Reluctant Friends of Steve
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Reluctant Friends of Steve

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The best kept secret in music

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"THERE'S MUSIC IN THEM THERE MOUNTAINS"

Interview by Michael Smith

Early in the career of Mel Gibson, he starred in Peter Weir's seminal film about Australia's baptism of fire in WWI, Gallipoli. His co-star was another young actor named Mark Lee, who recently completed directing his first full feature film, The Bet and has just begun work on something a little different.



STEVE STOCKTON and company chat to MICHAEL SMITH

A former musician himself, Lee found himself intrigued by two bands from the Blue Mountains - Blue Swimmers and Reluctant Friends Of Steve - and decided to make a documentary about them. To most readers of course, both bands are unknown quantities, so a little background if you please, from singer, songwriter, guitarist and the "reluctant" Steve Stockton.

"At the demise of my last band, Thumping Buzzard, I came upon an old school friend, didge player Kevin Fox- and I was going down to the city to see a friend's band who were launching their CD and breaking up that night, and Kev drove round and we jammed and I couldn't believe how well his didge went with my 12-string. At the gig I was telling [drummer] Dave [Alexander], whose own band The Flaming Barstools had just broken up, about the sound Kev and I had got together and he suggested a jam. So we organised Sound Level for a jam with six or seven friends, and two months later we had our first gig, with nine or ten original songs, at the Royal in Springwood, a charity gig to raise money for the Children's Hospital.

"Kev suggested we call ourselves The Reluctant Singles, I suggested something sillier but liked the word “reluctant”, and someone suggested my name should be in there, to which I said it was all my friends that were helping to make the sound and thought it was bit too pretentious. So the Kev Introduced us as during a gig as “Reluctant Friends Of Steve."

While Stockton and the band might have started the whole thing in a playful mood, the fact that they found their audiences in Sydney's Blue Mountains open to their initially quirky, sometimes whimsical original material allowed them to release those originals, first on last year's You Mist It.... and now the more focused Mirrors Of The Past.

[Lead guitarist] Ian [Duncan, ex-Barstools] used to work as a studio tech at Festival and organised his own equipment, with which, we put into a house and turned it into a temporary recording studio. It worked really well. When we were deciding what to record for release, Dave said, 'A band with one CD has credibility, but a band with two CDs has even more credibility.' So we recorded enough properly for two CDs, at roughly the time,"

The fellow Blue Mountains-based Blue Swimmers also features a five-piece lineup of extensively experienced musicians, writing and recording original material in a more straightforward blues-rock vein, based around the guitar of Steve Mann, who have released one self-titled album and are soon releasing their second. So, having introduced the bands. I wondered how they found themselves the subject of a forthcoming documentary?

"Both bands have a similar attitude," Stockton continues. [Blue Swimmers guitarist, keyboards player and singer] Phil Johnson's been really good friends with Mark Lee - they used to play in bands together and made a CD together three or four years ago - and I must admit I don't really get it but Mark seems to

feel that it's quite we're still playing and writing music and making CDs and organising gigs when a lot of people our age [the ages of the various members range from late 30s to mid 50s] would have given up. To me I don't see where the story is. If you're a musician, you must keep doing it. That's what you do,"

Perhaps the real story, as Lee follows the two bands through two weeks of gigs from the Mountains to the sea and back, from rehearsals to bumping out, interviewing members and their audiences, will turn out to be not the fact that players remain players for as long as they can since that's what they do, but the fact that there's on extraordinarily healthy live original music scene and community barely two hours outside Sydney in those Blue Mountains, sustaining players 16 to 66 and beyond.

"Most of the people we played with at the Excelsior [in Surry Hills] in the'90s." Duncan chips in. "have all moved up and are living here now! Even Doc Neeson just lives up the road."

- Drum Media


"Review of "Mirrors Of The Past" by Morris Bryant."

On their second album, Springwood’s own Reluctants (also known as The Rels) brilliantly capture the overwhelming enjoyment one might witness at their live concerts – these guys just love to play.

At first sounding uniquely Australian with perhaps a touch of gypsy influence on the opening track ‘Must Be Dreaming’, The Rels almost create a new genre for every song before the amazing acoustic track ‘Contemplating Running Amok’ completes the album.

Drawing on influences of rock, blues, Celtic-folk, and incorporating a ‘mean little recorder’, didjeridu and 12-string guitar, Mirrors Of The Past is a tight, original release, both musically and lyrically, and no mean feat for an independently recorded and released album.

From the amusing ‘Frankenstein’s Daughter’ to ‘By The Time’, which sounds much like the Rolling Stones with a didge, it soon becomes obvious on Mirrors Of The Past why these guys never cease to draw a crowd and will continue to play a major role in local music.

Interview between Morris, Ian and Steve.

MB: How would you describe your music?

ID: We came up with the genre of Celtic-blues with a didjeridu, or Celtic-F0lk, depending on who we’re trying to impress.

