Bam Bam Music Blacktown Rocks

Had the best time at Bam Bam music today. Originally wanted to go to Guitar Factory with a stop at Cashies to see what guitar-effects pedals they had and passed Bam Bam's on the way. 

While striking out at Cashies I looked at the Bam Bam's website and found both Behringer and Boss pedals in their range. Cha Ching!

Went in and set out my situation. He recommended a series of products and upsold me as I also needed other items. We struck a deal and settled up. 

Then, well, when in a music shop, I went in to drool. "Feel free to pick some up."  Mistake- how long are you open tonight? 

Played a couple of Ibanezes, some Gretches (fell in love with a 79 model sporting Alnicos), and Fenders. Also found out why I can't have an SG (neck is too thick). 

I'm still floating. All I wanted was pedals and accessories!! I will be back next birthday once I figure out the next pedal to add to my tone. Went to their other store a while ago to get a whammy and a backplate for my strat-copy  the guy went out of his way to help me but couldn't.  The other reason I went back today: I felt I owed them. 

Bam Bam Music - 76 Sunnyholt Rd Blacktown - between Harley Davidsons and Beaurepaires - www.bambammusic.com.au - do yourself a favour!

Salty - 100 Fallen Stars

SALTY– 100 Fallen Stars. Independent album through http://saltymusic.bandcamp.com/

Based in the southern NSW coastal town of Gerringong, Salty comprises multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriters Alan Moore, Sean (The Pun) Batman, Rob (The Comfortable Chair) Spence, and Glen (Honest John, Trophy Wives, 3 on the Tree, Phlegm Fatale) Colley.

As a live event, I managed to score an invitation to a special-guests-only show of theirs at Rose Valley in February engineered by Mark (3 on the Tree) Harris and featuring members of Honest John, Trophy Wives, the Jimmy Nicholls, and very special mystery guest Brendan “Karma County/Dead Marines” Gallagher. Salty were second-last on the show and did a brilliant job for a very laid-back and ultra-casual event. They are obviously very well-known south of Kiama, north of Berry, and east of Gerringong, and the crowd was dancing through originals and covers alike. I managed to almost-live tweet their penultimate number, a cover of They Might Be Giants’ 1990 cover of The Four Lads’ 1958 hit “Istanbul (not Constantinople)”.

I was quite surprised to find 100 Fallen Stars to be a full 10-track album. Neither of Glen’s or Mark’s former iterations managed that many titles on a single release so for $10 through the bandcamp site you’re getting value for money. And the pedigree keeps impressing with Syd Green in the line-up/list and the recorded/produced by-line. Syd is best known for his drumming prowess behind 1990s powerhouse Killing Time/Mantissa, but his post-90s work is just as remarkable. 

My interest was well and truly piqued when Glen made the announcement that this new collective was in the studio, and with whom. They certainly know how to mix it up, with some extended 4:00+ ballads alongside some short-and-sharp sub-2:00s pop and ska.

1.       Leaving It Behind (Colley) 4:40

Glen and the Gretsch through the twin-reverb, backed vocally by Alan and Sean then suddenly BANG- the whole band joins in. And with the chorus adding depth at the end, I am taken away from everything I expected from the band and delivered somewhere entirely, and happily different.

2.       Man Alive (Colley) 2:57

I remember this one from the February gig. Upbeat, rocky; reminiscent of No Van Gogh in its poppiness but rough, raw, distorted, and fun with its bee-bop-a-loo-bop chorus.

3.       Shire Ska (Batman) 3:04

Pork pie hats. The Specials. The 1980s. Listening to Jono & Dano on Triple J of a Sunday afternoon instead of doing my homework. And that thin and punchy bass. And that … is that a kazoo? Do I like? No, I love!

4.       Lonely & Blue (Batman) 1:59

The title may suggest something slow and sad. Expect nothing like it! Rockin’ blues, more like Continued the upbeat vibe established in the Shire, like those short-and-sharp tracks the Beatles put on their earlier albums, with a little electric-slide guitar to shake it up. This track genuinely made me happy!

5.       That’s what (Spence) 1:25

One that sticks with you, thanks to that catchy bass riff. I came home that night wanting to pick up my own bass and start playing it. Imagine Fred (B52s) Schneider “singing” a ska number and that’s what you get with That’s What.

6.       Recense (Batman) 4:53

A Wonderwallesque ballad that had me thinking of the sing-along part of the Almost Famous road-trip. Alan contributes some nicely placed harmonies and Glen slides a David Gates/Bread riff to round the track out.

