Gary Poulton

With nearly 54 years of living behind me; to be hitching a ride on the “Superhighway” seems to be a crazy thing to do, if not downright insane; probably as insane as putting live takes and early demo's up when most have good studio recordings. How did I get here? The story of a boy with his first guitar is nearly worth a book, but not today. My first guitar was a Maton Semi Acoustic aka Jazz Guitar, on which I learnt the rudiments of scales, keys and chords. I did some crazy things with it like filing down the frets to improve the playability, (what an idiot), and it was in hindsight a damn good guitar, I wish I still had it. I gave it away eventually for motorbikes and girls and took it up again later when I gave the motorbikes away, which I think was at about 19. I moved from the country to the big smoke (Sydney) and caught up with a good friend (Gordon Slattery) and started putting some music together. I brought my first acoustic guitar and lost my virginity (musically speaking) in the early ’70’s at the Pact Folk Club in the days of Al Ward & Dan Johnston, Nigel Foote, Doug Ashdown etc. I’d already penned a few songs and these were well received, but life had other plans. Gordon and I fell into our respective domestic ties and making music happened on the side until the early ’80’s when I landed in Sydney with an extraordinary singer Craig Simpson (Slim). We had discovered each other in Dubbo one afternoon at a friends house with our guitars and found a good sound came out when we sang together. We didn’t meet up again until Newcastle 1979-80, where we started busking and gained a good following. I moved to Sydney and found Gordon again, rang Craig and the ‘Arc’ was born. It wasn’t long before we were playing to packed houses in Sydney and made our first recording at Earth Media Studios. Things were gathering pace and so were our ego’s, and getting three heads in through any door was becoming nearly impossible. We crashed of course as all egomaniacs do, the only people doing harmonies as good as us were Crosby, Still and Nash, we were a hard act to follow. We picked up the pieces in Bathurst in ’83. I got a call from Gordon who was doing a degree at the then Mitchell College (now Charles Sturt University). He asked me if I was doing anything that was holding me to where I was, as I was no longer married and a free man. I thought well why not go and do an Art degree, hadn’t drawn since I was in high school. So again a similar story, I end up in Bathurst, Gordon rings Craig and ‘Hardwood Falls’ came into being. We were an instant success and lived well off our music, we were part of the furniture at the Commercial Hotel and remained so while we were there. Music became a life blood, we worked hard and were rewarded for it. Again ego’s got in the way...we were called up to play the closing day of the Festival of Sydney at the main stage in the Domain. We hit the town running and fell apart when we walked off stage that day. Blood had been spilt and we went our separate ways musically whilst remaining friends. Craig and I started working together but that was short lived as my time in Bathurst came to an end and I left for the Canberra School of Art and a new life as an artist. During the next 5 years I barely wrote anything and did little playing, I sold my vintage Fender amp to pay for exhibition materials and sold my beautiful small body DeeKroo guitar to Crispin Ackerman (ex Eurogliders) to fund my Post Grad. Exhibition credits were piling up nationally and internationally and some form of notoriety was looming, I was again on another roll. Then I met my wife to be (we are together now 19 years). I knew that making a good living as an Artist in Australia was not easy and I couldn’t commit to a family without some sort of stable income so art takes a back seat and I find myself with Suzy in the Blue Mountains. Our son is born the following year and I rediscover my musical heritage in the mid ’90’s and I’ve been writing steadily ever since. I start teaching in ’97 and have survived 10 years in that profession and believe it or not it made me a better writer and musician....it became my sanctuary. Gordon and I still work together and still produce some exceptional music, but we are free of commercial aspirations collectively. Gordon has just released (after a lot of pressure) his first self published album “No Hiding Place”, I had the pleasure of working on that with him, and there are some great songs, he’s a gifted musician and songwriter. I hope this year to repay the debt to my muse and put some things down on ‘vinyl’ (how many people remember that). She still brings me mail so I still have to write and that’s why I’m here laying this foundation. For things related to my ART footprint, more music and background info on songs see http://web.mac.com/burnt_mountain_music/Burnt_Mountain_Music /Welcome_.html

Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor - Image Hosting

Want this badge?