TOUR DIARY : BINIC JULY 2018

PROLOGUE

Sleepwalker, I feel my way through forest and gorge
Fantastically around me a magic circle glows
Not caring whether I courted or cursed
I follow truly my inner calling
– Herman Hesse

I’ve never had any delusions of grandeur about my musical place in Australia
I’ve struggled to make any kind of mark
In my last 3 decades of making music
I’ve never really been sure about where I fit
In the Australian musical landscape
Are my musical meanderings alt-country?
Nope, not really
Americana?
I’m still not sure about that term when it comes to Australian music
Folk?
I think I get too noisy for that crowd
Blues?
Well there’s a deep well of history there
That draws from tough living and emotional lyrical depth
Music that I love
But today it’s often just a genre full of clichés
And guitar poses
And when it’s coming from some guy brought up in the
Eastern Suburbs of NSW
It just feels wrong
So, nope again

I fall between the cracks in the musical pavement
Where the weeds grow and the dust collects
Where insects hide and the unsuspecting trip

What I do know now after all these years
Is that I love songs and not genres
I really don’t care what box I’m supposed to fit into
Because I finally feel that I have found my place
As corny as this may sound
I believe I now have a place to lay my hat
It may be a small area
And maybe I have Holiday Fever
Or it’s my European heritage calling me
But I feel that France
And in particular the wonderful people of Binic
Is the place that I could happily call my musical home

THE JOURNEY

Songs that I sang before come
Softly once again
And the shadows of uncounted journeys
Cross my way
– Herman Hesse

First there were 2
Adam Lang and I
Are starting this journey together at my place
We’re already having trouble with luggage weight requirements
My box of merch being the main problem
So we start trying to spread socks, CDs, underpants and guitar leads
Throughout our carry on
My guitar even becomes a suitcase when
I roll up all my T-shirts and stuff them inside the soundhole
Once the weight is all distributed we start the drive to Sydney
Vaucluse to be exact…

And then there were 3
The current home of Scott Hutchings 
Is a house where I spent many hours as a child
Due to the fact that
Scott, Jamie and I grew up as childhood besties
We get to bed reasonably early as
We’ve got a dawn Uber booked to get us to the airport
Sleep
Shower and
Load the car
Waiting at the airport for us is the rest of our party…

Now our Gypsy Caravan of 7 is complete
Adam Lang (banjo/slide player extraordinaire)
Scott Hutchings (Tub Thumper and dragging a newly acquired Fender Jag)
Jamie Hutchings (Jazzmaster destroyer)
Reuben Wills (Slap bass enthusiast)
Jared Harrison (another tub thumper)
And Peter Fenton (Savant and ukulele destroyer)
And me (excessive talker)

This motley crew will make up 3 bands
Infinity Broke
The Tall Grass
And my ensemble
Jamie, Reuben and Scott will play in all three
As to whether or not they will survive the fact
That some days will require them to play three sets in a row
Remains to be seen
Remembering about 35 songs
For three very different line ups
Is
a
mammoth
task
And rehearsals have been intense but sparse

We all manage to check in with no issues
Only Adam is pulled aside to have his toothpaste confiscated
Illegal contraband apparently
Boarding is smooth sailing
And we’re up in the air in no time
China Southern was the cheapest flight
And I was expecting the worst
But we are all pleasantly surprised
With the fine service
The fellas all chow down on the airline food
And Chinese beers
But unfortunately my ridiculous dietary requirements caused by
A red meat allergy
Which brings on delayed anaphylaxis
Hives and huge marble sized lumps all over my body
(Believe it or not it was brought on by a tick bite a few years back)
And a disorder called Hereditary Fructose Intolerance
Which means my liver can’t break down sugars
Natural or otherwise
(And I’m going to the land of fine food…the sad irony!)
Means that I pick a little from each meal
And practice fasting

I try reading my book
Crime and Punishment
But I keep hearing the protagonist, Raskolnikov
Whining in Woody Allen’s voice
His constant state of stressed babbling in his own mind
Is making some anxious inflight reading
So I revert to movie watching
And before I know it we’re in Guangzhou
For what was meant to be a 6 ½ hour stop over….
And it’s 36 degrees

We book ourselves into an Airport lounge
And take advantage of the wi-fi
(only to find that none of the usual social media apps
or forms of communication really work at all)
Showers
Food
Drink
Comfy chairs
The closest we can get to
Airport heaven
Until they tell us its time to move on
It’s at this point that we discover our plane has been delayed
Another couple of hours
So almost a day in total spent in the airport
And even though there’s not a scrap of carpet in the airport
Just highly polished floors
Reuben sets up camp and sleeps on the floor
Eventually we make our way back onto a plane
And sleep is now calling us all

PARIS AIRPORT

I’m strictly a tourist but I couldn’t care less
When they parlez-vous me then I gotta confess
That’s for me: Bonjour Paris!
– Funny Face – Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson

We arrive in Paris at about 7am
We collect our gear without a hitch
And make our way through customs
Adam is again stopped and asked to open his banjo case
And give an impromptu banjo performance to the officers
We search for the railway whilst dragging copious amounts of luggage
With a few hours to kill before our train arrives
Peter and I play at an airport piano
I make my first effort at purchasing some French food
My terrible efforts at speaking a few French niceties
Quickly turns into mumbling and
Incredible destruction of a few simple French words
I figure it’s better from here on that I remain silent as much as possible
Our train arrives and getting the gear onboard amongst the Parisian masses
Makes for some Laurel and Hardy style hilarity
With us all blocking the aisle of the train
Causing much exasperation to the Parisians behind us trying to get a seat
And culminates in Adam receiving a heavy blow to the head
As an unwieldy guitar case falls from the rack
Adam takes this in good humour
But heads straight to the bar carriage to numb his wounds

