Author: admin

Posted on

New EP “Chance” – Coming soon!!!

“Chance” artwork by Dan Verkys

Happy to share the artwork for my new EP “Chance”, which will be coming out asap!! During the lockdown of 2020, we had such a creative rush of songs with The Feckers and when I thought about it for a second, it turned out I had even MORE songs ready to go.

Hearing about so many of my musician friends having their work instantly vanish on them, I thought it might be a good “chance” to check in with Brett Collidge and see if he was up for playing drums on a few tunes. Lucky for me he was, and it was a real pleasure to do!

On the last song we did, I sent a stripped back demo to see what he thought, went to mow the lawns, and when I got back inside there was a message that said “let me know if its too much, but…” and a file that included drums and a beautiful string arrangement for the song!!! We got Rick Curran from the UK to play those lines and it is really something!!!

I couldn’t release music without the amazing mixes of Dennis Leeflang or the incredible artwork of The Art of Dan Verkys either! Thanks to all of you guys for making me sound and look much better than I am! ? This is going into mastering and then will be released digitally asap. Will keep you posted.

BEHIND THE SCENES AND TACOHAT:

Me being a typical vain, arrogant musician, shooting THE cover image for the “Chance” cover took a few go’s. If I recall correctly, three shoots in total. Some I looked ridiculous in, some were a good vibe but the quality wasn’t the best, and some were really good except for me stepping outside the view of the greenscreen thus making it useless. During the process for a laugh, Dan commented on this and sent back a “Tacohat” version of the cover that just killed me!!!!

“Tacohat” artwork by Dan Verkys

This was a few weeks ago. I knew I HAD to post it, and would when we nailed the real cover and the release was a bit closer as well. So we had some fun with it on social media – seemed like it would be a cool thing to break up all the divisive stuff in Facebook feeds for a minute. Anyway, the gags continued, and we came up with an idea of a “World Tour” for the Tacohat EP, and the following poster came to be. Make sure you click on the QR code haha!!

As always, the BIGGEST appreciation to my mate Dan Verkys for the consistently amazing work over a long time, always going above and beyond, and laughing with us along the way!!!! 😀

See ya’s on tour!!!…..Haha!!! 😛

Posted on

“Your Song” – Live at The Sloth Bar (April 08, 2021)!!!

“Your Song” – Live at The Sloth Bar!!!

Here is a pretty loose version of my opening song for that night, “Your Song” at the Sloth Bar on April 08, 2021!!! I’ve never put this on an album, but it was released on Youtube a couple of years back as a tribute to my mate Kedi the cat when he passed. Special THANKS to Dean J Miller for the Audio / Video!!!! ?

Posted on

Live Appearances in 2021!!!

While first waiting for restrictions to allow it, then bouncing back from an injury with my hands / arms, in February 2021, I played my first live anything since October 19 at The Sloth Bar in Footscray, quickly followed by a set at Wheelers Food Trucks and Bar in Werribee, both of which I’m appearing at again this week. To say it felt amazing to be back in a bar, drinking a beer, and listening to (and playing) live tunes, is a huge understatement.

Next week we have a Cunning Stunts double header in Hobart, which also includes an acoustic set from me to open the first show. Tickets still available for the first show, but the second show is sold out. Info below.

(Thanks as always to Dan Verkys for coming up with the awesome alternate poster for the first show that includes me on the billing!)

Posted on

The Feckers – “Never Too Old To Rock” – Out Now!!!!

The second single from the forthcoming album “Live To Fight Another Day” (due later in 2020), a fun look at rock n roll being a lifestyle, dedicated to ultimate rocker, Mr Jim Gillbanks, who has been showing them how it’s done since 1936!! CHEERS TO YOU MATE!!

This was a song Chris had sitting around not being used anywhere, and once he and Richard started collaborating on the lyrics, all these gags and references to artists we love started making their way into the song – it very quickly turned into a classic Feckers song, and one that we knew very quickly would be a single.

Raphael Gazal – Lead Vocals
Reese Morin – Bass
Pat Valley – Lead Guitar (0.02 – 0.15, 2.56 – 3.38)
Dennis Leeflang – Drums and Mix
Chris Szkup – Guitars and Backing Vocals Richard Anderson – Backing Vocals

Written by Chris Szkup and Richard Anderson. Mixed by Dennis Leeflang @ Livelong Productions, Mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johannson @ The Panic Room, Artwork by Dan Verkys.

