music – Richard Lawson Music

Sydney Tour w Elizabeth Walton May 2026

I will be performing in collaboration in Sydney at 3 select events in May to coincide with the impending release of Elizabeth Waltons debut book of Poetry ‘How to read a city, your place of last resort’

There will be appearances from the famed Acacia Quartet to new music being presented along with poetry performance. Hope to see you there

Join Elizabeth as she launches her new publication with 5 Islands Press, and other publications, including a recent anthology with Westwords. Signed copies will also be available at readings and events. For bookstore or library enquiries, please use her page contact.

Poetica Petit

With Richard Lawson

Thursday 14th May, 6-8pm.

548 New South Head Rd, Double Bay NSW 2023.

Elizabeth will be performing her work and musical delights with Richard Lawson in an evening that will be part listening experience, part extravaganza, part poetry, part new music.

Tickets book here.

Westwords

This will be a special, intimate book launch event where 5 Islands Press writers Hemat Malak and Kai Jensen will be Elizabeth’s special guests.

Elizabeth will present a short reading from her new poetry collection, How to Read A City, Your Place of Last Resort with Richard Lawson, after an interview with everybody’s favourite literary interviewer, Suzanne Leal, followed by an Open Mic with Westwords Academy alumni and other poets.

Friday 15th May, 6-7.30pm.

Free event, with open mic – Book your tickets now.

Phoenix Central

With Acacia Quartet and Richard Lawson

Sunday 17th May 4pm.

Ticket link click here.

Thanks to ABC ClassiFM for the write up.

“How to Read A City, Your Place of Last Resort is a stirring meditation on climate change and the natural world composed by punk rock drummer, Richard Lawson and performed by Acacia Quartet. Film and artistic direction by Elizabeth Walton, who reads from her poetry cycle of the same name, which was published by 5 Islands Press in 2026. Described by artist, Imants Tillers, as “a beautifully nuanced and balanced combination of original musical composition and performance, imagery and spoken word,” this project responds to the urgency of climate grief and the quiet beauty of still-wild places. Each piece in this song cycle reflects our contemporary interphase with city life and the natural world, exploring the Symbiocene as an urgent and critical response to the extinction crisis. This work invites listeners to slow down and listen deeply, in a performance which blends science with lush string textures, evocative contemporary harmonies and melodic lines which trace a journey through changing landscapes, and ecologies. “This cycle is my way of listening to the land,” says composer Richard Lawson. “It’s easy to feel lost sometimes, or hopeless, but I see so much hope for this beautiful world. In this performance, we invite you to meet us there.”

Book Now

‘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.