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THE WILDE ONES
THE WILDE ONES Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes release their second album of the year, a ‘singer song writer’s science project.’ By Denise Hylands
When I spoke to a hopeful Lachlan Bryan about the year ahead and everything coming back to life things were looking for the live scene. But just a few days later we were in and out of lockdowns with only a glimmer of hope. Lachlan Bryan and his band The Wildes, who we featured just a couple of months ago with a new live album, have just released a new studio album recorded just before the craziness, appropriately titled As Long As It’s Not Us. “We recorded most of it and wrote most of it in 2019, and the very start of 2020,” says Bryan. “In fact, we finished tracking a few days before COVID became a reality. We’ve since messed with it a bit, so some of it is actually very recent. The good thing is, we had a break from it and coming back and listening to it in the mixing and mastering process, it feels fresh to us. Some of the songs have kind of taken on new meaning.” Is it like listening back in time? “Yeah. I hate to lean on the cliche,” he replies, “but this was a record that was kind of written, or at least my contributions to it, were written when I was kind of going through some stuff. And in a way, having a year and a half of standing still, it’s helped deal with personal things. But there’s some hopeful things in there as well. Out of all the records that we’ve made, this is probably the most hopeful and the most hopeless” Bryan has called this album, ‘a singer songwriter’s science project’. “There’s some things that we experimented with, that we haven’t before,” he explains. “It’s been a bit of a ‘get in the room and play the songs’ kind of album band. Whereas this one, I think the arrangements are a little bit more complex: we’ve used drum machines, drum loops, and we’ve explored the depth of our effects pedals a little bit more than we have before. I love country music, but I think that we’ve sort of stretched the definition of country music or Americana music or whatever we do, with this one, for sure.” Bryan has also said that he is “inviting people to experience the highs and lows with us.” “When I say I want the listener to share the experiences, I certainly don’t want to depress them,” he says. “There’s got to be a little bit of hope or a little bit of humour in there somewhere, otherwise I wouldn’t get through those waves myself, and I think most of us are like that. “It’s a really strange phenomenon too, as a listener, that when you feel sad, putting on happy music doesn’t work. When you’re low, you have to listen to other people. I don’t know. Maybe we just want to know that other people have felt as bad as we feel right now. And at the same time, the other thing works as well when you’re on a high. When you’re feeling something, you kind of want a soundtrack to match it. It’s not to change what you’re feeling, it’s to kind of heighten it. Introduce us to The Wildes.
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“The one person that’s been with me the whole time, is Shaun Ryan on the bass. So, he’s kind of like my rock, in the band. He’s the greatest guy to be in a band with. He’ll sleep on anyone’s floor. He’ll drive through the night. He’ll stay up, working on ideas for all hours, weeks in a row. I can’t speak highly enough about him. Damian Cafarella, who produces the records and sometimes plays drums for us. He’s mostly a guitar player. He and I run a studio together, which has been a godsend in these times, that we’ve been able to keep making music. Damian plays for a bunch of different people. He’s a great multi-instrumentalist. And, Riley Catherall is the other permanent member of the band now, who is a great young emerging artist in his own right.” For this new album, The Wildes have been incorporated in being able to make contributions to the songwriting. “Riley and Shaun wrote a song together,” notes Bryan. “They have a real songwriting partnership within the band. Then, I write with Damien and I write with Shaun as well. So, the writing process has become more democratic as time’s gone on, which is really nice. I really enjoy bringing in other people’s ideas. And I guess, because I get to sing it, it always comes down to how closely I relate to it. But I think we’re all moulding into the same person now, so it’s not hard to relate to these songs at all. Yet another songwriting partner in Tim Rogers co-wrote the title track with Bryan. “Well Tim is, in my experience, one of the great gentlemen really, of Australian music,” says Bryan. “I don’t know if he wants people to know this, but he’s very generous with his time and his talent. And we wrote that song in kind of several stages. We’d kind of made the decision to write a song together, but both realised that we don’t really have a technique to make that happen. So, we kind of sent voice messages back and forth. And I had kind of just started that song, and then I’d wake up in the morning and he’d written a verse in the middle of the night and sent it to me, and it kind of came together like that.” As Long As It’s Not Us is the name of the new album that marks 10 years as Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes. “Well, we actually have a weird plan,” adds Bryan. “We’re not going to tour. We’re doing, Out On The Weekend, Dashville Skyline, if it happens, hopefully. We’ve got our fingers crossed. We’re actually going to be filming our record launch at the Palais, to no one. It’s going to be a crowd of zero. When people buy the album, they get the concert. I’m kind of a wannabe short filmmaker, so I’m writing and directing a little short film around that, but not really about us. It will be more about my friends trying to survive as musicians at the moment in an uplifting way, something that’ll mark these times. I hope that this is not something that we ever go through again, but I think it might be an interesting thing to look back on and go, “Wow, that weird thing happened for a couple of years, that was totally different. Hopefully, I can capture that in a way that is nice to look back on, rather than feeling like we went through a war or something.”
