Tuesday 19 December 2017

MICK NADIN NEEDS TO KNOW...... 'WHO DO WE BLAME?'

General Mikey and his Harp Arsenal
Mick pretty much takes care of what leads go in where, and which knobs to twiddle, on the Shed's recording set-up and PA.

'While back he fired everything up for a Sesh ...... nothing worked. Big Blank. Oh dear !

Mick was perplexed, and maybe a bit concerned that he might have done something wrong and blown up the whole shebang.

We managed to get it sorted............we'd pressed an Up-Date button and didn't realise we had to re-set the audio gizmo ( or something ).

Mick was righteously relieved. Not his fault. Settle down and have a beer Mick.

Not long after, he turned up with a song called 'Who Do we Blame?', and encouraged us to  'rassle up a bit of reggae riddumming.

It was fun tackling that weird back to front reggae feel.  But good fun thanks Mick.

Anyway, THIS is what came out.

Relax Mick, it's all good............. Ya didn't do it.

Mick Nadin wrote the song, sang it and harped on
Louise Nadin played da riddum guitar
Chris Ralfs da bass
Graham Brown hit all sorts of things
Peter Reid played upside down drums
Kerry Hynes chimed in with 'Such a Shame'
Neil Porter mixed it all down and did his Production thing.

Hope ya like it !

Wednesday 6 December 2017

MANNY AIGNER SOLOS ON HIS 'MADLY DEEPLY'

Manny has been a very welcome Shedder for a couple of months now. He recently moved down to Pambula from Jindabyne and was looking for some like minded souls to play music with. It was while he was playing at the Candelo Blues Club that somebody, maybe Brother John Drews, suggested he get in touch with PBGB.

Well he did, and we invited him along to check out the Shed scene.  Much to our delight he seems comfortable in The Shed, and has settled in as a regular. Fab!  Suits us just fine!

Manny is a great guy who plays tasty acoustic and electric guitar, sings, can handle the bass, and writes the odd song. He's a professional music teacher to boot, so he knows his stuff, and that comes in handy in The Shed as well.........we do, after all,  have plenty more to learn.

Manny has already made his PBGB Blog debut ................ check out his groovy guitar lines on Mick's 'A Dream' and Jock and Yarni's 'Mama Told Me So'.

We were, however, keen to feature Manny shining in his own light. We knew he had a few originals up his sleeve, one of which, 'Madly Deeply' is an instrumental that Manny uses as a warm up on his solo gigs.

So a couple of days back we took time out to record it .......... listen to Manny soloing on 'Madly Deeply' by clicking HERE.

Hope you like it  !

Manny casually knocked it out in one take with the aid of his trusty looper pedal.

Thanks for hanging out in The Shed with us Manny. We're looking forward to featuring more of your work  on the PBGB Website.

Friday 24 November 2017

GOOD VIBRATIONS - PBGB "PLAYS OUT" :)


Steve Faggotter, Neil Porter, Graham Brown, Peter Reid, Mick Nadin, 
Louise Nadin and Manny Aigner took to the "stage".
After two short rehearsals, a collection of PBGB players were released into the wild on Friday night 24th November to entertain participants and friends at the 2017 Merimbula Classic.  An appreciative crowd enjoyed 6 original PBGB songs plus a couple of covers, as well as some jamming with various people from the audience, including PBGBer Kerry Hynes for a couple of songs - welcome back Kerry!

Our anticipated/planned/rehearsed 30 minutes of playing turned into well over an hour and a half, and a good time was had by all.  Congratulations to Louise on her first gig - which was also the first time most of us have played together outside The Shed.  Indeed, this lineup had only ever played together once before.

Henry Jones and John Drews have been very supportive of PBGB over the years, and it was really good to be able to give them something back in return - thanks John and Henry - love the t-shirts.  

The whole gig had such a warm and friendly vibe despite the impending weather (which never actually pended), and it was great to see so many familiar faces in the crowd.

In two words: GOOD FUN!



Friday 10 November 2017

HEAR YE, HEAR YE, DAWSON GRAHAM EXHORTS ONE AND ALL............ 'NEVER FORGET'

Dawson always has a song or three up his sleeve. And so it was a cuppla weeks back when we were in The Shed hankerin' on recording a new song. Dawson pulled out a song we had never heard before and laid it on us.

Within an hour and a half we had it down, and we were pretty darn pleased with how it sounded.

Have a listen to Never Forget and see if you agree.