CAPTAIN LUDO

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken. – Dostoevsky

We arrive in St Brieuc and here I have my first opportunity
To meet the man who made this whole trip possible
Jamie has already prepared me for meeting the Festival Director
And the fact that he
Personally
Turns up to drive us to Binic
Speaks volumes about his long term friendship
With Jamie, Scott, Jared and Reubs
Who have all been here before
In fact this marks Jamie’s 5^th time to play the festival
We all receive the traditional kiss on each cheek
And hugs all round
Ludo is a real French character
Gregarious
Tough and wiry
Looking like a heavily tattooed biker
Master of a “sale blague”
A straight, no nonsense talker when
It comes to getting things done
(Whilst simultaneously talking in riddle speak)
No one ever questions his authority
The respect he receives from everyone
Is plain to see
Yet as I discovered as time went on
The man is sentimental
Nostalgic and has
A heart of gold
A love of music
And is beyond generous
Here also we meet Felix and Etienne
Who will prove to be immense help to us
Over the next few days
New friendships are quickly formed
And reignited
But for now we must begin our first “mission”
We head to Binic
Check into the hotel and
Reconvene at Ludo’s bar
“Le Chaland Qui Passe”
Which becomes our HQ for the rest of the stay

BINIC

A small town is a place where a woman spends hours talking on the phone, when having dialed the wrong number – Robert Lamoureux

Checking in to our hotel “Benhuyc”

We meet our extremely hospitable hosts
Claire and Pascal
I’ll be sharing a room with the Hutchings brothers
A wistful experience for all three of us
Reminding us of childhood sleepovers and teenage camping trips
Reinforcing old bonds of a strong, lifelong friendship
Jared, Reuben and Adam take another room
And Peter gets a private suite all to himself
Scott, Jamie and I
Shake off the jet lag by going for a swim in the seaside pool
Followed by drinks at Ludo’s bar
The boys all down local beers
Once again due to my ridiculously painful diet
I ask Ludo for my only drink of choice – gin
He stares me square in the eye and says
“What is wrong with you?!!!”

We head to a restaurant
Where I get to enjoy my first French meal
Fenton orders a huge pot of local mussels and clams
Magnifique!
I order my very first Galette
A traditional French meal I can actually eat
A savoury buckwheat pancake
With fillings of your choice
For me:
Fromage (cheese), champignons (mushroom), Oeuf (egg)
This becomes a staple for me while in Binic
As every second restaurant and take away has them on the menu
The sun goes down slow in Binic
By about 10pm it is still light
And we start to trudge back to our hotel rooms
I’m still too tired and overwhelmed to take in the town
I crash quickly and sleep soundly
Jamie and I wake as the sun is coming up
And wander down to the beach for a swim
(Scott has already been)
The town of Binic is sleepy in the mornings
There’s little activity
No early morning joggers
No dog walkers
Shops are closed and the streets are empty
For the first time I get to take in the
European beauty of this little town
A fishing village centered around a small harbour
Lots of restaurants, a few shops
A magnificent old church
And buildings made from stone fill the streets
Quaint architecture surrounding a beautiful seaside

Jamie and I swim at the beach
The water is cold but it
Washes away the last of the
Fuzzy jetlagged feeling in our brains
On the walk back
I start to get the first sense
Of the community here
People are incredibly friendly
Stopping their cars in the middle of the street
To get out and say hello to friends
Friends are all greeted with kisses and genuine hugs
The sense of excitement about the upcoming festival
Fills the air and conversations
The whole town is abuzz
There are posters in all the shop windows
And I’ve made the front page of the entertainment section in the paper
Exciting for a barely known singer/songwriter from Australia

Scott and Jamie take me on a small tour of the back streets
Into the majestic old church
Its steeple is a dominant landmark in the Binic skyline
And then we climb the hill
Where the narrow lanes are dotted with small stone houses 

The views are breathtaking as
I look back towards the small town of Binic from the top
Then the phone rings – and duty calls
The rest of our band mates are at Ludo’s house
Checking over the musical equipment that
 Will make up our backline for the rest of our stay
We walk up to Ludo’s and start picking through
Fender amps and Drum kits
Bass amps and a beautiful old double bass
That Ludo has sourced for Reuben

Ludo showers us with gifts and Festival merch
Afterwards we wander back down to the hotel
To prepare for our first show

LE GALION

Then he saw them. The gulls. Out there, riding the seas – Daphne Du Maurier

Our first show is a about a 1½ hour drive away from Binic to Lorient
Lorient is kind of otherworldly
At least the area that we are in
It’s heavily industrial
Strangely deserted
Slightly spooky
It has the air of a place that has been bombed
And then left
Except for
Big, eerie empty buildings and warehouses
Which are covered in incredible graffiti art

Down by the waterfront are
Huge cranes and
Shipping containers
Everything is quiet
Except for the sound of these
Huge gulls
Kinda like those bird sounds in the final scene of
Hitchcock’s “The Birds”
In fact this area would make a perfect spot
To film the end of a thriller
A final chase and shoot out scene in
A 70’s Don Siegel film
Culminating in a finale
Where the villain finally falls from a great height off a crane
Le Galion is the name of the tonight’s venue
And Jean Baptisite is the owner
When we arrive he greets us all with a kiss and hug
His bar is an incredible room filled with curiosities
Stuffed animals, skulls, an old piano with our names in flashing lights

The room has the feel of an old wooden ship
Our host Jean Baptiste then disappears into the kitchen
We discover later that he is cooking up a
huge
pasta
dish
just
for
us
We sound check but
Almost immediately the back pickup on
Jamie’s Jazzmaster dies
If you’re reading this and you’ve seen Jamie’s main guitar
You may know that it is held together
By stickers and grime
There is mould and mushrooms growing out of the bridge
And the frets have disappeared beneath years of
Bluebottle Kiss sweat
Luckily Adam is a guitar repair whiz
And within seconds his head is buried
Deep beneath Jamie’s scratch plate
(who knows what kind of infection he may have picked up in there)
And his soldering iron is smoking
(yes, he brought one with him!)
After Jamie’s guitar is back in action
We are led upstairs
For a spread that consists of pasta, baguettes, cheese and wine
Provided for
The bands and the crew

