|
|
Home // Bio // News
// Gig Guide // Discography // Galleries // Media
Lyrics // Band // Heroes & Friends // MySpace // Contact/Mailing List
Christmas came early for me this year, folks, with the arrival of almost eight pounds of brand-new Moffatt on December 19. Little Reuben entered the world a week before his due date to a very proud mum and dad and big brother Quinn.
Needless to say, things have been pretty busy since although the wee fella has quickly established a comfortable routine (Melissa may beg to differ on the "comfortable" part). I've been lucky enough to be able to spend the time at home and we've been greatly aided by the presence of the in-laws.
On the music front, the gigs are starting to stack up for early 2004, particularly for the band, which is what we want. Check out the gig guide and spot you at a show real soon.
Hope everyone's Christmas was a ripper, and make sure you have a safe new year.
Glen
Around New Zealand's North Island in 14 days. Moffatt's tour diary. Personnel: Glen Moffatt, Bill Chambers, Ritchie Pickett, Chet O'Connell, Neil Hannan, Gordon Joll.
Tuesday October 21: Touch down in Auckland. Almost as hot as Queensland -- didn't pack enough summer clothes. Rehearsal. Band is just like slipping on a comfortable shoe. No Chambers yet, so Joll sings his parts, especially "Big-Ass Garage Sale". Some discussion that Chambers may not be ready for spending time with Pickett.
Wednesday October 22: Pick up Chambers at Auckland Airport straight from all-night ARIA party. Bit jaded but still willin'. Soundcheck. Acoustic songwriter showcase with Mal McCallum. Wow, singing back in New Zealand after 14 months. Gig at Sky City. Beautiful harmony assistance from Michelle Greaves.
Thursday October 23: Chambers and Moffatt interviewed on National Radio, sing "Dreaming 'Bout Texas". Gig two at Sky City. Brendon Ham fills in for Pickett on "English Rose". Pickett still has it by a nose. Rob Galley dazzles with a guest spot on "Willin'" and others. Catch up with lots of musos in the bar.
Friday October 24: Lex Greaves saves us with some microphone stands for the fortnight (thanks, mate). Gig at Stetson Club in Dairy Flat. Extra alcohol brought in for anticipated crowd. Alcohol starts running out after less than an hour. And Moffatt, Chambers and O'Connell not even drinking!
Saturday October 25: Pick up van -- barely damaged. O'Connell packs for the first time. Gig at Huntly RSA. Great stacks of fish and sausages and chips. Speaker stands left in Auckland. Speaker placed on old piano to discourage use by drunk patrons. Farewell to Hannan and Joll till final gig. Back to Auckland.
Sunday October 26: Chambers meets Pickett. Pickett still apprehensive about lack of drummer. One song in to gig at Red Gables, Hamilton, he is apprehensive no more. Free sausages. Format for rest of tour set. Great showcase for original material. Burger King. Back to Auckland.
Monday October 27: Farewell, Auckland. Pick up Pickett in Hamilton and it's a week in the van. Napier. Barbecue at sister Sharlene and husband Paul's. Sausages. Tour's end, Pickett rates it as best meal on tour. Gig at O'Flaherty's. Ian Turbitt and Scotty Smith open. Great venue, great crowd, disappearing doorman.
Tuesday October 28: Moffatt attempts to drive over 3ft wall. Feilding, Feilding, Feilding... Gig at Guv'nors, Denbigh Hotel. Everyone gets their own suite. Odd crowd puzzled by lack of singalong Charley Pride. Pool till 4am. Chambers stumbles on O'Connell and Moffatt loitering in the corridor.
Wednesday October 29: Chambers amazed by size of the capital city. Big Al is still big, too. Nick Lowe, George Jones, Gram on the stereo. Mattresses and mezzanines at Big Al's. Gig at Bodega. Soundman sees acoustic guitars for first time in life -- no idea what to do with them. Sausages at all-night diner. Locked out of Big Al's. Chambers breaks in armed solely with a nail. Pickett plays DJ to George Jones and Freddy Fender.