Dawson says it's about the reality that although every one of us is on a different journey through life, it is important to remember where we each come from and the lessons we learned from our  families in our early days.

This song, says Dawson, is part of his journey.

It was, as always, brilliant to be able to hear a fresh song, shuffle it around a bit, find the right feel, and just lay it down by the seat of your pants. Nothing stale here.............done and dusted while the initial adrenaline was still flowing. Pure Sheddery thank you Dawson !

Dawson Graham wrote it, sang it, and played slide on his acoustic guitar.
Neil Porter played bass and produced it.
Peter Reid played the drums.

Simple, good.

Hope ya like it !!

Monday 30 October 2017

MICK NADIN DRIFTS OFF INTO 'A DREAM'.

Here comes Mick again !

Mick's appeared on some twenty PBGB songs since strolling into The Shed just over two years ago. That's a great effort, but will come as no surprise to those who appreciate the gusto with which Mick throws himself into all things PBGB. He's an enthusiastic regular who picked up on The Shed zeitgeist with a passion. Mick always has a new song ready to throw into the ring, is happy to have a sing, and loves blowing his harp. He's also stuck his head into the technical side of things and is now a good pluggerinnerer...................all in all a brilliant Shed all rounder !!

If you listen back to the songs Mick has written, you'll quickly realise that Mick's songs offer up a sharp image of his views and opinions on a wide range of socio / political  issues. The titles of his songs bear witness.................'Bureaucracy', 'Nanny State Madness', and 'Destiny'.

Mick continues on this path with his latest offering 'A Dream'. With a tip of his hat to John Lennon, Mick delves into free speech, religion and politics, and laments what might be in a world without war or poverty.............. a world of equality and compassion.

Nice thoughts Mick, beautiful dream.................if only ay ??

'A Dream' was a great song to put together...............a relaxed approach to a steady groove, with a neat little end passage.........thanks Mick, that was cool fun.

And we should point out that 'A Dream' features Louise' debut on Bass!  Yep, just like hubby Mick, Lou will happily have a go at anything and has of late been picking up the bass in a bid to help out with the eternal Shed Achilles heel..................a dearth of bass players. Well done Lou, great job.............keep it up please!

Mick wrote the song, sang it and played harp.

Helping Mick out on 'A Dream' were

Manny Aigner on Guitar
Louise Nadin on Bass
Graham Brown on Percussion
Peter Reid on Drums
Neil Porter did the Production work

Tuesday 17 October 2017

LOUISE NADIN IS IN LOVE WITH 'THIS PLACE'

Louise has been a regular and consistent Shedder since 2015. Since signing on she's made great strides with her guitar playing, her singing and her song writing. She's great .........enthusiastic, fun to be with, keen to learn, lots of smiles. A pleasure. Lou gets plenty of Shed Koala Stamps !!

Louise has contributed to ten songs featured on the PBGB website.................see her 'Musos' Page' for details. 

We always encourage Shedders to bring original songs to the table. That's our bag. We tend to kick the bones of a song around until we think we are on the right track............everybody throwing their two bob's worth in as we get new songs together.   

Louise offered up her first original song 'This Place', in early 2017. We tried a few different feels, set a tempo, and started shaping it up. When the concept was locked in Tony Green offered to produce it. Tony has the wherewithal to add overdubs at home, so he took the bare bones of the song home, and from there he and Louise worked together to decide on the details. They patiently glued it all together with the help of Dawson and Mick.

Louise tells the story behind the song......................

"This Place came to me while trekking the South Island of New Zealand. On the second day, which happened to be my birthday, it started raining. Our small group hurried off to the next location leaving me to enjoy my own company, at my own pace.

It was euphoric. I had no distractions. I was surrounded by stunning natural beauty. I was feeling at one with my surroundings and the universe.

Next thing a tune and words popped into my head. That was the beginning of 'This Place'.

Nice one Lou, and congratulations on your achievement - a recording of your own song featuring your good self on guitar and vocals !!

Helping Lou out are:

Tony Green                  Bass, Keyboard and Production
Dawson Graham         Ukelele
Michael Nadin             Harp and Backing Vocals
Peter Reid                     Drums

Wednesday 4 October 2017

JOCK AND YARNI LOGUS SHOULD HAVE LISTENED UP WHEN............. 'MAMA TOLD ME SO'


Jock
Jock has been a regular Shed frolicker for the best part of a year now. Always fun to have around. She's belted out stellar vocal contributions to Dawson's 'It Ain't Right', and Tony Green's  'You And The Blues'.