This of course sparks off a discussion
On the difference between the treatment
Of bands in venues across Australia vs Europe
At most Australian shows it’s hard to get enough
Bottled water or soft drink
For the band
(one exception that I have personally experienced
– Brian Lizotte in Newcastle –
who treats all artists with style)
We have this discussion many times over in the days to come
As the lavish treatment continues throughout our time in Brittany
The room is still empty at 9pm
So we push the start time to 9:30
By the time I get onstage there’s
A small crowd
And our set goes without a hitch
I even sell a couple of CD’s
Nice warm up

The Tall Grass are up next
This time Peter is plagued with problems
First his ukulele dies
The battery compartment is not closing properly
Rendering his uke all of useless
Adam swings into action again
This time improvising by searching outside the bar
With our intrepid guide/helper/roadie Felix
For a stick to jam into the battery case to hold it in place
Somehow they get it working
Only to find the exact same problem happens to Pete’s guitar
Cursed!
I can see Pete trying to hold the battery case down with his thumb
As he strums awkwardly with his other four fingers
This time I slip onstage and with the magic of gaff tape
I manage to tape it together so he makes it through the set
Jared has become the official band photographer
And he’s capturing loads of great snaps
Next up Infinity Broke
(Scott, Reuben and Jamie are ploughing into their 3^rd set as
we head towards midnight)
Jared is also a brilliantly solid drummer
And alongside Scott they lock in together and
Become a single rhythm machine
The show is embellished by one
Male gymnast dancer right up the front
Who is particularly entertaining
With his interpretative dance during
Infinity Broke’s epic 16-minute version of Monsoon
We pack up the van relatively quickly
It’s an incredible privilege and
Extremely unusual for us to
Have roadies helping (what a treat!)
Hotel by about 2:30am
Zzzzzz

SAINT-QUAY PORTRIEUX

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give – Winston Churchill

Neither Jamie nor my sleep patterns have really kicked in
This means about 4am each morning
Jamie wakes up and can’t get back to sleep
And starts searching around for a sleeping tablet
This of course wakes me up so I have to do the same
On this morning though Jamie thinks its 4am
But it’s really about 9:30am
He knocks back a sleeping tablet
Then realizes he’s about to miss breakfast
So he gets up and trudges downstairs
But by the time he gets to his seat
He’s in a state of foggy stupor
Trying to eat breakfast
And split the payment amongst band members
For the previous nights show
Whilst downing coffees to try and circumvent
The unstoppable force of his tablet
He’s nodding off whilst counting coins so
He heads back upstairs to sleep it off
Mornings are spent calling home
Most of us catching up with wives and/or kids
Letting them know they are loved and missed
Then breakfast in the hotel
We are well looked after by our fine hosts
Claire and Pascal
The breakfasts are fantastic
I chow down on buttery buckwheat pancakes
Coffee, eggs and a variety of cheeses
Followed by another swim
Later in the afternoon we are picked up by 2 vans
For our second show
This time we’re only travelling about
10 mins down the road
To the beautiful seaside town of Saint-Quay Portrieux

Today stands out as a real highlight of the trip
And it makes an
Indelible mark on me
When it comes to the generosity
Of our hosts
This time we’re be playing an outdoor show
With the beach as a backdrop
We all jump out and soak in the view
(which is an incredible delight for the senses)
And awaiting us in the artists tent
Are bottles of red
an espresso machine
beers, water
nuts and cheese
We’re immediately told to help ourselves
Then
After set up and sound check
We’re whisked away for dinner
Now, I’ve got no idea if all bands that play at the Festival
Receive this kind of treatment
But I have a feeling that this may have a lot to do
With our magnanimous host Capt Ludo
We are led into an upmarket restaurant
And shuttled into a private room
All seven of us plus our hardworking helpers
And here begins a 3 course meal unlike any I’ve had in years
Thankfully it was mainly seafood
(which I can actually eat!)
And I broke my boring diet by destroying a desert
That set my taste buds alight
C’mon I’ve gotta break my diet just once every 10 years or so, yeah?

Next Ludo arrives with a few bottles of special wine
That commemorates his first meeting with Jamie
Now, I’m not meant to drink wine either
But I can’t be rude…right?
I offer my glass without hesitation
We all marvel over these bottles of red
Cos this wine is just something else
Scott becomes a connoisseur
Smelling and swilling
He can smell blue vein cheese in there
Adam is sitting there gob smacked
Jamie after years of working at a wine club
Gives us all the correct references
By this time we’re all feeling just slightly merry
And very, very full
And we’ve almost forgotten that we have to go back out and play a show
As it’s heading towards evening and
None of us are sure if singing and playing
After all that food is even possible without
Belching into microphones
And forgetting arrangements and lyrics
This time
Scott, Jamie and Reuben
Are playing only two sets
I open the show to an attentive and appreciative audience
Perhaps a couple of hundred people
Manage to meet some nice folk
Sell quite a few CD’s
And sit back to enjoy the Tall Grass
Peter Fenton had assumed that we were heading back to Binic
Before the show
And he has no suitable stage attire for a gent of his stature
So we double up on my wardrobe
And do a clothing swap between sets
For an encore I hop up with The Tall Grass
And we finish with a rousing version of Neil Young’s Vampire Blues
Pack up the van and
Zzzzzz
Zzz
Z

PRE FESTIVAL ANNIVERSARY PARTY

We hear he is a whiz of a wiz
If ever a wiz there was
If ever, oh, ever a wiz there was
– We’re Off To See The Wizard – Harburg/Arlen

