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 !!!

The JukeBox

All songs now accessible in the JukeBox - please scroll down to see songs 11 to 20.
Not quite how we'd like it, but an improvement.
Neil

Gus Grabs Another Lifeline

 Gus’ song Lifeline has proved to be a perennial favourite in The Shed. It is a great little tune that is a good one to drag out when visitors pop in. That’s mainly because Lifeline is almost a straight twelve bar and it has a neat swing feel, the combination of which make for a song that people can pick up on pretty quickly. Plus, Gus usually remembers the words !

So yea, it gets pulled out for a run pretty often.

There is an early version, in the PBGB Vault,  which features Sasha Dee on Vocals, Ken Vatcher on Drums, Kevin Breeze on Bass, and Gus and Neil on Guitars. Click HERE to have a listen to that version.

Now we offer up  a version that features Gus on Guitar and Vocal, Neil Porter and Lyndon Lewis on Guitars, Kevin on the Bass, and Pete on the Drums.  Same song, very different version.

Have a listen by clicking HERE, or by clicking on ‘Lifeline’ on the PBGB Juke Box on the left of your screen.

It’s a great song thanks Gus, well deserving of its popularity in The Shed, and really good fun to play !!

Wouldn’t be surprised if a third version pops up one day.

Mandy Siegel Jams The Shed

PBGB Family Member Mark Bolsius gave us the tip that a seasoned vocalist named Mandy had recently moved to Merimbula. Mark proposed that we invite Mandy along for a Sesh. Great idea Mark !  Pure Sheddery !!

We knew very little about Mandy, but soon put a couple of pieces of the puzzle together.......to wit...........

• Mandy has a ‘MySpace’ page which features four of her original compositions.
• Mandy’s partner Di used to get drum lessons from Ken Vatcher (Ken is here, Ken is there, Ken is everywhere) and indeed Ken knew Mandy in a former life, and
• Mandy and Di have recently moved to Merimbula from Melbourne. This is a permanent move and we figured Mandy would be keen to immerse herself in the local music scene.  What better doorway than The PBGB Shed ??

We always love having new players in The Shed,  so we welcomed Mandy with open arms.  Mark came along of course, and Ken popped in, armed with his dazzling chops.  We also had the pleasure of Chris Ralf’s company.

Jazz standards seemed to be the flavour of the day, so it made sense to put Mandy in front of a microphone, Mark on his keyboard, Chris on his bass stick, Ken on the Roland kit, and Neil on the desk.

Roll ‘em team................

It was immediately apparent that Mandy COOKS !  Mandy has a great voice and all the moves, the smiles, the sparkle in the eyes that make for first class entertainment. And she obviously loves working the microphone ! We had a great time.  

At the end of the day, Neil took the recordings away and did a bit of sifting.

It needs to be said that ...........

• The afternoon was a jam, pure and simple
• Mandy, Mark, Ken and Chris had never played together as a combo before, and
• They didn’t play any song twice – once through on the fly and you're done

So the fact that we got any worthy results at all is pretty extraordinary.  But we did. Indeed we have two songs to proudly add to the PBGB Juke Box  They are both classic jazz standards..............click on the titles here.............

• At Last ( a 1941 composition by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren ), and
• God Bless The Child ( 1939, Billie Holliday and Arthur Herzog Jr. )

Or click on the titles on the PBGB Juke Box on the left of your screen for a listen.

Now folks, we are stoked. Whilst these versions of the songs are the result of a jam, it is abundantly clear that Mandy has a brilliant voice. And Mandy is stoked to have discovered The Shed, and will be back. She has, after all, been given a PBGB Tee Shirt and warmly welcomed to the PBGB Family !!

We are looking forward to posting more of Mandy’s  great vocals on the PBGB Blog in due course.  Meanwhile, enjoy her offerings.

And before we sign off, how about a big round of applause for Mark Bolsius, who made this all happen and who plays the keyboards, Ken Vatcher, for some of his ( usual ) stunning drumming, and for Chris Ralfs who bravely set up his bass stick, peered over Mark’s shoulder at the charts, and excelled himself. And for Neil, who twiddled all the knobs.

Well done team !!  More please !!

Rosario De Marco signs on with the PBGB Family !

Santa brought PBGB a very special present this year.

