HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT 'CACTUS JACK'?

It's only rock and roll. Well, rock and roll, all mixed up in a crusty cocktail shaker with a  dash of down home Southern US of A bar room blues belted out in a smoky room full of misfits and mayhem. 

Sort of. Actually written and performed in The Shed in Pambula Beach NSW. But we wouldn't want that to put a damper on it.

 

See, some of us just love the sort of music pumped out by beat up bands that have been on the road forever, drifting around the deep South of the US, scratching to make enough to get to the next gig. Boys behaving badly, never really growing up. Drinkin’, popping pills, chasing women around dirty motel rooms. Dreaming of 'making it'. That's what they do. That's all they know how to do. Life is just getting up on stage and then filling in time before getting up on stage again.

 

Anyway..............gritty bar room blues PBGB style.

 

Start with a feel from the bass and drums. Add a grungy guitar riff and a few sassy sax licks. Throw in some harp highlights, and serve with suitably sounding lyrics. Stir that up for a while then turn on the recorder.

 

Voila !  Cactus Jack !

 

Have a LISTEN here.

 

We had great fun cooking this up so hope it is to your taste.

 

Mick Nadin and Graham Brown wrote the lyrics

Mick sang 'em and played the harp

Graham played the sax and percussion

Neil Porter played the guitar and did all the production work

Louise Nadin played the bass

Pete drummed

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE AND NEIL IS 'SHAKIN' ALL OVER

 

100% live take from the PBGB Shed!

Neil has had a spell of writer's block for quite a while but he seems to be back on track again now. Good to hear.

A couple of months ago Neil brought a new song into The Shed. It was his intention that we do our very best to record the song in one hit, absolutely 'live in The Shed' as it were.

Well we played through it a few times over three or four weeks and reckoned we were ready.

So on went the recorder, and within a couple of takes we had it down.

The story is easy to follow.Neil's lyrics can be easily heard and interpreted.

Shakin' is a fun song to play and we really enjoyed putting it all together. We hope you enjoy listening to it!  Here's the link: Shakin' Cos It's Cold Outside.

 From Neil:

"For a while now I’ve been wanting to get PBGB to the point where we could comfortably record songs totally live in the Shed - ie, no overdubs, no replacing tracks and no fixing bits that “weren’t quite right “

I wrote “Shakin’” with that in mind, and haven’t been disappointed.  I was pretty adamant that we needed lots of practice, and that I didn’t want to record it until everyone was able to play/sing their part/s consistently well.  I’m happy to say that I think we did that.

Lou turned in a solid bass performance here (as she has for our next song).  

Mick added a perfect harmonica riff and solo and sang what may be the first PBGB live harmony vocal in living memory.  Pete and Graham got the drums and percussion just right.

Thanks team PBGB - I knew we could do it".

Credits:

Neil Porter - Writer, Guitar, Vocal, Production

Louise Nadin - Bass

Mick Nadin - Harmonica, Backing Vocal

Graham Brown - Percussion

Peter Reid - Drums

PBGB PURLOINS THE SOUNDS OF THE KALAHARI

Pambula Beach is a long way from Southern Africa and the mighty Kalahari desert, but we were making sounds in The Shed one day and decided that they were a bit on the African side. We liked that, so from there on we decided to stick with our interpretation of 'African', and name the song Kalahari (have a listen). 

Perhaps part of the background to this is the fact that Graham has, since his early teens,  been drawn to Latin and Afro Cuban rhythms, particularly the percussive sounds of congas and bongos. You see Graham has African roots and as a kid loved the raw energy of African music including as presented by bands like Santana and Osibisa. All good fodder for a song like Kalahari !!

 

Inspired, Graham  bought his first set of congas when he was 16. Still has 'em !

 

Graham says "The mid 1970’s was a great time for music in Cape Town where I grew up. Weekends were spent jamming  in local hotels and at outdoor concerts, and  we used to hang at a surf break  called Victoria Bay (half way between Cape Town and Jeffrey’s) ...….camping out on local farms with boards, bongos, guitars, harps and a commitment to having total fun. This was the era of Jethro Tull, Bowie, Hendrix, Audience, Yes, Steely Dan, Caravan, Rare Earth etc etc.