This day begins with Adam carrying out a few necessary guitar repairs
He’s been a complete champion
Running on and off stages with minor repairs
But today there are a few instruments that need looking at
So he buries himself in the upstairs room at Ludo’s bar
With a collection of tools and works wonders
Over the course of our tour
Jamie’s guitar is fixed properly
Fenton’s uke is fixed
With parts purchased from
A fishing tackle store and a chemist
Scott’s guitar
Which has been continually going out of tune
Is set up and rebuilt
Scott is amazed as Adam nonchalantly takes off the neck
Straightens it with a truss rod adjuster
Sets the intonation and
Files nut slots
So that his Fender Jaguar is now a sleek playing machine
My affectionate nickname for Adam on this trip
Had been Rabbi Lang
Due to Adam’s luxurious beard
But
Ludo pronounces Adam “THE WIZARD!”
A way more apt and worthy title
Tomorrow the festival begins
But as for tonight
We are playing the 10th Anniversary Celebration
Of the Binic Festival Party
This seems to be an invitation only affair
Corporate sponsors, staff and volunteers fill the room
Tonight is another 3 set work over
For the Hutchings brothers and Reuben
The Tall Grass open the proceedings
And as Jamie is having some issues with his sweet falsetto
Which has been reduced to a high-pitched croak
I jump up for a few harmonies
My set is next
And onstage
I really start to feel like the band is
Finding its feet
Particularly on some of my new tunes
The set seems to go down well
And a few more CD’s make their way into the hands of the French

Infinity Broke up next
And then we meet Melbourne band
Bench Press
Who seem to be having some success here in France
Plus they’re a bunch of real nice fellas
I’m starting to fade – still adjusting to Paris time I guess
So I walk back to Ludo’s Bar with
Jared and Adam for a nightcap
We chat philosophically for an hour or so
(as you do in France)
Jamie disappears for a midnight swim
And now
Even this late at night
The sense of the festival hangs heavy in the air
Stages are being set up and
Barricades pulled into place
Streets are being closed
Bars and merch tents are popping up
Tomorrow the festival begins!

BINIC FOLKS BLUES FESTIVAL DAY 1

Lost among the crowds,
The dusty air, the flickering
Candles, stunned, his heart drunk
With music and hurt So I go,
drunk and melancholy
Lunatic guitarist, poet,
A poor man in a dream,
Hunting for God in the mists
-Antonio Machado

This is not your usual
Run of the mill festival
That we experience in Australia
The whole town is the festival site
The festival is completely free
About 60-70,000 people start to pour into this small village
Roads at each end of the town are blocked
3 large stages have been set up
In prominent positions
Tents are raised
And vans are parked
On the outskirts of town
Security pours in
Police and armed military
Obviously due to terrorism in France
Crowd safety is now a huge issue at events like these
So it’s comforting
Whist also unnerving
To see many groups of soldiers
Armed with automatic weapons
Wandering through the sleepy fishing village

I have a rare day off today
The Tall Grass and Infinity Broke will both play a set each
I had planned to do some exploring…
Tourist for a day
But….there’s still loads to be done
I meet Mikaël Le Bourhis
Frenchman of style, finely manicured and well dressed
Affable and polite
Despite the fact that he’s probably had very little sleep
Due to being
The Festivals Press Agent
He’s also a great friend of Reuben’s
Their similar love for left of centre fashion
Which they call “dandy”
Means they quickly move on to admiring one another’s outfits
Mikaël described me in the Press Release
“As an Australian D’artagnan
A man of fine moustache”
So obviously I warm to him quickly
Knowing we’re going to get on just fine
He takes me on a tour of the festival site
In a hunt for
Wristbands
Drink tickets
Lunch and dinner passes
Each day all artists receive lunch and dinner
At an all you can eat buffet
Where the food is quite mouth watering
Alongside coffee and a selection of
Desserts and wines at every meal
On the way I receive an assortment of merch
Cups, Shirts, Tote Bags, Programs, Badges etc
I meet loads of wonderful and friendly volunteers
Whilst wandering through the artist lounge and bar
Up to the private viewing platform
Which has a perfect view of the largest stage on the beach
I catch the early afternoon
Tall Grass set from the platform
Grab a swim at the seaside pool
And head off to watch Infinity Broke’s
Nighttime show, which is a cracker!

Our intrepid hotel owners Claire and Pascal
Are right up the front
And they call out to Scott
“Magnifique! Tomorrow… BIG BREAKFAST!”
Unable to find Adam or Peter
I wander back through the masses alone
Tonight there is a Lunar Eclipse
And the moon is red
I have my first emotional moment
Watching and mingling with the crowds
Slightly overwhelmed at being here
The generosity of these people
The happy lack of self-awareness that
The young kids seem to have here
Dancing with each other
Smiling and laughing
Young children with their families
Adults well in to their 60’s and 70’s
Standing up close to the barricades and enjoying the music
Swaying
With teenagers moshing by their side
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt
A sense of community like this
It’s something to be cherished
And although I’m of course positive
That it wouldn’t be like this
Right across France
Tonight I have a lump in my throat
I feel as though I belong here
With these happy folk
I feel at
Home in Binic

FESTIVAL DAY 2

Eighty percent of success is showing up – Woody Allen

Today is the day of my first show and
I’m a little edgy
Which usually means I talk too much
Due to that edginess
I can’t remember much
About what I did that day
Apart from watching Infinity Broke’s afternoon set
Peter Fenton heads off on a solo
Bus trip to St Brieuc
I have the pleasure of meeting
Jeanclaude and his girlfriend
Jeanclaude is somebody I have only ever
Spoken to on Facebook
But he has undertaken a 10-hour drive to Binic from Belgium
Specifically to see my show tonight
He’s lovely and we chat for a while
The rest of the afternoon
I sit quietly in my hotel
Restringing my guitar
Softly running through my set
I grab a take away Galette
And a small flask of gin
To calm my nerves a little
The stage I am playing on tonight
Is just below my hotel room
And through my open windows I can hear
The crowd in a frenzy
For a super loud garage rock/punk band called Magnetix
Making me even more neurotic
About whether my folkier racket will go down OK
I finally get backstage
To some mild chaos
Lots of our gear is missing
It appears it’s over on the beach stage
About 400 metres away
And we’re on in about 20 minutes
Ludo happens to be around
And rather than yell and carry on at stage staff
For not having the gear together
He just says to Scott
“We have a mission!”
So Scott, Ludo and our newly arrived friend Jan
(Who has come to see us from Switzerland)
All run across to the other stage
Lugging the gear across
By hand
To see a festival director
Being this hands on at a grass roots level
Without complaint
Shows his commitment
And passion for this festival
We finally get onstage
And my nerves melt away
When I see the crowd waiting for me to start
Many calling out my name
Yelling out that they love me
One guy jumps up onstage
And asks Adam if he can stroke his beard
Punters are hugging my boots as
I walk past the front of the stage
The onstage sound is a little rough
But adrenalin kicks in and I pretend all is well
Despite the fact that I can barely hear my acoustic guitar It seems to be fine out the front though
Because there are smiles and cheers all round
In my excitement
I probably say
Merci beacoup! (thank you very much!)
Too many times
And pronounce my profound love for Binic
Too many times
Yet my use of the regional dialect with the word “Yamat!” (Cheers!)
Seems to go down a treat
(Thanks to the local who suggested I say that…)
And the only other French words that I can remember onstage are
Bonsoir (good evening) and
Je m’appelle Mark Moldre (my name is)
By the end of the set the sound has improved
The area in front of the hotel is jam-packed
And we seem to have gone down a treat

