BILL LEGGE STEPS INTO THE PBGB SHED

Back in October, a few stars aligned and a bunch of likely lads assembled in The Shed. It was quite a blast from the past, as the line up included very early PBGB Family Members Colin Enright and Kevin Abbey.   Also present were Kevin Breeze, Raymond Toms, and long time friend Bill Legge who we had been trying to get into The Shed for ages.

Kevin Abbey and Colin have been gracing The Shed on and off since the very early days, and either or both feature on  a few of the  songs listed in the PBGB Vault., including

-          A live in performance,  savagely bastardised version of ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’
-          A ramshackle version of ‘In The Shed Again’, which is of course a total rip-off of  Canned Heat’s version of  ‘On The Road Again’
-          A rollicking version of  Louis Jordan’s ‘Let The Good Times Roll’, and
-          A very swampy version of  Dale Hawkins’ ‘Susie Q’.

Kevin Breeze has been a semi regular in The Shed for some years now and has contributed stellar bass lines to  a number of our songs.

Raymond is a Shed regular who has a steadily growing list of Shed credits.

But it was new boy Bill Legge who stepped up to the microphone to sing ‘Don’t Start Me Talking’. Bill is a long time friend of Pete’s. Pete knew from singalong  parties long ago that Bill has a fine voice. Bill is also a neighbour of Col’s in Rosedale and has known Kevin Abbey for a good while.

So this was a Sesh for old mates, for old time’s sake.  There we were kicking around a couple of  old blues numbers.

Pete had written his own lyrics to put behind the Sonny Boy Williamson song ‘Don’t Start Me Talking’, so, with Raymond at the controls, and Bill fronting the microphone, we launched into that.

Have a listen.

Bill Legge sings

Kevin Abbey plays Lead Guitar and Harp

Colin Enright plays Rhythm Guitar

Kevin Breeze plays the Bass

Pete plays the Drums

Raymond Toms did all the Recording and Production work.

True Sheddery..............a bunch of mates drinking beers and rolling out blues tunes.

The Sesh gave us a long sought opportunity to record Bill and welcome him  to the PBGB Family. Welcome aboard Bill !!

International PBGB T Shirt Sighting # 37 - Fiji

I know that face. It’s old what’s his name. You know, the guy who hits things. Reckons he keeps tropical fish in his underpants !!

BRETT RALPH AND THE MAN IN THE MIRROR

If you scroll down to the article dated October 1, 2013, (two below this one), you will be able to read all about Brett’s introduction to the PBGB Shed.

And if you read Brett’s Musician’s Page, you will find out more about Brett’s background.

Anyway, we did promise that we would be posting a few more of Brett’s songs over time. And here we present the second of Brett’s songs we have recorded thus far. It’s called "Man In The Mirror", and you can listen to it by clicking HERE.

"Man In The Mirror" is another of Brett’s fiendishly clever songs – have a close listen to the lyrics and you will surely agree with us that Brett has that brilliant songwriter’s / poet’s  technique of capturing and sharing emotions in a way that most everybody can relate to.

In essence, Brett is telling us something we all know........that “ if you really want a lover, and you really want to love her”,  then you have to love the man in the mirror first.  And guess who the man in the mirror is !

Brilliant Brett !!

This version of "Man In The Mirror" was essentially captured the first or second time we played the song with Brett. He just launched into the song and the rest of us scrambled to keep up with him.  It has been tidied up a little bit in the studio, but really, we were astonished by how quickly this came together.  Thing is, Brett reels off his songs with such conviction that it is just a matter of playing along behind him.  In this instance we seem to have got it right pretty smartly.

Brett (Vocal and Acoustic Guitar) is supported on "Man In The Mirror" by Chris Ralfs on Bass, Neil Porter on Guitar, Backing Vocals and Keyboards, and Peter Reid on the drums.

What a cracker song – pacey, punchy, poppy !!  Well done Brett.

We’ll be posting more of Brett’s songs right here on The PBGB Blog..............watch this space !!

MATT BURROWS INTO THE PBGB SHED

A couple of months ago, one of our favourite local combos, Guitarama performed at  the grooviest  music venue on the Far South Coast, The Cheeky Mango.     

A favourite combo at the best bar in town ?   We just had to be there !

During Guitarama’s  performance, one of the players stepped forward and played a couple of songs solo.  The young man in question was Matt Burrows, and Matt’s tender rendition of his own composition ‘Isolation’ really rang our bells.  Here was a young guitarist playing a hauntingly beautiful piece of music that he had written himself.  Hmmm........

