CD launch May 1st 2009 @ the Wesley Anne Melbourne. Set high on the hill among the booming bar scene in Northcote, the Wesley Anne established in 1854 was once a Christian House of Assembly.
This bar sets itself apart from its rivals with soaring ceilings, an enormous beer garden and band room and some of Australia’s best beers on tap.
Many of the church’s adornments have been resurrected, with large crosses over the bar, and half wine barrels adorning the walls. A wagon wheel sized wrought-iron chandelier softly illuminates this candle-lit dark wooden bar.
This was a perfect venue for The Blues Preacher’s Melbourne CD launch.
Captain Bluetongue was in his element here, a genuine people person chatting to members of the press, signing autographs and greeting patrons at the door.
A special thank you to Damien for taking over door person duties and CD sales. Damien drove from Bairnsdale (280 klms) to be at this show. Thanks Mate could not have done it without you.
We had a full house. Ian Collard was great as always, his version of Going Down South is second only to the R L Burnside original. The Preacher’s Harmonies were as sweet as ever. Brother John’s vocals on Saint James Infirmary sent a collective shiver through the spine of the old hall of Assembly.
Earl Swaggart
—————————————————————-
The Blues Preachers, Ian Collard
Wesley Anne
Review by Sam Fell
It’s clad in jackets and scarves and gloves that we huddle to smoke outside the Wesley Anne in Northcote on Friday night. It’s around 8:30pm, the beginning of what will no doubt be an epic evening of various genres of live music, and so the cold is of little consequence, as firstly tonight, here in the old church which now plays host to a bar and music venue, we’ve come to worship at the alter of the blues, to offer sacrifice (money) in return for salvation (tonight, a few pints of Guinness) and to bathe in the warming glow of a couple of the country’s finest blues acts.
First up, in his solo guise, Collard, Greens & Gravy front man, Ian Collard takes to the stage, cutting a solitary figure with just his guitar and harmonica for company, ethereal in the single spotlight, the maroon velvet curtain behind him and the quiet, assembled gathering in front of him giving this short support set an intimate vibe not much seen around these parts – certainly not you’re usual pub blues gig. Collard, who is obviously far more comfortable fronting his three-piece institution, pulls out all stops regardless and his guitar growls rambling grooves, hypnotic in their simplicity, while his harmonica wails over the top like a heartbroken freight train from the depths of hell. His voice is fantastic too, and mixing a few CG&G tracks over a few old classics, this set is smooth and scuffed and the correct way with which to begin proceedings indeed.
Next up, launching their fantastic second record, Dry Long So, are the Sydney based Blues Preachers, a duo who have begun to make waves on our little scene over the past year or so, and even ten seconds into their opening number, it’s easy to see why. ‘Songs from the great depression for the current depression’ is their watchword tonight, and how. The Preachers specialize in pre-war, rag time blues – Brother John spinning six string delights while Captain Bluetongue wails on the harp and they combine fine vocal harmonies to make something special indeed. These two could well have written the soundtrack to O’ Brother, Where Art Thou (and in fact, we get a couple from that soundtrack) such is their grasp of gospel tinged Appalachian blues tunes, and laying tracks like John The Revelator and Pay Day in there, well, this is a set to remember.
So it’s warm, sated, thirst quenched that we depart the Wesley Anne this chilly eve having seen and prayed and spoken in tongues at the alter of a music which is the base of so many others, and it’s thanks to Collard and the Preachers that the step is nimble and the heart light as I wander down High Street toward the Social Club and another gig, but it’s the blues, which remains in my heart.