My nervous energy
Has given me a second wind
So I head across to the beach stage
To watch US band OMNI
And hang out with Jan, Jared, Reuben, Scott and Jamie
Plus our young new friend
Up n coming photographer Clement Guyon
I grab a last drink in the artist bar
And head to bed

FESTIVAL DAY 3

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears – Albert Camus
Or
It frightens me, the awful truth, of how sweet life can be – Bob Dylan

Unsurprisingly I sleep in and
Miss breakfast
Luckily they haven’t yet packed up the leftovers
And even though breakfast is officially over at 10am
They don’t mind that I grab a few mouthfuls
Before heading down to the beach
With Scott and Adam
For Adam and I this trip has been overwhelming
I’m no seasoned traveller
I’ve been overseas a couple of times
China and Thailand
Adam has only ever been once to Fiji and
Although Adam is not really a beachgoer
He feels he has to swim just once
In the Atlantic Ocean
To cross it off his bucket list
Watching him enjoy this experience of
Travelling so far
And enjoying it so much
Has been a real pleasure for me
The pleasure of being in France is written
Across his whole demeanour
The water is cold but rejuvenating

Now it’s time to head back
To the large beach stage for my final festival show
I’m on early
2:30pm to be exact
So I’m kinda expecting that there will be
Very few people milling about
And that this will be a smaller show than last night
Thankfully I was overwhelmingly surprised
A bigger crowd than last night has gathered
In fact they have squeezed in
Right to the front of the stage and
As far as I can see and
When I ask the crowd to raise their hands for a photo
A sea of hands and smiling faces respond
Right to the very back
Thousands of faces

I can see the town of Binic in the background
The church bell tower high above the buildings
A breathtaking sight
I do my best to pause and soak it in
And standing on this stage
I know that I may never experience anything like this again
We play an energized set
The band has really hit its stride now
Adam playing super fast banjo and ripping slide
Jamie strangles his usual incredible array of sounds out of his Jazzmaster
Scott is so relaxed and reliable
And sits so far behind the beat
That I joke he’s still playing the previous song
Reub’s double bass sounds huge and full

When the set is over I head over to the merch tent
To meet some of the fine French folk
Only to discover that all my CD’s have all sold out
Apparently
Only about 4 minutes after
I finished my last song
I stay and sign CDs and chat
I’m hugged, kissed, photographed and handshaked
I talk to one of the lovely volunteers Marie Caillou
She has been a festival volunteer for years now
And her enthusiasm for music and musicians is epic
A typical example of the passionate volunteers
After my show we are taken into the inner sanctum of the festival
The VIP area for corporate sponsors
A bar is serving free cocktails
A grill is continually on the go
Seafood, kebabs, breads and cheeses are scattered on tables
There are lounges and a massage caravan
(Jamie heads straight in to have his sore lower back attended to)
Here Mikaël interviews all 7 of us
Filming the moment for posterity
Followed by drinks with Ludo
And another new friend Gilou Le Gruiec
A lovely, fiercely intellectual lady
Jamie and I discuss with her the possibility
Of returning someday to Paris
And she suggests the concept of
Playing a series of intimate shows
In bookstores and theatres
Holding master classes
In which we discuss our literary influences and
Curate mini Film Festivals
It’s OK to pipe dream yeah?

Next up is the last show for our entourage
The Tall Grass head over to the stage to begin setting up
Adam and I tag along
Mainly to help Peter and Jamie
With tunings, guitar changes and string breakages

Something transformative happens in this set
Whilst Jamie and Peter are singing their beautiful duet
Weathervane
Ludo is tearing up
In fact tears are streaming down his face
It’s a song that means a lot to his personal history
Jared has his arm around him
Gilou is also misty
Jamie chokes a little while singing “The Letting Go”
And in their finale
A beautiful piece
From the pen of Peter Fenton
Named
Halo
Suddenly and
Out Of Nowhere
I’m really struggling to hold
Back the tears
Whether it’s because this is our last full day in Binic
Or because I’m missing my family
Whether it’s being with my oldest friends
On this once in a lifetime trip
Whether I feel a natural affinity with these people
Due to my European heritage
And I know leaving here is going to be difficult
Whether it’s simply hearing this song
Right at this precise moment
Or whether it’s because I’ve played music
For so many years
And have never experienced
Anything that even comes close
To this
This incredible place
Alongside these generous people
Or the fact that I don’t feel
out
of
place
and
awkward
Amongst conversations of
Football and cars
As I do back in Australia at a typical BBQ
But while The Tall Grass are wrapping up
That heartfelt song
I’m overwhelmed and emotionally spent
Yet I feel myself set free
All my pent up stress from Australia
Is melting away
I feel amazingly relaxed and at ease
Happysad
At home
Too much?
Probably.
But I don’t care

PARIS AND HOMEWARD BOUND

The mechanic escalators, automatic gates,
Corridors of correspondence, peak hours and affluence
Mosaic doors, fantastic labyrinth and always, running
The people that go and come and still, running
The same people that return
And the subway that strolls under Paris
Sweetly dashes and then flies
Flies on the corners of Paris
– Edith Piaf