So straight after the show Pete asked Guitarama maestro and PBGB  Family Member Dave Crowden,  whether he thought Matt might like to come over to The Shed and record his song. Dave was back in thirty seconds with a  cheery “yes please”.

And so it came to be.
Some background.............Guitarama was put together by Dave Crowden  in 2004. All the players are taught music by Dave. The line-up changes as the more senior members  finish school and move off to university or the big smoke, whatever, and younger students come in  to take their places. A revolving line up. This brilliant concept of Dave’s gives his students valuable experience in many facets of professional musicianship - working together as a combo, performing live, studio recording and so on.
We know how brilliantly Guitarama  works as a stairway for budding musicians.  Musicians who have travelled through  Guitarama on their musical journeys  include Kim Churchill and Daniel Champagne, both of whom have found great success on local, national and international stages.
Will Matt be next  ??
Dave’s passion for helping young musicians learn their trade and gain exposure really resonates with PBGB. We too strive to give local musos opportunities to play and record their music and to be heard.  So  we are delighted  Matt took up our offer of spending some time in The Shed.
As it happened, Dave decided to play bass behind Matt, and recruited fellow PBGB Family Member ( and fellow Figment ) Ken Vatcher, to sit behind the drum kit. Ken, as PBGB Blog readers well know, is also a passionate supporter of young talent.
The first song the lads recorded was  Isolation.  We hope you agree it is a beautiful piece that bodes very well for Matt as a songwriter. Very tasty indeed. Understated, lots of tension and a beautiful melody.
Matt, Ken and Dave then went on to record Ritual, another of Matt’s compositions.  
When that was in the can we had a good laugh, then we gave Matt a PBGB T Shirt and welcomed him to the PBGB Family.  Welcome Matt !
Nice work all ‘round guys, thanks.
All the recording and engineering comes courtesy of Raymond Toms – nice work RT ! 
The great black and white photos were shot by Matt’s Dad, Steve. Thank you  Steve, you captured the day really well.

Addendum :  Since Matt recorded his songs in The Shed, a couple of interesting things have happened. First, rumour has it Matt was at the 2013 Narooma Great Southern Blues Festival  watching a performance by Charlie A’Court .  Apparently one of Charlie’s stage tricks is to wander into the audience, pick someone he thinks looks like a guitarist, and give the chosen one his guitar and ask him to play a solo.  Matt was the chosen one, and by all accounts Matt wailed. Brought the house down !
Then ( coincidence ? )   another brilliant and generous supporter of local music, Tim Holt, invited Matt onto his ABC South East Radio show. So Matt went in, had a chat with Tim, and they played his new recording of Isolation.
It all seems to be happening Matt !  Well done mate.  Don’t leave it too long before coming back to The Shed.
You can read more about Matt here.
ABC article on Matt's unexpected performance at the Narooma Blues Festival - here's the link to a video of the performance itself!

Brett Ralph Brings Love and Laughter to The Shed

A few weeks back our ‘grizzled bass warrior’, that’s Chris Ralfs to you, asked whether he might bring an old pal along to The Shed for a bit of a jam.  Well, to quote Keb Mo, “the door is always open”, so in came Chris with his long time buddy Brett Ralph.

Brett, an Eden local,  strode in, plugged in his acoustic guitar, and launched into a couple of his original songs.  We played along as best we could, and very smartly realised that Brett is a superb songwriter, an excellent acoustic player, and a fine vocalist.  Score !

The songs kept coming, and Brett quietly let us know “yea, I have about eighty originals up my sleeve”.  Well, we thought, if they are anything near as good as the couple of tunes you just rolled out we have a veritable gold mine of new songs to play with here.  Much excitement and anticipation !

Chris had brought Brett along for a specific purpose.  They have been mates, and played music together, for many years – decades in fact.  Chris was well aware of the high standard of song writing and performance that Brett delivers, and has set a  goal of recording a high quality cd of Brett’s songs, using the resources of The Shed along the way.

OK we thought, here is a brilliant opportunity to keep The Shed busy, not to mention challenged,  for months.

Game on !

Brett has been back to The Shed three or four times since.  During those visits, Brett, Chris, Neil, Raymond, Ken and Pete have accompanied Brett as he has run through a batch of songs, sussing out which might might work best on the cd.

Of course we had the recorder rolling................always a smart move, you never know what is going to happen. Gems appear.

