younger guys get into the guitar and classic rock. I don’t think the music will ever go away.”
This is good news for Vámos and his blues brothers in the band, who hope that when they retire from their day jobs, they’ll be able to devote their time to playing the music they love without compromise.
You can find out where to catch The BluesSteel at bluessteel.hu, which is available in both English and Hungarian.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of June 5, 2026.
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