 

As you can hear, there is quite a bit going on in this song. There are layers (upon layers, upon layers) so this is far from the songs we often punch out 'live'.

 

We started with three grooves on the drum kit. Added bass lines. Threw in a dash of guitar here and there. Put down some percussion pieces. Spiced things up with some piano lines from our Fender Rhodes. Added some salty sax. A tad more guitar and various other instruments (including karimba, bouzouki, Hammond organ) via midi.  

 

All in all we figure this might well be the most layered song to ever emerge from The PBGB Shed !!

 

It's been a while coming but we're pretty pleased with the result and hope it evokes Africa in the minds of listeners.

 

Neil Porter did all the production work and played guitar and keyboards

Graham Brown played the sax and percussion parts

Louise Nadin played the bass

Neil Burnham played the Fender Rhodes piano

Pete played the drums

JOHN DREWS IS BACK ON PIANO, AND GRAHAM BROWN DEBUTS ON SAX, ON MICK NADIN'S "CUTTIN' LOOSE"

Cuppla weeks back, we had wrapped up Mick and Manny's 'Potential' (see post below) and were close to packing up. Mick said he had a new set of lyrics pretty much ready to go, so we started messing with it based on an acoustic piece of Manny's.  It sounded pretty good right from the get go and we thought we might focus on it the following week. 

What was different was that Graham Brown, until now the PBGB percussionista par excellence and frequent songwriter, was tootin' on his saxophone. Graham has been learning sax for a while now and indeed has taken it on stage a few times with the Bega District Big Band. But he has not, until now, brought his sax into The PBGB Shed. Well he has now, and you can expect to hear more of it on future PBGB ditties.

 

Meanwhile, before the following week rolled around we got a phone call from our old stompin'  brother John Drews. John said  he'd like to drop by The Shed sometime and say hello. Well we hadn't had a visit from John for three years or so, so we said "Sure, absolutely, come on down" .  Sure enough, the following Monday there was John's van at the Shed door and in he came with his new electric piano. Great !

 

We put two and two together, and realising that John would latch on to Cuttin' Loose lickety split we decided to spend the afternoon trying to get it down. And we did just that. Three, maybe four takes, and there it was !  Well, in truth, Graham was away on the day so we added his sax part the week after. 

We were very pleased with ourselves. It was great to see John again and we loved the spice he added to Mick's song. And Graham did a fine job on the baritone sax.

 

See what you think..........click HERE for a listen.

 

The song is pretty self explanatory.........the lyrics tell the story........."Cuttin' Loose from this crazy world, worn out scene, hit the track, ain't comin' back, won't look back". Everybody gets the blues sometimes !!

 

Mick Nadin wrote the lyrics and sang

Manny Aigner wrote the original music

John Drews played the keys

Graham Brown played the sax

Neil Porter played the guitar and produced

Louise Nadin played bass

Pete played the drums

NEIL BURNHAM DEBUTS ON THE MANNY AIGNER / MICK NADIN CO-COMPOSITION 'POTENTIAL'

We are very chuffed to announce that we have, AT LAST, been joined on a PBGB Shed recording by long time PBGB supporter and stalwart Neil Burnham. That's him smiling at you in the photo.

 

So we now have a Neil P, and a Neil B.

 

Neil B has been following The PBGB Shed with great interest and enthusiasm for many years. He is a longstanding personal friend and neighbour. We have known that Neil has a musical past and keyboard skills but Neil had muscular issues with his hands that prevented him from playing with any confidence. But thanks to the marvels of modern medicine Neil is now cured, his hands are fine, and he is IN THE SHED!

 

Neil debuts on our beautiful 1973 Fender Rhodes electric piano, which we call Frhodo, by contributing to the Manny Aigner / Mick Nadin co-composition 'Potential'

 

You can read all about Neil's musical journeys by clicking on The Musos tab above, then clicking on Neil's name.

 

Anyway, Potential...............another song which Manny brought to us fully formed as a guitar piece to which Mick said "I think I might have some lyrics which will fit this", and voila!........... they did.