SS: The last gig we did at the Royal, it was huge – we put the ‘err’ in folk.

ID: We used to all play rock back in the 80’s and 90’s, now we’re trying to get away from that and experiment with different genres and have a lot of fun really!

MB: What do you enjoy most about playing music in the Mountains?

ID: Berating Steve. It’s just good people, the crowd ain’t agro – people actually smile.

MB: Are there any particular musicians in the Mountains you admire?

ID: Everyone except Steve.

SS: Doctor And The Badman are great, just real good fun.

MB: Out of interest Ian, what is the effect you do on the recorder in the opening track, ‘Must Be Dreaming’?

ID: It’s imitating a cat with a purring sound that comes out like a trill.

MB: What would be The Rels biggest musical achievement?

ID: The Metro of course, but just releasing two professional, factory-made albums is pretty great.

MB: What inspires you to play music in the Mountains?

ID: Not Steve. Steve is writing the majority of the material, and it’s really good stuff, but don’t tell him I said that. What inspires you Steve?

SS: I really enjoy melodies, that’s what grabs me first of all. I like interesting stories; stories that have a twist.

ID: We put the twist in, doesn’t always have to be a knife, but we put a twist in. No one actually dies in our songs, Frankenstein’s daughter’s made of spare parts, but that’s ok.


- Blue Mountains Gazette


"A wonderful letter from Dr Dan"

Dear Steve and those who reluctantly call him a friend...

On behalf of The Children's Hospital at Westmead and The Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust I am writing to thank you for you marvellous contribution to our Christmas fundraising event at Jenolan Caves on the 15th December.

The major goal of The Festival that we have just held at Jenolan was not only to celebrate Christmas, and to showcase the local talent and business in the Blue Mountains and Central West, but most importantly, raise much needed funds for research into the causes and cures of cancer in children. As the Festival coordinator I hope you enjoyed having the opportunity to help us raise funds by performing to the visitors both around the valley and within the Lucas and Nettle Caves.

I must admit however, that I was quite concerned when you came to me at the end of the day claiming that you were 'stuffed'! and I admit, you did look exhausted from the day. Being the scientist that I am, I deduced from your comments that The Rels could have only got into this physical state for 2 possible reasons. Firstly, you were incredibly unfit, and have spent too much time enjoying the pubs and clubs you play in!! However, upon reflection, many of our guides are well into their 50's and 60's - which I gather is somewhat older that members of The RELS - and they bound up the stairs into those caves 4 or 5 times a day without so much as breaking a sweat! So, as going through the caves with all you instruments couldn't have been that hard (!), the only other reason why you were 'buggered' was because of all the effort The RELS put into your performances - busking around the valley and serenading the visitors from the highest points in the caves, to the edge of the Blue Lake at the bottom of the valley.

Can I commend The RELS for a marvellous effort during the day, for the your enthusiasm when you performed and for adding considerably to the 'vibe' that was created that day. All up the 6 busking troups made $826.50 between them, with The RELS making $197 of those and all from small coin donations - and only just missed out on the prize of a days recording time at Blue Mountains Sound by only $9 (next time - bring the fan club!). All up, we estimate the entire day raised around $11,000 for cancer research at The Children's Hospital at Westmead. A fine effort, done with a magnificent spirit - The RELS will be welcome back to Jenolan and CHW any time!

Cheers

Dr Dan
------------------------------------------
Dr Dan Catchpoole (PhD)
Head, Tumour Bank
The Oncology Research Unit
The Children's Hospital at Westmead - On behalf of The Children's Hospital at Westmead


Discography

You Mist It
Mirrors of the Past
Come On Down Under
CD4... WIP almost complete

Photos

Bio

From Mother Wombat....

How do you describe a band like
"Reluctant Friends of Steve"?

Well, that’s not an easy task, because you can’t compare this band with any one particular genre. It doesn’t take long to discover that these guys are engaging, talented, seasoned individuals.

The first time I heard the band live my thoughts were, “Wow. They’re completely original. Refreshing. Different.” As luck would have it, they were available when I was looking to book a band for a corporate event at the City to Surf 2006. The show went off with a bang, leaving a huge impression on the audience of over 200 people . It occurred to me that this band must be a real find when I discovered Actor/Director Mark Lee was in the process of filming a documentary about them, as he shot footage of the gig.

Shortly afterward, I got their two CD releases and listened more closely. They revealed superbly crafted songs and intricately layered stories within. It proved to be fate, because the Reluctants (Rels, for short) were looking for a new manager and engaged me not long after.

So back to the original question - would you call them Blues? Folk? Rock? Acoustic? Indie? Country? Probably all of those things and more, because each song in their repertoire is like a different exotic dish, some hot & spicy, others cool and laid back. Maybe the best thing to do is to give you a taste and let you decide, so enclosed is a selection of their music. Hopefully you’ll find them as fascinating as I do, and become a friend of Reluctant Friends of Steve.