Welcome to Orange

We had a fantastic time in Orange and the reaction was very positive.
Apart from the shock of a lot of stall holders who had no idea that I played music or that we actually rehearse, write, play and record songs, every one who heard us was STOKED.
There has probably never been a more receptive audience for Blue Valentine for months and brought home to Fiona and me how over exposed we are in Mudgee.
The music has definitely come a long way and evolved to a different plane now. We are in "Roots" territory, whether it be Celtic/Folk/Blues/Country/Pop/Rock.
Andi Garland's extra guitar has had a huge impact on the sound and playing. The mandolin is adding another dimension and we can actually play some originals from the forthcoming album without them sounding too removed from where the set is at.
The market manager, Cath Thomson, loved us, was beside herself and was even stealing our cards to give away to winery/restaurant owners. We might have to give her a spotters fee. Fiona was fielding requests for gigs left right and centre. One local muso and friend of mine Rod Dickinson said we sounded great and worked well together and another muso stopped to chat and liked what he heard. Turns out he's from Monsieur Camembert in Sydney, who have a gypsy leaning and were up in Orange to play at Borrodell Winery. Lucky he passed as we were doing Mandolin songs.
They would love to have us back at the markets in June or July.
There are 3 good things about playing at growers markets; one is you reach a far greater audience than at a normal gig [up to 2,000 at some markets] , two is the warm fuzzys you get from adding to the community atmosphere and vibe and helping the market itself and three; the shopping is good!

Have a week to digest mixes done and Ged and Jason Blackwell finished Geds song "Waiting for you", so we will be putting it all together next week. Actually did a few edits to "Girl upcountry" to cut off some time from the 6.40 min its clocking in at the moment. Dave Miles thought it might be a radio song in the future and it's a tune that certainly has a lot of local musos talking.
Weekend off though Fiona, Andi, myself and Robbin Binks will be at Sunpower Studios this Saturday to lend a hand to Dave Miles studio Album. A big gospel chorus. Should be right down Fi's alley.
Meeting up with Mark Chatterton this week to look at rushes from filming of Watchin the rain. Might grab a few stills for promo shots and we have to suss out when we can finish off Fionas shots.

Colour city debut & mixing album

Just out of the studio from 2 days of mixing and a day last week of cleaning up last little bits of vocals/off key guitars and edits. Dave Miles cranked up the soundcraft desk with pre amps, compressors and a beautiful half inch reel to reel recorder.
Its amazing how much goess into an album and how many tracks aare there to work with. Full drum kit takes up 12 channels including O/H and ambient mics. Bass, 2 or 3 guitars, keyboards/pianos, mandolins and then extra dobros and lap steel guitars before you even come near the vocals which sometimes came up to 8 different vocal tracks between Fi and me if we were double tracking.
All these have to be EQ'd separately and then any desired effects put on and still you don't really know how it is all going to "sit". Sometimes you can listen to the same song 20 times! I've produced one or two albums before and mixing is still the most terrifying time for me. Sort of like your last chance. There are still glitches on Lime Spiders recordings from over 20 years ago that make me cringe, though Joe public wouldn't be able to tell the difference if one cymbal hit was 3db down in the mix.
Having said that I managed to fuck up one song already, which we'll have to redo on Friday, 3 hours down the drain. Halfway there and sounding good. Ged Corbens' and Dave Miles' guitars and mandolins are really spicing up the mix.
Ged is finishing off his piece at the Sydney Opera House studios with Jason Blackwell on Friday so you might even get an updated music page next week.

Playing at the Orange Growers Market on Saturday 12 May. It should be interesting as I used to be a stall holder there and when people there see me they usually think of Olives.
....and thats if I've been a good boy!!
At least I don't have to get up at 4am in the morning this time. I get to sleep in till 6 am

All hands on stage at Merton

There was almost as many people on stage as there were in the audience on Sunday night at the Merton
Me, Fi and Andi were joined by Ged from the Spiders and Wheelers and Dealers. Christine from W & D was there and had never seen us before and was pleasantly surprised, they have a new CD JUSTOUT. Rebecca Hancock joined Ged on a few songs and Simon Bruce from the States was joined by Leroy Lee [just scored Missy Higgins support slot through JJJ Unearthed] for a few songs. They commented on Norwegian Wood to me [Which I sang] and Needle and the Damage done [Which Fi sang] Both comments were .......dig that song man!!!
We had Dobros/Mandolins and Guitars and Djembes[Drum] interchanging quickly and thanks to Cletis for helping us manage the stage/floor.
New songs went down well and we concentrated on Album cuts plus some new reworkings of Tell me ma/Ella Speed/Four till late which definitely fitted into the roots/blues/folk/celtic category
We also had a few others joined and then Cletis did old Mudgee tunes with Fi then me
A good watershed night as far as performances go and we have turned a corner