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Spectrum's
inaugural 'Rock at the Royal'
30.10.08
- Could the Royal Park Hotel (pic)
be another Lomond? Spectrum hasn't played a gig in North Melbourne
for a few years now, so it would be nice to think we could develop
another inner city gig. Anyway, we'd love to see some of you
there - it's an early start at 8.30, perfect for you - and us.
Apparently they serve good, cheap meals there too.
The Royal Park Hotel is at 399 Queensberry St North Melbourne
and the gig runs from 8.30 - 11.30 |
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1) KAS
play their haunting It's A Two Way Road Outa Town tune
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Limelight
songwriters concert
29.10.08 - When I drove out of Kyneton
and headed for home last night I have to say I was exhausted,
but I was also just a little bit sorry that the series of songwriting
workshops was finally over. Throughout the last five weeks I've
been struck by how the group has been willing to take up the
considerable challenges Bill and I have been throwing their
way, climaxing with last night's 'concert', featuring the individual
groups' renditions of the songs they'd written. |
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2) Pro-Fab
dream of opening the Woodsend Caffé |
We had only the one dropout, (mind
you, that was a shame because I kinda missed the heavy-metal
input), but we still had a fair diversity of approaches. Some
of the songs had been pretty much settled a couple of weeks
ago, but some groups (like Pro-Fab) were still tweakng their
songs till the very last minute.
We spent the first hour doing a sound check, (which was a novelty
in itself for most of them), and I know I may have disconcerted
some when I sat out the front with my head in my hands, but
I was fretting over the logistics of getting everybody on and
off stage, rather than the quality of the music.
In the event the concert ran pretty smoothly, and although there
were nerves in evidence, the four remaining groups |
(KAS, The Daylight Savers, Happy Folk and Pro-Fab)
managed to do some kind of justice to their songs. Incidentally,
special thanks are owed to the Macedon Ranges Shire's Andrea
MacDonald (and Merinda Richards) who pulled the whole thing
together on an organisational level and did the washing
up afterwards, and to Justin, the sound engineer on the concert
night.
I would hope we get to do this sort of thing again, especially
now we 've done the hard yards (and kilometres) and have some
sort of formula in place. The feedback from just about everybody
involved was extremely gratifying, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised
if one or two of of the aspiring writers in our charge might
eventually find a rewarding niche somewhere in the music biz. |
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That
might or might not be Paul, but that's definitely Ali |
gig
report
The Vault Unlocked
26.10.08
- This gig was originally slotted for the previous Saturday
night - well, according to our worksheet anyway - and so it
was fortunate I rang The Vault's Gary on the Friday before and
discovered there'd been a breakdown in communication between
the agency and the venue and it was in fact this Saturday.
Unfortunately Daryl wasn't available, (which is why the date
was changed in the first place), so we went up as the trio.
We haven't been to Shepparton for ages, so we had no expectations
really. It turned out to be a very nice gig, the sound was very
good, the promoters and the people were lovely, and the accommodation
was nothing less than sensational. Encore! |
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1)
Happy Folk rehearse Stack 'em Up! 2) The Daylight Savers stir
up the ghosts of past Kyneton mayors |
The
Limelight songwriting workshops move towards a thrilling climax
22.10.08 - This whole songwriting workshop
thing has been a fascinating exercise for Bill and me. When
we discussed the format with Limelight Music's Dave Walker,
I don't think we imagined that the response would be so positive,
and that we'd be on the threshhold of presenting a concert featuring
the songs written and developed by the participants over four
short weeks. I mean, that's what we planned, but I
don't think we actually believed that it could be achieved.
There were some blind alleys along the way, but nothing too
significant - and anyway, you'd expect some experimentation
with the format when we've not done anything like this before.
The end result is that we have four of the original five groups
that premiered their songs to each other last night presenting
them to whoever we and they can muster up at 8.00 next Tuesday
night at the Kyneton Town Hall. Bill and I will be playing a
few songs and I'm sure there'll be a few surprises from some
of the individual songwriters - and you never know, Bill and
I might even have a new song especially written for the night! |
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1)
Mary Rudd doesn't believe I'll publish this pic 2) Cathie and
Trevor 'Legs' Leeden made it to the Capers gig |
gig
report
Breathing Space EPs preview at Capers goes off
18.10.08 - I suppose I should've called
off the show at The New Capers when it became apparent that
the planned Breathing Space Too EP launch wasn't going
to happen, but with all the extraneous business going on in
my life lately, the opportunity to cancel slipped away and I
decided we should just make the best we could of it. So it became
a 'preview' of the next two planned EPs instead, and to help
make the night something slightly out of the ordinary, I managed
to snare the services of Jimmy Sloggett at the last moment.
I could tell by Ian Plummer's demeanour that he was concerned
about numbers, but I was oddly serene, choosing instead to focus
on conjuring up an interesting musical menu. We had a sound
check set for 5.00 - 6.00 and we used the time to work on the
preview songs, some of which we'd not played at all with Daryl,
let alone Jimmy. The house sound man, Peter Fearn, alarmed us
by falling off the stage while setting up Jimmy's leads and
nastily twisting his ankle and banging his head, but, being
the trouper that he is, he soldiered on through the night, actually
giving the impression he was enjoying himself.
Before we took to the stage I said hullo to Trevor Leeden (pic
2) who said he'd cut short his Qld trip to make the show,
and bro' Dick and Mary (pic 1) who are only rarely
available to catch a Spectrum show. I was hearing rumours that
Colleen Hewett was in the audience, and it was a thrill to find
that the rumours were correct when she graciously came up to
say how much she'd enjoyed herself as we were packing up after
the show.
