errol jm and the trade secrets

So, why the new album? Is it the constant barrage of over-enthusiastic followers insisting on something new? Perhaps the result of a string of life altering circumstances or events over the two years since the last album? Or the artist’s excruciating desire to share these outcomes with said followers? Is it pressure from some record company jerk waiting to see a return on his gazillion dollar hedged bet on the artist’s talents and marketability? The raw reason behind the release of Errol J.M’s third full length album In The Pocket; In The Bag, is simply…Why not?
As a truly independent artist and prolific songwriter for nigh on 20 years, the prospect of gaining anything other than self satisfaction from music or art has slowly become a foreign concept to Errol Moyle. So, if solely for self satisfaction why bother with the expense, hard work and effort of packaging, releasing, publicising, booking and performing at all? (A) Because somebody might like it. Bonus! Following a string of garage bands as a teenager during the early 90’s and minor success throughout the late 90’s up until 2004 as co-founder of Australian indie rock road warriors Muzzy Pep, Errol Moyle made the tough but necessary decision to get out of the tour van and do his own thing. Two years and hundreds of home recordings later, Moyle enlisted former Muzzy Pep drummer Luke Bennett along with well known Australian engineer and producer Tim Whitten to get his first solo offering underway. 2006 saw the release of Errol J.M’s debut longplayer The Truth Is Boring, released through Sydney based label Nonzero Records. The first single Zeros and Ones was released as a five track EP along with previously unreleased material which went on to receive glowing reviews and a stack of air time on national and community radio networks. Zeros and Ones also appeared on triple j’s 2006 home and hosed compilation CD. As a result of this unforseen spike in popularity, Moyle decided it to throw together a live line-up and take it to the people (so to speak). Featuring Luke Bennett on drums along with two other close mates and long time rockers, Anthony Frampton and Cameron McKenzie, Errol J.M And The Trade Secrets hit the Aussie indie rock scene sprinting. They spent the following two years working up new material, performing regular pub shows and small festivals up and down the east coast of NSW. In mid 2008, Moyle and now full time band The Trade Secrets returned to the studio for the recording of their ‘difficult second album’. This time with no outside help or label support, the band had little choice other than to write, record and produce the record on their own. The result was a far more live and aggressive sound than the previous release. Flowery layered soundscapes featured throughout The Truth Is Boring were replaced by an intentional and often nasty wall of guitars, a sound in which all members share a mutual passion. Errol J.M And The Trade Secrets’ self titled LP was released in April 2009 via Moyle’s own fledgling label Rack Off Records. Unfortunately, due to numerous barriers, poor management and timing issues, the album received very little attention by the press and radio. Without a publicity budget to jam the album down people’s throats, the band relied heavily on gig sales to push the message through. In early 2010 as a last ditch effort to razz up some attention around the rapidly aging Moyle and 2nd album, the single Fooling Around was chosen and released also as a five track EP with four previously unreleased tunes. After a brief publicity push, the song finally received a small amount of radio and television exposure, resulting in a long overdue boost in spirits. With three of the four band members all expecting children early 2011, it was decided by all members that the band would take a break for the whole of 2011. Moyle welcomed his second child into the world in January. Ooooh Gabrielle! Over the coming months under the hallucinogenic benefits of severe sleep deprivation and a stack of new songs under his belt, Moyle began construction on what would soon become his first true solo effort. With the initial idea of simply laying down rough ideas purely as documentation, it became apparent to Moyle after the completion of the first song, that there was absolutely no reason to edit or add a thing. The first take nature and raw lo-fi impact of the recording struck him as something both real and surprisingly refreshing. It seemed to possess a certain human touch, void of the usual rigid mechanics felt throughout most modern music. Maintaining the same keep-it-real approach throughout the rest of the album helped provide an almost genetic connection from one track to the next, regardless of their often vast differences. All of the songs seem instantly recognisable to each other, in a long lost brother and sister kind of way. Based largely on how suddenly one’s circumstance can be altered by life’s many powerless situations, often affecting the future and in some cases re-writing the past, In The Pocket; In The Bag! is an album charged with quirky clean guitars, rich vocal harmonies, wry humour and a distinct get-on-with-it attitude, concluding with a certain don’t-get-too-comfortable feel.
www.myspace.com/erroljm

The Receptionists

The Receptionists, sisters Alice and Jazz Williams, have been writing and performing together since they learned to be civil to each other in their teens, producing a large catalogue of carefully crafted folk/rock songs with a focus on dynamic vocal harmony.  After growing up in the Bega Valley, Alice and Jazz worked in Melbourne and Sydney before settling for three years in Newcastle, where they developed a strong following through local venue and festival gigs, and received the Broadcaster’s Choice award in the 1233 ABC Music Awards in 2006. Their debut EP will be released in late 2009 through Rack Off Records.

www.myspace.com/receptionists

The Dennis Boys Band The Dennis Boys Band is one of the best things happening in contemporary Australian country music: An important breath of fresh, authentic, country air. In a time when every half-arsed ex-rocker is donning the hat and boots and trying to get themselves on CMC ('Jimmy Barnes sings the hits of Earnest Tubb' must surely be on somebody's whiteboard...), the Dennis Boys are the Real Thing.

The band, comprising three brothers, a sister and a close family friend, have been making music together in one form or another for something like twenty years. In 2004, after years of each of them doing other gigs, they joined forces and seriously got their act together - doing a lot of shows, writing a bunch of songs and using the head start that sibling understanding gives them to turn the band into a formidable live outfit: In 2008 they won the Tamworth festival Battle of the Bands. By miles.

The beauty of the Dennis Boys sound is their originality and their irreverence. The band take classic sounds and put them in a modern context. It makes no sense in the modern era, no matter how red your neck, to pretend that punk and reggae (for example) didn't happen, and the Dennis boys don't, incorporating everything they've been relevantly influenced by into the sound of the band while retaining certain core country music making values, which I suppose would be something like 'let's actually play it and sing it and use clean guitars'. The result is solid earthy songs but with big variety in the rhythmic feels and sophisticated chord changes. Basically, you could hate country music and still really dig the Dennis Boys Band. Conversely, it makes the old school country music lovers happy to hear brand new stuff of the old quality.

All this is made blatantly evident on the Dennis Boys' new recording, 'No Story To Tell'.

Recorded at Col Joye’s Glebe Studio and with the band occasionally augmented by Jeff Mercer (dobro), Jason Walker (pedal steel) and Tim Byron (Hammond) all the sounds that make up the Dennis Boys bag are there: Lyle’s left-handed-upside-down guitar western swingingness; Shane’s syrupy crooning; the lovely Leah’s pure contralto and a rhythm section (Erle and Dave) of startling dynamism. These put to work on skillfully conceived thoughtful songs... This band is going places. Fast.

Listen to the album. Go to the gig. You won’t be hearing the same old three chord beers and tears shit. This is modern country as good as it gets.

www.myspace.com/thedennisboysband