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KAREN LEE ANDREWS: BLUES ON BROADBEACH ‘BANDWIDTH’ INTERVIEW 0
Keeping their chin up and forging ahead during the Covid-19 crisis, the good folks at the Blues on Broadbeach festival now present Bandwidth, a virtual showcase capturing live music performances from some of your favourite Blues on Broadbeach 2020 artists – all from the comfort of their own homes.
Self-isolating music fans around the world are invited to join the party. Amid a calendar of cancelled and postponed gigs and festivals, Broadbeach Alliance was adamant that Blues on Broadbeach would not be taken away from fans and is happy to announce that Australia’s largest free music festival will now be a 90-minute music event premiering Live on Facebook on Friday, May 15, 2020, at 7 pm AEST. Northern hemisphere-based fans can also join in on this experience with a special encore screening on Saturday, May 16, 2020, at 7 pm Los Angeles time PDT.
Bandwidth will feature many of the acts who had been booked originally for Blues on Broadbeach 2020 including: Tommy Emmanuel, The Black Sorrows, The Soul Movers, Tami Nelson, Turner Brown Band, Karise Eden, Shaun Kirk and more.
Also included on the bill will be the queen of Oceanic Blues, Karen Lee Andrews, who has impressed all with her smokey, passionate and soulful stage performances. Armed with a fabulous new EP “Far From Paradise”, Karen had planned to tour the EP this year and begin recording a full length album for 2021 release, however like everyone else plans are on hold. Thankfully via Bandwidth, we can all experience the fabulous Karen Lee Andrews in concert on Friday May 15th.
Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips caught up with Karen this week to chat about life in isolation, her gear (including that gorgeous Eastman hollow-body guitar she plays), and of course we talk about her Bandwidth appearance.
Hi Karen, how are you coping with isolation?
I’m hanging in there.
What are you missing most about normal life?
Just the spontaneity of going somewhere. The normal things we take for granted, going to the movies or just going to see our friends. That’s been hard, not seeing family but everyone is the same.
What’s been getting you through this period?
Trying to keep preoccupied building up my gym at home, adding a few things and making sure I keep as healthy as I can mentally and physically and just mucking around on the guitar. Also just taking the opportunity to try and relax and accept what is happening.
What plans did you have to put aside this year?
A lot of festivals and shows. From the the profits of that it would fund a new album, which would then help me get new festivals and shows next year. That’s been put on hold. It has been very disappointing but I’m very understanding of why we have to do that. It’s been a little bit devastating.
At least the Blues on Broadbeach people have resurrected the festival in virtual form with Bandwidth. You played Blues on Broadbeach in 2018, what are your memories of that?
It was the first festival I had played in 3 or 4 years, actually the first show in 3 or 4 years. I was really excited about it. When I got up on stage, it was empty but as soon as I started playing it filled up really quick. I just remember everybody there being music lovers. Everybody wanting to hear music. It’s so awesome when you are in an atmosphere like that and you’re the one providing the music. It’s amazing … a win win for everyone. It’s something that I definitely will always remember.
You’re now doing Bandwidth, the live stream version of the festival. Have you presented many livestreams since lockdown?
I’ve done a couple, one in my backyard and one in my home studio, so I have dabbled in that but I am really excited to be a part of Bandwidth, presented by Blues On Broadbeach. They have really been awesome to their artists and also to their audience, the people who come. With Bandwidth, Blues On Broadbeach tell you how it’s done in a production sense and I am really proud to be a part of the Blues On Broadbeach family.
Normally a festival provides an outline of what staging is available etc. Now they are providing guidelines for the livestream, so it has similarities but really, it’s a whole new world.
It will be really different. We completely respect and appreciate people who come to festivals like Blues on Broadbeach because the atmosphere and support and encouragement is amazing and we always want to give them the best performance that we can under certain conditions.
You recently released a new EP ‘Far From Paradise’. Why did you select those particular tracks to release?
