Archives - July
'Around the Traps' in July
Lily & King
Played alongside Mick Kearon at the Selby Folk Club - "The best kept secret of the Dandenongs". It's always nice to have the audience sing along on some of the more familiar songs. Also playing that night was Alice & Greg who presented some Jazz. Alice has a great voice and this duo regularly play at the QT Cafe in Main Street, Upwey on Sunday afternoons.
The main act that night was Lily & King, a gorgeous duo with lots of instruments between them including trombone, djembe and toy piano. My favourite song was "Lock up your daughters" which includes a line about using arsenic in your cooking. They have been described as "comfortably eccentric". I found them fresh, original and captivating. Track 6 on their EP - "Man in a Hood" is positively haunting with deliberate noise added to simulate a vinyl record on a turntable... great retro feel. They have a new website at http://www.lilyandking.com, check them out!
The main act that night was Lily & King, a gorgeous duo with lots of instruments between them including trombone, djembe and toy piano. My favourite song was "Lock up your daughters" which includes a line about using arsenic in your cooking. They have been described as "comfortably eccentric". I found them fresh, original and captivating. Track 6 on their EP - "Man in a Hood" is positively haunting with deliberate noise added to simulate a vinyl record on a turntable... great retro feel. They have a new website at http://www.lilyandking.com, check them out!
Fathers in the Chapel was a lot of fun this month, playing with Sandy and ending with an impromtu jam performance with Chris, Johnny, Wayne, Edward and Norm. I dragged out the old faithful spanish-made Admira classical guitar this month, it was good to hear it again, as its voice matched the songs in my set.
Lloyd Spiegel and Nick Charles
BAD Folk hosted or should I say "unleashed" the combined forces of Lloyd Spiegel and Nick Charles this July. Two quite different musicians, they played their own sets but also played together as a duo, finding common ground in the blues and even a Norman Blake number. Lloyd Spiegel is a powerhouse of a performer. His blues riffs would leave many an aspiring player either totally fired up or wishing they had taken up another instrument. His music had the driving force of a freight train, particularly when combined with his stomp box. "Guitar virtuoso" would be a good start to describing him and I can understand why the guitar company Cole Clark sponsor his international tours. His masterful use of the guitar, including rapping of knuckles on the guitar body, cleverly show off the plugged-in acoustic properties of his Cole Clark guitar. Lloyd Spiegel is without doubt one of Australia's best guitar players.
Nick Charles played a lot closer to my style of music (but at a supremely higher standard!) and I particularly enjoyed his alternating-bass finger picking and syncopated rhythyms. A masterful acoustic guitarist, the majority of his pieces were instrumentals, although he did also sing a few songs. Nick played in a more relaxed style with emphasis on melody and harmony. If the ice-cream vans played his version of Greensleeves rather than the standard musical box version, I would be sprinting to buy their ice-creams. Whilst both internationally acclaimed, Nick and Lloyd are Melbourne based and you can find their gig schedules on their websites.
Music in Dromana
Paid a visit to another new venue on the Mornington Peninsula, Dromana called "Verandah Music". Founded in 2007 by Ron Willis and Jack Kirby, this group run a regular concert every third Saturday of the month at the Dromana Community Hall. A friendly bunch, they like Country, Bluegrass and Folk Music and so the songs I played were warmly received. I'll miss the next one due to the Kelly Country Pick music festival in Beechworth, so perhaps September might be the next time I can play (hopefully some bluegrass with others there) in Dromana.
Changing the pace
After a few highly musically active months, I'm going to try and slow down the rate of performances a tiny little bit so I can concentrate on recording a demo CD and polish up some original songs. Hopefully this should stand me in good stead to record a proper album down the track. Having said that, I couldn't help but take up another instrument, and so as well as these fantastic projects, I'm learning the violin - that's a surefire guarantee that life won't be boring.
Songwriters Group in Berwick
B.A.D. Folk have a songwriters group meeting on the fourth Saturday of each month and I've attended the last couple. Contact Edward at B.A.D. Folk if you are interested. Lots of interesting topics came out this month including an exercise on writing a song starting with lyrics. The group is a good opportunity to share ideas and to run new songs past some critical but friendly ears.
New Blog Page
A blog page is being trialled for a month or so, to see whether it is something worthwhile or whether it is just too messy and a takes up too much valuable time and energy to maintain. It's one of those things that is hard to determine the value of, until after you get into it. I welcome input but please don't feel offended if for whatever reason I don't use your posted comment. Anyway, let's see how it goes. Click on the paragraph title to be taken to the blog page.
Lloyd Spiegel and Nick Charles
BAD Folk hosted or should I say "unleashed" the combined forces of Lloyd Spiegel and Nick Charles this July. Two quite different musicians, they played their own sets but also played together as a duo, finding common ground in the blues and even a Norman Blake number. Lloyd Spiegel is a powerhouse of a performer. His blues riffs would leave many an aspiring player either totally fired up or wishing they had taken up another instrument. His music had the driving force of a freight train, particularly when combined with his stomp box. "Guitar virtuoso" would be a good start to describing him and I can understand why the guitar company Cole Clark sponsor his international tours. His masterful use of the guitar, including rapping of knuckles on the guitar body, cleverly show off the plugged-in acoustic properties of his Cole Clark guitar. Lloyd Spiegel is without doubt one of Australia's best guitar players.
Nick Charles played a lot closer to my style of music (but at a supremely higher standard!) and I particularly enjoyed his alternating-bass finger picking and syncopated rhythyms. A masterful acoustic guitarist, the majority of his pieces were instrumentals, although he did also sing a few songs. Nick played in a more relaxed style with emphasis on melody and harmony. If the ice-cream vans played his version of Greensleeves rather than the standard musical box version, I would be sprinting to buy their ice-creams. Whilst both internationally acclaimed, Nick and Lloyd are Melbourne based and you can find their gig schedules on their websites.
Music in Dromana
Paid a visit to another new venue on the Mornington Peninsula, Dromana called "Verandah Music". Founded in 2007 by Ron Willis and Jack Kirby, this group run a regular concert every third Saturday of the month at the Dromana Community Hall. A friendly bunch, they like Country, Bluegrass and Folk Music and so the songs I played were warmly received. I'll miss the next one due to the Kelly Country Pick music festival in Beechworth, so perhaps September might be the next time I can play (hopefully some bluegrass with others there) in Dromana.
Changing the pace
After a few highly musically active months, I'm going to try and slow down the rate of performances a tiny little bit so I can concentrate on recording a demo CD and polish up some original songs. Hopefully this should stand me in good stead to record a proper album down the track. Having said that, I couldn't help but take up another instrument, and so as well as these fantastic projects, I'm learning the violin - that's a surefire guarantee that life won't be boring.
Songwriters Group in Berwick
B.A.D. Folk have a songwriters group meeting on the fourth Saturday of each month and I've attended the last couple. Contact Edward at B.A.D. Folk if you are interested. Lots of interesting topics came out this month including an exercise on writing a song starting with lyrics. The group is a good opportunity to share ideas and to run new songs past some critical but friendly ears.
New Blog Page
A blog page is being trialled for a month or so, to see whether it is something worthwhile or whether it is just too messy and a takes up too much valuable time and energy to maintain. It's one of those things that is hard to determine the value of, until after you get into it. I welcome input but please don't feel offended if for whatever reason I don't use your posted comment. Anyway, let's see how it goes. Click on the paragraph title to be taken to the blog page.
