"The 60’s, 70’s, and some of the 80’s, was the golden age of Australian rock and I was lucky to have worked and experienced some of it. In the late 80’s I went back to live playing and joined a band that had a record deal with CBS/ Sony, Wayne Gillespie & the Gallery toured a bit and did some live TV Shows and interviews. The record flopped of course - bad management and a record company that wouldn’t listen! This was very common with bands that were signed in the 80’ and 90’s it’s not so hit and miss today - the bean counters have taken over, everything is formularized planned out, music is more paint by numbers and very corporate with the majors labels."

Born in Sydney Australia, in the mid 60’s. My father was a working jazz guitarist. In my early school years I wasn't interested in guitar but I learned to play a lot of brass instruments - tuba, alto sax, French horns, trombone. I Had a fantastic American exchange teacher for three years who was a serious muso! This guy knew harmony and arrangements, which is rare for a high school music teacher, I think most of them are hopeless!

It wasn’t till I left school I heard the old man playing some nice jazz melody’s and walking bass lines and I thought that was cool. I was about 19 - a late starter on guitar and so I got private lessons for 12 month to build my chops up so I could get excepted into some sort of guitar collage {by the way never get lessons from your parents if they are pro muso’s it's just too painful!}

I got excepted into the guitar academy at Bondi. It was run by two well known Australian jazz guitar players {George Golla and Don Andrews}  I stayed there about two years, studied and practiced hard, and I loved it. I have a deep respect for jazz but I felt it was not quite the music I wanted to dedicate my life to. I then moved on and started to join numerous cover and original bands touring around the country looking for the sign - my holy grail in music, but I never found it in the live scene.

It wasn’t till I got involved in recording studios in the early 80’s I found that these were creative places to hang out and I   teamed up with others writing jingles and learnt to use all the classic vintage gear like old Neve consoles 16 & 24 track 2” machines! There wasn’t even a DAT machine back then, in fact no digital at all.. only a new thing called MIDI was just being mentioned.

The 60’s 70’s and some of the 80’s was the golden age of Australian rock and I was lucky to have worked and experienced some of it. In the late 80’s I went back to live playing and joined a band that had a record deal with CBS/ Sony, Wayne Gillespie & the Gallery toured a bit and did some live TV Shows and interviews. The record flopped of course - bad management and a record company that wouldn’t listen! This was very common with bands that were signed in the 80’ and 90’s it’s not so hit and miss today - the bean counters have taken over, everything is formularized planned out, music is more paint by numbers and very corporate with the majors labels.

So everybody went there own way and that’s when I got the brain storm to build and start my own recording studio Air-raid studios {yeah as if we need another one of these on the planet!} anyway that’s what musicians do. My keyboard partner Kate and I worked Air-raid for about 10 years. We throw all our money into this bottomless pit of a business about $250,000! Recorded everything I think.. about 900 bands went through the place!

It was both hard work and fun and we got to meet a lot of talented people. Then the mid 90’s came and the Mariah Carey and grunge thing was here and I hated it!  It was time to close shop and work on my own stuff plus I was tired of being the gate keeper for 'wonderland' and not able to record my own ideas. See when you have rent to pay on a commercial studio, and an investment that is high maintenance, you become a shop keeper.. musician/songwriter takes the back seat now!

We dismantled air-raid in about 2000 and I brought everything home. That gave us plenty of time to develop Expresso Lane. It took a while to find our sound - lots of arrangements and sound sculpturing! The thing that is worth mentioning is that by the time we finally recorded the “walking through walls” album, we had a situation where the drums were done in a kitchen and mixed in converted bed room! Not very high tech when two years before I had a nice studio! 

I produced the album and did all the tracking but feeling a little too close to it, I contracted  John Sayers to mix… this guy has produced and mixed some of Australia’s most successful bands. It’s 2006 and we are now on the way to finishing our second album!   

Getting to the stage in your writing where you start to have an identifiable sound in your music. A lot of bands don’t do that today . Also when I built Air- raid recording studios that was a lot of fun. I did some tracking for Jackson Browne and his young son Ryan who was in his first recording band.. we even had a channel 7 camera crew!

