Traditionally Australia Day is the hottest day of the year and when I most dream of moving away from the heat of Mudgee to some place on the coast...preferably the South Pole!!!!!
The gig offers have started coming in for Blue Valentine www.bluevalentinemusic.com everything from blackboard appearances at the Cobargo Folk Festival where my good friends in www.wheelersanddealersmusic.com are playing to the Blue Mountains Folk Festival in March.
Ged Corben is hopefully coming up Mid February to put down Mandolin and Guitar on the CD and we have been auditioning and rehearsing new material with some local players. I jammed in Sydney with Ged on some of the new songs I have been writing and he is excited about them as much as me.
I have already started taking bookings for Drum students and only have 4 spots left. I only need 12 students to earn $300 @ week.
Will be going up the coast next week, after out inaugural book group meeting, to sit on a beach for a week before it all gets frantic again.
Happy Invasion Day
News from Figtree Food and Music on Current releases by Richard Lawson and his movements in music, food and etc. Also news on The Electronica Show on Shoalhaven FM and the upcoming Gulgong Music Festival
Friday, 26 January 2007
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
Lime Spiders gigs
Truly awesome!!!
Nothing like playing a www.limespidersmusic.com gig to shake out the cobwebs from your system. 75 minutes of frantic shamanistic mayhem where you are transported to another plane of existence. I once said to friends it was better than sex........and I now think it's on a par at least.
Friday nights gig at the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle was shaping up to be what is politely phrased "a funeral gig" or in other words a bit of a flop. Not many people [about 100] but boy were they into it!! They were grabbing the crowd barrier and shaking it up and down. One guy was leaning into the speaker box and turning his head around like an old hippie, his eyes rolling back in his head. Ben Gillies the Silverchair www.chairpage.com drummer was in attendance and I had a nice little rave with him and I had a great talk to some fans afterwards until the wee hours.
Saturday dawned hot and I was nursing a bit of a hangover and couldn't wait for the load out and drive back to Sydney to be over. The part of Newcastle we were playing was the West End and it was a dump and seemed stuck in a time warp economically and socially. Nothing has changed much in the 15 or so years since I last played here. I went for a little drive down to the beach end, as I waited for the other guys to surface, and it was much more salubrious with cafes, expensive cars and generally more gorgeous people around.
The drive back seemed to take forever and it was boiling hot on the F3 to Sydney. Lucky it wasn't Sunday we were travelling as a bushfire broke out near Berowra closing it for a day or two.
After a cold shower, feed and snooze back at Ged's place I felt like a million dollars and headed off for soundcheck at the www.annandalehotel.com. Met up with Jay Katz form the SBS Movie show who runs a B Grade movie/DJ night extravaganza out in the beer garden. He remembers me from 3 years ago at the Sounds of Seduction/Flickerfest festival at the Bondi Pavilion when I tried to storm the stage to play a drum solo and get a girl inside one of the go go dancing cages.......Outrageous behaviour but he was good humoured about it and only had words of praise for the Spiders. Also made some good contacts with MMM Radio in Wollongong and Dum Media in Sydney. I'm always networking.......hey I'm a Leo!!!
Soundcheck sizzled/cracked and popped and was VERY LOUD. People were applauding it.
I decamped back to Ged's for a rest and Zen lockdown to focus for the show, arriving back at the Annandale just as the drumkit is being set up. No alcohol and no food for 3 hours before I play. It's just too physical and I am not getting any younger [well maybe in the head!]
The crowd is down on our sellout appearance in May but the gig is a blinder and by the end I had timed my run to perfection and was slamming into the drums fearfully. Consensus seems to be that it was better than the last May gig and we operate more as a unit now. A few of us retire back to a nice little pub on Parramatta Rd.
Sunday is even hotter and it is 35 degrees by 10am in the morning. I feel elated after the gigs and drive back to Mudgee a very happy chappy. Long live the Spiders.
Nothing like playing a www.limespidersmusic.com gig to shake out the cobwebs from your system. 75 minutes of frantic shamanistic mayhem where you are transported to another plane of existence. I once said to friends it was better than sex........and I now think it's on a par at least.
Friday nights gig at the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle was shaping up to be what is politely phrased "a funeral gig" or in other words a bit of a flop. Not many people [about 100] but boy were they into it!! They were grabbing the crowd barrier and shaking it up and down. One guy was leaning into the speaker box and turning his head around like an old hippie, his eyes rolling back in his head. Ben Gillies the Silverchair www.chairpage.com drummer was in attendance and I had a nice little rave with him and I had a great talk to some fans afterwards until the wee hours.
Saturday dawned hot and I was nursing a bit of a hangover and couldn't wait for the load out and drive back to Sydney to be over. The part of Newcastle we were playing was the West End and it was a dump and seemed stuck in a time warp economically and socially. Nothing has changed much in the 15 or so years since I last played here. I went for a little drive down to the beach end, as I waited for the other guys to surface, and it was much more salubrious with cafes, expensive cars and generally more gorgeous people around.