Sure enough, when we played back the results of day one, we were very pleasantly surprised. Not only had we captured a few songs from start to finish, they actually sounded pretty darn smart.

On further listening, it really sunk in just how good Brett’s songs are.  They are short, punchy, and they get well and truly stuck in your head.  So, are  they pop songs ?

They tell real stories about real people and events on the far South Coast of New South Wales.  So are they folk songs?

Pop Folk ??  You figure.

Anyway, we started to think we should introduce Brett to our millions of PBGB Blog fans.

We figured that the recording of the ‘formal / hi tech / carefully crafted cd’ was one thing, a long term vision. But in the meantime, why not post some some out-takes / bootleg versions of Brett’s songs on the PBGB Blog ?  We reckoned that some of the quick ‘demos’ we were recording sounded very damn smart, and it would be a pity to waste them.

So what we figure is that we'll post, over time,  a smattering of Brett’s songs, picked up off the cutting room floor, and pasted together for the PBGB Blog.

To that end, we have created a Brett Ralph Project page, which you can have a trawl through by clicking on that title / icon  on the right of your screen.

The first song we offer up is titled "Love and Laughter". 

Love and Laughter is a happy love song.  It was the first song of Brett’s we ever played. It’s a cracker.

This version features Brett on Vocals and Acoustic Guitar, Neil on Guitar and B3 Organ,  Chris on Bass, Raymond on Organ pad,  and Pete on Drums.  The production comes courtesy of a collaboration between Chris and Neil.

Brett – a very warm welcome to The Shed !!!  Your visits have put a real spark into our regular Seshes.  We believe in your music and your playing and singing abilities, and we are keen to work with you on all sorts of projects.

Read more about Brett.

And folks, watch this space for more postings of Brett’s songs – released here in typical Shed Jam / Bootleg / Out Take / Demo format as Brett works on his cd.

Thanks for introducing Brett to us Chris – a big win all around !

Stacey Mills With The Steve Clark Trio – Stunning !

We are absolutely delighted to present a PBGB Project that features the awe inspiring talents of Stacey Mills and the Steve Clark Trio.

Stacey, Steve, Mark Bolsius and Ken Vatcher got together in The Shed in early July and laid down some songs that are simply brilliant.

We proudly post  two of those songs right here and now  -  Good Night, (Melody Gardot) and Don’t Know Why, (Jesse Harris).

Have a listen and rejoice!

Let us introduce the players;

Stacey Mills is a Bega Valley local with a very keen interest in music. She has found her way onto a number of stages, where her vocal talent and stage presence combine to delight audiences.  Stacey sometimes features as vocalist with the Steve Clark Trio – a top shelf gig.  That speaks volumes about Stacey’s talents.

You can read more about Stacey by clicking here.  

Steve Clark is a master of, amongst other instruments, the upright bass. He runs his own trio, which plays pure jazz.  Extremely well !

Supporting Steve in his trio are PBGB Family Members Mark Bolsius and Ken Vatcher.

You can read more about Steve by clicking here.

Followers of the PBGB Blog will be well aware of Ken and Mark’s talents – they have played on lots of songs recorded in The Shed.

Steve and Ken also work together to provide the gobsmacking rhythm section in the sensational Kade Brown Trio. 

So here we have two excellent recordings, featuring some of the most talented musicians in the Valley, recorded in The Shed and mixed with great care by our own Neil Porter.

Steve and Stacey  - a very warm welcome to  the PBGB Family ! 

Imagine how delighted we are that musicians of this calibre come to The Shed and play music ??  How good is that ??

Huge thanks to Stacey, Steve, Ken, Mark and Neil.   Hope you enjoyed it too, and that we see you back in The Shed very soon. The door is always open to you !!

We are so confident that Stacey will return to The Shed and sing some more for us, that we have launched a special ‘Stacey Mills Project’ on our blog – see it right of your screen.

Sizzlin ‘

Watch this space for more.

ABC Canberra Radio Dials Up PBGB

Way back in March 2010 we decided to throw our hat in the ring of a segment 666 Canberra ABC radio were plugging called ‘Garage Idle’.  The segment was seeking out people making noise in their garages, see what they could do.  Idle ?  Suited us, so in we went.

Presenter Greg Bayliss invited Heather and Pete along to the studio for a natter - Neil joined in on the phone. Tatjana Clancy was producing. They played a song or two we had recorded. Lots of fun.

