After a short break since returning from the Gympie Muster (Dave broke his arm in a “P.F.O.” (pissed, fell over) incident we decided to change the name of the band to simply “The Blue Moon Lodge”. Stay tuned for new logo and gig announcements very soon.
The following article appeared in the Upper Yarra Mail on the 27th of January 2009.
DAVE Walker and the Blue Moon Lodge are tuning up for what they hope will be an award-winning performance.
The song ‘Brophy’s Tent” by the Warburton-based band has been nominated for the Trailblazers Heritage Award in the Victorian and National Country Music Awards.
The song which featured on the band’s second album ‘Diamonds on the Road’ was written by Dave Walker after a trip to the Birdsville Races in 2007.
“Fred Brophy’s Boxing Troupe is the last boxing tent left in the country,” Mr Walker said.
“The song talks about the fact that the whole time we were up there we didn’t see a single fight – anyone who needed to let off some steam put on the gloves and got into the ring with one of Fred’s boxers.”
The Victorian and National Country Music Awards will be staged on Friday, 5 February, as part of the Whittlesea Country Music Festival weekend.
The awards recognise and encourage excellence in the Australian Country Music Industry and are considered second only to Tamworth’s Golden Guitar awards.
The band will face some stiff competition with John Williamson, The Slim Dusty Family, The Sunny Cowgirls and Marcie Jones also competing for the Trailblazers award.
“We’re really proud to have been nominated,” Mr Walker told the Mail.
“It’s great that we’ve been able to gain this sort of recognition with what is a relatively new project. It has been a great effort from our management team and all the boys in the band to get things happening as much as they have.”
There were over 500 nominations for the awards and Dave Walker and the Blue Moon Lodge made the top 10 in five other categories including best album and best male vocal.
Mr Walker said everyone in the band was encouraged by comments from festival organisers that they were really impressed, particularly for a band doing only their second album.
The band has also been booked to play at the Apollo Bay Music Festival in March, another major event on the country music calendar.
Iconic Australian singer/songwriters like Paul Kelly & Slim Dusty hold up a mirror to the national psyche and help us discover ourselves through their music.
It is this same philosophy and influence that Dave Walker has in mind every time he sits down to write a new song. Through the vehicle of the Blue Moon Lodge, Dave is adding his own chapter and verse to the great Australian story.
This work in progress is encapsulated beautifully on the band’s new album Diamonds on The Road. The 12 tracks on this stunning new release paint contrasting images of Australian life.
From the jagged country rock of Talking to the Sun, to the poignant beauty of Going Home, these are story songs to which we can all relate.
“These songs came from a variety of places,” Dave said. “Some, like Pinnaroo Quarantine, Due North From Marree and Brophy’s Tent came about from a trip we did up the Birdsville Track last year.
“Others, like Dusty Guitar and Forgotten Man, are all about Australian life; the stories you hear from the people you meet along the journey.”
The Blue Moon Lodge features David Ricciuti on vocals/guitars, Mark McNeilly (bass/vocals), Greg Hunt (violin/mandolin), Louch Evangelista on drums and Dave out the front handling vocals, acoustic & electric guitars.
All have a wealth of experience in their own right and have individually built impressive musical resumes in the genres of roots, blues, country, rock & celtic music.
Diamonds on the Road was engineered and mixed by Mark Stanley at Red Room Studios, produced by Greg Hunt and mastered by Ross Cockle at Sing Sing.
Visit www.myspace.com/bluemoonlodge to have a listen to some tracks off the new album and to find out where to buy your copy.
Dave Walker & The Blue Moon Lodge have left no stone unturned in their quest to make their second album as good as it can be.
From the start they’ve had a clear direction about the sort of quality they were after and this dedication to excellence is reflected utterly in the stunning new release, Diamonds on The Road.
“From the very first chord and lyric to the mastering, we’ve been very thorough about the album,” Dave said. “We’re all very proud of the songs we’ve created and it was felt that taking any shortcuts would do us a disservice.”
A vital link in the chain was the studio and to that end the obvious choice for the band was with Mark Stanley at Red Room.
Mark played with seminal Irish band, The Mary Janes and has had a long association and friendship with The Frames. In 2006 The Frames flew him over to France to work with Steve Fitzmaurice (U2, Kylie, Depeche Mode) on their album ‘The Cost’.
“I really enjoyed this project,” Mark said. “For me the super obvious thing was that the preparation was done and the songs were really polished. That gave us scope and freedom to do some exciting things in the recording process, all of which helped to make a great album. Aside from the strength of the performances, I was super impressed with the quality of Dave’s lyric and the direction he has for this band. He’s coming from a really good place musically and emotionally and he has a way of talking about things through his songs that really draw you in. I think a lot of people are going to like this record.”
Dave found that talking ‘around’ songs really helped to bring them up to another level in the studio.
“I guess when you’ve played the songs a lot of times live you get comfortable with them,” he said. “Each instrument has its own place, the arrangements are tight and everyone’s happy. What that comfort enabled us to do was spend time talking about how some songs seem to have their own DNA,” Dave said. “That idea that the vibe is bigger than the sum total of the music and the words.
“We’ve really worked on creating that emotional attachment at every step with this project and I think the results bear that out.”
The album was produced by Greg Hunt, who plays violin and mandolin with the band.
“I’ve worked with Mark on other projects and once again it was a joy to be in the studio with him,” Greg said. “It’s a really rare thing to find that energy and the genuinely empathetic approach to music that Mark has. He’s a rare breed when it comes to that sort of thing in this country.
He was really instrumental in allowing us to focus our energy. The other thing that made it easy is the existing relationships with the band members. It’s easy to be able to be frank and call on people to go above and beyond if they had to.”
“Ultimately it’s about choosing the right type of canvas, the right paints. You have to let them present naturally,” he said.
“The voice of the song tells you the instrumentation that it wants to exist in. It’s not even a conscious thing, there’s no real thought process in that sense.”
Greg believes the album will be well received across the board. blue-moon-lodge-release-2“I think it will be a breath of fresh air, it’s an album with good old fashioned talented writers and honest playing, well executed. I think people will really enjoy it.”
Now the album is complete and the launch dates are locked in, Dave is looking forward to getting the band out on the road in the run up to Christmas.
“The live show has really crystallised over the past six months and we’ve slotted in a regional Victorian tour for later on in the year. We’re really keen to get out and play this record to as many people as we can.”
Dave Walker & The Blue Moon Lodge launch Diamonds on The Road
| Saturday, August 30 | Upper Yarra Arts Centre, Warburton Highway, Warburton |
Special guest Ewan Cloonan | Tickets $20/$17 available at the venue phone 59665040
| And at The Lomond Hotel | Saturday, September 6 | Cnr Nicholson and Blyth Street East Brunswick
