IN THE SHEDS…
No, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the Earth…just in the sheds putting the finishing touches on the new songs before I record the album. I’ve decided that, musically, the new record will be based around the ‘Warner Corner’ ensemble, which features Ed Bates, Dave Evans and Nathan Farrelly. I wrote most of the songs in my shed in Kilmore – so I felt that the songs needed an honest, woody, tin-shed treatment. Not much fuss. Should be recording by May…and hopefully the record out mid-winter. Can’t wait!
BACK ON THE AIR 2012
Yes, it’s about time, but JVG’s team at RRR is finally back on the air each Sunday between 2 and 4pm. If you haven’t listened before, JVG describes his show as ‘Thematic Music Selections’. This means he chooses a word each week, and only plays songs with that word in the title. Resident poet Ian Bland has a segment each week ‘Bland on Bland’ where he writes a poem based on JVG’s chosen word. Half an hour later our ‘philosopher’ Keith Fuller ruminates on the word in his segment ‘Fuller Shit’. Keith is no
JVG RRR
Friedrich Nietzsche, but he is capable of scintillating thoughts nonetheless. Each week at 3pm I have a segment called ‘Warner Corner’ where I play a song according to theme. 2012 is my 16th year in the corner, and I’m looking forward it as much as ever. Each week I’m joined by some of Melbourne’s best musicians, the core group being Ed Bates on lap steel, Dave ‘Dr Bellows’ Evans on accordion and Nathan Farrelly on bass (yes, he should be chained up somewhere). Last week, JVG’s word was ‘bay’. Dave, Ed and I had a crack at Otis Redding’s ‘Dock of the Bay’. Yes, ambitious. If you miss the broadcast, you can listen to the Warner Corner segment each week here on my site, just click the link. Or if you want to tune in live, and you’re in Melbourne, go to 102.7 on your FM dial. If you’re not in Melbourne, you can stream the show at www.rrr.org.au. See you Sunday!
THE RAINBOW CONNECTION
Dan Warner, Sarah Carroll, Marcel Borrack
This Sunday (Jan 22) Dan will play an acoustic show with his old Neapolitan Compatriots, Sarah Carroll and Marcel Borrack at The Rainbow Hotel in Melbourne. In a folk-festival style show, Dan, Sarah and Marce will swap songs and stories from their 2006 tour and beyond. The first tour was called the Neapolitan tour, as all three artists were from the same record label, yet brought slightly different musical flavours to the stage. Come on down and find out who is Strawberry, who is Chocolate and who is Vanilla. The gig starts at 4pm, The Rainbow Hotel, 27 St David St, Fitzroy.
GOOD NIGHT UNTO YOU ALL…
Thanks to all for your support in 2011. Looks like 2012 will be a year for new music and big tours. Can’t wait to get stuck into it.
If you missed the Dan & Al reunion show, here are a couple of tunes from the show.
LAST GIG OF 2011 – The Warner Brothers at The Lomond
The gig at The Lomond Hotel this Friday (23/12/11) is a celebration of the back catalogues of Dan’s first bands, The Warner Brothers and Overnight Jones. The original line-up of The Warner Brothers will take to the stage at 9.30 and play a selection of songs from the first album, Talking In Your Sleep. During the night, other members of The Warner Brothers/Overnight Jones
Overnight Jones in the Goalsquare
(including Ed Bates, Carl Pannuzzo and Miles McNicol) will be subbed into the line-up to play songs from the later albums, My Private Train and Ice Bait Gas. The band will also rope in Tony Hargreaves from The Lomond on piano and dig out some of the early covers, including Red Hot, Three Alley Cats and The Mighty Quinn. Admission is free. Overnight Jones merchandise available.
LAST CHANCE DAN & AL
Only a few days to go to see these two likely lads at The Corner Hotel. Yes, the Dan & Al reunion show is THIS SUNDAY 18th December, 2011. For all details, how to book etc., go to the ‘Gigs’ section of this site…
Dan and Al with JVG as referee
RRR BBQ Day 2011 Sizzler
The largest crowd to date came to celebrate start of summer at the 10th annual RRR BBQ Day at Ceres Environmental Park in Brunswick. JVG had decided on a vegetarian theme this year to counter an ongoing onslaught of meat-themed tunes, such as Cat Stevens’ ‘The Worst Cut is The Cheapest’ and Crowded Houses’s ‘Weber with You’. The MBO (Melbourne BBQ Orchestra) saw a slight change of personnel, with Paul Thomas taking on electric guitar duties and Sgt Slaughter attending to the trumpet.
RRR BBQ Day 2011 Photo by Tim Chmielewski http://photos.timchuma.com
Ian Bland at The Lomond post BBQ Day
The rest of the MBO was made up of past BBQ day stalwarts: Ed Bates on pedal steel; Nathan Farrelly on bass; Matt Earl on drums; Dave ‘Dr Bellows’ Evans on accordion and piano; and Dan Warner on acoustic guitar. Dan’s vegetarian songs this year included the Jimmy Webb tear-jerker, ‘By The Time I Eat My Weetbix’ and the Elton John tribute to the salad fetishist, ‘Rocket Man’.