Yarni, Jock's husband, works in Canberra, comes to The Shed when he can. Good guy. We hand him a beer and a bass and he smiles.....  happy Yarni.   

Some time back, Yarni and Jock let slip that they had an original up their sleeve............ 'Mama Told Me So'.

We were curious. Fooled about with it a bit, liked what came out, decided that next time Yarni was in The Shed we'd hit record, see what happened. 
Yarni

John on keys, Manny on guitar
Last week, Yarni was available for two Seshes in a row. Opportunity knocks. We dragged out Mama, shaped it up, knuckled down, got serious, and .........

THIS is what came out. 

What a ripper !  Go Jock !  WooHoo !

The title says it all.  It's about all the good advice that mums dole out..............advice we sometimes ignore. And what do you know? Mostly, later on,  we figure Mama was right after all.  Should have listened.

We had a ball with Mama Told Me So. Jock sang her heart out, and Yarni nailed the bass. John Drews laid down a hip Hammond groove, and Mick threw in a dollop or two of tasty harp.

The great guitar chops belong to Manny Aigner. Manny's  very new to the Shed........he'd hardly arrived when this happened.  Welcome aboard the good ship PBGB Manny ! 

Go team Mama......... that was fun !

The team:

Jock Logus                         Co-Writer and Lead Vocals
Yarni Logus                       Co-Writer and Bass
John Drews                       Keyboards
Manny Aigner                   Guitar
Mick Nadin                        Harp
Dawson Graham              Backing Vocals
Graham Brown                 Percussion
Peter Reid                          Drums
Neil Porter handled all the Production work.     Thank you Neil.


We're stoked..................we finally got to post Jock and Yarni's song, and, big bonus, to introduce Manny. Welcome to the PBGB Family Yarni and Manny. Great to have you on board guys !!!

Monday 21 August 2017

GRAHAM BROWN AND THE SHED CREW DISH UP A BARRELING 'BAR BEACH GROOVE'............

Graham's been lurking in The Shed since mid 2016. He fronts up to most every Sesh. He brings a big smile, and loads of enthusiasm............a very popular Shedder indeed. Graham is the first dedicated percussionist to have joined the PBGB Family. That offers us opportunities to learn from his training in percussion, and to suss out percussion as a key component of our music.  Fine by us Graham..............bring it on !!

Slowly but surely Graham has claimed a corner of The Shed. He's got a myriad of percussion gear............congas, bongos, tambourines, whistles, cowbells, chimes..............you name it ! Throw in microphones and leads. He's over there somewhere !

Graham has his percussive touch on nine of our songs now, with writer's credits for three. See Graham's 'Musician's Page' for a rundown.

But Bar Beach Groove is the first song entirely conceived and directed by Graham. He has taken the decisions about the basic feel, the tempo, the arrangement, the lyrics, and the choice of instruments. This is his concept from beginning to end.

The song is of course an ode to Merimbula's Bar Beach. Let's face it, Bar Beach is an inspiration. Anybody who has loitered around the Bar Beach Kiosk drinking coffee or partaking of their fab foodstuffs while admiring the stunning view knows that. Not to mention surfers who have tackled waves at The Bar on a good day...........The Bar can turn on a brilliant wave, make no mistake about that !!

Bar Beach Groove is a studio, rather than live production. It has been built up in layers, with Neil manning the recording desk and piecing it all together.

The recipe started with a basic clave feel on the kick drum. Then the layers started...................a modicum of melody, a brace of bass, a pinch of piano, a dash of drums, a garnish of guitar, a few party vocals, and of course platefuls of percussion, including guiro, clave sticks, bells and congas. And, in what we think might be a first, Bar Beach Groove features harp on a predominantly percussion piece.

Anyway, THIS is what we eventually dished up.  

It's been loads of fun, and most everybody who happened to be in The Shed at the time got to throw something into the mix. A real PBGB Shed production.

Thanks for the fun and games Graham.............let's have another one !!

Tossing ingredients into the Bar Beach Groove are..................

Graham Brown - Writer, and a Plethora of Percussion
Neil Porter - Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Production
Ken Vatcher - Drums
Mick Nadin - Harp
Dawson Graham, Mick, Pete and Graham - Party Vocals

Tuesday 8 August 2017

JOCK LOGUS AND DAWSON GRAHAM DUET ON DAWSON'S 'IT AIN'T RIGHT'

Jock and Dawson
It's been our privilege to play music with Dawson for a couple of years now. He always arrives with a big smile, a swag of swingin' original tunes, and a totally humble, down to earth demeanour. He's great !

