News Archive

Thursday July 3rd, 5am-ish, all 14 of us meet at Perth Airport ready to take on the eastern seaboard. After 2 slammin’ gigs in Perth we are excited about how the band is feeling and sounding but a little nervous about how it will be received by new audiences.

Percy Landers joins us from Melbourne to fill the Trombone 1 chair, as Catherine is unfortunately unwell to travel. She needs to rest and get well so she can take off to the States to study with Jim Pugh in early August. It was a difficult call but one that was in her best interest for her future plans.

Long flight to Melbourne - short stop - another long flight sees us arrive in Brisbane at 4.30pm. We pick up 2 vans and negotiate our way to the first venue – Jazzworx! Club. Jazzworx was started by Dan Quigley, son of Greg, who held jazz summer camps all over the country in the 80’ and 90’s. Dan’s aim is to give Brisbane what the Brisbane Jazz Club doesn’t always – modern jazz for a listening audience. The audience was with us and we responded. Great room.

Our accommodation was above “Birdie Num Num” – Brisbane’s loudest nightclub. We stayed there until Monday. Accommodation highlights…
DJ starts Saturday morning 10am.
Girl being arrested Saturday night on the steps as we load in our equipment after gig. Fortitude Valley is were it’s at!

Friday July 4th we have the day off, look around Brisbane, visit friends and family etc. Friday night we party.

Saturday July 5th, after being waken by Birdie Num Num’s finest DJ, we prepare for the drive to Lismore. We pick up another Trombonist – Shane Hannan – to fill Percy’s chair while he performs in Adelaide and Melbourne. Lucky we had him on board because I hadn’t really researched the route to Lismore too carefully. Shane is a hell of a trombonist and an excellent navigator.

The 3 hour trip dragged out and we made it to Lismore Star-Court Theatre in time for a sound check then a bite to eat. Greg asked for “squid-rings” and the fish and chip shop and the woman thought he was asking for a “squid-drink” – must be the WA accent.

It is a beautiful theatre that seats close to 400 – we filled the first couple of rows and were able to talk with the audience very personally. Not an ideal turn out but that’s the way it was. After the gig we packed up and headed back to Birdie Num Num’s at the same time the police arrived and the lift technician – someone was stuck in the very same lift that we were going to use to get our equipment to the 4th floor. Never a dull moment!

Sunday July 6th we make our way to a picturesque location on the banks of the river at Kangaroo Point where the Brisbane Jazz Club slants. This heritage building sits very close to the edge of the river and threatens to slide into the river on regular occasions. Incredible view. The whole club slants towards the river – anything on wheels rolls toward the balcony. Great turn out. A very varied audience in age, appreciation and understanding. 95% where there for the right reasons and loved it – the other 5% wanted music from Glen Miller, Benny Goodman and various other 1930’s white band leaders. They made their feelings known to me and I made my feelings known to them – despite that they stayed to the end. Shane Hannan blew us away again at this 3 set marathon – I can’t thank Shane enough for his input.

Monday July 7th, morning - Benny C and myself returned the 2 vans, we all checked out of Birdie Num Nums and then got picked up by a bus that then drops us at The Arts Factory Lodge in Byron Bay. From one extreme to the next – The Arts Factory is the real hippy experience. Huge lizards, bush turkeys, dread-locks and bare feet everywhere. We are here until Wednesday – let the relaxing begin. I sleep for 15 hours, regaining colour, pulse, appetite and sanity.

Tuesday July 8th more of the same – go into town eat, look around and relax – Byron is awesome. I do an interview on Bay FM 99.9 with PK – top bloke who loves jazz. I finally get to meet Clare McGregor our publicity machine. Two young Brisbane ladies come down to visit their new friends Brendan Baker and Tim Jago – groupie can be such a dirty word. We all go out and experience what Byron has to offer that night. A pie shop that is open 23 hours a day – they couldn’t tell us which hour they closed – most annoying – great pies.

Wednesday July 9th – The day THE bus arrives. We check out in the morning and take turns in guarding our mountain of equipment and luggage while the others eat, wash clothes and look around some more. Percy Landers joins us for the rest of the tour. 5pm arrives and through the hippy bush landscape emerges the big black bus – what a sight seeing that towering over all those Kombi vans. James, the driver, is already swearing – plenty more of that to come.