It is a true representation of me. A lot of the songs were written at time when I felt all of those things, all at the same time. It took me about six months to write and formulate the songs and I picked those ones, they were in my heart and I felt that I could communicate them to the audience quickly and give them a glimpse of what I was doing and how I felt.
Is there a song on the EP that is closer to your heart?
I always say Love You is my favourite and will perform it on Bandwidth. It’s a really special song, inspired by one of my good friends and captures how a woman is in a relationship and the nurturing side of that. It is something that I try to be.
I see you a lot with a beautiful hollow body guitar. What is it and what do you like about it?
It’s an Eastman, based on a Gibson 335 but it’s a very clean sounding guitar, a very sweet guitar. What I like about it though is it’s bottom, the bass, so it can sound very, very heavy and can have very sparkly tops, which is what I really love. I got it from the Guitar Factory in Gladesville brand new. I have to use quite a few overdrives to get it a little bit dirty because it can sound very clean. What I like about it is that I can go between sounding really raunchy and ballsy to very sweet, so it is very versatile in that sense. They play amazingly and it’s just so stable and the same constantly, it’s great
I was looking at your promo for Bandwidth and there’s a pretty beat up Fender amp behind you. Tell me about that amp.
Yep that’s a Fender Vibrolux and its a custom made, very old amp. I bought it off my minister. Just the qualities are amazing. I love the warmth and I love the depth. It’s not so clean, it doesn’t have to work too hard before it begins to break up, which is good. I was too lazy to fix the cloth on it. I know I should, I’m being very irresponsible but there is something about the character of it that I really love.
You generally work as a trio, what do you like about the trio format?
Well Yanya Boston is my drummer and he has such a great sense of what’s going on and he gives himself to the music rather than it drives him. He’s very giving and generous when you play with him. He is about what makes everyone else sound amazing. Even when you ask him to do solos during a set, he doesn’t like to do them, even though he is more than capable. He just likes to contribute and make sure the artist is represented in the best way possible. Adam Ventoura, who plays bass is an amazing bass player who can manage to play on his own with just a bass and manage to entertain you for an hour and you’ll go, how did he do that? I get him to do a lot of the solos because he’s exceptional and a lot of the time people will come up to me after the set and say, you’re great but Adam, he’s amazing! I have two awesome musicians who I play with. We’re missing each other very much during this period. Traveling with them is awesome too, they are two great humans who look after a woman on the road. The dynamic we have on stage captures people.
You have an amazingly soulful voice. Who are some of the singers that inspired you growing up?
Growing up I sung a lot in church, that was a big influence on me. My family was a big influence too. We are Polynesian so I grew up listening to them singing to me. I would say that was my first influence. Then in my teenage years into my twenties, it was Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott-Heron, so many artists, a lot of soulful artists, those that I could get my hands on because it wasn’t really played on radio.
Once lockdown is over, what’s the plan?
I am completely unsure. We just don’t know what the industry is going to look like. There are new innovations and people coming up with new ways to do things but I am keeping an open mind as to what the next step will be. Like everyone else, we are interested in seeing what the music industry will look like coming out of this.
People are saying that songwriters now have the time to write songs but you also have to be in a good creative headspace to do that, how are you finding things from that perspective?
I have an album ready to go. I was going to use a lot of the profit of what I was going to do this year in terms of festivals and shows, that was going to fund my album and I was hopefully going to release that in 2021 but because I have no shows, there’s no funding. I am ready, good to go, just don’t have any money. It’s good that people are writing during this time, that’s awesome but we just hope there’s enough resources at the end of it to help the artists get through it and record their new music that they have written
We look forward to seeing you on Bandwidth. What’s the best place for people to buy your music and learn more about you?
www.karebleeandrews.com and my EP will be on there.
Bandwidth Live on Facebook on Friday, May 15, 2020, at 7 pm AEST. Northern hemisphere-based fans can also join in on this experience with a special encore screening on Saturday, May 16, 2020, at 7 pm Los Angeles time PDT.