We received an email from a fellow named Rosario De Marco. Rosario explained that he is a composer /guitarist from Melbourne, and that he and his family have a holiday house in Pambula Beach. Rosario had come across the PBGB Blog, and he figured we might be able to help him find a couple of gigs while he was here on holidays.

Well we checked out Rosario on the web, and were delighted to discover that Rosario is an exceptionally talented musician. So we got back in touch, and the fireworks started.

We sent out an email to people we thought might be able to help Rosario find a gig or two. We also explained the PBGB concept to Rosario and invited him to get on board.

The PBGB jungle drums started beating.  All across the Valley !

Next thing we knew, the always generous, music loving and talent promoting Lyn and Andy O’Donnell had offered Rosario a gig at their very groovy home of local music “The Cheeky Mango” cafe.             

Neil and Jan, Ken and Susie, Jem and Ami, and Pete and Penny went along for dinner and a listen.  We met up with Rosario and were all mighty impressed with his music and his friendly demeanour.  It was a great show, so good that immediately after the show Lyn and Andy offered Rosario a second gig a few nights later.  Fantastic support Andy and Lyn – thank you so much !  Welcome Rosario !!

New Year’s Eve saw Rosario and his family join us as we watched the mighty Figmentz, featuring special guests Andy O’Donnell (he’s everywhere), Garry Carson Jones and Pol O’Shea absolutely tear up the Ford Park NYE Community Concert.  Brilliant performance from Ken, Dave and da boyz!  Rosario was very impressed with their performance, and figured he was in fine company.

On to January 1 - things are happening at lightning speed and Rosario, Jem, Ken and Pete are in The Shed recording a couple of Rosario’s original songs.

We fired up the recorder and Rosario launched straight into Jambudvipa which you can listen to by clicking on the title, or by clicking on ‘The Rosario De Marco Project’ on the right of your screen.

Jambudvipa sounded great straight off the bat. Rosario only needed one run through. Just like that !

We knew straight away we had ‘a take’, so we handed Rosario a PBGB T Shirt and warmly welcomed him to the PBGB Family.

Rosario and Jem (on Soprano Sax)  then recorded a second Rosario original called Momentum.  After playing it back we decided we would really like to add some extra layers to the song.  So it will be a little while in the making, but watch this space.

Meantime, you can read all about Rosario by clicking on his ‘Musician’s Page’ and by clicking on “The Rosario De Marco Project” site on the right hand side of your page.

A very warm welcome to The PBGB Family Rosario !

Hurry on back to Pambula Beach and The Shed !!

Neil's New Album released

“Life On The Trapeze” 

So, here’s my third album of songs, 16 in all recorded between 2010 and 2012, and covering a fairly wide spread of genres, including jazz/blues, country rock, latin rock, acoustic rock and some odd little snippets of my life in non-genre-specific musical packages. 

I had always planned that I’d be in a position to do a “CD release” gig of some sort to celebrate the release of this one, but that hasn’t been possible. Maybe next album ☺ 

Once again, although I’ve played most instruments myself, there is a collection of 11 other players/singers who have helped me out. It’s a worldwide collaboration on some songs, with players and singers from Australia, the US and Norway. 

It’s the first of my albums where I’ve had members of the Pambula Beach Garage Band collective involved – on “Big Car – No Shoes”. I’m hoping to get more songs done with them for my next album. 

Included on the album is the song “(You Got Me) Spinnin’” which won me the “Artist Of The Year 2011” on the MSI international music website http://msi.icweekly.net/ 

Putting a collection of songs together is a fascinating process. To start, you need some songs worth spending time on, then you need to make the time! This has taken me over a year in preparation. All songs have been re-mixed and re-mastered so the quality is absolutely as good as I can get it. There are a couple of songs which haven’t been heard before, and quite a few that have – they are all originals, and all vastly better mixed than any previous versions. 

I’d really appreciate it if you had a listen to the tracks at http://jiguma.bandcamp.com/album/life-on-the-trapeze 

If you feel that you'd like to do a review of the album, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can buy individual tracks for $1 each or the whole album (download in a choice of digital formats, and including a .pdf lyrics booklet, a “make your own CD kit” and a video of “Safe Hands”) for $10. I’ll also have a limited number of “real” CDs (that you can play in your CD player) for $20 each plus postage (which includes the downloadable album and the other goodies that come with it). I’m also hoping to have it available on iTunes, but that may take a little while. If you’re short of $$, you can just listen. 

