1.Growing Up
My father lived on West 21st Street in Manhattan at a time when you didn’t have to be rich to live downtown, so music was like art. All you had to do was go outside and look around to see its real-world incarnations. Everything was loud and fast and sublime. That’s still part of me in everything I do.
2.Inspirations
Doc Pomus probably means the most to me of any artist. You don’t have songwriters like him around any more, who can churn out hit after hit for other artists but the music is actually cool and classic.
3.Your Band
The band is a vehicle for the music. We get hired to play blues and rhythm and blues, and I’ve been lucky enough to find guys that can make it sound great, like Wayne Rigby on sax, Tim O’Driscoll on drums and PK (he’s never told me his last name) on bass. When I was kicking around places like Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco I caught some great blues acts, but what stood out to me was what it meant to be listening to the music there with everyone else.
4.The Music You Make
I live by strict record nerd kung fu code. It’s not about trivia but digging music and searching it out all the time. The songs we cover come from years of buying records and listening to the radio. I often go to Jangling Jack’s in Kings Cross to have beers and listen to what they are playing – the owners are deep music geeks too. Our sets essentially become an abridged history of the blues and soul with some ’60s psych joints thrown in because that stuff is cool too!
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
Sydney should be proud of its music scene and its musos. People talk about Melbourne – I haven’t been there, it seems like they are a music-friendly city. If you are a musician in Sydney, there is a lot more working against you. Of course it would be great if that could change, but in the meantime it’s important to note that rock’n’roll comes from being cool when shit around you isn’t cool. Lockout laws can’t take that away!
Chorizo Slim Boogie Blues Band play The Gasoline Pony Friday October 28.
