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Binic Folk Blues Festival July 2018
Big news just in. I’ve been invited, with the full band in tow, to play in Binic, France at the 10th Anniversary of the Binic Folk Blues Festival from July 27-29 2018. I’ll be heading over with an Australian contingent including Infinity Broke and The Tall Grass. Jamie Hutchings, producer of my upcoming album, will be particularly busy playing in all three line ups. Much excitement. More dates to be announced.
PS Slowly but surely we’re chipping away at the mixing of the new album. More news on that front sooner or later….
The New Album Finds A Home (..And I Return To Where It All Began)
Well folks, once again I have found a musical home.
As most of you likely realise, sometimes we all feel the need sometimes to return back to the place where everything began. Somewhere that feels comfortable, where the smiles are reassuring and the smells are familiar. A place where you can put your feet up and not be scolded. A place where you’re surrounded by friends, encouraging banter and off in the kitchen there is always an open fire burning and a pot of soup on the stove. The kind of home where you can stand around an old, out of tune upright piano ’til late at night and harmonise to Bing Crosby tunes with a glass of gin pressed in your hand. Where is that homely musical haven for me? I’m glad you asked.
As it turns out it’s the place where I started. Stuart Coupe at Laughing Outlaw Records was the first person to show some musical faith in me when he signed a pretty naive and wet behind the ears 4 piece band that I was involved in called Hitchcock’s Regret, way back somewhere in the vicinity of 1999-2000. We released a couple of albums on Laughing Outlaw and left after recording our 3rd (and last) – releasing endless_intermission on Spacejunk. A label run by our producer at the time, Tim Powles (drummer/producer for The Church).
Now, years later, here I stand (actually, here I sit) ready to release solo album number 2 into the ether and find myself lingering at the very gates where the first symphonious seed was planted. So it is with no further ado that I’d like to announce that my latest 10 track long player will be released on April 5th on Laughing Outlaw Records and Inertia distribution. Here’s hoping that you, dear reader, will join me for the ride. Loads more music/videos/details coming very soon…..
A While Between Gins…..
Hey Folks
Yeah, it’s been a while between drinks
Although it may not have seemed like much has been going on lately
(if you’re a regular visitor to this site)
Plenty has been going on behind the scenes
First I had to get over a mammoth bout of writers block
My first thankfully and hopefully my last
To reboot my brain freeze I pushed myself into unfamiliar territory
I started by writing no songs at all about myself…
No confessionals, no heart on the sleeve, no crying in my gin
This time I wanted to tell stories about others (more interesting already yeah?)
I also wanted to incorporate some of the other side of my musical background
Styles I’d usually try to keep seperate from my own music
This time some riotous Dixie, calypso (yeah I was even in a calypso band once)
Late night mexican infused jazz (?)
European and Country waltzes
And some good old fashioned holler and stomp
Next I also decided to record these songs differently as well
Throw myself into a completely new environment
Every album I’ve ever made so far has been with the help of my two very good friends
Michael Carpenter and timEbandit Powles (The Church)
They have been my long suffering creative partners from day 1 – my safety net
I’ve always wandered into their studios and sat down at the computers for a couple of weeks
And slowly crafted my songs with their generous help
This time I jumped into the deep end of the studio pool
And decided to record the whole thing as live as possible straight to 1″ tape
Not a computer in the room
I asked my good friend Jamie Hutchings to produce.
Jamie has produced the bulk of the Bluebottle Kiss back catalogue, his own solo albums and albums for The Maladies, Peabody, Browning and more
He added his familiar spit, grit and sandpaper to the tunes
We even co-wrote a couple
We all rehearsed hard for the months leading up to the recording
Jamie on electric guitar and percussion, Scott (his brother) on drums and percussion
Reuben Wills on double bass and Adam Lang on banjo, lap slide and pedal steel
Then it was next decided to take this recording out of the studio environment
We dragged engineer Chris Colquhoun’s home studio into a empty guest house at Avalon
We recorded the 5 piece band completely live over 3 days
Then we recorded a few sparse overdubs – horns and background vocals
It’ll be awhile now before we get the final results – a few months most likely
I’ll keep you updated here. I have uploaded a Recording Diary full of photos from the sessions here.
I’ve also started a tumblr page so as to keep a photo diary of the albums progress.
Have a browse, there’s plenty to see and read about the upcoming album already…
In the meantime I’m playing a show with two of the Central Coast’s finest – Sarah Humphreys and Mike McCarthy. You can find all the details on the Upcoming Shows page
Love
Mark
Work Begins On A New Batch Of Tunes
Last Show For 2011
I’ll be closing this year by playing one final Sydney show with my good friend Jamie Hutchings before heading into the studio early next year to start recording the follow up to The Waiting Room. This’ll be the last chance to come along and have a listen to a few of the newies before we commit them to tape. I’ll be joined by Adam Lang (Suitcase drums, glock, banjo, lapslide, guitar) Jochen Gutsch experimental multi-instrumentalist from HINTERLANDT will join us on trumpet and bassist Reuben Wills may be joining us for a couple of tunes. (you’ll have to come along to find out). Actually you can see a clip of this line up in action, filmed live at The Vanguard a few months ago, here. Tix are onsale now. Details/online bookings info is on the Upcoming Shows page.
PS In other news a new clip for the song “Troubled Genius” (a song inspired by the Phil Spector murder trial) is now up on YouTube – created by Canadian David Duchow -who has made numerous clips for Oz legends The Church. The clip features a trippy collection of histories troubled genuises….see if you can spot them all.
Mark Moldre 