Monday, June 21, 2010

Upcoming NewCastle Rockabilly Festival


Howdy Folks!

O.K. This time I'm finally on the ball. I'm gonna tell ya about a gig BEFORE it happens! (Radical idea I know!)

Thanks to uncle Dingo(Jamie Suppa) of Press-tone Records I'm starting to land some great gigs!

The next one is up north (or down south depending where you live!) in Newcastle.

I'm on the bill with 5 other rockin' act's who hale from up that way. Pat Capocci, Ezra Lee, Danny and the Cosmic Tremors, The Twilight Rhythm Boys, and Miss Leah and the Automatic Boys.

DJ Jamie Suppa will also be helpin fill the night with rare rockabilly in between acts.

Festivities start at 3pm and go through till midnight. With this line up, it should be a fantastic night of original rockabilly, and cool covers!

So if ya can, make sure you get along bright and early, cause your not gonna want a minuit!

And make sure ya make yourself known, I'd love to say G'day!

Cheers

Scotty

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Wintersun 2010

Hi Guys,
Well I've done it again!! telling you all about the gigs after I've done them! I'm surprised anyone shows up!
But there was no shortage of people at these last gigs, as they were at the wintersun festival in Coolangatta.
This was the last time wintersun would be held in Coolangatta, (as from now on it will be a traveling show), so I think anyone who went were determined to make this the best wintersun ever.
It was a very busy wintersun for me this year, as I had a couple of gigs, an appearence to make at the sunday church service,and I was comparing a vintage swimsuit parade too!

We spent Thursday and Friday night at the Rockabilly HQ catching up with old, and new friends, and catching great bands like , The Rechords, The Belfuries, Nick Willet, The Straight 8s and Benny And The Fly By Nighters. All Quality acts, and I couldnt wait to share the stage with these guys.


Saturday arvo came, and so too did my first time comparing the vintage swimwear parade, put on by the lovley Nicole Jenkins, of Melbournes "Circa Vintage" Clothing store.
There were 10 georgus swimwear models and each of the girls had 4 vintage bathers to show off, from the 1930s through to the 1970s
Heres some photos of some of the girls
























And here's a link to some footage of Sunday's parade, thanks to Candice, of "Super Kawii Mama"

As you can see, the girls all looked delicious, and I had quite the battle keeping my eyes on the que cards, and on more than one occasion I lost my place!
Later that night was my first ever appearance at the imfamous Rockabilly Head Quarters, and needless to say, I was quite nervous. How would all my original tunes go down with the well seasoned, and very cool, rockabilly crowed!!
The night started quite slowly with a very thin, quiet crowed for the first act, and I gotta say, I was worried. I'd rather play to a packed house than to an almost empty one.
But by the time I had got on stage, people seemed to have arrived en mass, and the joint was packed!
I did a set of 45 mins of mainly my own tunes, and a couple of rare covers, and I've got to say, I was a hit!! I had people dancin from my very first tune, right till the last!
Ofcorse, all the credit cant go to me. I was backed up by the fabulous Straight 8s of Melbourne, and I've got to say, they were on fire!

Once the gig was over, I was able to just chill for the rest of the night enjoying our friends company, and watching "Danny And The Cosmic Tremors" tear up the stage, and also the very entertaining, and original, "Men Into Space"
Sunday morning started very early after a late night (3am!), and I had to be at the Rock n' Roll church service by 8-30 am. I was asked to sing a gospel song Elvis made famous in the 50s called "Peace in the Valley" It's a beautiful song, and I was backed by one of Col Joye's Guitar players! The song was very well recieved
Next I headed over to the Press-tone stage and got ready for my next performance with the straight 8s
I got there in time to watch The Pat Capocci Combo, The Rechords and the wonderful "Phil Hayley, And His Comments.
Next was my turn. There was a huge crowed still there from Phil, and luckily for me, the crowed really got into my original tunes! I even saw people singing along with some of my unreleased songs, which made me think they must have seen me the night before, and still came back for more!!

Click the links below for a taste of the set

Doin' time on the passenger side

Just like that

Set me loose on that blonde

Hot Rock
.
Unfortunatley, I wasn't able to stay around after the gig for too long, as I had to run off and host the swimsuit parade again. What a hard life!!
Obviously after Saturdays swimsuit parade, word had got around, because there was a massive crowed there to watch the girls do there thing on the Goodwin Park Stage.

After the parade, we spent the rest of the day with friends. Later that night I got to take some of the georgous models out to the Swing night where couple danced all night long to "Benny And The Fly By Nighters, The Darling Buds Of May, The Velvet PlayBoys, and the fabulous DJ Ray Keepence. The night finnished up early, so we went to the Rockabilly HQ to keep partying.
By Monday, the town was starting to look deserted, with most of the classic cars gone. We spent the day relaxing, and catching up with freinds, and went out for the last Hurrah at the HQ that night where we saw amoung others, the great Melbourne band, "Hank, And The Cosmonauts" and The Bellfuries from the US. We all had a fabulous night, and were very sad when it was over
Although I'm sad that Wintersun wont be held at Coolangatta anymore, I'm looking forward to the future, and am going to embrace wintersun at Port Macquarie next year( hopefully I'll get some gigs there too!)
See you soon guys, I'll try and keep things updated BEFORE they happen from now on!!!
Scotty Baker