S P E C T R U M S P E C T R U M S P E C T R U M
 
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booking
book Spectrum mobile
 
 
SPECTRUMMnMIKE RUDD'S INDELIBLESm MIKE RUDD (SOLO)m
 
 
How to book Spectrum

Apart from the legendary Spectrum band there are four other Mike Rudd options to choose from listed below. If you'd like to book Spectrum or any of the other outfits please contact Mike per email or speak to him directly on (03) 9736 1164 or 0411 103 818. Prices and availability of the various combos available on request.  (Read live reviews of Mike's bands)

See other Ruddy live projects, like
The Indelible Murtceps - The Mike Rudd trio - Mike Rudd's Indelible String Band - Mike Rudd's Three-piece Suit.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mike Rudd, Brenden Mason, Peter 'Robbo' Robertson, Daryl Roberts and Broc O'Connor
Spectrum today is, conceptually at least, similar to the original band launched way back in 1969, but the loss in 2013 of bassist and fellow founding member Bill Putt leaves singer/songwriter Mike Rudd as the sole original member in the current line-up. The recent addition of Madder Lake guitarist Brenden Mason (pic) however has added a very positive dimension to the band, especially in the live performance arena - a recording would seem to be inevitable.
Spectrum and Madder Lake played a very successful series of double bill shows during 2019 celebrating Spectrum's 50th anniversary and as 2020 marked the Madders' 50th anniversary there had been another series of double bill shows planned throughout the year, another good intention scuttled by COVID-19.
Today's Spectrum plays
a batch of retrospective songs from the various Spectrum, Murtceps and Ariel albums, including a selection from their many singles released over the decades. Like Spectrum's But That's Alright and Play a Song That I Know, The Indelible Murtceps' Indelible Shuffle and Esmeralda and Ariel's Jamaican Farewell and Disco Dilemma - and there are quite a few more.* Never forgetting the legendary song that started it all, I'll Be Gone (Someday I'll have money) of course!

*
See Spectrum's Heritage
song-list nnnSee the official Spectrum bio
 
 
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Mike Rudd's Indelibles - inc. Spectrum Plays the Blues
AKA The Indelibles, this is the very same band that was known until quite recently as Spectrum and is the band that can evince the original Spectrum, The Indelible Murtceps, Ariel, WHY, Mike Rudd & The Heaters and even Mike's first band, Chants R&B songs just for you. With songs like I'll Be Gone, Launching Place Part Two, Going Home and Fly Without Its Wings, Ariel's Jamaican Farewell, Rock & Roll Scars, Red Hot Momma and Worm Turning Blues, Murtceps' Esmeralda, Some Good Advice and We Are Indelible, you'll be in Spectrum heaven.
The Indelibles (pic) will also treat you to a set of more recent songs from the Breathing Space EP series like Rocket Girl, Silicon Valley and Xavier Rudd is Not My Son, followed by a set of crowd pleasing blues from the Spill - Spectrum Plays The Blues and No Thinking CDs. Irresistible? Up to you. Indelible? Certainly!


See The Indelibles live in SA (in Spectrum Plays the Blues mode) play
Albatross

PS - If you find you haven't enough space (or money) for the four-piece, you might consider the three-piece version of The Indelibles,
Mike Rudd's Three-piece Suit (AKA The Suits).

See
large portrait (pic Dale McCabe)
 
 
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pic - Peter Lamont

Mike Rudd 'solo' with George Butrumlis
Throughout his long performing career, Mike has preferred the comfort and safety of 'the band' format, so the prospect of playing buck-naked solo gigs was daunting. Nonetheless, he persevered for a couple of years making the odd solo appearance with only his Morris nylon-string guitar and an assortment of blues harps for company, until happenstance intervened and another path was revealed.
The
Mike Rudd Trio, with accordionist Ge
orge and bassist Jeremy Alsop, had been booked for an appearance at Doc White's Gilmore Street Sessions, but when Jeremy had to pull out at the last minute, Mike and George played a very satisfactory night alone together - and the Mike with George die was cast.
Mike sees playing 'solo' with Sympatico George as an opportunity to tackle songs that, for one reason or another, don't get played in the group setting. Outrageous songs like Excuse Me Just One Moment from Murtceps' Warts Up your Nose album and Confessions of a Psychopathic Cowpoke, from Ariel's A Strange Fantastic Dream album, which of course was famously banned from airplay by the FCB* on the album's release.
Naturally the solo repertoire isn't just comprised of controversial songs - for those who just can't get enough there are three (!) interpretations of Spectrum's perennial biggie, I'll Be Gone, as well as other some damn strange and occasionally beautiful songs. Songs like Superbody, from the Spectrum Part One album, the Ariel single Jamaican Farewell and I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now from the Living on a Volcano CD and newer songs from the Breathing Space series, like Look at the Moon and Star Crazy and newer still as yet unrecorded songs like Old Black Dog and You're in My Heart. 

*Federation of Commercial Broadcasters  


Mike & George play Casey Radio Storytellers
 
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Discuss - is Spectrum dead?
The original Spectrum played around Melbourne and beyond between 1969 - 1973 when it was known chiefly as a sit-down-and-listen-to concert band, playing at venues like the Thumpin' Tum, Berties and Sebastians (oddly known as Discotheques) and the occasional riotous TF Much Ballroom event.
When pub gigs came into vogue in Melbourne, The Indelible Murtceps was devised to cope with the more visceral demands of pub audiences and happily co-existed with its big brother Spectrum, occasionally even playing a support role in the bigger concerts.
The popularity of Spectrum's national number one single, I'll Be Gone, put the band in front of many more people than an outfit retrospectively dubbed as a prog rock band might've expected, but Spectrum doggedly pursued its own musical course, to the point of NOT including I'll Be Gone on its first album, Spectrum Part One.
You will hear echoes of the original Spectrum in all the contemporary configurations listed above and, while it's still a useful reference point, the fact is that Spectrum as it was known back in the '70s, doesn't actually exist any more.
Don't be disheartened though. If you really want a genuine, purely Spectrum-Murtceps contemporary recreation, let's talk. In the meantime, if you'd like a stimulating concert-type reappraisal of Spectrum and beyond there's the Spectrum option with the effervescent guitarist Brenden Mason to consider.


And there's much, much more, so rather than me rabbiting on, check out the list above. (See official
bio)
 
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