ANDY O’DONNELL AND THE MILLS SISTERS KNOW, THERE’S ‘ALWAYS A WAY ‘

Andy clearly enjoying hisself in the role of Musical Director.

This is a song inspired by a Keb Mo concert Ken and Susie and Pete and Penny saw and absolutely dug at The Corner Hotel in Richmond ( Melbourne ) way back in 2012. Keb and his band absolutely cooked, and oodles of good vibes radiated from the stage.......the best of the human spirit conveyed through top notch music! Right there and then Pete decided to write a song that paid homage to Keb and his abundance of positive values. 

After the initial lyrics were down on paper, Pete, Neil, and Kevin Breeze started kicking some musical ideas around. The song seemed determined to head off in a funky Motown direction. Fine by us. Before long we had a strong sense of what we wanted to do, so Pete and Kev laid down the basic drum and bass grooves, and Neil added some simpatico guitar and keyboard licks. 

At around this point, Pete decided to ask Andy O’Donnell if he might be interested to sing the song. The sort of karma that the song is all about came good – Andy agreed. Yay ! Pete was absolutely stoked and asked Andy to also put his considerable musical experience into steering the song in the right direction. 

Enter Andy, Musical Director! Andy suggested a couple of changes to the arrangement and laid down his vocal lines. 

Well shoot.......who wouldn’t?  

Then, Andy figured the song was just begging for some funky backing vocals. Well we knew that Stacey, Patricia and Phoebe Mills, who sing together in the Ruby Thursday vocal ensemble, could cut the mustard big time, so we invited them to come on down to The Shed. With Andy directing, the girls came up with a bunch of sassy refrains that fitted like a silk glove. 

Brother Ken was busily figuring just what sort of percussion bits and pieces might add the right icing to the cake. We put the Backing Vocals and Ken’s tasty percussion chops down. Sounded Goood. We had the makings. 

Neil gathered all the bits and pieces together and scurried off to mix it all down. After a few collective listens, suggestions, fidgets and re-listens we figured we had it in the bag. 

So HERE it is. The making of this song was a perfect reflection of the karmic promise of the lyrics. Pete is seriously humbled by the goodwill of all the fine people who generously devoted their time and energy to creating this song. 

Heartfelt thanks to............ 

Andy O’Donnell for his super vocals and creative direction 

Stacey, Phoebe and Patricia Mills for their classy backing vocals 

Ken Vatcher for his perfectly placed percussion chops 

Neil Porter for all the fine recording and production work, and for his fab guitar and keyboard work (and the "Horns Of A Dilemma" section)

Kevin Breeze for his brilliant bass lines 

Peter Reid wrote the song, played the drums, then sat back and watched in awe as everybody put their stamps on the final product. Enjoy the peace and love brothers and sisters !!! 

Instant karma’s gonna get you !

They say PBGB had humble beginnings - here's a shot from the archives ;)

COLIN ENRIGHT AND ADRIAN LEWIS DROP IN

Long time PBGB stalwart Colin Enright made another welcome visit to The Shed in early May.

Col brought along fellow Rosedale resident Adrian Lewis. Adrian is a classically trained cellist with a CV that includes stints with a brace of Symphony Orchestras as well as a few well known musical ‘names’. 

Col has recently retired from his long standing Canberra band Top Shelf. Col has decided to stick closer to home, and is in the throes of teaming up with Adrian to play as a duo named Duopoly, featuring Guitar, Vocals and Cello.

The boys decided they would like to put together an ep of their work, to use as a promo tool, and naturally Col thought of The Shed.

So down they came, and with Neil’s help, recorded a brace of songs for their demo cd.

We thought we’d post a couple of the tunes they played on our blog.

The first we selected is Minnie The Moocher.  

Minnie The Moocher was first recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931. It sold a million copies, which, in 1931, was a fantastic achievement. The song shot back to prominence when Cab was featured singing the song in the all time classic 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. It is a brilliant song, full of charm, and Adrian and Col have produced a particularly charming rendition. Col’s vocals fit in very nicely indeed.

The second song we feature is Pechalbel Canon in D.  

Johann Pechalbel composed this ditty sometime prior to 1700, so you could say it is a bit of a classic too!   The song achieved new found popularity in the 1990s when it was sampled in songs by The Pet Shop Boys, Coolio, and Green Day !!

