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AUSTRALIA
Live at The Sydney
Blues Festival 2009
(75 minutes including 20
minute interview)
Mark kicked off his career
in a punk band in the Sydney
scene in 1978, and
later moved into hard rock.
After a break from the music
game, he started to explore his blues roots and decided
that was where his future lie.
My first experience of Mark was when he was playing
with his blues/rock band, Mark Easton’s Limousine
around 2002. He kicked off the Limousine because the
band he was in before that fired him because he wasn’t
a good enough guitar player. Ouch!
With the Limo he released 3 albums of bluesy rock (or
rocky blues) based around his original songs and big
slide guitar sound.
His then record company wanted him to tour as a solo
act, partly because the band didn’t really want to be on
the road so much. Mark resisted the idea but eventually
did the tour. At first he treated the whole thing with
contempt, but slowly grew to like the solo thing. His
current “one man band” act is the result. And that’s the
Mark Easton we get on this DVD.
The DVD was recorded live at
Windsor, during the inaugural Sydney Blues Festival.
We see Mark sitting on stage in his singlet and cap,
guitar in hand, harp rack around his neck, surrounded
by his guitars, a big bass drum, a high hat and tambourine,
and an array of pedals.
He starts to thump the bass drum and pick out a tough
riff on his resonator. A tap on a pedal and the recorded
riff takes on a life of its own, allowing Mark to play a
melody line over it. Then his voice kicks in - barking
and snarling its way through one original blues after
another. Songs about the things that give you the blues
today, from a voice that sounds like it belongs in the
1920s. It ain’t pretty, but it ain’t supposed to be.
It’s raw, loud, and very entertaining (if you like that
sort of thing, which I do.)
He plays 11 songs, interspersed with takes from an
interview he did on the pub’s back steps, and that’s
where I learned most of the info I have written in this
review.
It’s an interesting and extremely honest interview
(what guitarist would normally admit to being fired
from a band for not being good enough?). He talks
about his history and the things that happened along
the way to shape what he is today; he talks about touring
and playing country music towns; and he talks
about the pros and cons of being in a band versus being
a solo performer.
The songs are all Mark originals except for very different
versions of Hoochie Coochie Man, Hit The Road Jack
,The Fitzroy Hotel inand Black Betty. Most of the songs from his
Money is the root of all evil CD get a run.
He plays a metal resonator, a Tele, and 6 and 12 string
acoustics, so he achieves a range of sounds within the
confines of the one man band.
If you are into raw blues with driving riffs, wailing
guitars, and snarling vocals, I reckon you’ll like this
DVD. (Move over Seasick Steve!)
I bought my copy f r om
(www.musicplug.com.au), and at just under $25 delivered
I reckon it’s great value.
Mus icPlug
* Gary deWall
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