Jam day, Parade Hotel, 19 Mar 2023

There were so many new (and young) faces at the last jam. The March Jam Session is now only a week away and most of us just can’t wait. This is a great time of the year to be playing outdoors at The Parade on the edge of the bay. Grab family and friends and make the most of this fantastic weather. We kick off at 2pm so get down early, give us a hand getting set up and get your name up on the white board. This is your chance to get on stage and strut your stuff. See you there Sunday. Have a great week.

Blues Central 12 Mar 2023

The Stampede of awesome blues bands into Bunbury continues at Froth Bunbrewery. This month we have Perth’s teenage sensations, Louis Rebeiro and the Blues Machine. We got a taste of just how good these boys are at the January Jam, now Blues Central brings then to town for a two hour session followed by one of South West Blues Club’s best known bands, Stumptown. We had a big turnout in February and these two bands should play to a packed house. Put this in your diary because in years to come you want to be able to say “I saw the Blues Machine in Bunbury in 2023”.

View from the Chair

Hi members of the Southwest Blues Club.

The February Jam Day was another highly successful and highly enjoyable day with a good variety of “combinations” getting up to play during the afternoon. Our loyal “fanbase” at The Parade were shouting for more at the end of the session so that must be good.
It was a hot day and that made the fantastic Old Coast Brewery beers (and a pizza special) essential for me. And there is a great photo of The Parade (with our pergola set up in the garden) on our Facebook page, good job Dave and his Drone.
At the jam day we tried a new (for us) system of putting the guitar amps “through” the PA and I think this worked well. It enabled PA experts Ron, Dave and Gary to have greater control of the overall sound produced.

One of the objectives of the South West Blues Club is to promote blues music in the community and the recent opportunity to link up with Froth Bunbrewery has enabled the club to do this with “Blues Central”, which occurs at Froth on the second Sunday of each month. Established WA blues bands will be invited to play at Froth and a blues club band, or artist, will also feature each month. This gives South West Blues Club bands and players the chance to work towards the standard needed for a “gig”. The South West Blues Club Facebook page will have details of the bands appearing at Blues Central each month.

I mentioned in my last “View From The Chair” that my birthday was imminent so I decided to buy myself a new guitar amp. I bought a Fender Tonemaster amp, the appealing feature to me at my new age being it is not very heavy. It is actually the latest in quite a long list of amps that would be “the last one I will ever buy”. I find it an interesting amp in that it has four guitar input sockets (two for each channel on the amp). This reminded me of the first band I played in with three mates in Luton, in the UK, in the early sixties. We had three guitarists and a drummer, but no money. Eventually one guy bought a second hand Selmer amp which had four inputs on it so we decided we could play three guitars (including the bass) and a mike through the amp. It actually worked and we were able to do our first gigs at some local youth clubs with this set up.

It is interesting to see how many harp, harmonica or mouth organ players we have regularly playing at the jam sessions at the moment.( Do the players agree on a name for the instrument?) I think the playing is generally of a high standard and it is something to look forward to each month, adding an extra dimension to the music. Each player seems to have their own style and the way they fit in with the other jammers is interesting to see.

The next jam day at the Parade is on Sunday, 19th March, which will hopefully be a little cooler than our last jam day. Our loyal band of members who set up the gear will be there working from 11am to set up for 2pm and then to break down the gear and pack it away from between 5.30pm and 6pm. Feel free to join them and it will help you to get your spot on the board.

Cheers, Dave Corcoran.

Jam Day, Parade Hotel 19 Feb 2023

WOW how good was Blues Central on Sunday? The dust will hardly have settled and we will be back at the Parade for Jam Day this coming Sunday. We hear there are a few ‘out-of-towners’ making the trip for what promises to be a cracker workout for all our member musos. Slip on your dancing shoes, slap on some sunscreen and come slurp a few cold ones for the afternoon. See ya there.

Blues Central 12 Feb 2023 – Froth Brewery

There’s been a change of plan Stan. Howling Onshore can’t make it this month to Blues Central but Tommy ‘Boss’ Bosson and The Score will be on stage instead. Tommy is a seriously accomplished harp player with three very able bodies in tow. Glen Carpenter guitarist and vocals meshes wonderfully with Tommy’s style. We had Tommy down for later in the year so it is exciting to have him stand in and performing in February. They are followed by Ponyfish, so we are all in for an absolute treat . We have some more exciting news about Blues Central we will be announcing early next week, so stay tuned. This is shaping up to be a big Sunday.