The drive back seemed to take forever and it was boiling hot on the F3 to Sydney. Lucky it wasn't Sunday we were travelling as a bushfire broke out near Berowra closing it for a day or two.
After a cold shower, feed and snooze back at Ged's place I felt like a million dollars and headed off for soundcheck at the www.annandalehotel.com. Met up with Jay Katz form the SBS Movie show who runs a B Grade movie/DJ night extravaganza out in the beer garden. He remembers me from 3 years ago at the Sounds of Seduction/Flickerfest festival at the Bondi Pavilion when I tried to storm the stage to play a drum solo and get a girl inside one of the go go dancing cages.......Outrageous behaviour but he was good humoured about it and only had words of praise for the Spiders. Also made some good contacts with MMM Radio in Wollongong and Dum Media in Sydney. I'm always networking.......hey I'm a Leo!!!
Soundcheck sizzled/cracked and popped and was VERY LOUD. People were applauding it.
I decamped back to Ged's for a rest and Zen lockdown to focus for the show, arriving back at the Annandale just as the drumkit is being set up. No alcohol and no food for 3 hours before I play. It's just too physical and I am not getting any younger [well maybe in the head!]
The crowd is down on our sellout appearance in May but the gig is a blinder and by the end I had timed my run to perfection and was slamming into the drums fearfully. Consensus seems to be that it was better than the last May gig and we operate more as a unit now. A few of us retire back to a nice little pub on Parramatta Rd.
Sunday is even hotter and it is 35 degrees by 10am in the morning. I feel elated after the gigs and drive back to Mudgee a very happy chappy. Long live the Spiders.
Thursday, 18 January 2007
Thinking out loud
Just came back from my 4km walk. It's about 7.15am Thursday 18 January 2007.
I know this seems silly to be so pedantic about time and dates but I'd like to set the tone for you, also remind myself and check this gismo out.
Came back thinking about the Mandolin I'm looking to buy down here and how I was going to go about learning, playing it and how it would sound on www.bluevalentinemusic.com stuff and finally and most importantly how I would go about singing at the same time as playing it.
Also gave some thought to impending releases on the Figtree label.
After reading a review of some Lime Spiders stuff going back to when we released virtual double A sides.....Slave Girl/Beyond the fringe.....Out of control/Save my soul, it got me thinking maybe, just maybe Blue Valentine should release an EP first up with the first 4 songs from the mooted, virtually recorded album. This would leave us free to concentrate on those songs, get some product out and take more time over the full album, especially seeing as a fundamental change has come over the whole band with the veering towards more Roots music, additions in personnel and the new songs which are flowing......just thinking out loud. I mean who is ever going to read this????!!!!
I know this seems silly to be so pedantic about time and dates but I'd like to set the tone for you, also remind myself and check this gismo out.
Came back thinking about the Mandolin I'm looking to buy down here and how I was going to go about learning, playing it and how it would sound on www.bluevalentinemusic.com stuff and finally and most importantly how I would go about singing at the same time as playing it.
Also gave some thought to impending releases on the Figtree label.
After reading a review of some Lime Spiders stuff going back to when we released virtual double A sides.....Slave Girl/Beyond the fringe.....Out of control/Save my soul, it got me thinking maybe, just maybe Blue Valentine should release an EP first up with the first 4 songs from the mooted, virtually recorded album. This would leave us free to concentrate on those songs, get some product out and take more time over the full album, especially seeing as a fundamental change has come over the whole band with the veering towards more Roots music, additions in personnel and the new songs which are flowing......just thinking out loud. I mean who is ever going to read this????!!!!
Just had an email to the www.limespidersmusic.com website requesting information on Dave Guest who was the first bass player with the Spiders. Considering he played with the band before 1982 it should be interesting to see if Mick can remember or track him down. I think there has been officially 4 bass players for the band including Warwick Gilbert from Radio Birdman and Phil Hall from the Dropbears and Sardine V. Our current and longest serving bassist, Tony Bambach, is definitely the best and the funniest.
The two rehearsals couldn't have been more polarised. Mick was slightly under the weather at the first one and my injured toe on my bass drum foot was giving me grief, making me tetchy and with our overall rustiness it was lucky we didn't break up from the tension which built during practice. Then again the band has broken up and got back together so many times!! The second one was sober and full of fire and brimstone and a few smashed drumsticks. Now for the gigs!!
Mixing of the Live CD is going on as we speak at the mixing studio at the Sydney Opera House of all places. Jason Blackwell does some work there and managed to get us some downtime.
Have some time off in Sydney to myself and have been catching up on some films. Will probably head for the Art Gallery as is my wont and might browse through David Jones Food hall, looking at all the lovely food I can't afford; the ultimate foodie tourism pursuit.
Currently reading Gould's book of Fish, Richard Flanagan.
