tag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:/blogs/great-comments-from-some-of-bryn-s-keyboard-heroesGreat comments from some of Bryn's keyboard heroes2024-01-03T13:54:14+11:00Manchild and the Blues Kidsfalsetag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:Post/73274652024-01-03T13:54:14+11:002024-01-03T13:54:14+11:00Winners of the Australian National Busking Championships!<p>So this post is somewhat late, however since winning the Australian National Busking Championships in Cooma before Christmas we haven't stopped! We actually won the ‘Best Band’ Category and the kids won the ‘Secondary Schools’ category which was amazing. The awards were presented by Dicko an<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/022a7e5f0112ddc73ea3dd1506b32bc2c68e1875/original/img-0671.jpg" class="size_l justify_right border_" />d Tara Moss who were both unbelievably approachable and supportive with lots of wonderful thigs to say about us and the kids and fantastic advice for what to do next. The boys also got to Jam on Red House with LilG and chat to her which was really nice to see kids who all really love music getting to playing together. We also got to play at the after party which was surreal and met lots of talented people who again were all really supportive. Our thanks goes out to the committies who organise these events and the Judges who have to choose winners which can't have been easy. When we posted a clip from the after party of Charlie singing a Brian Mitchell Band song, the amazing New York Organ Player actually posted on our facebook page to say how impressed he was! Wow! Overall it was an amazing weekend away with the family, it was particularly nice as my parents were able to join us and cheer the kids on. I'll post more soon as we have lots more exciting news to come.<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/542cba65b81d2a2700aa6c06233c43e50155f41f/original/img-0677.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/859def4eaadef5f17d80c45e1470cc9cd0046b95/original/bff9c72b-37e5-48cb-a0d7-151b5b4429c0.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/dff08572b51dfbbecc10517904c3fa6bcc11f813/original/winner-best-band-busking-champs-tile.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Manchild and the Blues Kidstag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:Post/73007612023-11-20T10:44:05+11:002023-11-20T10:45:17+11:00Busking, Busking and more Busking!<p>Its been a couple of months of busking for us as we headed into the <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/braddoncollective" data-link-type="url">Braddon Busking festival</a>. We have been focusing on getting the kids to learn harmonies which has been challenging but extremely rewarding. After seeing the <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/DreamsTributeShow" data-link-type="url">‘Dreams’ Fleetwood Mac tribute show</a> we learnt a couple of Fleetwood Mac tunes including ‘Go your own way’ which has awesome four part harmonies. We also put together ‘Take it Easy’ by the Eagles and are working on an ELO song. It's great to take the kids on a musical history lesson and show them how the Blues is embedded in many different styles of music. </p><p>The Busking festival was a fantastic day out with the full family band and the kids both competing. This meant that the kids did double duty and sang all day long! The day started with an ABC radio interview and performance which was a great experience before racing back to start the first set. During the day the kids were very excited to be filmed and interviewed by the ABC TV news team and were part of a <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-22/street-performers-take-part-in-canberras-busking-festival/103007974?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web" data-link-type="url">great news story on ABC that evening</a><a data-link-type="url">.</a> It was all worth it as they walked away the under 16 champions and will be performing at the<a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/NationalBuskingChampionships" data-link-type="url"> National Busking Championships</a> in Cooma at the end of November. The full family band also received an invite to compete in the open category in Cooma, which means the boys will be playing six sets, which will be exhausting but awesome! This has also led to doing a support set for the amazing <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/LilG.rocks" data-link-type="url">LilG</a> the <a class="no-pjax" href="/shows" data-link-type="page" data-link-label="Shows">night before the Nationals</a>. The kids are very excited to meet and play with her and to share their love of blues music with someone their own age for a change.