In 1981 I packed my Telecaster and beat up drum kit into my brother’s car and drove from Adelaide to Melbourne. I’d written some songs and was going to form a band. Melbourne was the place it was at. A couple of months later a friend asked me to join his band. I assumed I was playing guitar. But ended up playing drums in the King Jerklews, Melbourne’s premier alt country/rockabilly band of the day.
I then fronted Seven, Frank Moylan’s Chalk Circle, The Colonial V-Knees and (on a brief return to Adelaide), Delafied. I kept up my drumming duties, in Jon Campbell’s Gloss Enamel, Running Joak, The Rococco Pops and The Von Trapp Family Crisis.
Hospitality got in the way and in 1998 I set out on a series of Hospitality ventures: Supermild (in Adelaide), The Farmers Arms in Daylesford, The Royal George in Kyneton and most recently, the Crimean in North Melbourne.
20 years in hospitality can fly past and not afford much time to perform or let alone record music. I dabbled in my home studio in country Victoria. But in February 2016, I set out to write and record some new songs. For various reasons, 2016 was a year of turmoil, sickness and death of loved ones, of fire and floods. But most of all hope.
In February 2017, I went to Nashville and recorded a bunch of songs with an an amazing group of musicians at Welcome to 1979 studios. These became "Goodbye Cruel Circus". I didn't know what to expect when we headed over there, but it turned out to be great fun, just a little daunting and hugely overwhelming.
After patient post-production by Jed Palmer and Zoe Barry at Cabin Fever studios in Kyneton and some sweet mastering by Craig Pilkington at Audrey Studios in Coburg, Goodbye Cruel Circus is now available for streaming and download on:
iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and all of your other favourite sites.
Limited edition 180 gram vinyl available now at Rocksteady Records in Melbourne or Long Story Short in Kyneton, or here:
DROP ME A LINE
In Australia $30 (includes P&H)
Anywhere else $40 (includes P&H)