We all had a great day, lots of fun and laughs, and hopefully Adrian and Col are happy with their promo cd.

We are looking forward to more visits by Col and Adrian, and we are busily exploring the possibilities that having a classically trained cellist in the PBGB Family might open up !

Adrian...........welcome to the PBGB Family sir !

NEIL PORTER, CHRIS RALFS AND PETER REID FIGURED IT MUST HAVE BEEN ‘SOMETHING SHE SAID’

A couple of weeks ago Chris and Neil and Pete found themselves noodling about in the Shed.

No plan, no agenda.

What to do ?

Neil offered up a chord sequence he had been fooling with.

Pete echoed Neil’s strumming pattern by putting the kick on the 1 and the snare on the 4 in what was sounding like a verse, and then changed to a straight beat, albeit with a cross over snare pattern, for the chorus.

Chris was emitting his trademark growl on the fretless five string bass.

Ten minutes in, and it was all sounding pretty good to us.

So Neil took it home overnight and added some lyrics, vocals, a bit of extra guitar and a keyboard solo and riffs.

And that was essentially that.....................’Something She Said’.

It had been a while since the three of us had produced a result as a trio, so we decided to leave it right there.

Thanks for coming guys.............it’s a take.

Have a listen HERE or click on the title on the PBGB Juke Box.

BRETT RALPH WONDERS ‘HOW DO THOUSANDS JUST DISAPPEAR?’

As we proceed with the production of a quality cd of Brett’s songs, we will continue, as previously promised, to post ‘early’ versions of some of Brett’s songs.

The versions we post will be what we regard as ‘drafts’ or ‘out takes’, or ‘practice’ versions that we have recorded, but which will not make it to the final cd.

If you click on the Brett Ralph Project on the right of your screen, you will see that we have already posted four such versions of Brett’s songs.

Three of those, Antarctica, Include Me, and Love and Laughter can also be heard on the PBGB Juke Box, to the left of your screen.

Now we present a fifth Brett song – ‘How Do Thousands? ’ 

This version of How Do Thousands is a VERY early version, probably recorded on the first or second day Brett ever graced The Shed, back in August 2013. At that stage we were doing nothing more than jamming on some of Brett’s songs. We did have the recorder on though.

Brett sings and plays acoustic guitar.

Also present on the day, and playing on this version were............

Ken Vatcher on Drums

Artie Westwood on Lead Guitar

Chris Ralphs on Bass

Neil Porter on Keyboards

The song is typical of Brett’s compositions in that it tells a story of a chapter of Brett’s life.

In this instance, Brett sings about the disappearance of a close friend and the subsequent drama. It is a true story.

It is also very socially poignant in that it highlights just one drama amongst many that cause great pain and anguish to people the world over when friends or relatives ..............”just disappear”.

Thanks for sharing this great song with us Brett.

Watch the PBGB Blog for future postings of more of Brett’s brilliant songs.

STACEY MILLS, MARK BOLSIUS, KEN VATCHER AND STEVE CLARK GET THEIR KICKS.............ON ROUTE 66 !!

If you scroll down to our posting of 20 July 2013, you can read about Stacey, Ken, Mark and Steve, and listen to a couple of songs they recorded in the PBGB Shed back in 2013. We were very chuffed with those recordings. Steve, Mark and Ken, who comprise the Steve Clark Trio, are arguably the very best jazz players in the Bega Valley, and well beyond. 

So being able to record Stacey backed by that line up was very satisfying indeed. 

Now we are very pleased to present another song by Stacey and the Steve Clark Trio. 

Have a listen to Stacey and the boys playing Route 66 by clicking HERE 

We are sure you will agree that this is a very fine rendition of the great song written by Bobby Troup in 1946. Route 66 was first recorded by Nat King Cole. Later covers include those by musicians as diverse as Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, Bing Crosby, Dr Feelgood, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Manhattan Transfer, The Strypes..............the list is unbelievable. 

Anyway, now we have our own fabulous version to be proud of. 

This recording is amongst the finest ever produced in the PBGB Shed. The standard of musicianship is eye watering. 

Left to right: Steve, Ken, Neil and Mark

Our heartfelt thanks go to Stacey, Steve, Mark and Ken for their fantastic contributions. 