Thursday October 30: Big Al provides great coffee. Sausages. Chambers dazzled by beauty and contrast of countryside from Wellington to Taupo. Great accom in Taupo. Pickett cooks. Gig at Barrel. Cowboy hats. Clark Reid opens. Management tries to call the night off before main act. Sanity prevails and we do a set for the 20 or so who did come. Pickett, Moffatt, Chambers and O'Connell stay up to 3am trying to write song. "Touch Me Improperly" best we can come up with.
Friday October 31: Chambers amazed you can spend seven hours in a van in New Zealand without covering the entire nation. Chambers has first-ever whitebait fritter. O'Connell gets us "slightly" lost. All roads lead to Inglewood. Arrive at Kaponga -- locked out of gig. Pub next door. Lawrence located and load in. Roast meal. Gig at Kaponga Backgammon Club. Wonderful listening audience. Mad dancer.
Saturday November 1: Medley of LRB and Billy Joel hits surefire method of getting Pickett out of bed. Chambers' second whitebait fritter. Beautiful showers at the Admrials Arms, Coromandel. Great crowd, great gig. Pickett and Moffatt sing old country standards till Tuckers leave to milk cows at 4am.
Sunday November 2: Sausages. Windy drive back to Auckland. Reunited briefly with loved ones. Gig at King's Arms. More sausages. All Torn Up open. Hannan and Joll back on board. Excellent crowd. She's all over -- hugs all round. Java Jive for after-match. Diana and Neil's last hurrah. Cast manages another four songs (cheers, Shayne and the Swampdiggers). Tequila with Crash. Home to bed.
For photos, click galleries.
See you soon.
Glen
The New Zealand tour is upon us and as bass player extraordinaire Neil Hannan says, "World domination is imminent."
Wednesday October 22 will find me in the cooler climes of Auckland at the start of a 12-night jaunt around the North Island with my heroes and friends Bill Chambers, Ritchie Pickett, Chet O'Connell, Gordon Joll and the already mentioned Mr Hannan.
Although we'll be doing a bunch of our favourite cover tunes, it's really a chance to celebrate some great New Zealand and Australian original songs. Ritchie Pickett is responsible for Kiwi country's seminal release 'Gone For Water' almost 20 years ago and a string of great songs since, while Bill Chambers' solo debut 'Sleeping With The Blues' just might be the best thing since sliced bread. I've written a couple of songs myself, too.
The night before the casino gig Bill is up for an ARIA (the Australian version of the Grammy Awards) for best country album of the year. As well as leading the Dead Ringer Band, Bill is guitarist in his daughter Kasey Chambers' globetrotting band.
Indeed he is a prominent figure in Australian country music and is just fresh back from Nashville where he's been co-producing with Keith Stegall. Yes, THE Keith Stegall who writes for and produces THE Alan Jackson (no relation to Michael).
The tour kicks off at the Sky City Casino with solo acoustic spots for Bill and I at the New Zealand songwriter showcase hosted by Malcolm McCallum at the Atrium Bar. Moments later we'll hit the stage at the casino's New City Bar with me old Guns For Hire mates and a few surprise special guests.
After a second night at the casino, we take in the Stetson Club at Dairy Flat and the Huntly RSA, then Hamilton, Napier, Feilding, Wellington, Taupo, Kaponga, Coromandel and finally the King's Arms in Auckland. Check the gig guide for details.
In Napier one of my earliest songwriting influences Ian Turbitt opens the show. Ian and I played together in the Infamous James Gang and formed The Colonials band which worked around Hawke's Bay in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Taupo show will be opened by Clark Reid, and the King's Arms show by All Torn Up.
Do check out the gig guide and come up and say gidday.
Glen
Will this month just end already?! I can't take any more. First, Warren Zevon dies, then Johnny Cash and then Slim Dusty. Woe is me.
Here I am thinking I have all bases covered for the Tallboys' September 21 gig at Seagulls -- what with dozens of Cash numbers and a couple of Zevon tunes under my belt -- when news of Slim's passing floods through.
Needless to say, you can't do a gig in Australia on the weekend of Slim Dusty's death without performing at least one tribute to the man. I had parts of "Pub With No Beer" stored in my memory banks and it didn't take long to learn this one up, and "Duncan" was so big in New Zealand that all I needed to do was get the drinkers in order -- Dunc, Col, Kev, Pat, Rob, and Dunc again!