 

We set about getting the basics down and it all came together very quickly. Basically nailed it straight out of the box, although we did add Graham's percussion at a later date, and Mick re-sang his vocal track. Best of all, Neil Burnham's piano part was good to go right from the start...........like the rest of us he had only first heard the bones of the song about an hour before the basics, including Neil's piano part, were recorded. Nice work Neil !!!  Give that man a PBGB T Shirt !!!

 

It's not hard to get the gist of 'Potential'. One listen makes it clear that Mick is urging people to have a go. We all have plenty of potential, no matter what  avenue we choose to pursue,  just get up and have a go. You can do it !! very positive stuff thanks Mick.

 

Have a listen by clicking HERE.

 

Manny Aigner wrote the music and played guitar

Mick Nadin wrote the lyrics, sang them and played harp

Neil Burnham played Frhodo

Neil Porter played the bass and did all the recording and production work

Graham Brown played percussion instruments

Pete played drums

MANNY AIGNER'S STARS ALIGN WITH 'MOONCHILD'.

Manny has been a great contributor to PBGBisms for nigh on six years now. He brings a level of musicianship that enables us to get songs together faster than we otherwise might. He 'guides' us as to what is musically appropriate, and can knock out strong rhythms and leads lickety split.

Moonchild is a classic example. Last week, most of the regular Shedders were absent due to travel and injuries. Graham was sporting a chronically sore shoulder and Mick and Louise were away skiing in Japan....... (they did submit a note).

 

So 'twas just Manny, Neil, Pete and a wounded Graham in situ.  What to do?

Well we knew Manny had a song in his kit-bag that he called Moonchild. "OK let's do it!"

 

Straight on with the recorder. Manny played rhythm guitar, Neil played bass and Pete hit the drums.

 

Well that all sounded pretty good, so Manny overdubbed some lead guitar parts. That sounded good too, so Manny put on the 'phones and sang his lyrics.

 

And that was about that. Neil took the tracks home and did his thang............added some percussive parts, balanced this with that, sprinkled some fairy dust around with a bit of gris gris thrown in, and VOILA..................Moonchild is with us.

 

Have a listen by clicking HERE

 

Cool aye?

 

Or as Graham Brown quipped.........."Manny from Heaven"

 

Now you may have thought this was a song about illicit drug consumption. Hmmmm. In fact the story behind the song comes from a music clinic Manny put on for a school for children with intellectual disabilities. Manny was touched by the warmth of the kids who dug what he was doing albeit seeing the world from a very different perspective.

 

Manny Aigner wrote the song, sang it and played guitar

Neil Porter played the bass, added extra percussion parts, and did all the recording and production work

Pete played the drums

MANNY AIGNER, GRAHAM BROWN, AND THE GANG PIECE TOGETHER 'NOTHING'S WHAT IT SEEMS'

The usual PBGB Shed story..........somebody has a riff, a melody or a snatch. Somebody else has a set of lyrics waiting for music. Or vice versa. Bits and pieces. 

"Nothing's What It Seems"  started with Manny bringing in a fully formed  guitar piece that we really liked.  We fooled about with it for a while, and settled on a drum and bass feel that we figured  worked pretty well.  Graham had a set of lyrics that he thought would work well with the tune. Mick fired up his vocal chords and gave them a crack. Voila !

 

Sounded good to us.

 

Neil turned on the recorder, and before long we had the basic tracks  of the whole song down.

 

Manny added a rhythm guitar track. Neil tightened up the bass track.

 

Done.

 

The story line is one of lost love. "We had it good, mutual desire, someone came along and put out the fire". After the fire goes out there is drinking, black dog depression, shattered dreams, and nothing's what it seems. A story too many of us can relate to.

 

Anyway, have a listen by clicking HERE

 

Hope yasall dig it !

 

Manny Aigner wrote the music and played the guitar parts

Graham Brown wrote the lyrics

Mick Nadin sang the song and played harp

Neil Porter played the bass and did all the recording and production work

Pete played the drums (and, as usual, wrote this text)