And to Neil Porter, who did all the recording, mixing and mastering. Well done team !!!! 

Fans of Stacey should keep an eye on the PBGB Blog.............we have more Projects involving Stacey coming up. Watch this space !!

BRETT RALPH DESPAIRS ..............”INCLUDE ME” IN THE WRECKAGE.

Regular PBGB Blogophiles will know that we have had the pleasure of Brett’s company in The Shed for a few months now. Since August 2013 in fact.

Initially Chris introduced Brett, and we jammed on a bunch of his songs over three Seshes.  We only had two or three shots at each song. We had the recorder on.

We fell in love with Brett’s music. We were so taken by Brett’s talents we decided we’d like to record a cd of his songs.

We are doing that. Watch this space.

In the meantime we are posting some of those early Brett Sesh Jam cuts. Just  ‘cos we can !!  We like them.  These cuts are pretty much straight off the desk, very little studio intervention.

This one, another absolute Brett Ralph cracker, is called INCLUDE ME. 

Enjoy !

Listen to more of Brett’s songs   

On Include Me,

Brett - Vocal and Guitar

Neil - Guitar, Keyboards and Background Vocals

Chris - Bass

Pete - Drums

MAX MURRAY, MILES MURRAY, MACEO WOOD, MICHAEL FENDEL, NEIL PORTER – THE Ms’n’N GONZO SHED JAM !!

The Shed was actually hibernating. A Summer break. 

Then Max, a long time PBGB Family Member (SEE HERE) rang up to see if we might get a jam happening.  Cunning devil he is, talked us into it.

Next thing we know Max, brother Miles, mates Maceo and Michael, and Neil were jamming in The Shed.

Max,  Miles and Maceo are lifelong mates from Melbourne, and  jam together from time to time. Michael, an exchange student from Germany, met the boys and has had  a couple of jams with them. Neil had no idea what was about to hit him.

Da Boyz improvised their way across six songs that you can listen to HERE.

The spirit of Crazy Mama lives on !!   Déjà vu 2007..... this is pure Gonzo Shed Jamming.

Enjoy !!! 

BRETT RALPH – Ain’t No Bears Down There ............ in ANTARCTICA !

Frequent visitors to the PBGB Blog will have noticed that we are very excited to be working with Brett Ralph, an Eden based troubadour who has a quiver of what we consider to be brilliant original songs. We are in fact working on a cd of Brett’s songs, and along the way we will be posting, right here, a few ‘demos’ or previews of the songs bound for the cd.

And so it is that in the past couple of months we have posted LOVE AND LAUGHTER and MAN IN THE MIRROR, and established a Special PBGB Project page for Brett, which you can access by clicking on the photo of Brett at the right of your screen.

Now we are delighted to launch a third song by Brett. This one is called ANTARCTICA.

This song is so Brett. Brett has a longstanding relationship / love affair with Eden. Eden is a small town on the far South Coast of New South Wales which has a rich history of whaling and fishing. The very fabric of Eden is interwoven with the whaling industry. As is Brett – he has been writing and singing songs about Eden for years, and is perhaps best known for his involvement with lamentably defunct Eden Band ‘The Killers Of Eden’, who were hugely popular in the region.

When Brett sat down in The Shed and played this version of Antarctica we were gobsmacked. It struck us that this is absolutely brilliant folk music, and led us to wonder whether we needed to do anything at all to ‘enhance’ the song. We had been working on the notion that we would be adding drums and bass and guitars and what-not to Brett’s songs. But in this instance we sat back, slack- jawed, and thought ‘why mess with this ?’.  We still feel the same, and may well go down the path of absolutely minimal ‘dressing up’ of some of Brett’s songs.

In this instance, the only additions to Brett’s original take are the bass and slide guitar of Neil Porter

We can’t tell you how thrilled we are by this song, and indeed by working with Brett to bring his songs back to the attention of the public.

Those who know Brett will know that he is a hugely talented singer/songwriter/poet /guitarist who is totally and genuinely humble about his abilities. Brett is quite puzzled by our enthusiasm to do our very best to capture and promote his work. He can’t  understand the fuss, and actually confounds us by his need to be almost dragged into The Shed to work on his songs.

Well, you have a listen, and see if you agree that Brett is a local folk legend who deserves to be heard and appreciated.

We’re doing our absolute darndest !!

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 !!