The effort was well appreciated by the Seagulls faithful when we started the day with "Pub With No Beer" and ended our stint with "Duncan". Tales of how Slim's music had touched each of the patrons circulated through the lounge bar as the airconditioning worked overtime to the beat of the band.
Describing, let alone understanding, the enormity of Slim Dusty's loss is difficult, especially for a Kiwi who's only been in Australia a year. Funnily enough, Australian country music has never had any profile in New Zealand -- neither does the New Zealand stuff -- but probably due to "Pub With No Beer", Slim has come to epitomise the Kiwi view of it.
He really was a larger-than-life character who had infiltrated all aspects of Australian life. Here he's like the comfortable old armchair you return to no matter how many new pieces of furniture Ikea spits at you. His death has hit the Australian psyche as hard as that of Don Bradman a wee while back.
As long-anticipated as it had been, Johnny Cash's passing was still a shock. Like Slim, Cash is omnipresent. You think they're going to go on and on; that they can defy Father Time himself. I remember listening to the Moffatt family's sole Johnny Cash record as far back as when I was five, at the little house in Meeanee.
Warren Zevon's death, too, was expected after a long battle with cancer. He's probably the lesser known of the three to the mainstream, but I'm sure everybody would know at least one Zevon tune. The man wrote "Werewolves of London" (a hit for himself), "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" (Linda Ronstadt) and "Carmelita" (Ronstadt, Dwight Yoakam, Ritchie Pickett, etc). One of my favourites was "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead". I hope he's heeding that call.
They're gone, but we've still got the music.
Catch you at a gig soon.
Glen
And just like that, the New Zealand tour is booked. Special Australian guest Bill Chambers will join Ritchie Pickett, Chet O'Connell and myself in October for a jaunt around the North Island taking in Auckland, Huntly, Hamilton, Napier, Feilding, Wellington, Taupo, Kaponga and Coromandel.
Besides his work as guitarist in daughter Kasey Chambers' all-conquering globetrotting band, Bill Chambers recently released his solo album 'Sleeping With The Blues' which has seen him consolidate a strong following in Texas and surrounds.
As the Dead Ringer Band in the 1990s, the Chambers family reinvented Australian country music and were instrumental in its acceptance in the United States through the likes of Kasey Chambers, Keith Urban and Catherine Britt.
Over the next month, Bill is in Nashville producing a new Britt album with none other than Keith Stegall, Alan Jackson's producer.
October will find him playing around Auckland and Waikato with my old Guns For Hire mates and I before taking in the North Island centres mentioned above with Ritchie, Chet and myself. This is truly one not to miss, so check the gig guide for a show near you.
Again, I must mention the tireless and enthusiastic efforts of Jane Jackson in putting the tour together. I think she may have found her true calling. Thank you, Jane!
Meanwhile, Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys had a great Sunday night at Seagulls on August 24. The repertoire is really coming together now and the audience response was proof we're on the right track. We managed to get a group photo taken, too, which I've put up in the galleries section. Good-looking bunch of guys!
So, get into that gig guide and I'll see you at a show real soon.
Glen
"The news is out all over town..." (Hank Williams 1952)
After months of toing and froing, I'm pleased to let you all know that I'll be back in New Zealand in late October for some gigs with Guns For Hire, Ritchie Pickett and a prominent Australian singer-songwriter who I can't yet name.
Many thanks to Sharron Skelton at Auckland's Sky City Casino, the folks at Greg Lay Entertainment and especially my representative over the Tasman Jane Jackson for organising two nights at the casino's New City Bar and enabling us to mount a North Island tour thereafter. I can't say enough about the sterling work Jane has put in to get the trip off the ground. Thank you, Jane.
I am hoping to reveal the identity of the Australian singer-songwriter by the end of August. Their participation is subject to commitments in Nashville that in a worst-case scenario could keep them there past our departure date. Needless to say, I'm rapt this person is involved and I know New Zealand fans will be excited by the announcement.
We will be joined by my former Guns For Hire bandmates for shows at Sky City on Wednesday October 22 and Thursday October 23 before embarking on an Anzac roots music extravaganza with Ritchie Pickett and Chet O'Connell taking in Wellington and Auckland and places in between.
