You’ve just gotten back from a month long tour of Europe with The Bellray’s?
Yep, 25 gigs across five countries in 30 days. It was incredible, especially touring with those guys. We toured with them in Australia last year and totally kicked it off and ended up going into the studio in St Kilda and recording a track together. You learn so much from working with bands like that on the road.
How does it differ touring internationally?
For one there’s a lot more people in Europe so if you look at the stats there’s a lot more people that are into rock music. We came third in the International Songwriting Competition a few years ago and that created a lot of interest for us. One girl re-recorded the song and had a top ten hit in the Czech Republic and we got signed to a French label. That was what you’d consider our door opening moment.
Could you take us back to how you started on guitar?
There’s always a moment for musicians, I remember I was 12 and I saw the film Crossroads with Karate Kid and Steve Vai and Ry Cooder did all the guitar work for it. That was the first time I faked a sickie and wagged school and watched the film 13 times in a row. It really put me on a path to discover blues music. I grew up in a town that wasn’t really exposed to blues music, so I went on a journey and asked mum if I could have guitar lessons. For years when I would join or play in bands I’d just sing. It wasn’t until later that I started playing too. Every player has a different style and my vocals were really being dictated by a certain style. Chris Wilson (Australian blues legend) grabbed me and said ‘Don’t just let the boys dictate what you do, pick up the guitar yourself’ and I did.
You guys are known for your energetic live show – is that something you’ve always worked on?
Our style has definitely evolved. We’ve got two guitarists and a drummer with no bass. With our songwriting we do come across some challenges sonically to fill out the sound, so the drums are really integral. We also use octave pedals but Jeff (Curran – guitarist) and I have been playing together for 10 years, so when we write he might write a riff and then I’ll fit around him. We’ve worked out our weird little formula. My vocals are bluesy but it’s not really just blues, it’s a pretty dangerous explosion when we get on stage.
Does the band have any particular instrument/guitar gear favourites?
We really love old vintage music and I play a 67 Silvertone that I traded in the Swop Shop, it’s such a great find. We’re pretty minimal with setups although we do have quite a bit of fuzz. Jeff’s this weird guitarist, he’s a lefty playing a right hand guitar upside down. There’s not many like that, maybe Dick Dale and Albert King but he’s phenomenal. He’s self-taught and he doesn’t play like anyone I know – he really plays from his heart.
You’re playing at the Melbourne Guitar Show. What can people expect?
We might start the show with Jeff on my shoulders, who knows what’s going to happen. We get to look around and check out some gear. Jeff is the biggest gear junkie in the band by far so he’ll be loving it. There are some great acts playing which will be awesome to see but our show won’t change. We’re used to playing all types of shows to all kinds of audiences. I think Jeff and I have about 750 shows under our belts over the last 10 years and we’ve played everywhere from theatres to the Sydney Opera House, German audiences are different to French audiences so we’re just going to go and have some fun. The Guitar Show is a great thing for those wanting to learn guitar or anyone that wants to be inspired. Especially for the girls, get down and please come and say hello, if you want to do it and get into music that’s a really good place to ask questions.
On a new music note, are you close to releasing a new album?
I was just listening to the masters the other night and I’ve cracked a bottle of wine. People think musos have it easy etc but this has been eight months in the making. Writing, re-writing, scrapping tunes and starting again. For all musicians out there, it’s such a huge feat to complete a recording because there’s so many stages to get through. We are so pumped about this release and we’ll have details very soon.
BY NICK BROWN