- Dom DiSisto
MAKE MUSIC DAY 2020 IS GOING VIRTUAL 0
Make Music Day is a global celebration of music making that takes place on June 21 every year in over 1000 places in 120 countries. Unlike traditional music festivals Make Music Day is an open invitation for everyone to make music anywhere and anywhere and register their events, so that they are part of a giant global program. In this COVID19 Year we go online.
We’re encouraging any one and all to come up with innovative ways to make music online and share it from home or any place they can film themselves doing it. Register their performance on the Make Music Day Australia website and add the Tags #makemusicoz and #makemusicday and we start the build of a giant database of music from around the world. Film yourselves and post – there’d be Australian Musicians performing all over the world, promoted and exposed. Australia can lead the global event. In a 24-hour Make Music Day across the world, due to our international timeline, Australia is first in the program.
The following video shows what Make Music Day looks like normally around the world, this year it’s the same vibe but it’s all online.
The Australian Music Association and event partners the Live Music Office had invested months in organising 2020 Make Music Day Australia only to be stopped in their tracks like the rest of the music industry by Covid-19 – but it could go online and that’s what our brothers (including the US, UK, Germany, China, Brazil, Argentinia, Italy, and others) in the global Make Music Alliance agreed to. Let’s do it together and create a huge global celebration online. By June 21, who knows, we may be able to have groups of musicians at planned music events, but online is the focus this year. The Make Music Alliance has already released a series of activities online – Bedroom Studios Live From Home, Global Livestream, #MySongIsYourSong, Window Serenades, and Young Composers Contest.
There’s more simple and straightforward ideas for how people can get involved with Make Music Day 2020 in an online and digital space in the Digital Guide which you download HERE.
More coming soon! www.makemusicaustralia.org.au
- Dom DiSisto
BLUES ON BROADBEACH ANNOUNCES BANDWIDTH FACEBOOK EVENT 0
Keeping their chin up and forging ahead, the good folks at Blues on Broadbeach now present Bandwidth, a virtual showcase capturing live music performances from some of your favourite Blues on Broadbeach 2020 artists – all from the comfort of their own homes. Self-isolating music fans around the world are invited to join the party.
Amid a calendar of cancelled and postponed gigs and festivals, Broadbeach Alliance was adamant that Blues on Broadbeach would not be taken away from fans and is happy to announce that Australia’s largest free music festival will now be a 90-minute music event premiering Live on Facebook on:
Friday, May 15, 2020, at 7 pm AEST. Northern hemisphere-based fans can also join in on this experience with a special encore screening on Saturday, May 16, 2020, at 7 pm Los Angeles time PDT.
FEATURING IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:
Karen Lee Andrews
Karise Eden
Li’l Chuck The One Man Skiffle Machine (NZ)
Shaun Kirk
Tami Neilson (NZ)
The Black Sorrows
The Soul Movers
The Turner Brown Band (USA)
Tommy Emmanuel (USA)
PLUS, ARCHIVAL PERFORMANCE FOOTAGE FROM BLUES ON BROADBEACH FAVE:
The Lachy Doley Group
Headlining Bandwidth will be original 2020 headliner Tommy Emmanuel. Not only is Tommy a national treasure, he was recently ranked THE greatest acoustic guitarist in the world today.
NZ’s Tami Neilson on stage at Blues on Broadbeach 2019
Auckland-based (via Canada) TAMI NEILSON (above) is set to once again impress fans after blowing audiences away at last year’s Blues on Broadbeach. Described as a “fire-breathing belter” by Rolling Stone, new fans will be super impressed by Tami’s voice which comes straight from the golden age of soul, country and rockabilly music. Her incredible singing and song writing have seen her win the ‘2014 APRA Silver Scroll Award’ as well as ‘Best Female Artist’ at the New Zealand Country Music Awards in 2010, 2011 and 2014.
“The best way to get rid of the blues is to sing the blues, so, I’m looking forward to joining you all online, with my brother Jay Neilson beaming in from Toronto to join me for a special set we’ve cooked up just for you!” said Tami Neilson.
