Song of the week #140

I’m upright. Just as well, lying on my back for nearly 6 days was dead boring and a waste of perfectly good holiday time. Reading books and watching movies is only fun for a limited amount of time while my bikes gather dust. I’m allowed to walk now, swim next week and ride soonish. Many thanks to my fab physio, Cassie, for all her hard work.

I’ve put a couple of my own songs from days gone by up on YouTube after transferring them from various media.

First up is this track:

Lovesmudge – Another Day

This is a song I wrote back in 1992 after being given a riff to work with by our usual songwriter. It came together in about 10 minutes and all these years later I still like it – a lot. We recorded it on a 4-track in a garage and a bedroom and all things considered I reckon it came out OK. The rest of the demo is pretty cool as well.

And now we’ll fast forward a few years, to a different band, but another song of mine. This made an appearance when Song of the Week was a small email list so apologies to those who’ve been subjected to my singing before. And there’s one potentially offensive word in there…

Push Grunt Shove – Riff Stealer

That was a fun band to be in. Plenty of loud rock n’ roll! Stupidly I sold the guitar I wrote that song on…

But that’s enough of me for now, I might post some more in a few weeks. I’m still getting some old demos onto the computer from cassette.

Last week I mentioned that Steve Earle’s new album was due out on 26 April. Well it was released then in the USA and elsewhere but not in Australia. For some reason we had to wait until today, and even then the record store I contacted had only a couple of copies and they sold immediately. Argh! Here’s a track from it via YouTube that is just fabulous.

Steve Earle – Gulf Of Mexico

Bob Dylan headlined the Byron Bay Blues Festival this week. And the reports are dreadful. DJ Hopper was there and he is a huge fan, who now says that the relationship is over. Hopefully he’ll write a few lines about his experience for a future Song of the Week.

I’m always keen to listen to new music. Angus has me listening to RAW FM in the car which is the local hip hop/techno/electronic/dance music station. And some is OK. I just wish someone would play a guitar over the top once in a while!

But, how often do you hear one song from a band and your jaw just hits the floor. That happened to me this week. DJ Douglas sent me a link to a live performance from the next band. As a result of hearing this one tune I have ordered their debut album and 45rpm single direct from the band. I’ve also contacted them begging them to come to Australia…and received a response. The only time that I may have been so excited about a band was when I heard the Black Crowes doing their cover of “Hard to Handle” from the “Shake Your Moneymaker” LP. I bought that one on the strength of one song as well.

So, this band is called Vintage Trouble. If you like soul, blues, rock, real r&b, rave-up or just great music I can’t recommend them highly enough. They are out of the USA but this TV performance has made them a big name in the UK in the last few weeks. Get on board folks, they are going to be, deservedly, H-U-G-E!!

Vintage Trouble – Blues Hand Me Down

I’m off now to avoid the television saturation of a wedding I am not interested in.

REVOLUTION!

DJ Rob