Hi folks! Well, my story is I've been doing live gigs, festivals, and recordings for almost 30 years... for the most part in my home town of Brisbane. I have been blessed by the big mystery in the sky and have had the opportunity to play with nearly all my favourite musicians in this here big little town. Mostly I play drums, but like most self-respecting drummers I like to fancy I can play a bit of guitar and sing etc as well (it's an organic deep down drummer need to try and dispel all of those awful folk tales that drummers are the people who "hang around with musicians"...unnecessarily cruel that!
Ok, here's some of the crazee types I have had the (mostly) good fortune to shake the airwaves with:- Mojo Webb Band, Miss Teresa & her Rhythmaires, Dirt Music Club, Brandi & the Badcats, Disgraceland, J.B. Lewis (aka Josh Banbridge), The Lonestar Valley Boys, West Texas Crude, Tell Heaven, Little Fi and The Delta Rhythm Kings, The Convertibles, Blind Dog Donnie & The Reverend, Sweet Felicia & the Honeytones, The Rumble Kings, The Rupert and Ben Linguini Boys, Buzz & the Blues Band, Barb Fordham, Paul McDonald, Andy McDonell, Wiley Reed, David Bentley, Funken Blues...all of these and more have shared music with me at one time or another. I know there are more but I cant remember just now or its from so long ago no-one would remember.
Actually a few just now came to mind from the past so heres some from the distant past while I think of it|:- Lovs é Blur, The Five Hanks, Tex Deadly & the Dum Dums (for one or maybe two gigs), The Howling Moondoggies, Die Dancing Bears, Cat Frankie & the Hot Lollies, TB & the Plague, Silent Fashion, Other Voices, blah blah blah etc.
Some of these bands have supported international and national touring acts such as:- John Butler Trio, B.B. King, Casey Chambers, INXS, Billy Thorpe, The Beach Boys, The Pogues, Johnnie Johnson, New Order, The Angels, The Reels etc...
I have had the further good fortune to sit in for a number of visiting artists from OS or interstate who, not as yet being the megastars they deserve to be couldnt afford to bring their bands with them these include stellar type stars such as:- Deke Dickerson (USA), Big Sandy (USA), Fiona Boyes (Aust), Pete Cornelius (Aust), J.W. Jones (Canada), Steve Arvey (USA), The Planet Rockers (USA), Kata Hay (USA).
I also have been know to try my hand at song writing and probably have written hundreds come to think of it, although there are scant few that ever get played in public. Maybe Ill let some more out as they improve (where there is life there is hope!). I have included a few on the site, really they are demos although one or two are from a homemade ep (Rain in Spain & Hole in My Coat) of which I have given to a few family members and friends but never gotten around to doing anything with. Does that count as a release?
Otherwise some of my tunes have been included on CDs I have recorded with various bands over the years. I have also had a few songs performed or even recorded by artists such as Lil Fi, Barb Fordham, Bill Maleny (my greatest fan - thanks Billy!), Dumbshow (way back when) etc. My old mates Blind Dog Donnie and Trev TC Casey went and submitted one of my songs Thousand Miles into a competition without telling me and it won Best Song of the Year in the BASEQ Blues awards...bugger me!
Ive had a clip I made with my old and currently remerging band Disgraceland played on Rage and my good mate Uncle Willy got one included one in a television ..ary(about Firemen I think!!??). (Update to this Willy has also got me to play drums on one of his works for a doco about nurses - his soundtrack won an AFI award! Also I have just completed an ALL DRUMS soundtrack for upcoming short film directed by Stephanie Bates called "Dispretty" and did some vocals on an doco by Faramarz K-Rahber called "Donkey in Lahore"...Soon my old time band "The Five Hanks" will be doing a show at the Zoo in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley with a bunch of old bands from the "good old days"...the Minnesota Triplets, The Worms and the Toxic Garden Gnomes...we will all get to play "put the name to the face" that night...!