In a wonderful piece of synchronicity, while playing a festival in 2010 I ran into Robin Walsh, a drummer I worked with in 1971 on the Gold Coast. It was the first professional band for both of us as raw 19 year olds.
In 2011 I got offered a regular Sunday arvo at the Grandview Hotel in Cleveland down on Moreton Bay. I’d played there with various lineups since 1991, but hadn’t done anything regular there for a while. It’s an electric gig, and since I’d had the Blues Project back in the 90s I had the idea of resurrecting that in some form. So I called Robin and asked him and he was keen. Initially we got Stephen Stanfield on bass, but Stephen was battling cancer and after a couple of gigs he had to pull out. I was devastated to attend his funeral not long after.
Rick Caskey had been playing with the Blues Project after Stephen – and every subsequent lineup I had over the next 12 years – so he came in at the end of the year and we had the lineup. Since Rick we now my old mate Mick Thatcher on bass. When we can, we add Chris Hartley on keyboards.
The repertoire is material from Turquoise, the CD the Blues Project recorded in 1995, A Patch of Blue, a CD I made in 2001, some jazz and blues standards – I’m a fan of Louis Jordan – and my originals.
To view/download promo material click here.