And we've been blessed to have Jock sing with us for the best part of a year now

Dawson is always happy to share his talents, and it was immediately clear how well Jock and Dawson sound when they sing together.

Back in June 2017, we posted Tony Green's 'You And the Blues', which represented Jock's debut on the PBGB Blog........singing Backing Vocals.

But now we are stoked to feature Jock in full flight, singing duet with Dawson, on his great song 'It Ain't Right'.

Click HERE to have a listen. 

Jock's debut on lead vocals has been a long time coming, but we hope you agree it has been worth the wait. It's a great song, and we reckon Dawson and Jock sound fantastic together. Well done team !!

Dawson explains the song.......................

"'It Ain't Right' was written to feature Jock.

Basically, it portrays a conversation between a gambler and his wife.
He's out running around and gambling most nights. All his wife wants is for him to stay home at night, and be with her.
So after many lonesome nights, she decides to go home to Mama.
When he gets home and his wife is not there. He laments 'It Ain't Right, somethin's gone wrong'.
He ends up crawling to his wife, trying to get her home, making promises.
So his wife lays down a few rules of her own.
Again he groans............'It Ain't Right' "

All we know is it was great fun to play, and we're very pleased to give Jock a chance to belt out some down home Shed blues.  And she sure dun did that !!

Great result team !!

Getting down and dirty on It Ain't Right are...........

Dawson Graham - Writer, Vocals, Resonator Guitar
Jock Logus - Vocals
Mick Nadin - Harp
Steve Faggotter - Rhythm Guitar
Tony Green - Bass
Pete - Drums

'It Ain't Right'   -  Produced by Neil Porter

Wednesday 19 July 2017

DAWSON GRAHAM RECKONS 'THINGS ARE CRAZY' COME FULL MOON TIME

Dawson howls at the moon.
Couple of weeks ago we were in The Shed, jamming away on a few songs. As we do. We had a crack at Dawson's 'Things Are Crazy'. It sounded pretty good. So we decided that we would turn on the recorder and see what came back at us.

After playback, Ken reckoned it sounded like a party song and that we should throw in a few extraneous party noises. So we did. Everybody gathered around a mic. and hooted and hollered, banged a bottle or whatever. We enjoyed that !

Tony took the files home and set about producing.

Click on 'Things Are Crazy' to join the party !       

Dawson lives on a mountain top in a very isolated spot, far from the madding crowd. It is rumoured he has been known to sit outside on a full moon night and howl at the moon. Dawson Wolf ?

He figures, and he not alone in such figurings, that the full moon has some pretty strange effects on people. He's interested in said effects, and believes we need to know what those effects are, and be prepared !

Dawson believes that locking the doors and turning down the lights is a good start. After all, things can get a bit crazy up there on the mountain.  Got to look after each other up in them thar parts!   Awoohooo !

Well who are we townies to argue with that ??

Howlin' and partyin' on Things Are Crazy are.................

Dawson Graham - the mountain man hisself - Writer, Lead Vocals and Resonator Guitar
Peter Reid on Drums
Tony Green on Bass and Backing Vocals, and Production duties
Louise Nadin on Rhythm Guitar
Steve Faggotter on Lead Guitar, and
Kerry Hynes on Backing Vocals

Hope ya dig it !!

Wednesday 5 July 2017

KERRY HYNES SHINES AGAIN ON HER 'ROCKING POOL'

Following the launch of her song 'Away', back in April 2017, Kerry lost no time in introducing us to another song she had written, this one called Rocking Pool.

We kicked it around The Shed for a while, playing it this way and that, ironing it out, fine tuning etc.

A week ago we had a line up in The Shed that Kerry thought would do the song justice, and without much further ado we decided to give it a run.

So we ran through it a couple of times, then turned on the recorder.

Click HERE to have a listen.

Kerry says...............

" I love words and play. Song writing lets me do both. Rocking Pool came to me as a concept. I woke one morning with an image of a rock pool by the ocean, the feeling of peace we get in nature and the comfortable feeling of being held and rocked by a loved one. A tune and the words Rocking Pool were in my head. The comfort of feeling loved, the sensual pleasure water brings, the freedom and peace that letting go of concerns allow, are what I hope this song conveys........the love and peace that passes all understanding.......that only handing it all over to God enables. I hope you love the gorgeous instrumentation too!  Thanks to the family in The Shed for making it all happen".