</p><p>In other news Bryn got to sing on the big Stage at Floriade with his school Jazz band and was invited to do a duet with his piano Teacher at the 40 fingers piano night last week. He has also been enjoying playing on his new keyboard which replaces the one where the screen no longer works and recalling patches involved a lot of guess work. He is enjoying setting up layers and experimenting with 80's DX7 sounds! My knee continues to get better (very slowly) and the busking gigs may have convinced me that we need a bigger car (going to need a lot of busking gigs to pay that one off). </p>Manchild and the Blues Kidstag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:Post/72501672023-09-05T10:25:56+10:002023-11-09T08:47:48+11:00Knee surgery and a road trip to Winter Blues Fest<p>Bad news first, unfortunately my knee finally failed and needed emergency ACL reconstruction surgery which went well but left me on crutches and needing rest, however that was going to have to wait as we had received an invitation to do some busking sets as part of the <a class="no-pjax" href="https://winterblues.com.au/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Fest</a>. We borrowed Uncle Steve's station wagon and loaded it up.</p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/27640bdb468a8658cd76cb16fd41348cbf07ee57/original/img-0004.jpeg/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p><p>Onto the good news. We left Canberra Friday afternoon, stayed in Albury overnight and arrived in Echuca for the Festival on Saturday morning. None of us had been to Echuca before and we were all in awe of what a great little tourist town it is and the awesome organisation that goes into their blues festival. Our first set was outside the <a class="no-pjax" href="https://echucachocolatecompany.com.au/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">Echuca Chocolate Company</a> where we had an amazing crowd who danced, sang along and gave the kids lots of positive support. It was a wonderful experience for us to play with the kids in such a positive environment where people genuinely appreciated what we were doing and where through our little family band we could noticeably add joy to peoples lives. It was one of our best gigs but <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/3b293bba7a708f3d40ee7a42197285d8cd94c57a/original/img-0009.jpg/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" />we actually had lots of new things going on. It was Charlie's first gig on a cut down cajon kit, he played cajon with a kick pedal, snare and hats and did an amazing job, especially for a thirteen year old. I had a new small mixer that I had picked up the day before we left when I realised the regular mixer wouldn't fit in the car! We also played several songs for the first time with a focus on harmonies. Songs like CCR ‘Down on the Corner’ and the Eagles ‘Take it Easy’ as well as some 70's rock tunes the boys had learnt like Supertramp ‘Logical Song’ and ELO ‘Mr Blue Sky’ which were all really well received. We didn't think we'd be able to top Saturday but on Sunday we played outside<a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/VintageVinylRecordsEchuca/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"> Vintage Vinyl Records</a> we initially thought that the area was too small and we would have to be really quiet but it turned out to not be an issue. We had an even bigger crowd who were even more supportive and incredibly generous with their tips. The whole family was buzzing after the show from the sheer number of people that came up to talk to us and offer us encouragement - thank you, it really means a lot to us. As they had done all weekend the kids saved their poor old dad's knee and packed the car up. After which we could listen to the end of 19-twenty's set which was great. Other awesome bands that we got to hear through the weekend included, Owen Campbell, Doc Halibut, <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/e0386b7ff3dc231e5843840b918d4eff66d1f37b/original/img-0016.jpeg/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Smokestack Rhino, Lloyd Spiegel, Rory Phillips, Hat Fitz and Cara, Matt Katsis, The Sunbears and more it was a fantastic lineup. Also we will be forever thankful to Dwayne Jenkins who shared a <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/LachyDoley/posts/pfbid0qpNsoXjUiywidUTLST91s22CgnTFjLch3ydTHjjRH3TToSF6qyEpFC3ryAxxTkBRl%20" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">video</a> of us plying on Saturday and tagged the awesome Lachy Doley who shared it to his many amazing fans who managed to rack up over 16,000 views! Wow! Overall an amazing weekend and we can't wait to come back next year.<a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.facebook.com/LachyDoley/posts/pfbid0qpNsoXjUiywidUTLST91s22CgnTFjLch3ydTHjjRH3TToSF6qyEpFC3ryAxxTkBRl%20" target="_blank" data-link-type="url"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/291667ec91a91e355b44a589a1f715fdbbbf03a1/original/img-0037.jpeg/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></a><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/664301/1045008e4f8146d037f4bc3db78d0e15a858b615/original/img-0029.jpeg/!!