Almost forgot, you can also buy some spiffy “Life On The Trapeze” t-shirts @ $15 each from the BandCamp page already listed. 

Hope you have a Happy Christmas break and that 2013 is good to you, Neil

Real support for local music!

Bill Brown just sent this email out, and I'm sure he won't object to us reproducing it in full here:

"Hi All

ABC South East Music is all about promoting live music in the region – the musicians, festivals, and venues -  and as this is all about connecting you with our audience I thought I’d pass on some really good results that have developed over the last few months.

ABC Awards

Last month ABC South East Music was runner-up in the ABC’s national local radio awards in the Best Use of Online Media category – losing out to ABC Sydney. We were the only regional finalist in the category – so we did OK for the bush!

That’s s all fine, it’s an ultra high profile event attended by the NSW Governor, Premier, Opposition Leader, and Fed and State ministers, etc;  and the food and champagne was great – but the meaningful part was the opportunity of getting the attention within the ABC from the Managing Director, all the various network chiefs, and so on, with the message that out here in the bush there is a terrific community of musicians doing great things.

From the ABC point of view it has been highlighted as a significant example of the ABC supporting the arts in a regional area.

This is a big win for all of you – the feedback is all about the breadth and quality of your performances that comprise the content of ABC South East Music; and all about how in this remote part of Australia there is such an interesting music scene.

National ABC Local Music Online

We have demonstrated what ABC Local can do in supporting the arts in the regions and that we can create music productions that attract a national and international online audience – so this creates new thinking and new opportunities.

The latest development has been the establishment of a national ABC Online site: ABC Local Music – where one of the content streams is “Live to tape”, films and recordings from around Australia.

Have a look and you’ll see how well represented is South East NSW in the site’s national context.  Currently the site’s home page features videos of Garry Carson Jones and the PBGB at Pambula; Lucie Thorne and Kate Burke at Candelo;  Captain Matchbox at Tathra; Kade Brown Trio at Candelo; Six Feet Under at Tathra; (and no, I don’t select any of these – its done by the site’s producer)

This kind of media ‘traction’  means that between you all and us we are expanding our presence nationally, and expanding the audience for the performance videos that we make.

Four Winds Festival

Earlier this month ABC South East Music and ABC Classic FM partnered to dual broadcast recordings of the festival on Classic FM, while publishing a multi-camera coverage of the Festival on a dedicated ABC Four Winds Festival web site.

It took three years and multiple funding submissions to secure the budget to do this, and the outcome has been highly successful.

It is also another model for the ABC of the way things can be done in the bush – producing high value content suitable for online, radio and TV. Its the first time anything like that has been done – ABC Local Online partnering with a national radio network to film and record a regional festival.

Again, new things create new opportunities – so lets see what happens.

The future

Its just a matter of time before more clips find a way on to ABC 1 or 2 or 24 once the ABC’s TV Arts funding cuts and changes settle down.

The Four Winds Festival production has given iView a serious nudge; and we keep pushing for a regional music stream;  so we’ll keep knocking.

Work together and put it out there

The foundations are well established now. So its now all about continuing with new productions and building the buzz.

Please stay engaged with ABC South East Music:

-  musos: please use your web sites and Facebook to link to any clips we’ve created with you
-  festivals and venues: on your web sites and Facebook please use ABC South East Music clips of any artists your are programming
-  musos, venues, and festivals: please add your gigs to the ABC South East Music gig guide and help us promote you online and on radio"

Thanks for all the brilliant work in support of local music Bill!

PBGB Tee Shirts a WorldWide Phenomenon

PBGB T Shirts seem to be popping up with increasing frequency all over the globe.

Latest sighting has been reported from Mundaka in Spain, a wave that many regard as the best in Europe.

Due to a massive tide shift, the break at Mundaka goes completely flat on a high tide, no matter how big the swell – exactly as you see in the attached photo.

But............Mundaka does fire big time.........have a look at this Youtube clip for proof

OK,when Pete surfed it earlier this month it was not quite the size you see in the clip. Nor was there such crowd lunacy, but Pete rates it amongst his all time surfing highlights.

Would you like Tapas with that ??  Si por favor !!!