Woodward and Rough @ The Lomond Hotel Sunday 27th June

The days and nights in Melbourne are icy cold, the wind like a slap to the cheek. What better excuse does one need to wrap up in a big old jacket and cosy on down to your local pub for some tunes and a glass of red. This Sunday I caught Woodward and Rough at The Lomond Hotel, performing to a small but grateful audience in their weekly 10pm time-slot. The beautiful lament of Coalmine Blues, the rhythmic drive of Streak O'lean, Streak O'fat, the dancing banjo of the Allen Brothers Rag -- and us in the audience, huddled at the tables between the chat and rumble of Sunday night drinkers and the rising swell of music from the stage.

I'll be posting a short interview with guitarist Warren Rough in the coming weeks. Woodward and Rough are playing at the Fox Hotel (Collingwood) this coming Sunday (5th July) 5-7pm. To purchase Woodward and Rough's Sweet Milk and Peaches and Hometown Blues please visit Accross the Borders.

Aintree Sweet @ The Lomond Sat May 1st 2010

I managed to get down to The Lomond last Saturday (May 1st) for the second set of contemporary country band Aintree Sweet. Comprising: Elaine Smith, Ali Huish (formerly of Merri Creak), Peter Blackburn, Sue Broderick and Susan Steiner with Jen Anderson on fiddle, Aintree Sweet delivered a set of warm-as-toast pop/country songs with pleasant, four-piece harmonies and simple, but effective, instrumentation. In addition to Elaine's textured, country-style singing and heartfelt delivery, the highlights for me were the intricate and lilting fiddle solos by Jen Anderson who lifted the energy of songs and played to the crowd with flair.

Aintree Sweet are a popular line-up on the local scene and certainly the 40+ audience were appreciative on Saturday. Please see the video below of their version of Concrete Blonde song 'Joey'. And keep your eye out in the local gig guides for upcoming gigs.

The Junes @ The Lomond - April 17th 2010

Last night, high-spirited country/glam/gospel band 'The Junes' played to a full house at The Lomond Hotel, East Brunswick. Suzannah Espie was composed and sultry in black lace, black neck-tie and cropped copper curls, her voice tonal & lilting under a steady gaze and dazzling smile; Gleny Rae Virus, a bright, fiery blond in red cowgirl boots and black tassels, stood centre stage whipping the crowd into line with a sharp tongue and wild grin, accordion and fiddle at her feet; Sarah Carroll swayed, willowy and elegant in a floral dress, guitar slung across her hips, porcelain skin, dark hair, eyes twinkling - her face an ever shifting beam of light. They kept the 100+ audience grinning bashfully from the shadows, beers forgotten in limp hands, as we stared mesmerised into the eyes of these heart-thumping sirens of song. Yes, I am certain - that the slow-dance seduction of love song 'Blue Baby' (see video above) evoked the poor sailor's fated crash into the unforgiving rocks of the sirens of the sea. Performance is myth: entertainment and archetype and connection. The Junes are brilliant at it.

Of course this makes it sound like the band consists entirely of women - and it's hard not to be swept up in the charisma of these three lady super-stars given their popular musical histories (GIT, Gleny Rae Virus & her Tamworth Playboys) - but in fact the gig would have been a different experience all together if it weren't for the incredible energy and drive (and appropriately sheepish maleness) of the dynamic rhythm section (Dougie Bull - Bullfiddle and Chris Tabone - drums and percussion).

Providing fuel for the women's onstage banter, with his dreamily painted kick-drum and straw hat, Chris Tabone 'Diego' sparked this moniker from Gleny Rae: "The Little Man in the Boat". Punctuated by: "And for the astute members of the audience you'll understand that's a euphemism" (extended laughter). After some rumbling from the crowd and the sudden murmur of a bemused sounding "clitoris?", Gleny Rae, grinning, replied: "I meant: the only drummer in bluegrass." Of course!

It is hard to beat the infectious energy, humour and glamour of these women; they are wonderful entertainers and musicians. Perhaps, at times, the band were so rocking (and loud) that the rich tones, great lyrics and harmonic subtleties were lost in the muddle - which is a shame as these women write and sing beautifully. Old GIT favourite "Car Outside the Bar" was an instant hit. So, to keep the myths alive and thriving, we must pay heed: wild things happen when women get together in kitchens to sing. Sailors beware x x

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The Junes will be launcing their latest CD at the Belly Union Bar @ Trades Hall on June 12th with Andy Baylor. For more information, to buy a CD, or listen to songs - check them out at www.myspace.com/thejunestunes

Video footage of song 'Hopeless' below (apologies for the poor sound quality - it's the digital Kmart-camera. Jess has suggested I make a cardboard box model of a 'real' camera and stick the digital one in a hole at the end so at least I can look half-professional) :) H

Great news for The Lomond Hotel

The Lomond Hotel have finally had their rollback approved by the Department of Liquor Licensing Victoria. The Lomond applied for a review of their 'high-risk' security status after an accord was signed around the time of the huge SLAM rally in Febrauary. The new license comes with the condition that security is required after 12.30pm but this is of little consequence as Lomond gigs rarely run this late. This is great news for The Lomond and wonderful for the roots music community. Congratulations everybody. There is an article in The Age today announcing the news.