Thanks to everyone for appearing in the video and making it even more fun for us to do. Cameos: 0.37 – Yohei Eto (Japan), 1.45 – Dan Verkys (Australia), 2.28 – Ponch Satrio (Indonesia), 2.34 – Chris Hickling (UK), 3.05 – Gorilla Elvis (New Zealand), 3.10 – Rob Smith (New Zealand), 3.20 – Anne Milne and Spider Anderson (New Zealand), 3.46 – Mathew Szkup and Jake Long (Australia), 5.08 – Jim Gillbanks (UK).

“Cheers Jimbo” cameo’s (in order of appearance): Chris Hickling (UK), Paula Gonzalez (USA), Dave Mather (New Zealand), Shannon Gillbanks (UK), Johnno “King AWOL” Troulis (USA), Jordy Gibson (New Zealand), Paul Taylor (UK), Aaron Edwards (Australia), Ponch “Bugger” Satrio (Indonesia), Raewyn Anderson (New Zealand), Richard Anderson (New Zealand), Chris Szkup (Australia).

Posted on

New music from TCSO – “The Best Of” out now!!!!

Was a great thing to finally get the remainder of the TCSO songs I recorded with Dennis Leeflang, Mathew Szkup and Rob Lundgren finally finished and released, and boy did they come up amazing!!! Listen below – in the process of creating a section of the site for this which will feature all kinds of “making of” and “story behind the song” type of stuff!! More sooooon!! 😀

Posted on

Album Review – Ponch Satrio “Start Again”

“Start Again” out now on Zoester Records!!
(https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ponchsatrio/start-again-2)

I proudly own Ponch Satrio’s two previous albums “Get The Vision” (2010) and “Guitarville” (2011) and am a huge fan, but having been lucky enough to work with the man himself over the years, and also having met in Jakarta in 2017, I had occasionally heard bits and pieces of his music that were more vocal oriented (including the 2018 single release “Forever” which also appears here) than those albums, and really liked what I heard and hoped for more. And make no mistake, this isn’t to take anything away from those albums – they are incredible, and as a guitarist Ponch Satrio is one of the modern day greats, but as mentioned, I always hoped to hear more stuff with him lead singing on his music as well. So when I got the news that the new album “Start Again” (released May 2019 on Zoester Records) was going to be a vocal album, that certainly made me very happy.

Pleasingly, he handles this situation extremely well, providing great memorable lead and backing vocals for all 10 songs on the album, as well as playing all of the instruments aside from drums, which are played by Kevin Dwi. The production is crisp and modern but definitely still very real with a rawness to it, self tracked at his own Watermelon Productions, with Angga Irwan handling mixing and mastering.

It could be said that the album shows another side to what we know of Ponch’s music, but it is another side that is completely a part of his overall picture, and feels just as natural as his instrumental guitar work from previous albums. The album is just full of great hooks and melodies, and is very well composed with the song overruling everything else.

The guitar playing while very “hooky” also still has a good amount of heaviness and cool riffs (the intro to “Wicked World” for example) to go along with the great textures and layering in the parts. It also should be noted that while there is some ripping guitar playing (especially the solos of “Tell Me When It’s Over,” “Emptiness” or “Wicked World”) it absolutely never outstays it’s welcome. When you have chops for days and know so many amazing licks that you run your own Guitar Dojo (true story! – Ponch really does run his own school in Jakarta, Guitar Dojo), and I suppose even if you don’t have chops for days, or run your own Guitar Dojo, the secret is knowing when to use those licks, or more importantly knowing when NOT to use those licks. To quote a former teacher of mine and great man, “it’s like sprinkling salt” – too much of it and the whole thing is ruined and there is no going back. None of the songs on “Start Again” have had too much salt added to them. Fans of The Foo Fighters and most definitely the “Normal” album by the great Bumblefoot will definitely find a lot to like about these tunes, as well as rock fans and music lovers in general. Listening to the songs I can feel the soul of the lovely guy who created them, and that is what it’s all about.

Favourite songs – ALL OF THEM!! Perhaps a special mention to “Wicked World” for the heavy intro and ripping solo, but honestly all of these songs are extremely well written and performed, and I feel they are best consumed as part of the overall picture. We may be able to purchase songs as singles very easily nowadays compared to the past, but let’s get back to listening to full albums. Like this one! Crank it!