Well Kerry, it's our pleasure ma'am.

In The Shed on the day were

Kerry, who wrote it and sang it
Graham Brown, who added percussion
Mick Nadin, who blew the harp
Gus Washbourne, who played the lead guitar
Neil Porter, who played rhythm guitar and later added bass, then did the production work, and
Pete, who played the drums.

Wednesday 21 June 2017

KERRY HYNES AND JOCK LOGUS TEAM UP ON VOCALS FOR TONY GREEN'S 'YOU AND THE BLUES'

Kerry
Tony
Jock

Tony's been  a regular Shedder for over a year now. He came to The Shed as a bass player, but he had a few original tunes up his sleeve. And he likes to sing. He's also very keen to master the black art of production. Earlier this year we posted 'First Class Ticket', a song Tony wrote, sang, played bass on, and produced. Pretty handy fellow to have around !!

For his second original offering,  YOU AND THE BLUES, Tony asked Kerry to sing lead and Jock to provide back-up vocals.  Nice teamwork Tony !

You And The Blues is Jock's PBGB debut. Well done Jock !!  Welcome aboard the good ship PBGB !

Jock wandered into The Shed late last year, and is now a very welcome regular. We had heard about Jock through her appearances at the Candelo Blues Club Sunday jams. Word was that Jock could really belt out a blues, and that became very evident as soon as she sidled up to a mic. and let fly. Jock brings a truckload of enthusiasm........ she's great fun to make music with. We can't wait for Jock to feature as lead vocalist on one of our songs............watch this space, won't be long.

Kerry has added her vocals to a half a dozen PBGB songs now, including a couple of her own originals. She really enjoys afternoons in The Shed and seems to be feeling right at home.

Anyway, Kerry and Jock are showing real promise working together..............a powerful synergy............don't you agree ?

Tony explains that You And The Blues tells the age old story of how people are attracted to musicians, but sometimes grow tired of the commitment to music that comes with the territory. That commitment frequently involves many late nights, expenses, trips away, and, well, the word obsession springs to mind. It is no coincidence that the very first PBGB Value reads "Family First.....No rock and roll widows or neglected children here please".  So yea Tony, we know where you're coming from !

You And The Blues is Tony's second shot at producing a PBGB song. He's putting hard yards into mastering the ins and outs of production, and it shows.

On Tony's 'You and the Blues'...............

Kerry Hynes sings the Lead Vocals
Jock Logus sings Backing Vocals
Tony Green wrote it, plays Bass and did the Production work
Dawson Graham plays his Resonator Guitar
Steve Faggotter plays Lead Guitar
Graham Brown plays the Percussion parts, and
Pete plays the Drums.


Tuesday 6 June 2017

BiiK-OS WE CAN !

PBGB Blog followers will know that many of our songs start out with just a groove, or a riff, or a clutch of lyrics. It is a great product of the collaborative and supportive nature of The Shed that a shred of an idea will bloom, with input from here there and everywhere, into a song we are all happy with.

It is also the nature of The Shed that different people participate in different songs.............not everybody gets involved in all of our songs. 'Side projects' abound.

In the case of BiiK, Pete had a drum and bass groove, and an 'interlude', floating around in his scone. Couldn't get rid of it in fact. He  practiced up the drum patterns and turned to Neil for help marrying the drums and bass together.

Neil got that sorted tout suite.

From there on it just developed from a flurry of emails, experiments, test tastings and floated ideas.

Communicating musical ideas via emails is not easy, and there were many times Pete thought Neil might come down the hill with an axe. But in fact, Neil displayed incredible patience and understanding as they hammered the song together piece by piece.

So, as you might gather, this was not recorded 'live in The Shed'. Nope. Far from it. This is more a product of Neil's 'Jiguma Studio'.  All Neil took away from The Shed were three or four drum patterns and some weird 'Pete' ideas.  The rest was all pieced together at his place. Painstakingly. Step by step. With much trepidation on both sides.

But it was very exciting when we both went "yes !" and we had another piece locked in.

So....................

BiiK is the result of an extended collaboration between Pete and Neil.

Pete had the rough concept, and a few drum and bass patterns in his head. He played the drums.

Neil did everything else.....................great suggestions, guitar, bass, dulcimer, and all the Production work.

They are delighted.  What do you think ?  Have a listen by clicking HERE.

Oh.....................people asked "what is the song going to be called ?"............."BiiK" ..............what does BiiK mean ?

Buggered If I Know.