This is not exactly a music related post but it involves another one of my loves: basketball. I came across this clip a few months ago and since the NBA All-Star Weekend, I checked it out again. It's about an old man that used to play pretty good street basketball and goes down to the courts to see his nephew play. Needless to say, Uncle Drew gets up and shows the 'young bloods' how to play... old school stylez :D

I watched the latest Dave Grohl doco, Sound City and was blown away by the old school approach to recording as well as all the old footage from the Fleetwood Mac, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty days to the Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine days.

The best part of the doco for me was seeing Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney recording a new song. I've always loved hearing Macca sing with a bit of gravel in his voice ala Why Don't We Do It In The Road and I think they really tapped into that on the song Cut Me Some Slack. Check it!

Have you ever thought "who was the guy that Johnny Cash shot in Reno (just to watch him die)?" Well your answer is in this song by Steve Poltz titled Trash. It's a great song and the premise is brilliant. Thanks to my mate Andrew Weir for showing me this one.

Here's a short doco of Will's band in the studio, great footage, great times!

I'm really looking forward to the finished product. After 3 full days in the studio we've only scrached the surface of what the finished product will be but what we have so far is very exciting.

I hope you enjoy it :)

After a weekend in the studio with Will Udall , I'm back in the 'office' and the first thing I feel like hearing is Eddie Vedder's sound track to the movie Into The Wild . My friend (and photographer for this website actually)  Andrew Jamieson  first put me onto the soundtrack for this movie but it wasn't until I actually saw the movie that the music hit home for me. I knew nothing about the story behind it but it has since become quiet well known. If you don't know it, you must watch it, …

As we blaze into the new year, my friend Will Udall and his band (which includes me!) are going into the studio to record his new batch of tunes. We've been gigging very solidly in London for some time now performing from a large pool of Will's songs but are in the process of cutting them down to the very best to go on Will's upcoming album.  I absolutely love recording. For some reason all my senses come alive when I'm in the studio. So hopefully when we go in, this coming weekend, all the …

  It's funny that as a bass player, it's very rare that I get to play with other bass players on a gig. We all know each other but due to the nature of how bands are conventionally put together, we rarely get to play together and for this reason I never thought I would find this clip of Pino and Meshell . This video features two of my all time favourite bass players performing together. The clip is extra cool because they're playing one of my favourite composers/songs, Herbie Hancock's Butterfly . I …

I was lucky enough to catch Gotye playing at the Hammersmith Apollo in London town this week... and what a show! I went into the show not really knowing his songs. Of course I had heard Somebody That I Used To Know , who hasn't? but other than that I'd only seen a 'making of' documentary of how he'd made his latest album. Maybe it was the best way to go to a show... completely unaware of what to expect and open to what was being played. It had a tremendous effect on me. The songs. His voice. The images …

It's here! The Spanish tour diary vid of Miikey and I is up on youtube!!

After several weeks of sifting through footage, editing said footage and then trying to upload a 5GB file to youtube and figuring it was almost impossible, I finally worked it out :)

It's a bit of a laugh so I hope you enjoy it...

 

 

I stumbled upon Matt Corby through my research into performing house concerts. He had a version of his song Brother on Vimeo that was just brilliant and performed in someones backyard. It turns out he will be performing his 48th house concert this month in London. Unfortunately, it is already sold out (BOO!). 

Below I've attached his latest song titled Made Of Stone. I'm in awe of his voice and the control he has over it. His compositions are seemingly written for him alone and have a mesmorising character about them. I could listen to Matt for hours. 

I recently bought the Black Keys  El Camino album and loved it to bits! It's so groovey with its hooky riffs, distorted vocals and sweet sounding guitars/bass. I'm hooked. My favourite tune from the album is LIttle Black Submarines. Afer the first half of the song, which is super sweet, they launch into this filthy rocking groove... I just love it! I attached it below, so have a listen. However, upon first hearing LIttle Black Submarines , I instantly thought of Jethro Tull's - Aqua Lung …

I really love hearing or seeing a band come up with something unique and innovative in order to promote their music and a band that caught my eye are The Possum Posse . These guys got hold of a pretty unique old movie that had passed into the public domain and wrote the sound track to it. The whole project is called Guy On A Buffalo and the film is literally this story of a guy on a buffalo in the old western style. It's pretty unusual in itself but the songs that TPP wrote take it to another level of …

We have a new video out and it's an interview with our drummer Miikey D. In it he discusses the highlights of living in London, what it was like to play with Julian Lennon, favourite UK bands and favourite Junk tracks. Enjoy!

