The Songroom- Season 3

I have spent the past two Tuesday nights at the Northcote Social Club for tapings of Season 3 of The Songroom. While Jess McGuire has returned as host, Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath from The Basics are now overseeing things from behind the scenes. The new house band features Brett Wolfenden on percussion and Benji Miu on guitar. As with the previous seasons, veteran and newer artists come together on the day of the show, and each person gets to play two originals and two covers as they take turns singing in the round.

27 November
Brett and Benji came out first and played a couple instrumental versions of songs to warm up, including Chris Issak’s "Wicked Game." Jess McGuire then introduced each of this week's guests one by one: New South Wales singer-songwriters William Crighton and Melanie Horsnell, and Melbourne hip-hop artist Sirak Abu. The magic of The Songroom is how everyone plays on each other's songs and the unexpected things that can happen. William Crighton decided to change songs last minute, and played his song "Fire In The Empire" about a massacre of Aboriginal people on the land he had been camping on. As a response to that song, Melanie Horsnell switched up her next song and played "Sugar And White Man" about the stolen generation and loss of culture. It was an amazing moment to hear those two songs back to back. There were also some great covers with Melanie doing Edith Piaf's "La Vie En Rose" and William singing Leonard Cohen's "Bird On The Wire" and Neil Young's "Roll Another Number (For The Road)," which finished off the night.

4 December
This evening's guests were Melbourne music royalty Dave Graney and his long-time partner Clare Moore, and the band Rudely Interrupted, which features Rory Burnside on lead vocals. It was quite an upbeat show with lots of humorous moments both through the song lyrics of Dave and Clare's songs and Rory's stories. Highlights included Clare Moore's "A Lot To Drink About," Dave Graney's "Apollo 69" (which is from my favorite mid-90s Graney era), and Rudely Interrupted's "No Goodbyes." There were also some interesting covers, with Clare playing John and Beverley Martyn's "Auntie Aviator," Dave doing The Rolling Stones' "Time Waits For No One," and Rory playing Modern English's "I Melt With You." They all finished the evening playing the Rudely Interrupted track "Calculus & Tea."

Here's The Songroom episode featuring Gotye and Monty Cotton, which was taped in late December 2016 (see if you can spot me in the crowd):

Dave Graney 'N' The Lurid Yellow Mist

The Brunswick Music Festival is currently happening around town, so Ruth and I headed out to Don't Tell Tom on Sydney Road last night to catch a show by Dave Graney. I first discovered Dave ten years ago when I was living in Melbourne, and have been a fan ever since. He is a very interesting and entertaining fellow with a soothing voice and many stories to tell. His current band, which includes his wife Clare Moore, is The Lurid Yellow Mist. The band played selections from throughout Dave's career, so it was great to hear some of my old favorites reworked live. Dave is such a unique musician, and I was glad to finally get to see him perform in person. You can check out one of Dave's newest songs here: "My Schtick Weighs A Ton"

The opening band was Sand Pebbles. They sounded okay, but the most interesting part of their set occurred towards the end. During an extended distorted guitar feedback section of a song, Ruth and I noticed that the drummer was taking his cymbals off the drum kit. Then Clare Moore appeared and took over drumming duties as we watched the drummer walk out the front door with his equipment! It was hilarious and shocking at the same time- I guess he had to be somewhere. I've never seen anything like that happen before at a live show.