Peek a boo.

Where have I been? Well, hibernating, mostly. I do that from time to time. I did get to see The Inches again for the first time in far too long. It was a great night and I have the set list somewhere. I’ll dig into my brain space an come out with a review and some photos at some point. I guess this, combined with seeing old friends The Basics earlier this year has made me quite nostalgic. With that in mind, I realized recently that it’s coming up to ten years since I met my “uncle mike”, caught the live music bug and made most of the friends I have today as a result of that. So, what would I tell the weird little kid, about to wag school for the first and only time to get an education on the blues?

Everything you know is about to change.
You know nothing, Jon Snow. You think you know pain? Nope, you’re in for a lesson there. All those little rules you have will be abolished, trampled on or bent. Every. Single. One. All in the name of love and mostly in rural NSW. Maybe don’t leave Victoria?

Hate isn’t that strong of a word.
Take a good look at the music you hate now. U2? Ross Wilson? All of that will be flipped on its head in six months at least once.

Social awkwardness doesn’t end in high school.
That’s a myth, it just develops into something else entirely. Nervous nose bleeds? Forgetting your own name? Being so utterly terrified by beauty that you lose any grip once held on the English language? Look forward to all this and more.

Violence is not the answer.
But it is fun. Drums however are the answer. Keep going there.

Stop picking on bass players.
You’re about to become one.

Be nice to everyone you meet.
Take the time to say hi to them. The world is a small place. You never know when you might see them again.

And finally…..
Look to your left, look to your right, look to your left again.
There have been so very many times when you have missed something by focusing on one area. Try looking at the big picture. You never know what you might see.

Because history deserves respect

In many ways, this is another “uncle Mike” story. This next bloke wouldn’t have appeared here if not for uncle mike. Uncle mike knew him, therefore my 17 year old brain jumped to the conclusion that he “musta been a good bloke” despite my earlier impressions. Admittedly, my earlier impressions were without meeting him at all – it was just based on some unfortunate events like being force fed songs he’d written and therefore not wanting anything to do with the music or the person that wrote it.

Who knows? If it wasn’t for uncle mike and Spectrum, maybe I wouldn’t be the musician I am today? Between that band and this guy, I learnt pretty much everything I know about blues. I fell in love with bands like Chain and Madder Lake only as an extension of knowing these guys. My love of punk comes, strangely as a result of exploring Blues and I wouldn’t have changed my mind about this guy without uncle Mike.

I don’t usually change my mind about people without a lot of help from others. Even if my mind was made up when I was 4. I changed my mind about Russell Morris with help from Darryl Cotton and I changed my mind about whether or not I really needed to see another guitarist with a lot of nagging from my friend, Scotty. Thanks for that, Scotty. There has only been one time I’ve changed my mind all by myself and I’ve known the person for 4 years – only changed my mind a few months ago.

Anyway, the point is that without uncle Mike, I’d not know this guy. This guy? Ross Wilson.

To say that Ross has influenced me as a musician is something that deserves acknowledgement. My iPod reflects this. Without Ross, there’d be no Richard Berry, no Lightening Slim, no ….. well, a lot of people. As a result of the blues explosion I went through, there’d be no punk bands. I played in punk bands for a bit. It was whilst in a punk band that I met a rockin bass player and thought “hey, that looks like fun” so I probably wouldn’t play bass, which means no bass clef tattoo.

I went to a lot of festivals to see Ross, too. I first saw Megan Washington when she performed with Ross at a rock wiz show. I was Billy Thorpe, Diesel and Cold Chisel at the same blues fest Daddy Cool played at and there are probably other countless stories that aren’t coming to mind cause it’s 7am.

The other thing is that I wouldn’t have tried Gibson guitars. I would have been happy in my own little Strat world if I hadn’t seen Ross Wilson play. He opened the door to a lot of things, so thanks Ross. Chances are, without you I might still be playing a Strat very very badly because I only learnt to finger pick to try and play Eagle Rock.