Jam day, Parade Hotel – 15 Jan 2023

The first jam of 2023 inches forever closer. Your New Year’s resolution should be “play more music and be happier”. The best way to burn off those festive season excesses and expunge your body and soul is to front up at a jam. Better than a diet, better than any self improvement programme is a darn good jam day blow out. An afternoon in the shade and a cooling sea breeze with friends at the edge of the bay soaking up the atmosphere at the Parade. Enough said, we will see you there.

Blues central – 8 Jan 2023

A slight change of plans for Sunday folks. We are excited to announce that blue’s legend Martin Lee Cropper will be the main act onstage for the first part of the afternoon. What Martin doesn’t know about blues is hardly worth knowing. He is passionate about Delta blues and an exponent of the National guitar. We are all in for a magnificent treat. Martin will be followed by even more blues classics from eNJoy. For those Stumptown fans, fear not, Stumptown will be playing Blues Central later in the year. Come and join us on Sunday for some of the best blues you are ever going to hear.

View from the Chair

Hi members of the Southwest Blues Club.

Hopefully, everybody has had good Christmas and maybe (if Santa has been) we will see some new instruments at the jam sessions next year.

Well, in December we had our final jam session of 2022 and it included some of the usual suspects, a number of new combinations of musicians and some interesting and impressive performances. A number of members were pretty gobsmacked to see Ron Kinson taking lead vocals for one of the sets and Gary Green providing excellent support on the harp(?) for Ron. The usual high standard of musicianship was maintained during the afternoon and it is obvious that members are working on their chops to ensure they do not let anyone down when they play.

We also seem to have a group of loyal supporters who, whilst not being musicians, are members and regular attenders and enjoy what we do at the club, and probably the beer and food at The Parade as well.

December produced a number of challenges for the club, which may not have been apparent to most members, but illness and accident impacted the committee and there were some hectic decisions that had to be made. Unfortunately, Gary Palfrey, the new club secretary, had an accident on his motorbike so he was out of action and the rest of the committee tried to cover the responsibilities of Gary. As they say, everything was alright on the night.

We have created a new sub committee to try to establish how many bands have been formed in the club as the club is sometimes approached to see if we have bands available for gigs in the area. The gigs that crop up are often “small” gigs that might require a band for about an hour. The sub committee will try to find out which bands have been formed and if the bands feel ready to do gigs. This may include bands that can do a 45 minute spot, a 90 minute gig or a whole gig. It would also be helpful if “band members” let the sub committee know how they are going and other information such as if the band has a PA or not.

The first Jam Day of 2023 is coming around pretty fast. As the first Sunday in January is the 1st January, so the Jam Day (3rd Sunday) will be 15th January.

We also have Blues Central at Froth Bunbrewery on Sunday the 8th January and some new ideas for Blues Central are being considered. This is another reason to let us know if you have formed a band and would like to perform on the big stage, (soloists and duos included). I think we are going to have some great sessions at Blues Central, Froth and with our regular jam sessions at the fantastic Parade Hotel it will be a great year to be involved with the South West Blues Club.

Dave Corcoran.
President: South West Blues Club

Jam day, Parade Hotel, 18 Dec 2022

We are ready to take the year out with a hiss and a roar. It’s been a great year, great music, some great music sessions so let’s give 2022 a great send off. Come and join us for our last jam of the year. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Blues Central, Froth Brewery, 11 Dec 2022

The second Sunday of the month is Bluesday at Froth. This time, not one but two bands will perform for the afternoon. First up at 2pm is Dave Tiger and the Allsorts. Dave Corcoran is on stage with Dave and Jim, plus we hear, a guest from out of town.
Then for the second half of the afternoon Gary Green and The Igniters are back on stage for the second time at Blues Central. Indulge yourself with a pre-Christmas treat, an afternoon of blues at Bunbury’s newest tavern. Just the excuse you need to sneak in a few early ‘Yuletide cold ones’, to the sound of some great music. See ya there.