Ben Fowler from ‘Benji and the Saltwater Soundsystem has been busy doing final edits and mixes to the upcoming debut classical album collaboration between myself and the Acacia Quartet then it is being mastered by Andrew Edgson at Studio 301 Mastering. The first 2 singles have been dropped and garnering support from ABC Classic FM and the MBS FM music network…stay tuned
Coming up in 3 weeks time is the biggest event on the Mudgee calendar @flavoursofmudgee @kingsofcongo will be drumming up a storm for up to 10,000 people in the main square with @elizabethwalton.au and @eoinkeezy smashing it out with #weaponsofmasspercussion Here’s some action from last year #streetfestival #mudgeeregion #mudgeewine
Next Monday 17 June sees the release of the second single from the upcoming ‘How To Read A City [Your Place Of Last Resort] album featuring the renowned Acacia Quartet. ‘On Love Lost Days’ is a more introspective piece and shows the intimacy and nuance a great quartet can bring to the table. Mixed again by Benji Fowler and mastered at Studio 301 it is based on the poetry cycle of Australian Author and Musician Elizabeth Walton with another stunning painting by Jay Manby Thanks to Create NSW
Praise so far
“Richard Lawson is working with the Acacia Quartet in his new album “How To Read a City (Your Place of Last Resort)” and has released the title track from the album as a single. In this piece, Lawson is using the whole gamut of possible sounds from a string quartet. The central theme travels between the members of the quartet, it travels between plucked and bowed, it gives a feeling of difference within the whole.
This is a very clever use of the quartet, because while a whole city has an overarching feeling, within that feeling, there is difference, and the agility a string quartet can bring to the piece is able to capture that difference within the whole.
Lawson’s background as a drummer shows through in the percussive feel and silent pauses in the piece. Silence can create tension and add to the narrative of a piece, and you can feel that tension here. A city is silence as well as sound, and tension is always present. The very simplicity of a string quartet and how that can be transformed into complexity comes through in this piece. ‘How To Read A City’ is expressive, subtly impactful, and another brilliant piece from Richard Lawson.” John Lamp Geelong FM 94.7
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2RRR FM Sydney interview
Tonight from 7.00pm I’ll be on Virtual Unreality on 2RRR Sydney with Chris Virtue talking about the Classical project with Acacia Quartet and spinning the new single ‘How to read a city’ and giving a sneak preview of the second single ‘On Love Lost Days’. You can listen anywhere here 2rrrfm
New Australian Music: Richard Lawson’s Punk Rock inspired classical song cycle performed by Acacia String Quartet
Flights of energy and compassionate grief create an cinematic Australian sound
What do you get when you combine a ferocious rock drummer from one of Australia’s foremost punk bands with a leading Australian string Quartets? Flights of energy, compassionate grief, and a cinematic, original Australian sound.
Richard Lawson was the first drummer ever heard on ABC RAGE, with his ARIA nominated punk Lime Spiders, supporting Iggy Pop, Blondie and global performances with 10,000 member audiences. His multi-instrumental career features 25 recordings ranging from electronica, folk, soundtrack and ambience. His new project features the Acacia Quartet in his first explosion onto the classical music scene.
Lawson’s debut writing for string quartet was recorded at the Four Winds pavilion on the Sapphire Coast. The result is about as far from punk as imaginable. “Picture yourself floating through the opulence of la Belle Époque, where the spirit of Ravel is elevated by the virtuosity of the Acacia Quartet, danced through dissonant harmonies with a hint of Phillip Glass,” Lawson says. “My song cycle responds to a new poetry cycle by Elizabeth Walton, concerned with environmental disruption and social justice, housing and upheaval. The work was long listed in the Tom Collins poetry prize.“
Lawson’s full album How To Read a City (Your Place of Last Resort) drops on streaming services July 2024. Lawson’s first release from the new recording, How To Read a City drops 13 May.
A further collaboration with visual artist Jay Manby for the cover artwork creates an evocative visual alignment with Lawson’s edgy new sound.