My girlfriend and I have very different taste in music, so when she came home raving about a new Indie singer/songwriter she saw in concert, I was dubious. However, after listening to some of her stuff I was blown away! Not only by my girlfriends good taste but also the vibe of this young girl, Lucy Rose. I especially love the song in the video below, the time changes between the verse and chorus are sooo cool! Check out her other videos too.

 

Johny's in the basement Mixing up the medicine I'm on the pavement Thinking about the government The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off Says he's got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off Look out kid It's somethin' you did God knows when But you're doin' it again You better duck down the alley way Lookin' for a new friend The man in the coon-skip cap In the big pen Wants eleven dollar bills You only got ten. Maggie comes fleet foot Face full of black soot Talkin' that the heat put Plants in the …

I had a bit of a classical music day last week; it was so refreshing… you should try it one day. Here’s the list: Firebird Suite – Igor Stravinsky  An American Journey – Charles Ives The Protecting Veil for Cello & Strings – Tavener Arabesque #1 (solo piano) - Debussy Rite of Spring – Igor Stravinsky I’ll give you the story to one of these. I first heard the Protecting Veil after a gig. I was exhausted, sweaty and very grumpy, to my recollection. I got …

Another band that I found through watching David Duchovny’s Californiacation, is US band Hammock. These guys record the most incredible sound scapes you’ve ever heard and their album – Chasing After Shadows… Living With Ghosts has become my soundtrack for travelling around London. Hailing from Nashville, these guys have a sound all their own. A duo, with the addition of a cellist for the occasional live show, the sound these guys pull is incredible. They combine live …

So, I haven't always been into making videos but recently, I have the bug. I got the trial version of Final Cut Pro X and used it to edit together a clip to promote Junk Esquire's first London gig at the Proud Galleries in Camden. I would have liked a bit more footage but I was able to work up a video that I'm pretty proud of. I hope you enjoy it!

Well, the latest Dirty Loops YouTube clip has gone up and in 2 days, they have 300,000 views (what a fan base!). And it's totally understandable, they are a super tight trio, every player is ridiculous (in an awesome way), range-less vocal ability, super funky bass, tasty piano and great drums. They have this unique approach to playing covers... Bullshit funky! I’d love to hear their original stuff, although I wonder if it would do as well as their current approach of only putting up covers. I also …

One of my mates from Perth Rhys Wood, wrote this particularly poignant song several years ago and on this Anzac Day, while I'm away from home, I want to share this with my friends and family.  For the Fallen With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea. Flash of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. There is music in the midst …

I heard this clip of John Mayer playing guitar and thought the tune was gorgeous with all the cool effects he has going on. 



It turns out said tune is quite a popular song by Lana Del Rey, which I have now fallen in love with. It also turns out I'm pretty late to the party, as this song was in the 2011, triple J's hottest 100... jeez!


 

The great rock band, Pearl Jam recently released a DVD documentary of their history up until this point in 2012 to celebrate 20 years as a band. The title of the DVD is ‘Twenty’ and is a collection of footage and commentary/interviews dating back to their beginnings in the Seattle ‘grunge’ scene. The documentary absolutely blew me away. I was struck by how passionate they were/are about their music. I also was struck by the way they performed on stage, especially in the early …

This is an addendum to one of my previous blog posts - Chris Cornell :: The Prince of Darkness. It’s also going to be an ‘eating my words’ type post! Last year I saw Chris play one of his Songbook Tour solo shows in Perth, Australia at our Concert Hall. It was the greatest performance I have ever seen. I cannot explain to you the effect it had on me (but I’ll try). I can still hear his voice resonate in my head. His sound in the concert hall was godly. And whoever’s idea it …

YouTube is such a great source of inspiration and equally, distraction. I've lost many an hour looking at great clips on YouTube. These next clips I found while searching Chris 'Daddy' Dave. It turns out this guy is the guitarist for American Idol. These clips are just of him playing around at a sound-check but I think he sounds incredible. Enjoy!

I've always been a huge fan of the David Duchovny TV series that shares its name with the Red Hot Chili Peppers album and not only for the great story lines but the great music that always accompanies said story lines. Of course, there is the weekly ‘boobie’ shot, which is always of the highest quality but in addition to that, the central character of Hank Moody is brilliantly portrayed by Duchovny and rates as one of my favorite fictional characters in books or on tv (up there with Alan …