Prior to that, the Australian line-up of Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys has gigs at Seagulls Club on August 24 and September 21. This band is coming into its own and I'm sure it won't be long before we'll be gigging more steadily. Also, Geoff Wright and I continue our acoustic affair with the Arana Leagues Club switching from Sundays to Thursdays.
Get stuck in to the gig guide and I'll see you at one soon.
Glen
Although there's barely any musical news to pass on this month, I am very proud to announce that little Quinn Moffatt will have a brother or sister delivered sometime around Christmas Day. In the immortal words of Shel Silverstein, via the lips of Loretta Lynn, "One's on the way."
Melissa and I are both rapt and I'm hoping this one might be a bass or lead guitarist, as Quinn seems to have decided it's drums or harmonica for him. I've told him harmonica's easier to transport and there are considerably less harmonica-player jokes than drummer ones.
With an impending extra mouth to feed I'm really in need of more gigs and, believe me, I'm working to this end. Hopefully, there'll be a plethora of additional shows added to the gig guide soon.
As for the ones that are there now, there has been a slight adjustment to Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys' next performance at Seagulls. We are now taking the evening slot on Sunday August 24 with Australia's acclaimed country-folk singer-songwriter Pat Drummond on in the afternoon. This should be a great double-header for those that can make it.
I'm slowly adding some new photos to the galleries, with the latest being a Billinudgel reunion of three ex-Napier musos, and expect to have a couple of the Tallboys and I up by the end of July. So, do keep checking the web site.
Spot you at a gig soon. Come and say gidday.
Glen
The past few weeks have been an eventful lot with the successful debut of Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys, an appearance at the Boozed and Rooted Festival and a house guest for a week in the form of the father-in-law, and sometime Gun For Hire, Ian Thomson.
Let me start with the Boozed and Rooted event at Billinudgel in northern New South Wales. As I said last month, this was organised by an old mate of mine from Napier days, Jerry Harrison. Thankfully, nothing much has changed about Jerry except that he's reverted to a previous alias and is now known as Jerry De Munga. Thanks to the Napier folk who sent their regards for me to pass on to him. These were warmly received.
Tami Johnston, Geoff Wright and I were joined by a guest drummer for a set of mainly covers and I even threw in "I'm Bad" with its new Pete Townshend verse. This was the first time Tami and I had played together since the Iron Pot Cafe in Napier late 1991 and we had a ball. In fact, Tami was still having a ball six or so hours later when I left.
It was a buzz to see Jerry playing guitar with his band Jerry and the Rollers, as it was also the beginning of the '90s when I last saw him strumming. There was a great mixture of music throughout the afternoon and evening, hampered only by intermittent drizzle and a dodgy vocal mix. Didn't the drums sound great, though?
10 days later was the grand unveiling of Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys at the Seagulls Club in Tweed Heads. Being a Wednesday, the audience was on the small side but it was a receptive one dancing from song one and applauding in all the right places.
The Tallboys -- Tami, Geoff, Michael Muchow and Billy John Bakos -- did a fantastic job with a 50% original repertoire that was mostly foreign to them just weeks prior. There were a couple of almost derailments, but the punters were oblivious.
Audience reaction was great and the next day saw us booked again for a Sunday afternoon showcase gig there in late August. Do check out the gig guide for date and time.
The middle of the month brought a visit from my former Mumbo Gumbo bandmate, Melissa's dad Ian. It was a real lift for the spirits with one of the family from New Zealand staying with us. It was also an excuse to take Quinn along to Australia Zoo and the dinosaurs exhibition at the museum. We all really enjoyed Pops' presence.
Keep checking the web site for new photos from Billinudgel and Tweed Heads as I get them processed and watch for recurring gigs for Geoff and I at our staple Arana and Caloundra venues. Catch you at one of them soon.
Glen
I've received some very puzzled responses over the last few weeks to the Boozed and Rooted Festival listed in the gig guide for April 20. Do not fear, it is not as sordid-yet-delightful as it sounds. It is in fact a low-key cousin of the much bigger East Coast International Blues and Roots Festival held during the same weekend.
Whilst Byron Bay rocks out to the likes of Ben Harper, Eric Burdon, the Violent Femmes and Kasey Chambers over Easter, just up the road the Billinudgel Hotel throws an eight-hour party on the Sunday featuring local blues and roots artists. A couple of bands even perform at both.
