WE'RE BACK, COVID NOTWITHSTANDING, WITH A TOPICAL SONG BY MICK NADIN....."PANDEMANIA"

 Followers of the PBGB blog will have noticed we've been off the air for a while. Blame the Covid restrictions and a rather unfortunate equipment malfunction. 

But we're back now, and pleased to be able to re-boot PBGB happenings with a new song by Mick.

 

'Pandemania' is Mick's take on the Covid pandemic. He sings us through his view of the impact of the dreaded virus and the extraordinary effects it has had on the world at large, let alone the PBGB Shed!

 

"There's a virus on the loose" cries Mick, and it's everywhere. The media is saturated with it, everything's constantly changing, and we're all a bit battle weary, even though Pambula Beach has thus far got off very lightly.

 

Mick brought the lyrics into the Shed. We figured the subject matter demanded  something somewhat unorthodox with a lean towards the dark side. Worked out a likely chord progression and dialled in a heavy drum feel. Paul threw in the eerie lead guitar work, Mick blew some haunting harp, and voila, we have 'Pandemania'.

 

So, before you click HERE to have a listen, get your jabs, wash your hands, wear your mask, and don't get too close.  Social distancing mandatory!

 

Mick Nadin wrote the lyrics, sang and played harmonica

Paul Daynes played lead guitar

Neil Porter played rhythm guitar and did the production work

Louise Nadin played bass

Graham Brown played percussion

Pete played the drums

VALE AL NOBLE

Followers of the PBGB Blog will be well aware that our dear friend Al Noble has contributed some very fine songs and performances to the PBGB ouevre.

Sadly, Al recently passed away.

 

In May 2018, Mick and Louise told us about a mate of theirs who "is a nice guy who writes songs, sings a bit, and plays guitar". Always on the lookout for songwriters, we were keen to meet him.

 

Al, at the time, had recently lost the house he was building on Vimy Ridge to the 2018 bushfires that ravaged Tathra. He managed to save a studio he had built on the block, so still had a place to live.

But he did lose many big beams of timber he had milled from trees on his block, along with building materials, machinery tools, workshop, instruments, boats, cars, trailers and caravans full of family heirlooms.........all gone.  

 

Undaunted, Al set hisself down at the Sapphire fm community radio studio, and armed with Lou's acoustic guitar peeled off one of his original tunes....'Red Dress'. Well we loved what we heard, and within a couple of weeks we had Al come into the PBGB Shed to record it.     

 

Al brought a swag of great original songs, a gritty voice and was no slouch on the guitar. He also had a beautiful nature. Loved a hug. We took an immediate liking to him, and he was delighted to find a bunch of people who were interested to work with him to record his songs.

 

Al, always humble and unassuming, viewed himself primarily as a songwriter, rather than a performer. But we found his playing and singing to be very down to earth and honest, so we made sure he featured on all of the songs we recorded with him.

 

It was late in 2018 that Al was diagnosed with a particularly nasty cancer.  Despite Al's optimistic nature and determination to prevail the prognosis was not good. So we set about recording as many of Al's songs as we could. In fact Neil packaged up a bunch of Al's songs into a saleable cd in order to raise some money to assist Al and his family cover the medical bills - "Arden Street, Owl Noble".  Should you purchase same, be assured every cent of your contribution will go immediately to Al's family.

 

You can hear all the songs on the cd plus more PBGB songs that Al contributed to HERE

Al was also very chuffed that top local band The Figmentz chose to record and perform his song "Love Sets You Free".    

 

Despite his failing health Al stayed in touch right to the end and was determined to rejoin us. Alas, that was not to be.

 

We sorely miss you Al. Thank you for all the great songs and fun times together. Rest in Peace.

Neil's 6th album released

  "The Disappearing Man", Neil's 6th album of original songs has just been released, and is available for a listen on BandCamp (just click HERE).

"After over a year of sitting on this, my 6th "album", I've decided to set it free into the wild, warts and all.  You can listen for free at BandCamp (follow the link below), or if you're feeling flush, it will cost $7 to download all 15 songs.

I'll be posting individual tracks on FaceBook over the next month.

It's a mix of rock, swampy folk, ballads, prog folk etc, recorded on and off over the last 6 years.

All songs are originals - I'm a no-covers kind of guy 

I hope you enjoy having a listen - for me, I need to start on album 7, which should be available in a year or seven."  Neil

GRAHAM BROWN PLEADS FOR EMPATHY WITH HIS "JUST LIKE YOU AND ME

Graham keeps the songs coming.........not that long ago we posted his 'First Impressions', and now here we are again, this time with 'Just Like You and Me’

This time around Graham has his political hat on again. Just Like You and Me is a call out to those amongst us who seem to think that refugees are somehow different, somehow less human than regular Humans Being...........somehow undeserving of our generosity and support. Humans Being?  What are they ?  Prize for the first correct entry.