7.       Saving All My Happiness (Spence) 3:02

This brings out the banjo, which they used at the February gig and utilises the same effect as Mumford and Son found with their success a few years back. Rob stands in a class with Broderick Smith, Sue Foley, and Chris Wolstenholme as singer songwriters with some truly inspiring ideas and Happiness and Fidelity stand among anything these artists have created and delivered.  

8.       Long Line (Colley) 2:07

The banjo/folky feel continued with Long Line (again, nothing like the Angels’ when they took theirs) which finishes almost as soon as it starts. This is classic Glen at his poppy best, taking me back to a Trophy Wives gig at Cronulla 16 years ago where I first heard No Van Gogh, described then as “bright and happy Rembrandts Closer To Free”.

9.       The Shakedown (Colley) 3:19

Glen’s ultimate contribution to this collection retains the banjo to emote some Spaghetti Western/Roland (The Stand) Walker folk-rock feeling, with vultures circling at one time while he waits for an outcome that is likely not to happen any time soon, as Roland found as he walked, and walked, and walked…

10.   My Fidelity (Spence) 4:26

A song of the sea by those who are lucky enough to live by it closes the effort with the jangly-twang we were promised in the opening bars of Leaving It Behind returning to intro this one. Rob delivers once again. 

I’m just ticked that my ISP wouldn’t let me stream it uninterrupted. Spoiled the vibe somewhat, taking a good three hours to stream through a couple of sittings. My favourites: Leaving It Behind, Shire Ska, and Recense, with an honourable mention to That’s What and Long Line.  

I could think of no better to spend a tenner: if ever you were looking for an unsigned act to support in an altruistic way, this is the one to seek out. Many bands expect you to pay this much for a single or EP. So you really know you want to!

My heartiest congratulations go to Alan, Glen, Rob, Sean, and Syd for a job very well done!

100 Fallen Stars from Salty: Four Rising Stars!

See also Jeff Apter’s recent review in the Sydney Morning Herald

Round 1, 2016

The footy's back, and with 8 of the 9 games played of Round 1, we are already promised a cracker of a season!

Opening Bounce on Thursday Night had Richmond up against Carlton. The Tiges had it all against them: five injured, and they had to win against last year's wooden spooners; the Blues have a new coach and were debuting five themselves, including the No.1 draft pick. Carlton led at half-time but only lost by nine at the end. Their performance was very promising indeed.

GWS and Melbourne met up here in Sydney on Easter Saturday and for all intents and purposes it was a dead rubber. But the Giants are growing with every outing and the Dees are a wild card. I backed GWS but the outcome could have been further from anyone's tipping, with the Melbourne Football Club getting the chocolates by a mere 2 points.

Gold Coast took on the once-mighty Bombers at home at Metricon on Saturday afternoon and with the blight of the ASADA saga behind them the Same Olds had much to prove. But Gary Ablett jr was back and had as much to prove, and the Dons were comprehensively thrashed by ten goals. Pundits have the Spoon torn between Carlton and Essendon: I think they might have to rethink those choices.

North Melbourne and Adelaide met at Etihad in a match I was not able to choose the outcome of. I backed the Roos with the toss of a coin and many in my social media network might have disagreed. At 3/4-time there was only a point in it, but Chris Scott's men took it by the bit and ran out winners by only ten, inaccuracy being the let-down for the Pride of SA.

I learned, on Saturday night from the SCG, that I hate Collingwood more than I hate Sydney. By half-time the Pies had only managed 1.4 to the Swans' 10.12, and only managed 7 by the end of the game. The final score 18.25 to 7.11 suggested that things aren't quite right at Victoria Park, and rumours of drug-abuse have been alleged to have put them off their game. Dane Swan's multiple leg-fractures probably didn't help either, putting him out of action for the foreseeable future. The drug-allegations will be interesting to follow over the next foreseeable-future!

Port took on St Kilda at Football Park on Sunday in another match that really could have gone either way. They were neck-and-neck going into the main break with just a goal separating them, but the locals surged ahead in the third and took the match by 5.3.

The biggest upset of the round came from Etihad when the Sons of the West took on, and trounced the Dockers by ten goals. I venture to guess that no one saw that coming! Jake Stringer scooped 5.1 with ten other goal-kickers (six with 1.1) for the Dogs; Freo managed five goal-kickers, none of them multiples.

