The Blooz playing at the Canberra Bowling Club. Notice the fire starting under Steve, our drummer
Howdy fellow blues enthusiasts and devotees.
This is the inaugural edition of ‘Blooz Newz’ — an occasional rag to talk about all things Bloozy.
Upcoming Gigs
The Blooz is currently playing at some great venues around Canberra. The Canberra Bowling Club is a chilled-out gig on a Sunday afternoon. The Old Canberra Inn is hard to beat with its woody, rustic charm and great food. The Dickson Tap House is a great classic corner pub.
- Thursday 25th April 4:30 – 7:30 pm Old Canberra Inn, 195 Mouat Street, Lyneham
- Friday 24th May 8 – 11 pm Old Canberra Inn, 195 Mouat Street, Lyneham
- Sunday 9th June 3 – 6 pm Canberra Bowling Club, 25 Hobart Avenue Forrest
- Friday 21st June 8 – 11 pm Dickson Tap House, 30 Woolley Street Dickson
As usual we'll be burning down the house with Blooz music.
Come have a listen/jive and warm your feet to the conflagration
New Music
As well as playing a selection of standout Chicago blues songs we've Bloozified some soul and rock tunes, such as the Stones' 'Satisfaction', Aretha Franklin's 'See Saw', James Brown 'I Feel Good', Rufus Thomas's 'Walkin' the Dog' and 'Oscah the Grouch' (Sesame Street instrumental) . They rock.
Blooz originals
We added some original tunes inspired by the greats. 'Tyred Out' and 'Harp Jump' – grooving instrumentals by James, our Tenor Sax and Blues Harp player.
And some bluesy songs I've composed:
- 'Cancellation' – a whimsical look at cultural extremes
- 'I don't Mind' – dedicated to the old ennui
- 'Number Four' – don't you just hate that number?
- 'Fire in My Heart' – an exploration of the surreal
- 'No Blues' – a sad situation, that
- 'What's Going On?' – the curse of perpetual victimhood. And there's more originals in the works, folks.
Playing the Blues
In the 1950s I was listening to rock 'n roll on the radio. I heard Chuck Berry, early Elvis and Buddy Holly.
Didn't know what they were doing but I was fascinated by the sound, the rhythm, that rawness.
I knew then that I wanted to make those sounds myself. A rich contrast to the austere, staid world of Australia at that time (or so it seemed to me).
Later in the 1960s the early Rolling Stones, Beatles, Yardbirds, The Animals all had the same thing. That blues sound and feel.
From imported albums like the Real Folk Blues series I first heard Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, B B King, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, all those great original blues musicians.
A bit later there was Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield. Yep, I was hooked. But actually making those sounds turned out to be quite tricky.
When I got a guitar I started to work stuff out — by ear, there were no books or YouTube in those days showing how to play that way.
I joined bands and started to play live. I was even lucky enough to tour in Chuck Berry's and Bo Diddley's bands.
And here I am now, still playing the Blues. Love it.
Guitar Trivia (for guitar nerds)
Back in the 1960's I started bending guitar strings to get that authentic 'blues' sound. You couldn't buy super light gauge guitar strings in Australia at that time.
I used a 'regular' heavy gauge set, with everything dropped in position — the 1st E became my B string, B to an unwound G, G to D etc. I used a tenor banjo A string as my 1st E string.
And then they (Palings I think) started importing La Bella Super Slinkies Strings, 008-038 gauge. That was a relief. They felt like playing on rubber bands. Did you know that B B King used the lightest guitar strings he could find?
Before the later trend for heavy strings (Stevie Ray Vaughn used a 013 1st string) B B was using 007s. "Why work so hard" was his comment.
My experience is that it doesn't effect the tone to have super light strings on an electric guitar. And it really makes bending a lot easier. Currently I'm playing with 009 – 042 gauge strings. Mostly d'Addario. 008 1st strings I find have a tendency to break in the middle of solos......yuk.
That's it for now - more next issue
The Blooz can found at https://bloozband.com
keep your picks sharp.... Russell
The Blooz is a Canberra based band that plays kinda Chicago-style blues music.
Russell Moran – Guitar and Vocals
James Hoogstad – Tenor Sax and Blues Harp
Stephen Webb – Drums
Kurt Roberts – Bass Guitar
Written by Russell Moran, Web Design and Photos by Sonia van den Berg: https://riderslanecanberra.au