High energy festival favourite, THE LACHY DOLEY GROUP, has performed at over 200 concerts and festivals around the world, including several shows at Blues on Broadbeach over the years. Lachy Doley is the most celebrated Blues Soul Rock Organ Player in the world, hailed by Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple as ‘the greatest living keyboard player in the world today’. Tune in to see Lachy Doley’s electrifying 2016 Blues on Broadbeach performance.
“These are crazy times… and to musicians and live music lovers these important restrictions have taken away a piece of our heart, culture and livelihood,” said Lachy Doley. “I’m thrilled that Blues on Broadbeach have decided to bring the festival into our homes.
“Alongside the incredible line-up from what was to be this year’s ‘Blues on Broadbeach’ festival, I’m stoked to have my 2016 Blues on Broadbeach concert aired as part of this great initiative.
“I love this festival and it’s incredible loyal audience that I get to catch up with whenever I’m there. This performance was one of the most career changing events in my life and I hope you enjoy it as much this time around.”
Festival Director Mark Duckworth says Bandwidth provides a fascinating way for fans to connect with some of their favourite artists through an online platform.
“The idea that Blues on Broadbeach would not make its annual appearance on the Gold Coast in 2020 was a shock to us all,” said Duckworth. “As we informed the artists and fans, the idea that we could band together to do something virtual immediately followed.
“Bandwidth is an online meeting point for our festival tribe, a celebration of our event and a snapshot of musicians working from home around the globe. It’s a non-traditional concert experience that we can provide for our audience to enjoy. Turn on, tune in, drop out.”
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones welcomed today’s announcement.
“For years we’ve worked with organisers to build this event up to be one of Australia’s marquee music festivals. It would have been heartbreaking to have the event fall to the wayside in 2020,” Ms Jones said. “As an industry, we’re facing incredible challenges at the moment.
“That’s why it’s great to see so many of our event organisers and tourism operators thinking outside the box to find new ways to get their message out and stay connected with people.
“Not only will Bandwidth appeal to the festival’s already strong following – it will open this event up to thousands more blues fans online.
“The potential for this event to grow the festival and bring more tourists to the Gold Coast in years to come is huge.”
Blues on Broadbeach’s social media: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
- Dom DiSisto
MUSICIANS IN ISOLATION- MELODY ANGEL 0
Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips caught up with Chicago based blues guitarist singer-songwriter Melody Angel to talk about life in isolation, her album ‘Angels & Melodies’, gear, career and her fond memories of her two trips to Bluesfest
Melody Angel is from the south side of Chicago. Rock N Roll and the Blues took over her life at age 7. Melody blames the following artists for her obsession: Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Slash, Chuck Berry, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Melody’s mom got her a Fender Stratocaster guitar from a pawnshop at age 15, Melody then taught herself to play and never looked back, in fact she plays the same guitar to this day. Melody Angel has played all over the world, and continues to defy the odds as an independent artist. Currently touring to promote her 2nd full length album, Angels & Melodies, featuring songs like,The Boogie, American Dream, and Dance With Me Baby.
http://www.melodyangelmusic.com/
Bluesfest photos by Jason Rosewarne
- Dom DiSisto
MUSIC RETAIL IS OPEN, OPTIMISTIC AND LEARNING TO ADAPT 0
We’re now three weeks into Covid-19 lockdown and Australians are doing their best to adapt to a new way of life. The flattening of the curve means that there’s reason for cautious optimism. Permitted to trade, most musical instrument stores are not only open but many are experiencing an unexpected period of growth. This is in stark contrast to the lives of our friends around the world, who are battling a diabolical number of virus cases and deaths and in many countries retail has totally shutdown. In the USA things are particularly bad with some music wholesalers re-tooling their equipment to produce medical gear rather than instruments. Ernie Ball Music Man is using their strap making facility to produce cloth face masks. D’Addario’s drum division is turning drum heads into face shields. Froggy’s Fog, a theatrical fog producer in America has switched to making hand sanitizer and sanitizer bases. Thankfully in Australia our health system is well placed to cope with the current demand and we haven’t needed to resort to such measures yet and hopefully never will.