Days go slow and yet fast
Hellos can be leisurely
Goodbyes always seem rushed
We are suddenly standing out the front of our hotel
In our slightly smaller group of 6
(Scott has decided to head over to Switzerland with Jan)
Ludo bestows on us one last parting gift
A hand printed Festival poster
On quality card
Numbered and hand signed by the artist
No’s 1-7
We throw the gear into the waiting vans
Farewell new friends
And drive 20 mins or so to the train station at St Bruiec
We hug and kiss Ludo
Jamie and I bestow on him a
Parting bottle of whisky
As a show of appreciation
But to be honest I can’t thank him enough
I’ve got no words at all really
They drive away
And as their taillights disappear around the corner
We realize that
Once again we are on our own
The Rolling Stones treatment is over
And as we
trudge
carrying
all
our
gear
To the platform
We discover
That there has been a fire at our proposed destination
Of Montparnasse
And the trains are running an hour and a half late
Actually some trains are cancelled
So when we eventually get on
The train is very full
And we have to stand with all our luggage and guitars
Sliding and rolling everywhere
For the 2 hour trip
When we finally get off
We realize we are not at Montparnasse but
We have been delivered to another station
And our destination is still a few trains away
Our single day in Paris is shrinking
And we begin what becomes a journey of epic madness
Into the bowels and catacombs of the Paris subway system
The tunnels are very old
And there are practically no elevators or escalators
Reuben and Jared have gone to meet friends
So they have caught another train
So Jamie, Adam, Peter and I
Each dragging three items of luggage
Descend the first set of stairs
Now I had frozen shoulder before I came
If anything is going to set it off again
It’s the hilarity that’s ahead of us
Peter and I both get trapped in turnstiles
My backpack gets caught
While crawling underneath doors that don’t open
Adam’s arm gets caught in fast closing subway doors
His fist narrowly missing Peter’s jaw
As he pulls his arm ferociously out of the door
Endless sets of stairs
Suffocating lack of air
My 26.5-kilo behemoth bag gets
Heavier and heavier
Jamie, who has done this before, stares at us sympathetically
Knowing it’s going to continue getting worse
Before it gets better
Getting lost
Backtracking
Putting gear down for a rest
Picking it up again
My boots are a little too big
And I can feel the blisters growing
Muddled conversations at Information Centre’s
Police telling us we’re sitting ducks for thieves
Phone app Maps sending us in the wrong direction
When we finally arrive at our hotel in Paris
We are informed the elevator is busted
And we’re on the 4^th floor
Up a narrow staircase we go
And collapse on the beds
It’s now about 7pm
A two-hour trip has taken the entire day
Before we all end up falling asleep
We decide we must do something Parisian
Before catching our flight home
We grab a dinner in a pub on our street
Then for what now seems like a luxurious trip
Without towing luggage behind us
We catch another subway to the Eiffel Tower
A bottle of red under Jamie’s arm
For a little bromance in the city of romance
As expected it’s breathtaking
We act like absolute clichéd tourists
Snapping photos and
Jaws dropping at
The view on the second floor

When it’s close to midnight
We catch the subway back to the hotel and
Sleep soundly
The following day is relatively uneventful
Mini bus to airport
Sleep on plane to China
Brief stopover
Sleep on plane to Sydney
A couple of movies
I write a few notes to jog my memory for this very diary
Very little conversation now
We’re all wasted, tired and contemplative
Taxi back to our car
And before we know we’re home
And it’s all over
In a blink of an eye

EPILOGUE

You’re on earth. There’s no cure for that – Samuel Beckett
Or
You’ve got to psych yourself for the Post Tour Blues – Jamie Hutchings

Reality hits like a huge karmic hammer
It’s wonderful seeing my wife and family again
Presents, hugs and kisses all round
But the work drudge is tough
I unpack my festival mementos
And already Binic is receding in my mind
Like the wisp of a memory
Of a barely remembered dream
Next up
I start planning the release of my new album
Which has been completely recorded
And is in the mixing stages
But deep down I know
Whatever I can conjure up musically
Is unlikely to reach the giddy heights of those
Few days in a small fishing town
So far away

Love
Mark
X
10/08/2018

2018 : FEVER DREAMS

PROLOGUE

Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now – Bob Dylan

The last time I recorded an album seems like a lifetime ago
In fact the last time I was in a studio 
recording my own material
Would possibly be about 7 years ago
I dunno
My memory is always shaky when it comes to dates
It certainly doesn’t seem like it was that long ago 
Older
But none the wiser
At the last session
a few years ago
we set up camp in a little cottage in Avalon
And we recorded live to tape over a 6 day period
But life being as it is these days
Schedules are so tight
Jobs, wives, kids, overseas trips, expecting mothers
….all the important things
Well it means we now hope to get this thing accomplished 
in
4 days
….madness!

RECORDING : DAY 1

Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.– Mary Shelley

Now the guesthouse in which we recorded
An Ear To The Earth 
Was undergoing renovations at the time
So it was empty
But this time we’ve decided to make it even more challenging…
Our bass player, Reuben – 
His mother has kindly offered her home in 
Frenchs Forest
But for us to turn it into a mobile studio 
Means that we also have to become furniture removalists
Reuben’s Mum is wonderful and sweet
But I doubt that she had any idea of the chaos she was letting herself in for
(and this is utter testament to her relaxed n composed nature)
As she slowly watched 6 noisy fellas
Turn her neat and tidy house into a mobile studio
Pushing her beds and couches up on their sides against the walls
Moving ornaments and coffee tables
Untangling leads and spreading them out down her homes corridors
Tangles of cable snaking into her 
Bathroom
Laundry
Lounge room
And bedrooms
All joining up at a central hub
On her dining room table 
Whilst we continue lugging in an enormous amount of gear
Tape Machines
Effects
A Huge Mixing Desk

About 12 guitars/Banjo/Slide Guitar
Double Bass and Drum Kit

4 or 5 amplifiers
About 20 microphones and stands
Percussion
Milk Crates full of bits n pieces
Sugar free/grain free food 
To accommodate my stupidly restrictive dietary requirements

All the while generally making a massive racket
For 2 weekends straight
In fact there was so much setting up to do on 
Saturday morning
That we didn’t really start recording until about 2pm
We’ve decided to repeat our successful experiment 
Recording live straight to 1” reel to reel tape
Which means we’ve got to get the songs right
Together
All at Once
Mistakes Mean:
Stop
Rewind
And Start Again
Amazingly enough we still get 
3 songs down on Day 1

OLD FRIENDS

“Making music together is the best way for two people to become friends”
Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Hang on, did I forget to introduce the team?