SONNY BURGESS SONNY BURGESS ROCKS SONNY BURGESS SONNY BURGESS ROCKS
CD digipac • 36-page booklet • 29 tracks • BEAR FAMILY BCD 17629 CD digipac • 36-page booklet • 29 tracks • BEAR FAMILY BCD 17629 ● ● SONNY BURGESS SONNY BURGESS ROCKSThe first cross-label CD compilation of Sonny Burgess' recordings from the fifties to the new millennium! The first cross-label CD compilation of Sonny Burgess'
CD digipac • 36-page booklet • 29 tracks • BEAR FAMILY recordings from the fifties to the new millennium! BCD 17629 ● From SUN RECORDS rarities to sessions with The Blasters’ Dave ● ● The first cross-label CD compilation of Sonny Burgess' Alvin –a virtual time travel through several exciting rock eras. From SUN RECORDS rarities to sessions with The Blasters’ Dave Alvin –a virtual time travel through several exciting rock eras. ● ● ● recordings from the fifties to the new millennium! From SUN RECORDS rarities to sessions with The Blasters’ Dave Alvin –a virtual time travel through several exciting rock eras. Featuring, most importantly, Sonny's terrific version of My Heart Is Achin' For You, a chart hit for Rosie Flores, written by James Intveld. Featuring, most importantly, Sonny's terrific version of My Heart Is Achin' For You, a chart hit for Rosie Flores, written by James Intveld. ● ● ● Featuring, most importantly, Sonny's terrific version of My Heart Is Achin' For You, a chart hit for Rosie Flores, written by James Intveld. Finally as a bonus track, a rare US 'Live On Stage' recording with Larry 'Honey Bun' Donn (late 1950s/early '60s) –a perfect example of the pioneer rocker’s pure energy! Finally as a bonus track, a rare US 'Live On Stage' recording with Larry 'Honey Bun' Donn (late 1950s/early '60s) –a perfect example of the pioneer rocker’s pure energy! ● Finally as a bonus track, a rare US 'Live On Stage' recording with
Larry 'Honey Bun' Donn (late 1950s/early '60s) –a perfect example of the pioneer rocker’s pure energy!
CLEVELAND CROCHET & THE SUGAR BEES HILLBILLY RAMBLERS AND SUGAR BEES CLEVELAND CROCHET & THE SUGAR BEES HILLBILLY RAMBLERS AND SUGAR BEES
2-CD digipac • 36-page booklet • 38 tracks •BEAR FAMILY BCD 17598 2-CD digipac • 36-page booklet • 38 tracks •BEAR FAMILY BCD 17598 ● ● CLEVELAND CROCHET & THE SUGAR BEES HILLBILLY RAMBLERS AND SUGAR BEES Complete recordings 1954-1963 of the cajun fiddler. Complete recordings 1954-1963 of the cajun fiddler. ● ● 2-CD digipac • 36-page booklet • 38 tracks •BEAR FAMILY BCD 17598 Featuring solo tracks from Sugar Bees band members Shorty LeBlanc and Jay Stutes. Featuring solo tracks from Sugar Bees band members Shorty
LeBlanc and Jay Stutes.
● ● ● ● Complete recordings 1954-1963 of the cajun fiddler. Featuring solo tracks from Sugar Bees band members Shorty Includes a 36-page booklet with liner notes by Cajun expert Michael Hurtt with further input from Chris Strachwitz. Includes a 36-page booklet with liner notes by Cajun expert Michael Hurtt with further input from Chris Strachwitz.
LeBlanc and Jay Stutes.
● Includes a 36-page booklet with liner notes by Cajun expert