While Australian music stores are still able to trade, they are nevertheless learning to be flexible and remodel the way they do business in a significant way. Those who were set up well for e-commerce pre-Covid-19 are flourishing, those who lagged behind are learning quickly to get their online services up to scratch to deal with demand and the new trading conditions. To date many stores are still accepting floor traffic albeit under very strict conditions. Marcello Grassi, co-owner at Eastgate Music in Kew is taking the health advice very seriously.
“We have a very big operating centre, a big space so we could potentially have a lot of people in but we don’t,” says Marcello. “We allow no more than about eight. There are hospital-grade sanitisers all over the store. We have covid -19 trading terms on the doors, on cabinets and near instruments. Obviously things like microphone testing are out of the question during this period. We also have the store carefully marked so that people are 2 metres apart when they are at the counters and we ask everyone very carefully to practice social distancing. Prior to the store opening, every computer, every phone, every door handle is sanitised with a hospital-grade bacterial disinfectant.”
Macron Music has stores in Melbourne and Sydney and while store owner Anthony Ursino still sees “bulletproof’ young people coming in wanting to hang out and jam, he also imposes strict instore guidelines. “One of our main concerns is making sure our staff are safe so we’re making sure customers keep their distance and we’re reducing the number of people in the store.” he says. “We’re saying you are welcome to come in and get stuff but we are not really open for aimless browsing and jamming but really, the majority of our time is spent online, we are very busy with that.”
Rich Piper of Piper’s Wollongong Music Centre is having a bit of fun with it. “We’ve got those Colonial Leather Bio Hazard guitar straps up. They are either side of our counter, a couple of metres inside the front door, so customers have a bit of a laugh at that. People can come in and access the accessories, guitar strings and picks, straps etc but to come into the store further, it’s a bit of an invitation-only thing and we make sure everyone sanitizes.”
Another retailer made the early call to close the doors to foot traffic a few weeks ago. “We closed the doors just as they started talking about a lockdown, so we went early,” he says. “People that have social media reach and regular EDMs, that can reach out are doing ok. We have seen an uptake.”
Despite the increased measures to produce a safe environment for customers to shop in, almost universally people are shopping via phone or online and stores are doing whatever it takes to deliver the goods and keep their loyal clientele satisfied. “We do encourage online sales,” says Eastgate’s Marcello. “We don’t ask any sensitive questions, we just say if you would like to pick it up instore fine, but don’t feel like you have to get out of the car to come into the store. You are very welcome to call us and we can greet you outside, we can load your car. We can do whatever you want that is required. If you want us to wear a mask and gloves when we meet you in the car park, not a problem.”
Rich Piper in Wollongong is one of the many stores who were well set up for online trading anyway. “We’ve always had the webstore there but there’s bundles of that going on now,” he tells us. “People are thinking, well this is how we need to go shopping now and that’s what they are doing. Someone might say can you just deliver this to me and I’ll do it personally because it is local but I’ll do it with gloves and mask on. It’s all contactless and prepaid. Our couriers have got bundles of work too, they come in every day and pick up a stack.”
Macron has also invested in its time wisely by improving their online service, not just for the current conditions for the future too. “I think we will come out of this quite strongly because of the way we are poised as an online retailer” Anthony Ursino tells me. “Because it has been less busy instore we have been able to catch up on things that we were putting in place anyway with our online service.”
As you’d expect customers are snapping up gear that can keep them amused while in lockdown, whether that be podcasting, livestream or recording gear or even a new instrument to learn. Another circumstance of the imposed isolation time is that customers are purchasing the items they’ve long had their eyes on. While so many musicians are struggling pay the rent or put food on the table, those who haven’t been as financially effected are finally getting around to buying their dream instrument. “Rather than I always wanted to learn to play guitar, it’s more like; I’ve always wanted that particular guitar,” says Anthony. “I had a guy last week who was wanting to buy a Maton for three years and thought, it’s a great time to do it now.”