Another example of life's mysterious coincidences is that one of the Boozed and Rooted organisers is none other than an old pal from Napier days Jerry Harrison. Jerry recently happened across me on the Internet, discovered my phone number was a Brisbane one and revealed he's living across the border just two hours south in Mullumbimby. Small world.
Apart from a brief encounter in Napier seven years ago, Jerry and I haven't had a beer and a yarn since the Iron Pot Cafe's heyday back at the turn of the 1990s in Napier. As Tami Johnston and I were trying to educate the Hawke's Bay in country music as part of The Colonials, Jerry was a Strat-wielding one-man blues machine often playing the same stages.
Post-gig would find us back at the Iron Pot jamming and/or downing margaritas till dawn or watching the sun rise on a hill overlooking Taradale with an empty brandy bottle and well-known Bay muso Liam Farris and world-traveller Neill Gordon in tow (or should that be leading the way?).
I digress. Jerry's given me a 45-minute set at the Billinudgel Hotel from 4pm. It will be a privilege and an honour to have him pick some guitar for me, and the mere mention of his name led Tami to join in the fun, too. I'm sure we'll find a suitable drummer there. Stay tuned for the photos.
Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys' debut gig is also drawing ever closer. Rehearsals have been going a treat and I'm rapt with the full-on vocal ability of this line-up with Tami, Geoff Wright and Michael Muchow all fine singers. If you're around Tweed Heads or the Gold Coast on April 30 do pop in to the Flamingo Lounge at Seagulls.
Keep your eyes on the gig guide and I'll spot you at a show real soon.
Glen
In the beginning, legend-in-his-own-lunchbox Glen Moffatt uproots wife and child to partake in the seemingly greener pastures across the Tasman Sea in Australia.
Settling in Queensland, the country music singer-songwriter scours the music papers and even briefly contemplates joining a 1980s tribute band before searching out another former New Zealander Geoff Wright. Geoff and wife Judy have left behind the tropics of Cairns for the cooler climes of Brisbane where Geoff is at a musical loose end.
Glen and Geoff team up discovering a shared penchant for pure music with words you can hear and Judy uncovers a venue sick of relentless drum machines and eager to reintroduce organic instrumentation. And then there were two.
But Glen yearns for a band pumping away behind him. After all, it's been eight months since his last outing with a band back in New Zealand. So remembering the advice of the great sage Red McKelvie, via Kevin Costner's 'Field of Dreams' -- "book the gig, the band will come" -- gig booked: Seagulls Club, Tweed Heads, April 30.
Musicians wanted. Glen recalls a chance meeting in an Auckland casino with his former Napier bass player Tami Johnston (pronounced "tar me"). Tami says he's moving to the Sunshine Coast, Glen says he can't decide between Sydney or Brisbane. Tami says to look him up if Glen settles on the latter.
Of course, the email address Tami gives Glen is soon out of date and Glen arrives in Queensland with no idea of how to contact his former pal. Aforementioned wife, Melissa, suggests contacting a Johnston relative. Jason Johnston is found and points Glen to his father's new residence in Nundah. A jam is called to check compatibility -- see, last time Glen and Tami played together Freddie Mercury was still alive. And then there were three.
Life has a funny way of going in circles and on the recommendation of Michael Fix, he of Golden Guitar-winning note, Glen puts a call in to teenage guitar picker Michael Muchow (pronounced "mo co").
The pair's paths have crossed before, at the 2001 Norfolk Island Country Music Festival when then-15 Michael Muchow's guitar playing left Glen and partner in crime Chet O'Connell with gaping mouths (between gulps of Jamieson's whisky that is).
Forward two years. Would Michael be interested in playing some original music and good slices of Hank, Merle and Cash? Yes indeed. And then there were four.
Rehearsal organised, drummer required. Geoff knows a fellow who could well be interested -- a busy man, but with a hankering for original roots music. The drummer is Billy John Bakos, and with bass drum growing by the week he fits right in. And then there were five.
Have band, will play. Armed with proven originals, covers that work and new originals such as "Long-Term Lease (Brand New Heartache)", co-written with Larry Killip during Glen's final days in Auckland, and "Don't Touch the Whisky", Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys are set to twang the town.
