...off to a Flying Start since Sunday 15th August 2010

...off to a Flying Start since Sunday 15th August 2010

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Ragtime Frank Plays Melbourne, Slopes Gallery(19/07/14), Public Bar(20/07/14)

 I'd been hankering to see this guy play since I purchased his "Live At St Georges" LP put out by Negative Guest List last year. I don't normally gravitate towards contempory guys playing old timey "blues holler" but this guy does it with a certain abandoned conviction that has me sold.    He has a new album out on Little Big Chief Records which you can read about here...
 Ragtime Frank played two shows in Melbourne last weekend of which I recorded both; the first one was at Slopes Gallery in the trendy slumming neighbourhood of Fitzroy. The show was some kind of art school thing of which I normally don't frequent as they usually seem populated by mediocre yet fragile young socialites trying to converse their way up the (f)art ladder...One of the "performances" involved a staggered group dance of constantly collapsing props with movements which made me laugh at how bad it was! The very cheap three dollar Hollander beers helped immensely and I'm sure there's a mountainous screed of shite that backs up this stuff with wordy hieroglyphs....Here is the short ten minute set that Frank did with only a harmonica, foot, and voice. A funny event, perhaps I'm too close-minded but I prefer to watch good old fashioned rock "n" roll and think about the clever stuff later!

 The second show was the following day at a giant fisherman's basket known as the Public Bar. Quite a restrained or tired audience(myself included) so on the recording I added some swanky delay effects to the audience applause to jazz things up a bit.....Frank played his electric guitar and did a staggering version of bad man "Stagger Lee" which jumped above the stage somewhere! Both shows had the feeling of transcendance with Frank going off into some kinda blues catharthis.....Here's the show.
 I didn't edit either show into separate tracks as I felt they both work best as extended pieces. I do hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Encounter Group (@ Grace Darling 13/07/14)

I felt good about this show, we were supporting Dusty's band Dag; Boiled Dwarf, Mad Nanna also played. They were all good by me. No monkey bullshit!
 Last time I played at this venue I felt somewhat ajar but this time the door was open....
 Despite a little bit of a cold and tuning problems I think we put on a spirited show, this download has two tunes missing which I reckon sounded like total shit and I only want to put my best foot forwards.....I decided a while back that we'd do the Sacred Product LP set thus making room to move on to the future. I'm much more interested in the future these days.
 This is a good record of our sound so I hope you enjoy it, I did!
 Weirdo with a dictaphone was there on the night so no doubt he will impecably document the entire night for keen ears in the not too distant future...
P.S. Thanks Eira for taking the band photo!

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

HAMMERING THE CRAMPS (@ Dane Certificate's Magic Shop,Melbourne 28/06/14)

 Hammering the Cramps consists of Karl Von Bamberger(keyboards), Reggie Norris(guitar), Simon Krause(vocals/guitar) and Jesse Clark(drums). I'm told that they only had one rehearsal before this concert and hadn't played for seven years. This was their first show in Melbourne too....
 Musical parallels could be made with N.Z. bands such as the Terminals, Pin Group, Dadamah or any number of Xpressway independent minded sound summoners. At times the music sounded quite fragile and disparate, almost collapsing but would suddenly hit harmonic booms which made me see a big field of cathartic blue. I don't have much to say as I was very blown away by the power of this group and felt I'd seen something quite special, maybe it was the drugs. I can still hear some of these moments...
 Anyway, I fucked up big time with my zoom H2n's batteries dying mid set thus I missed a couple of songs. So I only have four tunes which may give you an idea of this group's beauty, one of these tracks is missing the beginning but I put it on anyhow as it sounded good
 A definite reminder of why I like music! Check out the Tasmanian label Wormwood Grasshopper's catalogue for other gems...