As for the show itself, the first set went OK - it wasn't too
much of a departure from our regular trajectory and pretty much
in the comfort zone - but we opened the second set with the
cluster of half a dozen 'preview' songs, (three of which featured
Jimmy's lazy groove), and as a result I was a little more on
edge and postponed unveiling Xavier Rudd for a more
relaxed occasion.
No matter, everybody seemed to enjoy themselves - Ross Ryan
told me later that it was the best Spectrum performance he'd
ever seen. Jimmy was fantastic and I hope that he's available
for the real launch - whenever that might be. |
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Capers'
ticket fiasco
16.10.08 - Apparently
Capers' ticket service, Moshtix, was telling prospective on-line
ticket buyers yesterday that Spectrum's show there tomorrow
night (Friday 17th) is completely sold out. Not so - in fact
there are still good tickets left for both dinner & show
and show only, so you can go to The New Capers' website
and secure yourself some tickets now if you were disappointed
at not being able to see the show.
Stop Press: You might've noticed that we've snared sax meister
Jimmy Sloggett as special guest for the night. |
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Phil
and Paul from Pro Fab wait for Karen to appear |
Limelight
songwriting workshops roll on..
16.10.08 - Bill and I were at the Kyneton Town Hall
very early again, accruing brownie points in our own
minds at least. Just getting to Kyneton is worth brownie
points, let's face it. We'd decided to throw an extra song project
at them in the first hour, which quietened them down no end,
and then we took the various groups into the next room and recorded
their progress with their initial songwriting project (a song
that presents a topical local issue).
Naturally there was quite a large discrepancy between the groups
re' their progress, with some quite advanced, to the point of
really just needing to polish the song, and others not able
to address the problems of having to collaborate with other
writers, let alone produce a song. Interesting. |
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1) Michelle
and Garry enjoyed St Andrews 2) Declan from NSW signs onto the
e-mail list |
gig
report
Classic double ushers in summer
13.10.08 - I've noticed that audiences
seem to drop off to mark the change of seasons, and this weekend
seemed to confirm that impression with both the Lomond and St
Andrews hotels being fairly quiet. Still, they were both a lot
of fun, and we managed to debut Xavier Rudd |
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1) Bill
shows Andy a thing or two 2) Glen, Bill and Peter from The Daylight
Savers |
Limelight
songwriting workshops
9.10.08 - I looked at my Outlook calendar
Tuesday week ago and realised to my horror that Bill and I were
supposed to be in Kyneton within the hour for the first of the
Limelight Music/Macedon Ranges Shire songwriting workshops.
I eventually made it (a mere thirty minutes late) and managed
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arrived - when the session was officially scheduled to have
finished. So this last Tuesday evening Bill and I were at the
Kyneton Town Hall in plenty of time and the format
started to fall into place. We've split the eighteen students
into five groups (Happy Folk, The Daylight Savers, KAS, Monkey
Crutch and Pro-Fab), and we're hoping that ultimately we'll
be able to present a concert with each group presenting at least
one song each. So far it's been fun and I think the idea could
be a template for more songwriting workshops in the future.
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All that's left is the back-stage laminate.. |
gig
report
The Morning of the Earth in Melbourne
6.10.08 - All things must pass, and the
MOTE show has been and gone. The two Melbourne shows at the
venerable Palais Theatre were more successful crowd-wise than
anticipated and it's just possible that the show might go into
another production in the New Year. It was certainly a departure
for me and I have to thank everybody around me for keeping me
calm and focused, especially the MD, Jamie Rigg. The youngsters,
Lior and Ohad (Old Man River), were exemplary professionals
and just happen to be talented as well, not to mention personable
and unaffected. And it was great fun to work with Brian Cadd
and reconnect with Tim Gaze and fellow Christchurchian, G. Wayne
Thomas - everybody was terrific! I think I was at my
most relaxed by the last show, which was good because I had
the rels and the rest of the band in the audience on the night.
Hooray! |
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MOTE
- the show goes on
1)
Tim rehearses Sea The Swells 2) Smokin' Tim Gaze with smirking
Mike Rudd
3)
Mark Johns and Lior discuss guitar licks 4) G. Wayne checks
the weather report
5)
Guy Noble celebrates with Amanda Pelman 6) Mark, Victor and
MD Jamie Rigg |
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7) Old
Man Ohad texts home |
gig
report
Morning of the Earth a hit in Sydney!
1.10.08 - I don't think I've been
quite so relieved to have emerged safely on the other side of
a gig as I have with the opening two shows of Morning of
the Earth. Even during the second show I was pacing up
and down in the darkness behind the screen, desperately going
over and over the lyrics for the next song. I was also concerned
that my voice wouldn't last the distance - remember that just
four days before I couldn't even talk, let alone sing.
In the event it all was a huge success - the glorious old State
Theatre was packed out both nights, and you could feel the love
in the room.
Lior (pic 3) and Ohad (Old Man River) (pic 7)
are two young men that I'd barely heard of before going into
rehearsals, but they live up to the hype while remaining gracious
and with their feet firmly on the ground. The rest of the cast
(Brian Cadd, Tim Gaze and G. Wayne Thomas) are more in the ancient
mariner mould, but |
acquit themselves admirably nonetheless,
and I think particularly surfers, or even people who simply
appreciate the era, will love this show for what it is just
as much as they did in Sydney.
I believe there are a few more good tickets available for the
second show this Saturday night at the Palais, so follow the
prompts (on the Gigs page) and buy yourself some tickets. You'll
be sorry if you miss it! |
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