You can listen to that interview by clicking HERE  

Fast forward to last week, and Tatjana was on the ‘phone asking what we were up to some three years on.

We were very happy to announce that “Yep, PBGB is still happening”.

So........on Monday Tatjana rang back for an interview with Neil and Pete.

Listen in by clicking HERE. Includes Mandy’s recent rendition of Neil’s “Out Here and Stranded”.

Ps           Tatjana’s man Craig handcrafts some very fine stringed instruments. If you’re thinking of rewarding yourself with a special stringed  treat, take a look at Craig’s Facebook page.

Mandy rips on Neil's "Out Here And Stranded"

In the short time that Mandy has been a regular PBGB Shedder, we have, to our great pleasure, recorded four songs with her. We are delighted with them all.

God Bless The Child, and At Last have been featured on the PBGB Blog since February.

Now we are very proud to present a third song featuring Mandy. This one is a song written by Neil, titled  ‘Out Here And Stranded’.

Out Here and Stranded is about band-life and running out of time.

Mandy really nails the vocals.  Her voice suits Neil’s R and B tinged song so well.  Just right.  Just so.

The players are Kevin Breeze on bass, Pete on drums, Raymond Thoms on keyboards and Neil on guitar and backing vocals. Neil also did all the production work.  It was recorded "live" in The Shed.

Great work team!

Watch this space for another song featuring Mandy......... coming your way real soon !

Loving your company thanks Mandy!

Gus gets Busted

We recently completed a very quirky version of Gus’ song ‘Busted’.

It has been a while in the making. In fact Busted is a fairly ‘old’ song of Gus’s -  it came as somewhat of a surprise to realise that we don’t seem to have ever posted a version of it on the PBGB Blog. But no matter, here it is.

Busted is a typical Gus song. Just take a listen to the lyrics, and to Gus’ growly vocals, and you’ll agree that only Gus could have come up with this.

This version features Gus on Vocals and Guitar, Neil on Guitar, Pete on Drums, and Ken on Backing Vocals and Congas.

It also features Raymond on Bass and Backing Vocals. Raymond also did all the production work.

On keyboards is special guest Charles Pedder . Charles is a friend of PBGB Family Member Bill Cairncross. Charles was holidaying in Merimbula, and Bill brought him over to The Shed one day while we happened to be working on Busted. Charles sat down with Fhrodo, our mighty  Fender Rhodes piano, and started tinkling away. We liked what we heard.

As is our custom, people who feature on a PBGB recording or video are inducted into the PBGB Family, so.............welcome to the PBGB Family Charles !!!

We waited a while for Gus to feel in the right mood to lay down his Vocal line, then we added the Backing Vocals and the Congas and...............Voila !   Gus gets Busted !!

Nice one Gus !

Rosario De Marco, Jem Savage, and Ken Vatcher – Momentum

On New Year’s Day 2013, we launched ‘Jambudvipa’, a composition by then newly anointed PBGB Family Member Rosario De Marco. We had in fact recorded two songs by Rosario in late December. We held back on the second song, ‘Momentum’, because we thought it would make a great basis for some tasty overdubs.

Momentum is finished now, and you can listen to it by clicking HERE, or by seeking it out in the Rosario De Marco Project on the right of your screen , or by clicking on the title in the PBGB JukeBox.  Enjoy !!

After Rosario had recorded the acoustic guitar track we drew breath. We liked what we heard, and thought we'd like to involve other  PBGB Family Members in our rendition of Rosario’s beautiful piece.

Jem Savage happened to be holidaying at Pambula Beach at the time, so we asked him if he would like to add a little something.  Jem was up for it, dropped by with his Sax, and behold, there was Soprano !!

Then we decided that some Percussion would add a little 'je ne sais qua'. Brother Ken gave it some deep thought, then turned up at The Shed with an array of Percussion instruments, ready to add some of that special Vatcher magic. As is usual, Ken got it just right. Spot on thank you Ken !

Momentum was sounding great. Rosario (we think) then suggested adding the sounds of the ocean as an “integral  instrument”. Neil sprinkled in some Porter production potion, and there it was!  Momentum !!

We hope you enjoy what might be said to be The Shed’s first  steps into the realm of World Music.

We are eternally grateful to have musicians the calibre of Rosario, Ken and Jem working with us on PBGB projects – many thanks for your inspiring work guys.

Special tip of the hat to Neil Porter for all the production work. 

Great work team. Let’s do some more !!!