Young Ryan in front of everyone was instructing dad wearing his a favourite trigger happy t-shirt of Kurt Curbain! It’s not about the lyrics pop, it’s about the beat... that’s what people want here. I'd had enough at this stage, so I went in to the green room to make a cup of tea when I was asked by someone at the end of the room what do you think of Ryan's music (not thinking and putting my foot in with great style) I said 'I think the dynasty stops with Jackson!' It turned out it was Ryan's uncle oops!! It was painful and fun at the same time.. a weird day.

Tom T Hall was another US artist I encountered. I had a great time with this guy and his band. Tom was out here touring with his band and wanted to record a new bunch of songs about the Australian landscape. One was called the 'jacaranda blues' mind you I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this variety of Tree was not native to Australia! (who cares?) Tom wanted to record and he was in my studio. Well everyone turned up that day. Robbie Porter - producer of Air-supply, Singer-Australian-Icon of the 60’s Cole Joye, and one would-be agent/promoter!

Well when It came to do Tom's vocal parts he was missing! See Tom, like the rest of us, likes a drink! So he found my half bottle of scotch and being a true rock legend didn’t disappoint me! So here’s me and the band brewing up the strongest coffee we could find. (By the way I got in to trouble for leaving the Scotch out I’m still trying to work that one out!) At that stage, I needed a drink or three that was a great day and one of my favorite studio experiences... I cant wait to be rich and famous!               

I don’t! I take it out on everyone around me. HA, HA. Well I try not to.. but in this business it is hard to stay the consummate optimist!

Yeah! Be born to big rich rock star parents!

I was in the studio with Garry {Drummer} laying down some new drum tracks for a tune on the next album.

“walking through walls” album track 6 “We can go from there” I like the reggae calypso vibe it works well.

When writing: Guitar, Strat running through a version 2 pod. Cort curbo bass, an old Roland D-70 and a 88 key Roland RS9.. I midi this up with Steinberg’s The Grand.  Like most folk I record in the digital DAW world but not totally. Still like to keep a analogue chain in there!

My front end is 2x Neve v-1 series pre amps and 16x 1978 MCI jh 500 pres. Rosetta 800s and RME adi-8 analogue digital converters monitors near fields Roger Questeds. Urie LA 4 compressors. 2X P4 3.2 GIG Computers with UAD-1 Cards audio programs Acid pro 6 and Nuendo 3.2

I’m a guitar junky I have owned some classic guitars 1961 es345 Gibsons, Charlie Christian 1940’s acoustic Gibson, 60’s Gibson Birdland.  I play a 40th anniversary Strat at the moment and it does the job fine. I Also like the drums when they are tuned and miked up well.

Yep it was a live gig I was 16 a reading job in front of 300 people I thought I was a good enough reader  until I look at it 15 mins before the gig most of it was above the staff lines went a nice beetroot red under prepared heaps of reading mistake!

I don’t listen to much music these days. I think I would just do a little fishing and go with the piece and quiet of the island!

Enemy of the state, secret files of the inquisition, Pool Junkies, Tucker, MI-3

I would prefer not to meet any of them - I might not like what I would find. So I’ll just keep playing their records {ignorance is bliss!}

Well it’s November 2006 and I would love the Australian liberal party to fall in to a black hole. I’m not greedy - the one wish is fine the arts to them is like a wooden stake to a vampire!

I was on Risa and I was surrounded by 20 voluptuous Orion slave girls it was awfull!!! Hey I’m a Star Trek nut!

I think you might get frustrated and bored with me I can get very distracted and frivolous with my time music can take a back seat sometimes. Love watching movies and playing snooker too much!

I had a Melbourne cup gig to do. {Important Australian horse racing day televised world wide}

Well if it was that quick… dress casual grab my axe. And buy the rest of what I needed when settled!

Finish the new album; keep trying to get some interest o/s for a tour finish the new web site for Kerry Leigh & Expresso Lane!