Brett from Musician’s Oasis in Kingaroy, Queensland is seeing more of the first timer market. “It’s definitely not anything in brass and woodwind,” he says straight up, referring to the health problems related to the trying out of instruments that you blow into. “It’s more keyboards and guitars, things that they can learn at home and need less help to actually learn to play. It’s probably a bigger part of our market anyway. We do brass and woodwind, school instruments but we generally do more guitars and things. We have had a few who haven’t played before they come in and talk about taking up guitar. We have sold a few digital pianos to people who know they are going to be home and want something to play. They’re easy to get up and running.”
For specialty retailers such as piano stores, things are a little different. Online activity is also up but compared to the retailers dealing in multiple product ranges, there are limits to what they can do. As seen on the ABC recently Jenny Ko, owner of Gospel Pianos in Ryde, NSW stated that while acoustic piano sales were down, their digital piano sales had almost doubled. “It hasn’t really overtaken … selling acoustic pianos but at least it is helping us along the way,” she recently told the ABC.
Michael Cleves told us that his group of stores, which include the Australian Piano Warehouses tells a similar story, with loads of digital pianos selling to go with some softness in the mid range upright acoustic piano market with Grand pianos holding up. “As always with acoustic pianos, you’ve got to do the extra. In general MI, entry level gear has been huge in March, we’ve been very busy at Billy Hydes and Kosmic Music as well as in Dale Cleves stores. “we are seeing a lot of product sold to new customers during this period, and that’s a positive”
“Acoustics are quieter but digital pianos are quite busy and portable organs too, the little Hammonds, we’ve been busy with those,” says Bernie Capicchiano, owner of Bernies Musicland in Ringwood, Victoria. “Most are looking for home entertainment, so we are getting comments like … we always wanted to have the time to play, now we do or we are locked up and need our music.”
Bernie was also quick to point out what happened during the great depression and believes there’s a comparable sentiment out in the community during this covid-19 period too. “During the great depression there was a great demand for pianolas. People stayed at home and sat around the pianolas singing. That was between 1915 and 1935, there was a 20 year run of pianolas. People still needed their music. We are lucky at the store here in that we have plenty of space and not jammed into one little showroom, we could have up to 28 people in here comfortably distanced. We have put signs up saying what the capacity of each area of the store is, so people are still welcome to come in and shop safely.”
Like every other store Bernie is learning to adapt. As a retailer who is very active with instore masterclasses and demos, he’s had to now consider the online options. “We are setting up zoom for the classes, masterclasses, with streaming but I think it is very confusing with retail as to how many people you can have in at something like a masterclass. People probably aren’t sure if they are allowed to go out to a music store or not so it would be good to get that message out that music stores are definitely open … we are here to help.”
In such a tough retail environment it seems that those who can ‘read the room’ are making the most out of the situation. The stores who already had a strong online presence and the ones who are learning on the fly to cope and going the extra yard for their customers are the retailers who will be in a better position at the other end of this tricky situation. One of the main pieces of information music retailers are wanting to impart is that the majority of them are open. It’s not illegal to shop at your local instrument store and it’s up to you how you choose to do that, whether it be in person (if their doors are still open to traffic), on the phone or online, plus delivery of goods can be arranged in many different ways. Most stores are open and willing to help you in any way possible and despite the unfortunate situation we all find ourselves in, there is still an air of positivity out there in music retail land.
“We are going to come out of this with a better online service and hopefully a lot more customers have been made happy in the meantime and will continue to shop with us,” says Macron’s Anthony Ursino.
And leaving the last word to Eastgate Music’s Marcello, “I’m staying enthusiastic, optimistic and learning to adapt and I think that’s all any of us can do.”
Story by Greg Phillips
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Britons using coronavirus lockdown to become guitar heroes 0
NewsBRITONS USING LOCKDOWN TO BECOME GUITAR HEROESAs reported in the UK Express, British people have turned to the guitar for comfort and entertainment during the period of isolation. “It seems so many people who have always wanted to learn to play the guitar but never got round to it due to their busy lives, have suddenly decided this is the moment." READ IT HERE |
- Dom DiSisto