 

Anyway, Graham says no...........we can do better, we can't continue to persecute people who do no more than flee brutality, terror and starvation.

 

It's a very raw issue in Australian politics, and here, Graham makes his feelings clear.............we can and should do a lot better! Not good enough Australia.

 

Graham's song came together fairly quickly. We put down the basic tracks intending to use them as a guide, but as often happens, we realised the basics were pretty darn good. So then it became a matter of what to add. In the end it really came down to Paul adding some guitar licks and Graham adding some percussion.

 

We like the way it came up. What about you ?  Take a listen..........click HERE

 

Who did what ?

 

Graham Brown wrote the lyrics, ran us through the 'feel' he had in mind, and played percussion

Mick Nadin sang the song and played harp

Neil Porter played guitar and organ, and did some super production work

Louise Nadin played the bass

Paul Daynes played guitar

Pete played the drums

LEE DAYNES DEBUTS WITH HUSBAND PAUL ON PAUL'S "LOOKING FOR CLUES"

Paul Daynes turned up in the PBGB Shed a few weeks back now, and in no time added his guitar chops to Mick Nadin's "International Hit Squad", and Graham Brown's "First Impressions". See the two postings below for the stories on those songs.

 

While we were putting those two songs together Paul dragged out one of his original songs......."Looking For Clues", and in doing so also introduced us to his wife Lee, who came along to add keyboards. Lee had her part down pat and seemed to enjoy herself no end. Lee and Paul have been making music together for a good while. You can read all about Lee and her musical escapades by clicking HERE.

 

"Looking For Clues" - the story, in Paul's own words..............

 

"Some of my songs seemingly come out of thin air, while others develop from a line or two and/or a couple or so chords, but this one was delivered wholesale, inside a dream I had during an afternoon nap.

 

I guess the subconscious pot-boils ideas, lyrics, music and arrangements, and in my case puts some of them together. 

 

In the dream itself I was underground looking up through the dirt, with the opening line in my head, ........."I had miles and miles of feet under my dirt"  which I later altered, but that was the view. 

 

The setting was like a full technicolour comedy movie of the 40/50's in the wild, wild west, with an anachronistic Big Ben ringing away, singing coyotes, clippetty cloppetty hooves, soulful harmonica, rolling tumbleweeds, wooden buildings and dry and dusty dirt roads.  And in this dream I was both observer and mute main actor, while the whole song was performed by various characters/musos as my subconscious saw fit.

 

On face value the song is simply about a person's journey in life and realisation of what's important.  For the rest you'll have to consult my therapist.

 

I any event it was a fun project with the great and patient musos of PBGB.  Thanks gang".

 

On 'Looking for Clues',

 

Paul Daynes wrote the song, played lead guitar, bass and sang

Neil Porter played rhythm guitar, harmonised and did all the production work

Mick Nadin played harp and harmonised

Graham Brown played percussion, including the clip clops

Lee Daynes played keyboards

Pete played drums

 

 

We had a lot of fun getting it down. Have listen by clicking HERE. We'll be featuring more of Paul and Lee's licks, so here's hoping you enjoy the flavours they bring to The Shed.

GRAHAM BROWN IS RIGHTFULLY WARY OF 'FIRST IMPRESSIONS'

Time flies!  It's been over a year since we last posted a song penned by Graham, our stalwart percussionist. You can listen to Graham's last post "Can't Take It Back" by venturing into The Vault, and giving it a play. 

First Impressions is GB's latest, and it's a cracker. Just as he did with 'Can't Take It Back', Graham handed the vocal duties to Mick Nadin, and we think Mick has done a stellar job.

 

First Impressions is a love gone wrong story. From "First time I saw you I knew you were the one", through to "It's all so clear now, I've seen the real you" the story starts on a very rosy note indeed, only to go downhill to the ultimate realisation that "First impressions don't really mean a thing".  Another broken heart!

 

Fictional, of course. Or maybe from an early liaison. But we are pleased to report that Graham is very happily settled with his loving partner Denise. So, Denise............it's not about you!

 

We had lots of fun getting First Impressions down.  It came together pretty smartly. Not one of our one day wonders, but pretty rapid none the less.

 

Have a listen by clicking HERE

 

Hope you like it !

 

On First Impressions,

 

Graham Brown wrote the song and played percussion

Mick Nadin sang it and played harp

Paul Daynes played rhythm guitar and the guitar lead break

Neil Porter played rhythm guitar and did the Production work

Louise Nadin played bass

Pete played drums

 

See the line-up in the photo!

