Richard Lawson Music

Quite out of the blue I was contacted by Sam Paine from Mudgee who is fairly elevated in the arts scene and assistant editor of the Mudgee Guardian to help out with a trilogy of short films being put together in Mudgee by the Mudgee Picture Company who operate under the wing of Mudgee Underground and Mudgee Arts Council

The musician they had planned Kyle Manning couldn’t make it as he was tied up in rehearsals for the Tamworth Music Festival

The 3 songs for the 3 films were all vastly different to what I am used to…

Coolios Gangsta Paradise and When you get there and Eminem/Dido Stan

There have been 2 filming sessions to date at Roths Wine Bar going till all hours of the night and the sound is fantastic….cant wait to see and hear finished product.. I wont give away too much but here is a teaser and some pics

Hey everyone

The Gulgong Folk Festival is now over for another year and while I am very flattered and satisfied by the outcome and messages of congratulations I am absolutely exhausted and don’t really want to know too much about it at present. I’m on holiday down the South Coast till late Jan and am trying to catch my breath from what is a year long job and this last year in particular has been very trying with funding cutbacks and the task of making a festival totally free as well. I’ll weigh up my options as the year progresses.

For now go to the festival facebook page and read some of the posts…their is a fantastic blog review here and now here are some pictures

Its that time of year Gulgong Folk Festival time, when every thing gets a bit crazy for me. A whole years planning goes into this and I have to get my head round production/venues/fundraising/artist line up/govt departments/council and local business …not to mention the whole publicity shebang…artwork/press releases/interviews

Its a never ending story but greatly satisfying….

Timber and Steel have been a great supporter of myself and the festival for 3 years now and every time I see their posts on me they give me a chill up the spine

Fig Jam and myself are playing during the festival  for no fee to help with the new TOTALLY FREE structure.

It will be fantastic to catch up and celebrate music with all the crew from the last 3 years…hopefully it wont be as hot as last year

Daniel Champagne, Melanie Horsnell, Caitlin Harnett, Southerly Change, Cletis Carr, Matt Southon, Big Erle and Allan Caswell will all be here plus a host of other local performers and mates plus some international acts

There was a fundraiser for the Gulgong Folk Festival at the newly refurbished Mudgee Town Hall Theatre on Friday Oct 18 featuring 7 of Mudgees finest original acts

The line up included Jess Holland, Mick Fetch, Violet Nights, Euripi and Sugarfoot

We played a short set with the new line up of Liz keys, Katie Vox, Erin on drums and Richard on guitar and vox. First gig for us in this form and lots of nerves but it went down well. Very reserved and majestic sounding with the big keyboard sweeps of Elizabeth Walton…

her are some pics

What an amazing diverse mix of gigs that was

Starting with drums for Big Erle plus my own set with the big man at the Old City Bank Bar and Brasserie in Katoomba on Sept 14. That was great….no rehearsal with him and we just jammed it out after a solid solo set from me

Next week Sept 21 I was backing Cletis Carr and Linda Mizzi,….again no rehearsal and we played everything from Merle Haggard to Prince in a very diverse universe. Hes a great player and we really jelled together after 10 years apart.

Final drum extravaganza was with my percussion group Kings of Congo Congo at the huge Flavours of Mudgee street fair. We’ve rehearsed this stuff for months with my best students and a real blessing was we were doing short sharp sets. Had a dropout or two and Elizabeth Walton from Fig Jam stepped in with no rehearsal an we took off beautifully…3 sets of 15 minutes and by the last one the crowd was really into it. Exhausted but satisfied and loved all the drumming again

Funny how things come. Sitting quietly minding my own business and wondering where the next gig will come from whenn…whoosh…2 phone calls in the space of a day asking me to play drums.

Good mate Cletis Carr rang and needs some drumming for a country style gig he has on in Kandos on Sat Sept 21 at the Railway Hotel Kandos…..should be easy and fun…no need to take a full kit….then 6 hours later get a facebook message from Simon Leamonn of Big Erle wanting me to play a solo gig and drums with him at the Old City Bank Bar and Brasserie in Katoomba next week on Sat Sept 14.

AWESOME DRUMMING DAMION STIRLING WORKSHOP SAT AUG 17 2013

The workshop was a hoot…about 10 attended and we got right into 3 big African jams

Damion is a superb drummer/teacher and brought a wealth of real experience and action to us…the next workshop is mooted to be on Sat Oct 19 with the unstoppable Hands Heart and Feet from the Blue Mountains

The next day we went to the Drip in Mudgee and had a nature moment and filmed it with Elizabeth Walton taking the Dun Duns

Some beautiful moments here

The gig at the Lawson Park Hotel was wonderful  the management loved it and my hard practicing with all the busking has paid dividends with a new relaxed and mature attitude to the guitar playing mainly. They want me back and Ashley the licensee said I was sensational….

Well there’s been a fair bit happening since last post, mainly to do with the new set up at the studio

We used Dance with Attitude Dance studios for the last 2 years and now they have moved to other premises and we have taken over the rent of the studios at 13a Lewis St Mudgee and changed the name to richardlawsonmusic.com studios…very 21st Century

There have been 2 workshops there so far….Daniel Champagne Master class on guitar on May 26 and the Blue Ruins in June…now we have a really meaty one with Damion Stirling coming to town

Damion Stirling runs ‘Sol Studios’, and is also Musical Director of the Culburra Beach Music Festival and has performed at countless festivals gigs and workshops. Damion is an amazing energetic force of nature and quite an astounding master djembe player.

Damion has led drumming groups on the South Coast for the last 10 years and is the leader of such groups as the Beatmeisters and Elemental Grooves

Heres a description of Beatmeisters plus a pic

“The rhythmic knock on your front door can only be… the Beat Meisters! They’ll have your circadian biology in a spinning whirl, they will count the sum of your pulse and mirror it in sonic waves, skew that wayward walk into a dance like prance and take you to a place where you can’t your feet must wiggle and your booty must jiggle.

Drawing heavily on the traditions of African drumming interspersed with Latin and Arabic influences and utilising melodic percussive instruments from all corners of the globe the Beat Meisters never fail to get the punters jumping and the good vibes pumping.

The Beat Meisters draw from a rock solid base of quality percussionists featuring members of bands such as Elemental Grooves, Percussion Junction, Obrobini, Ate and Fugg as well as a string of other prominent Wollongong based bands. With performance experience in national tours, festivals, concerts, corporate and community events and complemented by a an recognised and established drumming workshop program, the Beat Meisters know how to deliver interactive drumming like you’ve never seen before. To date the Beat Meisters have performed at events from the heady tropics of far north Queensland to humming deepest depths of Sydney CBD. Wherever they are found one thing is certain… worn soles on your shoes and smile on your dial.”

His infectious nature and amazing energy will transport you to the heights of percussion and dance

The workshop will take in dance and its associated drum moves as well. For the workshop we’ll be looking at the rhythm ‘Panlogo’ and a harvest / celebration dance both from Ghana.