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):

C.W. Stoneking- Solo Tour

C.W. Stoneking is currently doing a solo tour around the country, and tonight was the second of his two sold out shows at Howler. Opening the evening was William Crighton, who also played a solo set of songs off his debut album, which features stories centered around Australian experiences.

C.W. Stoneking came out onto the stage not in his traditional white but wearing an indigo button down shirt, jeans and a brown wide-brimmed fedora. He sat down on a raised platform on the stage and began the evening with "How Long." The set featured many songs off his latest release Gon' Boogaloo, including "On A Desert Isle," "The Zombie" (where we were encouraged to sing along), "The Thing I Done" and "Get On The Floor." C.W.'s banter in between songs was quite entertaining and covered a wide range of topics such as asparagus, rubik's cubes and trying to sell the guitar he was playing. He also dealt quite well with a woman who shouted for him to take off his clothes, saying that he could undress himself as he was wearing his big boy pants.

One of the great things about this show was hearing some older tracks, especially those from his first album which don't get played live that often. Highlights were "Jungle Lullaby," "Talking Lion Blues," "Jailhouse Blues" and an audience request for "The Love Me Or Die" off of Jungle Blues, and the King Hokum tracks "Dodo Blues," "Goin The Country," "Way Out In The World" and "Handyman Blues." We also got treated to a cover of William Brown's "Ragged And Dirty." To finish the night he played "We Gon' Boogaloo," which sent everyone out on a high note. It's always wonderful to get to see C.W. live, especially in a more intimate setting.

Here's C.W. doing a live version of "On A Desert Isle"

Dan Sultan- Killer Tour

Last night Danny, Ruth and I headed to the newly renovated Forum Melbourne to see Dan Sultan play in support of his latest album Killer. We arrived as William Crighton took the stage, opening his set by singing a capella without a microphone. He and his band played a strong set of songs off his debut album, which tell fantastic stories that are based around the Australian countryside.

Dan's band came out on stage first before he joined them, pumping up the crowd as he launched into "Magnetic." The majority of the set featured songs off Killer, with the highlights being "Hold It Together," "Drover," "Reaction" and the current single "Kingdom." The addition of two female back-up singers really added a soulful sound to all the songs, and Dan's voice sounded the best I have ever heard it live.

There were also tracks from Dan's previous albums played throughout the set, including "Kimberley Calling," "The Same Man" and "Under Your Skin" off Blackbird, and "Your Love Is Like A Song" off his first album Homemade Biscuits. For the encore Dan came out and did a lovely solo version of "Dirty Ground" before the band rejoined him for the classic "Old Fitzroy" to finish off the night. If you get a chance to catch Dan live on this tour make sure you go see him because he is in fine form.

Here's the video for one of my faves "Hold It Together"

The Basics Present The Songroom

The Basics have begun a new venture on Wednesdays in May at the Northcote Social Club with The Songroom. Each week features Kris and Tim playing along with two other artists in the round with special guest MC Jess McGuire.

4 May

It was a small and intimate gathering of punters for the very first Songroom event. Kris and Tim started things off with The Basics classic "Home Again." This evening's special guests were Kiwi singer/songwriter Skyscraper Stan (Skyscraper Stan and the Commission Flats) and Felicity Cripps (Hoy, Slow Galo). Each artist played a couple of their own songs, with Jess McGuire interviewing them in between tracks. Stan's love of Americana and Delta Blues suddenly became a running joke about "Delta Goodrem Blues" throughout the night. We also learned that Felicity is the songwriter in the Heath/Cripps household, but Tim contributes music (and does the dishes). There were numerous lesser known cover songs played from a range of artists, including Johnny Cash, The Triffids, The Everly Brothers, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie and Joni Mitchell. The final song for the night was Crowded House's "It's Only Natural." It was a good first attempt at a format that I'm sure they will iron out over the coming weeks.

11 May

I think tonight's gig had at least twice as many audience members as last week. The Northcote Social Club provided bean bags for people to sit on and the "in the round" was lit by a series of large and small desk lamps. Kris and Tim began the evening with a cover of John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" as a way to ease some tensions between the two of them from the previous week. The special guests tonight were William Crighton and Angie Hart (Frente!). The show went much smoother as there was a set list and it seemed like everyone's parts in each song had been arranged ahead of time. Jess McGuire's interview questions between songs were quite insightful, covering such topics as Cold Chisel's "Khe Sanh," the writing process, and what it was like for Angie to have fame at such an early age with Frente!. William and Angie each played a couple of their own songs as well as some covers, with highlights being Angie's duet with Tim on "Little Bridges" (a song she co-wrote with Mark Seymour), Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' "You Really Got A Hold On Me," Frente!'s "Ordinary Angels," William's song "Priest" and The Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian." They finished the evening with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks.

There are two more weeks of the The Songroom remaining so if you are in Melbourne be sure to check it out.

The Basics- The Age Of Entitlement Tour Finale

The Basics have been busy travelling around the country over the past few weeks and last night was the finale of The Age Of Entitlement tour at The Gasometer Hotel. Considering the size of the venue Tash, Mary and I figured it would be a normal show, but they had the world's tiniest stage set up in the middle of the floor for an in-the-round performance like their Melbourne Festival shows. The opening act was William Crighton, who played a great solo set and was even joined by The Basics for a couple songs. Next up was Benny Walker, who played with his band this time (and nearly fell off the stage at one point).

The retractable roof was opened up and the smoke machine was pumping as The Basics kicked off the night with the one-two punch of "So Hard For You" and "The Lucky Country." The set list was similar to the earlier shows, with highlights including "Whatever Happened To The Working Class," "A Coward's Prayer," "To Think Of You" and the hand clapping fun of "Roundabout." In a real throwback they played "You're Already Gone" from the first album, as well as "Second Best" and "Have Love, Will Travel" with David Bramble on the Wurlitzer. We were also treated to covers of Neil Young's "Birds" and "Out On The Weekend" (with William Crighton joining in), and a brilliant version of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb." The most hilarious moment though was when their cover of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts" morphed into Roy Orbison's "You Got It" complete with Kris imitating Roy's voice.

There was a massive and sustained call for an encore with the sold out crowd continuously clapping for a few minutes. Wally came down first and played beautiful versions of Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" solo on the Wurlitzer. Kris and Tim then joined him on stage to play the Split Enz track "One Step Ahead." It was around this time that things nearly went off the rails as Tim was encouraged to sing lead vocals for "Rattle My Chain" and clearly wanted the show to end. However, the boys restarted the song with Wally singing and then the encore took off as they just kept seamlessly pulling out song after song they wanted to play: Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love," Eric Clapton's "Cocaine," "Tunaomba Saidia," The Police's "Roxanne" and then finished with The Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night." It was an epic 2+ hour classic Basics gig, and while there did seem to be a bit of finality to it as they put their arms around each other at the end, I still think they might do the odd show in a few years time when all the stars align. You can never say never with these guys.

Here's the video for "Roundabout"