Jamie Hutchings, producer and resident Jazzmaster noisemaker. 
Calls a spade a spade.
Has an ability to add jagged, angular edges
To the sweetest tune
whilst retaining it’s sweetness

Scott Hutchings, drums and percussion.
A stalwart with a steady hand
Sits behind the beat….
Doesn’t usually have any sense of time of day
Baritone vocalist

Reuben Wills, Double Bass.
Svengali. Stonemason.
Good with his hands. 

Prof Adam Lang, multi instrumentalist.
THE WIZARD!
Banjo/Lap Slide/Xylophone/Theremin/Suitcase Drums/Guitar/Mandolin/Bass
Instrument repairman, electronics whiz. 
Metal guru and part time shredder

Chris Colqhoun, always the sharpest pair of ears in the room
Full time Doctor, part time engineering shaman.
New Dad to be. Calm under pressure. 
Here he is at the dining room table.

Reubs Mum
Sweetheart and great cook
(in fact she even baked and cooked
to my dietary requirements with delicious warm grain free bread
and sugar free cake)
Her friend Magda enjoys the Bedlam

Oh, and I was there too, occasionally

RECORDING : DAY 2

Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.” Samuel Johnson

Noisy songs are attempted earlier in the morning
Quieter songs into the night
In an effort to placate the neighbours
2 or 3 warm ups on each tune and hit REC
Whirr of magnetic tape
Nerves are lit
We listen back
Re-record
Listen again
Nods and mumbles
Unsure smiles and excuses
Someone Says
I played a wrong note in the bridge
Someone else says
You can’t tell
It sounds fine

Reubs Mum and her friend Magda 
Enthusiastically voice their approval
Italian Magda especially loves 
The Drums!
The Drums!
And she then plays air drums
Gesturing wildly in her excitement
Magda pours everyone a celebratory brandy
Then
Said racket is committed to tape
Next!
At the end of the first weekend 
We have to return the house to 
Its original glory (or at least close)
So a couple of hours of packing up
And we disappear for a week

RECORDING : DAYS 3 & 4

“Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today.” – Bill Murray as Phil Connors

The following weekend is 
Groundhog Day
Quick set up
Not much time for chit chat
Work to be done
Reuben is chasing his Mum’s chicken in the garden
And cutting wood for the fire
(…not that he plans on cooking his Mum’s chicken)
Scott disappears every now and then
Grabbing organic delicacies for lunch
And a few Coopers Long Necks
Jamie and Chris are in intense concentration
Listening carefully for hiccups in grooves
A few things slow us down
Noisy power for one
Adam runs around trying to find 
The source of the
Buzzzzzzz zzz zz
Leads that work
And then
Don’t
Mics that work
And then
Don’t
False starts
We struggle with the songs
That we thought would be the easy ones
And nail the songs we thought would be hard
Quick lunch breaks
Scott makes friends with Reub’s Mum’s Chicken

Work late
Take 14
Tape Whirrs
Retune Guitars
Amps Hum
Cmaj7#11
Someone accidentally kicks out a lead
Rewind
Feedback
Knock at the door
Stop. Rewind. Record.
Did we eat dinner?
I don’t remember
Nail a track
Smiles and relief
Magda pours the brandy
Long suffering homeowner waiting for sleep
Day Four
Repeat Day 3
Only the songs are different
Group vocals
Swing Big Band style call and response
In a circle around one mic
Hands a’clappin’

Ten songs in the bag
Some back slapping
No idea how we made it in time
Best part of the experience
Is always spending some quality time
With old friends

Home.
Sleep.
Back to work.

EPILOGUE

“Make room for the real important stuff.”
—Tigger

We decided a few o’dubs were in order
So Jamie and I sang some more 
And rattled some percussion
In Chris Colqhoun’s bathroom

Then off to the Seymour Centre
To record Lee Hutchings
Tenor Sax extraordinaire

Plus Jadey O’Regan and Tim Byron
Husband & wife team
Add piano and
Hammond organ
Respectively
Both of them falling into the tunes
Like they’ve been playing them for years

Now we hand all our efforts over to Chris
To work his Mix Magic
But First
He’s got a brand new baby and wife to look after
What’d I say about jobs, wives, kids etc 
At the start of this ramble?
That’s where it’s at
The important stuff
Music?………
It can wait.

PS A year after I wrote the diary for these sessions
The album is mixed and mastered
We’ve completed a successful crowdfunding campaign
And FEVER DREAMS is now available
On Digital, Vinyl and CD
HERE

  AN EAR TO THE EARTH

We set up camp slightly north of Avalon
Nestled between the hills and the beach
Bryan Ferry was continually crooning in my mind the whole time I was there
When the samba takes you out of nowhere
And the background’s fading
 out of focus
Yes the picture’s changing every moment
And your destination 
you don’t know it
Avalon
Actually this was the ideal place for our grand experiment
The weather was perfect
Lazy north shore clouds drift across the sky
And we broke the peaceful quiet
Loading an enormous amount of gear into a small guesthouse
This album is predestined to be different from anything I’ve done before
Not a computer in sight
No timetable
Minimal overdubbing
Recording completely live to a 1” reel to reel TASCAM tape machine
In fact we had 6 days in which we plan to get 12 songs recorded
With a 5 piece band
And one engineer
Here’s the line up: Me on acoustic guitars and vocals

Jamie Hutchings (who many will know from his recent solo outings
Or from his long history with Bluebottle Kiss)
Jamie played electric guitar and percussion

