so after a travel-filled week or so in Ireland & England jonny & i decided our carbon footprint wasn’t quite significant enough and decided to visit?friends and play a few tunes near Aberdeen… a 5 or so hour drive from Chester, not a problem! after swinging by Rosslyn chapel to see if Tom and/or Jesus were kicking around we headed up to Inverurie… Read more
so?having been invited along by?Mazey to see the legendary Tommy Emmanuel in concert i was rather expectational sitting there with Craig? on one side & Clare on the other?thinkin?’hey this is gonna be summit’… Tommy comes out and flies into an energetic onslaught of notes; rhythmic, melodic, percussive & ?intuitive… by the third bar of the song i realised the dude had played more notes, more cunningly and skillfully?than i usually play in the course of one whole week.. by the 5th bar i was in a blissful state of overload.. the complete mastery of his playing through out the course of the evening was interspersed with moments of pure?magic where his adept skill and musicality would combine to gift us with extended split seconds of something from somewhere else… thanks Tommy.. thanks Mazey for the invite…
?the months that have flown by since last i wrote have been of a haphazard nature… trials tribulations… the odd occasion of musical majestic mayhem.?two recent shows spring to mind as having been of note.. One was the finale of the ‘tour de Franklin’. the show at Harrington theatre Pukekohe?featured, Earthworkz, Flow, Niall Martin and myself with my merry bunch of sidekicks aka the Dave Alley Band. a ball was had by all and the ‘all on-stage’ finale of the evening was something special… yeeehaaa could be some footage coming to a website near you soon… The other show of particular note for i was a recent gig with the ‘the blue Mullets’ at the dogs bollix.. ‘the blue mullets’ is what happens when jono can’t make a mulleteer gig and we ring in blues/rock guitarist Warren Mendonsa to fill in (we also play as a designated blues band on occasion).. seeing as a local tekkie Arjan had just repaired my trusty ‘fender lead three’?guitar i had a ball jammin with the guys (and Lorina Harding made an appearance on vocals?too). keep your eys peeled those of you in Europe as a wee trip over your way is in the pipeline… onwards!
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so finally Three Legged Horse have released thier debut album ‘Down’?with a seriously butt kickin’ show on friday night… this is the?biggest album project that I’ve been involved with to date (outside of my own as yet unreleased behemoth)?and to see it released is quite a buzz…?myself and my?trusty toyota town ace fully laden with p.a gear?boarded the ferry thursday so as to get on over to Waiheke island for the set up & dress rehearsal in the evening..?on arrival i?began to realise how much had gone into?preparing this concert as every where you looked?one would see a three legged horse poster, stylish black n white…?in the venue worker bees were flitting around in preparation… lights, more posters, roadies, cameras… action…?stoked i was to meet up again with the chap who was to be my soundie partner in all things sonic… mixing and mastering wizz Ben Mayer.. after some soldering and a bit of equipment trouble-shooting we were able to set up Frankie Hill then sound check The Horse… Of course the sound check/rehearsal the night before should be a mediocre affair as the rules categorically state that a?good rehearsal?= bad gig, bad rehearsal =?wicked gig… so 12.30am after hours of tedious sound prep we wound it all down and went to our various places of rest for the night thinking ‘jeez that was a long frickin nite’… the following day consisted of yakkin and listening to music (Nick Harper!!! wow!!!!) with?Benny, Em and The Horse folk over coffees Nachos and the like until time came to wander up to Artworks (the venue) to ready ourselves for they, them that are?3LH… the show started with support act Frankie Hill playing a few class tracks before headin off stage only to have to return as the mighty vociferous audience?hollered relentlessly for an encore… superb… then came the main act, Three Legged Horse in all thier finery… Bede Taylor sporting a brand new hair cut, super clean shave?and his serious tatt action looking quite beautiful and scary at the same time… Gina was her?gorgeous majestic self and Aron was the same ol cool calm Aron who the fans simply adore… joined through out the night?by all the musicians who feature on the album the Horse played an amazing show wowing with amazing melodies and songwriting and scaring at times with?immense power and the odd foray into the fine art of the profane (most definitely not of the church)… Miles Gillete was an astounding powerhouse?on the drum kit, Emily Giles molten on the cello, Nikki Ngatai flying flawless on vocals. Sean Higham added touches of?twilight on the keys or driving lows on the bass guitar?and yours truly made a kinda cameo appearance on slide guitar telecaster style… Megan made magic with the visuals while Ian dealt to the lighting… wow!! sound guru Ben and myself needed all hands on the sound desk at times to keep up with the onstage dynamic… the result… pure unadulterated Magic… Brilliant… onwards… upwards…
?saturday night had treats in store as well… booked to play molly malones on the island i set up in the arvo feeling a?LITTLE!!! on the jaded side whilst thinkin ‘man this is gonna be a long long nite!’. but come show time i was pleasantly suprised to find none other than old jamming buddy, now Waiheke resident, Andy Blue at the venue and keen to jam.. so through out the nite we launched into every style off music we could muster from reggae to flamenco to the blues and then some… joined by Mel, Bede and Aron on vocals we had a ball and i almost completely forgot i was hung over and exceedingly in need of sleep… the party we went to after the show (as you do when you’re?beyond exhausted on Waiheke) was a cool affair around a fire while the oonst music?oonsted inside i struck up a jam with a rather talented belly dancer by the fire?with my trusty darbuka… wow, what a cool sesh! happy birthday Jase…
?we awoke?overlooking Onetangi beach my townace & i… after coffee at the lazy lounge, a brief visitation to Carp’ for cd signing?i headed slow?back to the ferry, farewell yet again the island and the islanders i’ve come to know… what a weekend… Long Live The Horse… see you saturday night…
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…so last night i was fortunate enough to play an absolutely mad gig with three of my favourite side-kicks, rod redgrave, jon sanders & dave khan,?for the first time… by that i mean i’d played with all three in duos and other bands?before but they had never played with each other before… well, rod had played a gig or two?with jon a year or so ago but neither of ’em had ever?jammed with?dave khan and jon had not even met?said dude.. confused? hmmm.
?music, people, chemistry, ahh the elements!!
thanks?to ‘you know who you are’ for inviting us to play at your night…
;)
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