For more information on Glen Moffatt & the Tallboys do click on the band link. Check the gig guide and see you there.
Glen
Back from the Tamworth Country Music Festival and reasonably pleased with the way things went with the 2003 Toyota Star Maker. It's a pretty fierce competition and either of the 10 grand finalists would have been a worthy recipient. As it was, Dubbo NSW's Todd Williams became the first indigenous winner of the title.
Pleased to say I join an ever-increasing list of Kiwis to have made the competition's grand final, including fellow expats Michael King, Camille Te Nahu and Kylie Harris (all of whom have web sites you can access from the Heroes & Friends link). I think the first Kiwi to win the thing will have to shout the eight of us a beer.
The other 19 finalists were a great bunch and I'm sure we'll all cross paths again at some stage. The elimination to 10 grand finalists was pretty harrowing and the successful artists didn't have much time for farewells as they're whisked away for interviews with the judging panel.
One of the most satisfying aspects of the competition was the high standard of the Murrumbidgee Country Club band. Led by drummer Roger Ansell, these guys were great and it was just like playing along with the recorded versions of "Least You Could Do" and "Match Made In Hell". They really brought "She's Not A Honky Tonk Woman" to life, too, having had just a solo acoustic demo to work with. In fact, that demo is available at mp3.com, which you can access from the Audio/Video link.
It was also special to be part of Star Maker guru Terry Hill's final hurrah as coordinator. Terry has been involved since Star Maker's inception and the high regard with which he is held by former winners was evident when two of them -- Lyn Bowtell and Kieran Lancini -- made a presentation to him on the grand final.
With the Star Maker being on the festival's first weekend and me being only able to afford a week away from home, I was in Tamworth for the quiet part of the festival. However, I still managed to get a spot on the Bill Chambers sessions at The Pub and catch up with Kim Cheshire's King Horse, Suzy and Hunter Owens and Perth's Three-Way Split.
I read an interesting fact in the paper at the festival's conclusion that half a million litres of beer were consumed during its entirety. I would like to go on the record as saying I don't think it was all my doing.
I must make special mention of the hosts with the most in Calala, Bruce and Glyn Howie, who put up with me for the second year. The Howies are a fantastic family who really make you feel welcome and have one of the best front porches in the southern hemisphere. Only problem is when the mercury hits 42 degrees, the air-con inside is more appealing.
After a 10-hour bus ride back to Brisbane everything was thrown back into perspective when I arrived home in time for my two-year-old's first pee in the potty. Probably a fluke to welcome Daddy home cos he hasn't repeated the feat.
The weekend after brought a twist of irony when Geoff Wright and I (two expat Kiwis) performed at the Arana Leagues Club for Australia Day. Although we couldn't satisfy the patron calling out for all the Lee Kernaghan numbers and "Clancy of the Overflow", we did wow them with that old Aussie chestnut "Better Be Home Soon" by that Te Awamutu fella.
Well, the gigs are starting to roll in. Check the gig guide and I'll spot you at a gig soon.
Glen
And a happy new year to one and all. Well, the countdown to the Tamworth Country Music Festival is very nearly complete and Sunday will find me on stage at the Tamworth Town Hall competing against 19 others for the title of 2003 Toyota Star Maker champion.
After initial plans to have the event broadcast live on the Internet, this will now not be happening. But it will be broadcast live on the Indigenous Radio Network in Australia. The final starts at 10am New South Wales time with the top 10 progressing to the grand final at 7.30pm.
Thanks to all those people who have sent in their best wishes. It is a great achievement just making the final 20 and anything beyond that will be a real bonus.
I didn't manage to score any gigs for the festival, but I have been invited to once again take part in the Bill Chambers sessions at the Pub.
I ended 2002 with a guest spot at the Pumicestone Country Music Club on Bribie Island and it was great to be playing to an audience again. The venue was full and they're big Hank Williams fans, so I couldn't go wrong. Hard to believe the great man's been dead 50 years this month.
Geoff Wright and I also got our duo off the ground with a Thursday evening at the Arana Leagues Club earlier this month. They've booked us again, on Australia Day no less, so we must have done all right. And they're big Roy Orbison fans there! Seems just like home.
Cross everything for me this Sunday and I hope to see you at a gig soon.
Glen
Website By ProductioNZ Ltd