And the biggest surprise came from Subi on Sunday night with an aggregate score of 268 between the Eagles and Lions. Kennedy booted 8.2, with Cripps and Hill (3.1), Bennell (2.1), Darling, LeCras, and Nic Nat (2.0), Yeo, Ellis, McGovern, and Redden keeping the scorers busy for the home side, and Christensen (3.2), Taylor (3.1), Rich, Rockliff, Schache, Walker (2.1) and Hanley (1.0) chipping in for the Blions,

Hawthorn take on Geelong at the G tomorrow for what could well be the Grand Final precursor. The way these other games have panned out, anything could happen!

peterg
27 Mar 16

Footy's Back

A collective groan is heard across the nation as many of us gear up for AFL Season 2016 and the first bounce at the G tonight when Carlton get ready to take on Richmond for the traditional season opener.

But as I get my stats sheet ready I see the following news article on my favourite stats page:

Chris Yarran has shrugged off criticism of his physical condition this pre-season after being labelled "his own worst enemy" by former coach Mick Malthouse.

Malthouse questioned Yarran's dedication, saying he "hasn’t quite got that knack of being a great professional in regards to coming back and being ready to play".

"I don't pay too much attention to it to be honest … everyone's got different opinions about it," Yarran said.

"At the end of the day, the only people that matter are my close friends and teammates.

"I'm always happy with my shape."

Chris Yarran is at Richmond now, no thanks to Mick. And Mick has been assigned to irrelevance now, no thanks to his outdated game style and a rough-and-ready collective that wasn't keen to play for him.

OK so Malthouse has the all-time record for the number of games coached and played in an illustrious career that saw flags as a player and coach, but many (myself included) will judge him on how his career was finished at Princes Park.

OK so Yazz isn't ready for the season opener. Big Deal! Many of his team mates and his colleagues across the League are in the same position for various reasons! Mick's not slagging off about them (or is he?)

Let's just get on with the footy, ignore the irrelevant, and we'll see who's there at the pointy end when we tune our TVs to the local channel and our radios to Roy & HG for the Festival Of The Boot once again!


peterg
24Mar16

Amanda Easton - Disco Disconnected - Independent release

I’ve been following Amanda’s work for a long time now and am impressed by how much it has grown over the years. So I was quite excited to hear, three years after I wrote about her Out Of The Blue crowd-funded project, that she had a new record in the offing.

Amanda calls it an album, but with four new tracks and a remix of each of them, it is probably more an EP. Whatever you want to call it, Disco Disconnected hits all manner of outlets at the end of the month. Apart from the influence-artists’ weaving their influence throughout, I got a sense of some late-90s Kylie with other sonic echoes in the mix.

The lead / title track has quite the Eastern flavour while encapsulating many of the eras of disco including Bros of the 80s (I also got this from the music-video), Massive Attack / Portishead of the 90s, and Goldfrapp of the 00s. An Alison Goldfrapp song recently appeared on my MP3 player and I could have sworn it was Amanda. I said as much to Amanda at the time and her response was that Goldfrapp is one of her favourite acts. That comes as no surprise when listening to Disco, or any of her previous works including Dance To The Music In My Head, Moshi Moshi, Good Old Fashioned Heartache or The Whole Shebang.   

The disconnection from disco continues on the new mini/album / EP with the chill-out of Untangle and the Bond Film outro-credits underscore Hanging By A Thread. Thread is a mix of Shirley Bassey on Goldfinger and Cilla Black in To Sir With Love combined with a nice cello. This isn’t Amanda’s first foray into Bondesque either! New Bohemians harkens back to Amanda’s previous works with some production-quality effects thrown in to keep us on our toes. This track is also getting a lot of “air” time on Amanda’s soundcloud, described by one subscriber as a “bouncy, happy, positive song.” Thus rounds off the “original mix” part of the record. 

The John Ov3rblast Remix of the single retains the mystic feel of the single but is more ethereal; more chill-out than disco. Untangle’s House Master Flex Remix would be a track you’d play between the disco and the chill-out, or something a relaxing Sunday-afternoon radio programmer would schedule. The No Qualms Remix [Hi Rez] version of Hanging By A Thread is a tilt at Kraftwerk but is another calm-down disconnection. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Amanda as a baritone, here you can! And after all the chillin’ we finish up with some serious DOOV on the New Bohemians Stereo Missile Remix: dance to it, work out to it, sweat to it, turn it up!

Amanda Easton’s Disco Disconnected would sit quite happily alongside any work for or by any of these artists, with any currently featured on so-called top-40 radio, or on alternative radio. I can picture it now- rocking up to my barista for my morning coffee, only to be woken happily by Amanda’s dulcet tones intro’d by Kyle and Jackie O- «««¶

peterg
17Mar16