Playing the Excelsior last night gave me some pause to reflect on my experience joining this interesting group.

The Street Art of Newtown

Posted on Jun 01, 2010 - 07:08 AM

Posted on Jun 04, 2010 - 09:16 AM

It’s a great feeling. You’ve finished your set. We don’t tease the people. We know they would like another song. We don’t go off stage and there’s no band room anyway at this place. The crowd feel good and they want to keep the feeling. The music is appreciated and it’s the thankyou that everybody is giving out to each other and for themselves. There’s a lot of positive energy in the room.

We launch into ‘Dum Dum’ a bright happy song in G Major. Lots of well amplified acoustic guitar and a driving base and drum beat. ‘Poppy’’Maybe that is the best way to describe it? Christian’s violin comes in with the intro theme and bears down into the heart of the song where the vocals come in.

The song ebbs and flows, a bit of triumphal trumpet in the middle, a big chorus and the coda. It all ends on a big G chord, resolving the song and the night clearly. The space allows some applause, thank you’s from us and that is the show.

It’s also our Bassist Garry’s last night with El Duende (the band) after an extended run. It’s not goodbye, just change, bands evolve, lives change, the show goes on. He is a funny guy, Scottish heritage, long term Aussie, experienced with a lot of groups. A healthy cynicism at gigs, edged with a wicked sense of humour. Another one of those great people, who make playing music, the life affirming activity that it is. Garry’s been in it from the beginning, so in every respect he has paid his dues as musician, comedian and friend to all.

El Duende

The name El Duende is from the Spanish concept ‘Duende’ used in the Spanish performing arts.  It has to do with emotion, expression and authenticity, though it is rather vague. It’s like that quality you can’t quite put your finger or definition on. The feelings in life that there are no words for.

I think El Duende started around early 2003. Daniel Morphett guitarist and songwriter from the Craven Fops, was guesting with the Cannanes and they hatched a plan to put together a band.

Daniel had been a set designer and had/has become a really great online/web developer. Often at rehearsal we’ve been able to swap tips on music and technology in the same pre-gig and rehearsal situation and I get a lot out of that. A back injury had taken him out of the set design game and after his recovery and some study he was keen to launch a new group.

Eventually he met drummer John Fenton (from Crow) at a gig, Garry (Bassist) through his wife Nicky as they had both been in Tactics. With Steve (Hairy) from the Cannanes and Penny from the Hoohhahs, they started El Duende.

To quote Daniel Morphett

“We played early gigs at the Townie and the Warren View Hotel in Enmore, which weren’t the best sound systems, but they were nice and intimate. There was no separation between audience and band, which is the way I’ve always liked it best. I was so happy to be in a band again that I nearly crashed my car the day after our second gig. I was driving down a country freeway, and I suddenly got so giddy with joy that I had to stop the car.”

The primary strength of the band is Daniel’s song writing ability. They are beautiful. As a band we are a bit ‘indie’ not trying to make the most extremely polished performance but communicate the song. So sometimes they vary or bits get added in, left out or changed in real time. They have structure and parts that won’t sound right if we don’t all arrive at the same time, though there is some flexibility.

Chance encounters

I had come back from working overseas primarily in the US and Europe. No matter how well you do, if you are driven by growth and experience, you are open to change. I was feeling like a blank piece of paper. I did plenty of work type things, had dinner with friends etc etc…but I wanted to something different and I just didn’t know what that was.

I was walking down George Street in Sydney and saw a trumpet in the window of one of the hock shops. I looked a bit closer and realised it was a Holton ST208/MF one of the trumpets designed for Holton by legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson **. This was an amazing horn and I was wondering what it was doing in this shop. Even better there was a price tag on it of $1500 for an instrument that was worth, I think, about 3 times that price.

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