In fact Jamie recorded his wonderful last solo outing
Avalon Cassettes here in this very same guesthouse

Scott Hutchings on drums and percussion

Reuben Wills on double bass

Adam Lang on banjo, lap slide and pedal steel

Chris Colquhoun was our tireless/long suffering engineer

Jamie also fulfilled production duties
Adding his customary sandpaper, grit and spit to the tunes
Reuben and I set up camp in the lounge room
A bookcase was the only thing between us
To help prevent too much spill into each others microphones
Jamie and Scott set up their percussion in two separate bedrooms
And Adam played his banjo parts
Sitting outside on the balcony
His microphone picking up birds, street noise, barking dogs
And all kinds of other suburban sounds
That will infuse their way into the musical blend of the finished mixes

For the first time I had to nail my guitar parts and vocals in the same take
I was a little nervous about that to say the least
But we’d been rehearsing hard and the band was in fine form
Making my job so much easier
Copious amounts of green tea was consumed in the mornings
Chris’ special blend – 5 or six green buds per cup blended with jasmine

After lunch tea was replaced with Coopers
We moved quickly from one song to the next
Making snap decisions
Jumping from a 1920’s style dixie to a calypso
A folk song followed by an old-fashioned country waltz
Jamie tells me when I’m rushing my parts
I’m always rushing my parts
I sit ahead of everything in the groove nearly all the time
He tells Scott when he’s playing too far behind
He’s usually still playing the end of the previous song
When we start a new one (in joke)
His behind the beat drum style
Is just like his laconic speaking style and laid back temperament
Between the two of us we create a lot of musical push and pull
Reuben is unshakeable
He takes up the double bass a few months before the recording
And plays it like a pro from day 1
Adam only ever seems to need one take on the banjo
The usual question at the end of every take is
“Was that OK?”
Adam always says, “Yes!”
As the rest of us mumble dubiously about our bad notes and missed cues
Jamie played the electric guitar on this album
In his own unique and individual style
This was the first time I had relinquished my guitar role
And I agonized over not playing the guitar parts myself
But in keeping with things remaining as “live” as possible
I let it go…
(…And loved his parts)

Lots of guitars were used on the album
(For the gear heads:)
I played my somewhere between 1900-1910 Lion & Healy parlour guitar, painstakingly restored by The Guitar Repairers:

1957 Hofner arch top:

Maton EBG808 Artist
A 6-string ganjo
And Jamie’s Martin Acoustic:

Jamie played his Jazzmaster:

And my 1957 Gibson ES225:

Thru my Swart AST Pro amplifier
And pedals used: Malekko Echo, TIM, ZVex SHO and a Boss Blues Driver

Chris used to play in a Sydney band called Browning
And he may have been dying to pick up a instrument most of time
Especially when listening to me cause six false starts
Or rush my gan-jo tracks
But he managed instead to have marathon-ic concentration
Never missing anything and constantly keeping us focused
A true master of the mixing board

Aside from the obvious work of getting the songs recorded
We started our studio book group
Surf magazine, Smith Journal (required reading) and a Cormac McCarthy book were being read
Adam created memes on his phone
Jamie organized his upcoming interstate tour
Chris anxiously googles “align the tape”

Reub and I discuss the vagaries of the term “my grandfathers axe”
(Can an axe still be called “my grandfathers axe”
If the handle and head have been replaced dozens of times – Does the axe remain the same?)
Angus and Julia Stone’s father pays a visit
(He lives close by)
And invites us to a beachside jam session
Scott quietly creates his own kitchen workbench
On a plank of wood balanced across 2 pillars
And proceeds to bring out bread, tuna and olive oil
Much to Adam’s astonishment/amusement as he downs a burger and fries

We all discuss being weirded out about the fact
That the toilet/bathroom currently has no door
This discussion becomes more interesting after we all go out for Indian
We work through til about 11 each night
And crash out in the guesthouse doubling as a studio
At the end of the first 3 days the bulk of 10 songs have been laid down
Adam, Scott and Reub head home
And Jamie, Chris and I remain to record some more
I record 2 more songs
One on my own
And another with Jamie
These two will most likely end up as bonus tracks
As I’m hoping to make a succinct, shorter album this time around 10 tracks in total
And next up the horn players arrive
Gregory Bennett – a young student
Turns up with a tuba ($10,000 tuba!!) and trombone
He manages to decipher my scrawled charts And gets his parts down quick

Lee Hutchings arrives in a whirlwind of sound
And completes the Hutchings family trifecta
He gets out his (very loud) clarinet
And fills the room with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman licks
Assuring me that he will get a couple of the licks down in his take
And quickly tells us where we’re going wrong with our note choices
In the arrangements and manages to make things Sound “more Dixie” in seconds
Having listened to Lee play Sax, clarinet and flute since I was a kid
Finally getting him on one or two of my recordings
Was a truly unforgettable moment
His natural soulfulness and ability to swing hard on a multitude of instruments
Make him a pleasure to listen to

Next up was Jochen Gutsch
A soundscapist running a one-man musical art fest in his project HINTERLANDT
Jochen is a multi instrumentalist who I played a show with a year or so ago
My jaw hit the floor watching him in action
And it was brilliant having him stop on by to lay down trumpet on a few tracks

His jazz trumpet was smashed on a flight and was still in repair
So he brought a very old classical styled trumpet for the parts

He also laid down his parts super fast
Then he too was gone
On the last day Scott and Reuben returned

And we
Stomped
Clapped hands
Shook things
Dropped things
Thigh slapped
And drank the last of the gin

Scott sang in his low baritone

We all sang together in sailor’s voices
Then as Austrians swinging their beer steins in ¾ time
Or as a chain gang
And when Reub and Scott left
Jamie and I continued overdubbing a few barbershop quartet style parts
A little melodica, some six string ganjo
And suddenly our 6 days in our north shore paradise were over
Gear was packed up and loaded into cars
The studio returned to looking like a guesthouse
We said goodbye to our gracious hosts Charlie and Leanne
And we all hoped that what we’ve captured on two spools of one-inch tape
Contains just a little Avalon magic