Supported by CreateNSW
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‘Grooveyard’ Digital Release
One of the bands I promoted/managed and who also got me to fill in on drums for a while in 1983/1984. One of the most fun times I’ve ever had in a band and a great bunch of guys to ‘hang out’ with!! Here’s the release
‘I remember the first time I saw the Grooveyard. It was as a support for the Hitmen at a local southern beer barn called the Caringbah Inn in 1983. It was only months after their debut at the Leichardt Hotel and one of the last times for the original 5 man line up featuring Geoff Rhoe, who would leave to entertain thespian pursuits with a leading role in ‘Puberty Blues’.
The five of them barreled through a set that chimed with the rap of snare and great pop on 6 and 12 strings. It was a set spliced with the sound of the sixties and late seventies/early eighties. You could hear the Byrds, the Beatles and Moby Grape in their sound and it gave much cause for hope.
Into the next year and the songs and the gigs kept coming. Nights with the Lime Spiders, the Church, and the Most. Then all goes quiet for a short while, as drummer Sean Maguire leaves to pursue his flying career and a temporary fill in, their promoter Richard Lawson fills in. After a small taste on a 48-crash compilation cassette of a Jon Scofield original ‘I don’t remember’, they finally crack vinyl through Stuart Coupes Green records label with another Jon Scofield original called Avalanche of love backed with a Bob Wackely original ‘I told you so’.
In Sydney mid 1984 it was an unknown quantity and unlike anything heard before, no other local record sounded like it. People responded in kind and the first pressing sold out. It was looking on the up, tours of Brisbane and Melbourne followed. Gigs in picture theatres and a video appearance on ‘After Dark’ raised the confidence but didn’t raise the crowds and the cupboard was bare.
Richard received the call to rejoin the Lime Spiders and then the writing was on the wall. Jon joined Jeremy Oxley’s ‘Chinless Elte’ then went onto success with Paul Kellys Colored Girls and Bob Wackeley went to the Screaming Tribesman whilst Ian Little joined the Bambalams.
Six months later the Grooveyard reconvened to play a series of 5 shows and this time the audience had caught on and the shows were well attended. The band grabbed the opportunity and went into the studio to record a follow up 5 Track EP with Chris Masuak [who had produced Avalanche of love] before returning to their respective bands and careers.’ Tom Czarnota 1989
The Grooveyards brand of sixties infused Power Pop was against the grain of the hard Detroit style rock in Sydney in the burgeoning mid-eighties. The songs that flowed from Jon Scofield’s pen are world class and show great maturity and craftmanship. Now with the digital release of the Avalanche of Love single and self-titled EP we have evidence of a peculiar time in the glory days of Aussie pub rock and the enduring quality of these songs.
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Screen Tasmania!
Met with executives from Screen Tasmania on Thursday Feb 14 in Hobart with a view to prospective works with Acacia Quartet being used in some current productions underway in Tasmania…stay tuned
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NEW AUTUMN DATES
A fabulous new run of dates just announced for Autumn 2024. I took the title from a Justin Hayward [Moody Blues] song which he did on the ‘War of the worlds’ soundtrack. I will be playing all the way from Batemans Bay to Eden and more dates will be added with maybe some forays into the highlands possible!!
The first single ‘How to read a city’ from the ‘Place of last resort’ tone poem album is set for release in the usual places. Final edits and mixing are in process. Jaunty and upbeat in tone, the piece has Gypsy and Central European melodic themes and symbolizes our powerlessness in the race to the bottom of the economy . The whole tone poem is based on the works of Australian Author and musician Elizabeth Walton.
Acacia Quartet do an amazing job alternating between inquisitive pizzicato entry and jerky juxtapositions climaxing in First Violinist Lisa Stewarts vibrato ridden plea for mercy. Pics @elizabethwalton.au and thanks to CreateNSW and Fourwinds
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Summertimes 2023-2024
Heaps of shows over the summer. More to be added. Should catch a few of you around the traps #soloandacoustic #beachsinger #sunandsurf
Richard Lawson Music 