Old-timey Session @ The Lomond Hotel

Every Saturday from 5.30pm onward The Lomond Hotel hosts an old-timey session in the main bar. Led by renowned old-timey musicians Craig Woodward (Headbelly Buzzard, Sandilands, Woodward & Rough) and Warren Rough (Paramount Trio, Woodward & Rough) the session is a relaxed, family friendly, live jam for musicians and fans of old-time American mountain music. The gig is informal and open to both seasoned musicians and novices, young and old. On any given Saturday you will find anywhere from a dozen to thirty-odd musicians wandering in through the evening, instruments tucked in their cases, smiles etched in greeting, a kid or two rocketting about between legs to dance or bang on the piano in the back-room and jam along with their parents. It's a lovely, social way to spend a Saturday arvo. Thanks to Nick Steiner for the wonderful photos. The footage is just a sampler for those of you readers who haven't yet been to The Lomond on a Saturday arvo. Jess and Iona and I go down most weeks (it's a great excuse not to cook) and my daughter just loves it, as do I. It's also free of charge - as are all Lomond gigs. A great part of Melb's music culture.

Mick Cameron All Star Tribute Gig - Sun 14th March @ the Lomond Hotel

Sunday night was the much anticipated tribute gig for Melbourne songwriter & musician Mick Cameron who sadly and unexpectedly passed away in March of 2008. The event was a great success, one that brought Mick's famous songs out into the warm, social air of a Melbourne autumn evening and had us all beaming, emptying our glasses, tapping feet on worn carpet & singing along to the well-loved tunes. And of-course by the end, in true pub fashion, there was the deafening clamour of a hundred people clapping and wolf-whistling and yelling out for Mooore! and Tanya dancing barefoot in front of the stage, her toes painted red, her face aglow with memories of Mick. And Horse is doing push-ups on the floor (?!) and there are six people clambering over me to get to the dance floor.

The song of the evening that stole my heart was 'Very Slow Train' sung by Barb Waters, Aubrey Maher on guitar, Craig Woodward on Banjo, Jono Wilson on fiddle and Tony Hargreaves on accordian. This beck and call, duet style song was like slow sex in the morning, voices subdued, sweet and just a little gravelly. Barb Waters was stunning. There were, of-course, many more songs and line-ups that were beautiful and fun and a joy to watch. Cat Moser playing banjo in her grey cow-girl boots and pony-tail; Clint Dylan O'Grady on guitar & Peter Holmes on banjo; Andy Reid on washboard, Craig Woodward and Warren Rough, Tom Mangan and Jesse Lawrance of the Goodtime Medicine Band, Pete Fiddler, Katie Reid, Karina, Corinn and Nicola Strating, and quite possibly others who I may have forgotten (apologies). I have posted a video (not great quality I'm afraid - just a cheap digital camera record) of 'Old Car Died', eleven musicians on stage and the crowd mad with dance and singing. I loved this moment of the night and I'm so thrilled it will be available on-line.

On remembering Mick:

Mick has been a well-liked and respected figure on the roots music scene since he arrived from Adelaide in the late 1980s, performing in the Cajun Aces, Headbelly Buzzard, the Acme String Band and his own, uniquely Australian, Sandilands, a trio comprised of himself, Craig Woodward (of Headbelly Buzzard) and Tony Hargreaves of Melbourne's folk scene. Sandilands produced three records: 'Waterhole' (2003), 'Cookin' Crabs' (2005), and 'No Time to get High' (2007) all of which are still avaliable online from http://www.acrosstheborders.com.au/

Mick died a week or so after my daughter was born and we took her, two weeks old - a porcelain doll in muslin cloth, full of sleep and life, to Mick's memorial at the Railway Hotel. What a bitter-sweet offering it was- this strange irony of life - that birth can sit so innocently beside the death of a friend. Although I did not know Mick especially well, he always had a shy smile for me in that laconic and quietly intense way of his and I would always find myself beaming back at him as if he had lit me up like a lantern with his thoughts. He was attune to things, I guess; a song-writer.

I can still picture him in his dark shirt and thick black hair, hunched over his dobro on stage at the Lomond, singing these laconic, drawling melodies with a twinkle in his eye. I remember Ron in the audience, arms crossed over his chest, spectacles gleaming under the baseball cap pulled too low over his forehead, heckling Mick in that booming voice of his: 'You're a terrible singer, Mick.' Then, eyes bright, with a proud tilt to his chin: 'I'm a Taurean. We're good singers, us Taureans.' And Mick had that half-smile on his lips. And so did half the pub it seemed, but I don't know, maybe that was just the swell of twenty voices singing full-bellied along with 'Old car died, middle of the road; old car died, I couldn't get home,' faces beaming in the dim pub-light. Two years have since passed and my daughter is about to turn two; she is still porcelain skinned though she shed the muslin cloth when she ceased to be a baby, and time has moved on.

There are many of you out there who knew Mick and Mick's work and contribution to Melbourne roots music a lot better than I did (or do). Please feel welcome (and encouraged) to comment on this page and share your own stories, memories or tributes to his life and music and keep the history of Sandilands alive for the future.

Cheers,

H

Lyrics quoted from:

'Very Slow Train'

"I wish I was on a very slow train, rolling real slow across a barren plain. Rolling real slow down a mountain track; rolling real slow till I get back.

I don't want no fast train. I don't care about your manly pride. I don't want no fast train. I just want to enjoy the ride ..."

Mick Cameron

http://www.myspace.com/sandilandsband