/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>Manchild and the Blues Kidstag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:Post/72186772023-06-02T10:29:31+10:002023-08-01T11:02:29+10:002023 has some exciting events coming up for us<p>So far this year we have played at the Dickson Taphouse, The Old Canberra Inn and Hippo Co. and it was awesome to see so many of our friends and fans supporting us. We have a big announcement which is that we will be supporting Owen Campbell at the Harmonie German Club in October. Get your tickets here <a class="no-pjax" href="https://events.humanitix.com/owen-campbell-and-the-cosmic-people-the-zeppelin-room">https://events.humanitix.com/owen-campbell-and-the-cosmic-people-the-zeppelin-room</a> In Case you can't tell we are really excited for this one! Thanks again to K1 and K2 at the Canberra Blues Society for their continued support. Hope to see you all there. In Other news both the kids are away on musical camp in preparation for putting on their school musical next month. Bryn is reprising his primary school role as the Tinman in The Wizard of Oz and Charlie will be playing drums in the band.</p><p><img src="https://harmonieclub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CBS-Event-poster-Owen-Campbell-scaled.jpg" class="size_m justify_inline border_" /></p>Manchild and the Blues Kidstag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:Post/71196662023-06-02T10:29:18+10:002023-06-02T10:40:08+10:00November 2022 Wow! - what a month<p>WOW! - that's the only way to describe the last month (November 2022). Its started with my Uncle asking me if I'd heard of a guy called 'John Mayer' and if we could learn a song of his for him which we have done. Then it was into the Australian Blues Festival at Goulburn where we were able to play a full set at the Goulburn club despite Bryn feeling ill and vomiting during the day - another important teaching moment about the show must go on! We managed to catch up with some old friends, thanks to Matt Ross for reminding me that it was nearly thirty years ago we went to Uni together in Lismore - WOW! The kids were particularly impressed with the High School funk band and Minnie Marks was amazing. It was a great event and we hope to be part of it again next year. The following week we were all excited to see Matt Schofield and he didn't disappoint! The Chris Harland Band did a great support set which got everyone revved up and then when Matt came on it was incredible - the kids particularly enjoyed "livewire' as having played the song they had an understanding of just how good Matt and his band are. We topped off the night by buying some merch and having a chat with Matt where Bryn told him that he will remember that gig for the rest of his life! (me too!) - WOW! But there was no time for resting as we were back at the awesome Harmonie German Club the following night for the annual 'Fifty Fingers Blues Piano' night where Canberra's best blues pianists duel it out in a fun session that feels casual however the talent on display is amazing. The highlight for Bryn was being asked to accompany his teacher John Black on a blues in G - WOW! Technically this next one was in December but was so awesome I can't wait to write about it. On Friday 2nd December we all went to see Lachie Doley Group play at the HGC and they blew our minds. Charlie said it was 'even better than Matt Schofield'! The band was on fire, and Lachie's playing was out of this world. This was the kids first time seeing a real Hammond organ and leslie speaker - they were impressed. Charlie was floored by Jackie Barnes' drum solo and grooves. We were all amazed with the dynamics, feel and harmonies! November 2022 is a month we will all remember. Thankfully December only has a couple of Christmas party/Jam sessions to go to but we also have to get ready for some great gigs in January. </p>Manchild and the Blues Kidstag:manchildandtheblueskids.com,2005:Post/70763262022-10-07T15:14:21+11:002022-12-09T14:31:23+11:00House move complete - now back to music<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/664301/fcca9b771e7a2fbcca37f898368f6b0b163068cc/original/img-8632.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The last 2 months have been hectic to say the least, however we are in our new house and the rehearsal room has been set up. Term four is going to be busy playing and also attending some great gigs. We are playing the Monday night blues @ Hippo Bar on Halloween (Monday 31st October) from 8 - late, and have a private dinner function in Sydney the following week. We are excited to play at the Australian Blues Festival in Goulburn on Friday November 18th at 6pm @ the Goulburn Club to kick off the open Mic night. In the next month or two we are looking forward to seeing The Bondi Cigars, Matt Schofield Trio and Lachy Doley! Wow what a couple of months it's going to be.</p>
<p> </p>Manchild and the Blues Kids