 

Nice work team!

PAUL DAYNES DEBUTS ON MICK NADIN'S 'INTERNATIONAL HIT SQUAD'

We welcome Paul Daynes to the PBGB Shed.

Paul came to The Shed via Louise, who takes U3A music lessons, under Paul's tutelage.

 

Louise told Paul a thing or two about the mysteries of The PBGB Shed.  Intrigued by our strong preference for recording original songs, and just plain curious, Paul asked if he might come along for a look see. He brought his guitar (and a massive pedal box) with him, took up a stool, and before long was playing along.

 

We liked Paul's licks and invited him to see what he might add to International Hit Squad, a song written by Mick which we had been messing with for a while.

 

Paul ended up on the final product which you can hear by clicking on HERE  Hope you like it.

 

International Hit Squad reflects what Mick thinks many folks feel about getting rid of nasty buggers who are generally a blight on the earth. No doubt you can think of a few. Mick reckons that perhaps what the world needs is an International Hit Squad........a crack team who can take out pests without the need to enter into a full scale war.  A James Bond style solution - get in there with minimum fuss and take out the baddies.  No need for armies and citizens to die, just send in The International Hit Squad!

 

A great idea as long as the people running the squad are on the right side.  Whichever that might be.  Hmmm.

 

Anyway, thanks for a cracking lead break Paul! We look forward to featuring more of your guitar chops.

 

You can read all about Paul's pre-Shed musical escapades by clicking HERE. 

On International Hit Squad:

 

Mick Nadin wrote and sang the lyrics. 

 

Louise Nadin played bass

 

Paul Daynes played lead guitar

 

Neil Porter played guitar and did all the production work

 

Graham Brown played percussion

 

Pete drummed

 

Welcome aboard Paul. We dig your interpretation of Mick's song, and hope you're inspired to stick around in The Shed.

 

And thank you Mick, for the song. A great addition to the PBGB ouvre.

 

2 SEA FM Radio show - a little PBGB history

Neil presented an hour long show on 2SEA FM today - to give people an idea of what we've done in the Shed (just 9 songs, but all goodies).

You can listen in 2 parts by clicking the links below:

2SEA FM show PART 1

2SEAFM show PART 2 

AL NOBLE VENTURES OUT INTO THE 'DEEP BLUE SEA'

Al always has a bunch of songs in his kit bag when he sidles into The Shed. Always. Must have dozens of them stashed away there.

 

Last time we asked he pulled out a little ditty he called Deep Blue Sea. As is usual with Al's songs, there are some truly fine lyrics......try "Fear is the laughter of the devil" and "If love was disease I'd have a lethal dose".  Right on Al !

 

The usual gang was there, and we started kicking it about. 'Kicking it about' usually means agreeing on a basic feel from the drums and bass, putting together a basic arrangement, deciding on solos etc etc

 

Deep Blue Sea came together pretty quickly. We soon enough had it all figured and started running it through. Then we turned on the recorder.

 

THIS is the result.

 

Hope ya'll like it.

 

Al Noble wrote it, sang it and played rhythm guitar

Neil Porter played lead guitar and did the production work

Louise Nadin played the bass

Mick Nadin played the harp

Graham Brown played percussion

Pete played drums

 

Special call out for Mick on this one.........top harp solo Mick !

NEIL PORTER A TAD CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT AWAITS AROUND THE 'VERY NEXT BEND'

 In much the same fashion as our previous post, 'Here To Stay', came together, "Very Next Bend' started life with just Neil and Pete kicking a beat around while waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive.

Pete was playing around with a steady, sort of hypnotic feel on the drums. Neil picked up his guitar and started riffing, then figured that a set of lyrics he had in his kit bag might well fit what was coming out.

Louise, Mick, Al and Graham turned up and joined in, and before long we thought we had something going on. And we were enjoying it.

So we did a rough recording. Neil took that home and massaged his lyrics to fit.

As is often the case, when Neil heard the individual tracks, he realised that what we had was actually a good basis to clean up. And really all it needed was a 'proper' vocal track, some percussion tweaks, and a re-run of Al's guitar solo. The rest was pretty much there.

In fact, the rest is pretty much HERE. Have a listen.

It's about the perils of street protest and man's inhumanity to man - could be in Melbourne, but more likely in Portland ;)

Neil Porter - Writer, vocal, guitar (and third solo), shaker, production

Louise Nadin - Bass

Peter Reid - Drums

Graham Brown - Congas

Mick Nadin - Harmonica (and second solo)

Al Noble - Guitar (and first solo)