Straight after BBQ Day, the MBO repaired to The Lomond Hotel for a couple of sets of après-BBQ sizzle. James Stewart from The Warner Brothers was subbed in on guitar (one of the highlights was James’s definitive Melbourne song, Stuck in Melbourne, which was bellowed across the pub by the entire crowd). Song of the day, perhaps, was a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘From a Buick 6’.
Here’s a photo of RRR’s Ian Bland posing for an apres-BBQ-Day shot in front of the Christmas Tree at The Lomond. A passing punter was heard to remark, ‘Ian Bland: a wise man and a Christmas decoration’.
RRR BBQ DAY
Marcel Borrack, Dan Warner and Sarah Carroll, from 3RR BBQ Day '09
This Sunday (December 4th) is the beginning of BBQ season. And, as usual, JVG and his RRR minions are hosting BBQ Day at CERES Environmental Park in Brunswick. The live broadcast starts at 12pm with ‘Eat It’. Between 2 and 4pm, the MBO (the Melbourne BBQ Orchestra) will host some of Melbourne’s finest singers. All the songs they perform will celebrate the art of BBQing, but this year there’s a twist. So come on down to CERES on Sunday. Bring a picnic rug and a hat (the forecast is 24 degrees and sunny). Food and beer are available on site – all proceeds go to RRR.
As soon as BBQ day finishes at 4pm, the MBO will make a mad dash to The Lomond Hotel (a block away from CERES) where they will play two more sets of post-BBQ sizzle.
That’s a shot of the Neapolitan trio over on the right, Marcel Borrack, Dan Warner and Sarah Carroll, from BBQ Day ’09…
Spicks and Specks
On 12th October 2011, Dan appeared on the ABC TV show ‘Spicks and Specks’. He performed the John Denver classic, Take Me Home Country Roads. (and here is the video )
JEFF JENKINS TALKS TO DAN ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM ‘NIGHT PARROTS’
“The night parrot is the holy grail for Australian birdwatchers. The bird was thought extinct until a dried speciman was found on the side of the road in Queensland in 1990. Dan Warner became fascinated by the night parrot story after reading about it in the Good Weekend magazine about a decade ago. He’s now decided to call his second solo album Night Parrots. It’s released this week on Croxton Records.
“I thought it was a great title for this album,” Dan explains. “The songs are sort of like night.” The album sees Dan revisiting some live favourites – including Bernie, Little Pieces and Fortuna – as well as Dan’s first recording of Anthem, his song that was made famous by Tiddas. “I’ve performed it only a handful of times,” Dan says, “and it’s funny, I found myself singing Sally’s phrasing (Sally Dastey). I couldn’t help it, I’m a parrot”. The night parrot is a nocturnal creature, hiding in dense saltbush during the day, emerging at dusk, to drink.
Dan now lives in the country, in Kilmore, but regulartly comes to the city for gigs, Collingwood games, his ‘Warner Corner’ segment on Jonnie Von Goes’ RRR show, and for the occasional ale. The night parrot looks rather large-headed, plump, with a stocky body.
The Night Parrots album is filled with wonderful storytelling songs. After years with the Warner Brothers, Overnight Jones, Dan & Al and Dan & Kev, Dan went solo, releasing the album A Likeness Of You in 2005. “When you’re a solo artist, I think you need story songs. You can’t rock out when you’re by yourself, but what you do have is a story.” Night Parrots – Dan’s eighth album – was produced by the genius Marcel Borrack, who Dan got to know on the Croxton Neapolitan tour (the other member of the touring party, Sarah Carrol, provides some backing vocals on the album).
Marcel and Dan actually got into birdwatching while making the album. “Marce knows a lot about it. He’s a finicky German guy, it’s right up his alley.” They would meet at Marcel’s house, go for a walk, see some birds, and then return to Marcel’s studio and start recording. “Maybe I’ll become big amongst the twitchers,” Dan jokes. “Birdwatchers are actually not that different to the people at the footy who are right into the stats, it’s the same sort of thing. It’s like collecting footy cards – ‘Got it, got it, haven’t got it…’ And it’s the same as people who are obsessed by music. Some people need all the Dylan records, all the bootlegs, all the Japanese pressings.” Dan loved working with Marcel. “He’s very organised and thorough and he has very high standards. He will never settle for bad performances. In many ways, this is the most considered record I’ve ever made. It’s subtle, but if you listen to it a few times, you’ll hear how well thought out it’s been on his part.” Marcel sings on the album and plays guitar, lap steel, keyboards, sax, mandolin, banjo, harmonica and harmonium. “No wonder he likes Prince because he’s like Prince,” Dan laughs. “He can do everything in the studio.” Marcel’s gentle, subtle production puts the focus on the stories and the songs, and he got a wonderfully relaxed vocal performance from Dan. Not many parrots have sweet voices. The night parrot has a peculiar croaking alarm and a drawn-out mournful whistle. “That’s a great description,” Dan smiles. “I’m going to use that to describe my vocal style – a drawn-out mournful whistle.”
Jeff Jenkins, Inpress Magazine, October 2008
PURCHASE A COPY OF NIGHT PARROTS ONLINE