The two rehearsals couldn't have been more polarised. Mick was slightly under the weather at the first one and my injured toe on my bass drum foot was giving me grief, making me tetchy and with our overall rustiness it was lucky we didn't break up from the tension which built during practice. Then again the band has broken up and got back together so many times!! The second one was sober and full of fire and brimstone and a few smashed drumsticks. Now for the gigs!!
Mixing of the Live CD is going on as we speak at the mixing studio at the Sydney Opera House of all places. Jason Blackwell does some work there and managed to get us some downtime.
Have some time off in Sydney to myself and have been catching up on some films. Will probably head for the Art Gallery as is my wont and might browse through David Jones Food hall, looking at all the lovely food I can't afford; the ultimate foodie tourism pursuit.
Currently reading Gould's book of Fish, Richard Flanagan.
Monday, 15 January 2007
Monday 15-1-07
Its the land of blogs.
Cletis my webmaster has introduced me to writing and posting my own stuff which he'll post onto my website. Watch out; I'm cut loose now.
Still have so many things I want to get up and get going with but not being particularly web or IT savvy is difficult at times.
This week is Lime Spiders week. I drive down to Sydney tomorrow for rehearsals Tues/Wed and we play the Cambridge Tavern in Newcastle on Friday and then the Annandale on Saturday. The mythical Live CD we recorded at the Esplanade, St. Kilda in 1998 is being mixed by Jason Blackwell [Megaphon Studio] and Shock Records are set to release it.
Last week was a bit of an epiphany for me as I learnt/wrote about 6 new songs, all firmly entrenched in "Roots" music. Fiona from Blue Valentine has been into that stuff all the time I've known and played with her but I seem to have resisted for some reason. Might be that as a rule I hated country music. The more swing/skiffle/fast blues styles have always sucked me in and everything from Robert Johnson/Leadbelly thru to Django Reinhardt has always excited me.
It started with hearing a Leadbelly track on the latest free CD from the great people at MOJO magazine. "Ella Speed" is a dirty-get down-in the swamp-knuckle dusting-mother of a song and seemed to link to a song that Fiona had just discovered [The ballad of Frankie and Johnny] which Beth Orton does on the Harry Smith Songbook DVD. Both are about murder.
I took to playing that fast style of rolling country blues and before I knew it I was playing some Robert Johnson, Hank Williams songs and had written another 2 [Blown away, From the cradle to the grave] to go with the 2 I had written over Christmas.
Will be looking for a Mandolin whilst in Sydney. Ged's going to help out. I have an old musical friend Andrew Pringle who is a pretty mean Guitarist/Bassist coming over for a Jam this morning and Fi's boyfriend Andy is going to start helping out on Lead Guitar.
The Blue Valentine CD was discussed and it might take more of a Roots music direction with some of the pop songs coming under the Figtree Renaissance tag. Also I think both CD'S should come out at once. That way it will be easier to publicise both at the same time.
Ciao for now.
Cletis my webmaster has introduced me to writing and posting my own stuff which he'll post onto my website. Watch out; I'm cut loose now.
Still have so many things I want to get up and get going with but not being particularly web or IT savvy is difficult at times.
This week is Lime Spiders week. I drive down to Sydney tomorrow for rehearsals Tues/Wed and we play the Cambridge Tavern in Newcastle on Friday and then the Annandale on Saturday. The mythical Live CD we recorded at the Esplanade, St. Kilda in 1998 is being mixed by Jason Blackwell [Megaphon Studio] and Shock Records are set to release it.
Last week was a bit of an epiphany for me as I learnt/wrote about 6 new songs, all firmly entrenched in "Roots" music. Fiona from Blue Valentine has been into that stuff all the time I've known and played with her but I seem to have resisted for some reason. Might be that as a rule I hated country music. The more swing/skiffle/fast blues styles have always sucked me in and everything from Robert Johnson/Leadbelly thru to Django Reinhardt has always excited me.
It started with hearing a Leadbelly track on the latest free CD from the great people at MOJO magazine. "Ella Speed" is a dirty-get down-in the swamp-knuckle dusting-mother of a song and seemed to link to a song that Fiona had just discovered [The ballad of Frankie and Johnny] which Beth Orton does on the Harry Smith Songbook DVD. Both are about murder.
I took to playing that fast style of rolling country blues and before I knew it I was playing some Robert Johnson, Hank Williams songs and had written another 2 [Blown away, From the cradle to the grave] to go with the 2 I had written over Christmas.
Will be looking for a Mandolin whilst in Sydney. Ged's going to help out. I have an old musical friend Andrew Pringle who is a pretty mean Guitarist/Bassist coming over for a Jam this morning and Fi's boyfriend Andy is going to start helping out on Lead Guitar.
The Blue Valentine CD was discussed and it might take more of a Roots music direction with some of the pop songs coming under the Figtree Renaissance tag. Also I think both CD'S should come out at once. That way it will be easier to publicise both at the same time.
Ciao for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)