You walk up the stairs past the driver and you are in the main lounge room – black leather couches on either side. The huge plasma TV is visible by all. The coffee machine, sink, fridge, freezer and microwave are opposite the toilet. The electric doors are activated by a push button – “pshht” open – “pshhit” closed. This leads us into where the 12 bunk beds are, each with there own DVD player. Another door - “pshht” open – we are in the rear lounge room that seats about 6 with another TV with an X-Box 360 – that got a work out.

We load up the bus and James takes us to the venue – the first of many adventures of “where the hell do you park a bus this size?”

The venue is a nightclub called LIQUID BAR. The night is called Blue Birdy – a jazz night put on every Wednesday.

After being warned on many occasions that the Blue Birdy crowds are unpredictable and not always well attended, especially in winter months, we were pumped to see people flowing in – We packed LIQUID out and the vibe was amazing. From the first big ensemble chord in the opener, “Just Blues”, the audience were with us yelling and screaming. It is a great feeling playing to an audience that not only listens by vocalizes their feelings throughout.

Straight after the gig we had to pack the bus and leave Byron Bay to make sure we got to the next gig in Canberra. We farewelled old and new friends. Tim and Brendan say goodbye to their girlfriends and we hit the road. James drove for 15 hours straight to Canberra while most of us tried to sleep on a bumpy black bus hurtling through the night.

Thursday July 10th – We arrived at the Serbian Club in Mawson ACT, where the Folkus Room is based at about 3pm (left Byron at midnight). We met Bill there and he allowed us to dump our gear and go to the hotel to freshen up.

Because the bus does not have a shower, I had to book a room at a hotel that everyone could shower in. The hotel didn’t know that there were 14 of us in a bus just outside all coming in one at a time to use the showers. After the showers we called 2 taxis to take us to the gig (James had to sleep). One of the drivers was an insane Macedonian guy that was yelling at everyone and pumping his Macedonian music – slamming the breaks in time to the music – oh dear – welcome to Canberra.

Everyone was feeling pretty warn out from the drive but really turned it on when we started playing. It was in a large room and the audience was really spread out, so it was hard to tell exactly how many people were there. We got 2 great reviews from the gig and it was recorded for possible broadcast on the local radio station. Canberra was so cold – I have not experienced anything like that for a long time. I am surprised anyone left their house that night – Thank you Canberra.

James picked us up from the gig and parked the bus in a car park next to the hotel. We stayed the night in Woden. Everyone slept well.

Friday July 11th. 6am we leave Canberra and James takes us to Albury/Wodonga. A cozy 7 hour drive arrives us at our Motel in the afternoon. We were able to park the bus on the premises and not be so sneaky about everything. There was a BBQ there so I went to the butcher and got 3kg of sausages and 50 chicken kebabs for everyone. It was good to eat something that was not from a roadhouse. The guys asked why I bought so much food and then polished it all in about 5 minutes.

We walked around the city a bit. Laughed at different things. Highlights…
A pizza place called Dial-A-Donga.
An adult shop next door to a baby clothing shop.

The venues is The Jazz Basement. A really cool basement in one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen. Graeme Cook runs the venue with buckets of enthusiasm and passion. The Jazz Basement is open one Friday a month and he gets some really great national and international acts to Albury/Wodonga. The community is very lucky to have someone so committed to the jazz cause. His parents run the door and sell CDs. They are all in it for the right reasons and we felt honored to be a part of it. Great crowd – sold out before we got there. Graeme is onto the print and radio publicity – the community is informed and they come to support him and the music – Brilliant.

We stayed in Albury/Wodonga for the night with another early start the next day to get us to Sydney. During the night the bus blew one of the fuses at the motel and I had to wake up the owners. Sorry

Saturday July 12th. 5am we leave Albury/Wodonga to back track up to Sydney. Everyone is pretty stuffed and we all try to sleep on the ever moving bus. James, the driving machine, cranks his country music and is again in good spirits – what a legend! We make it to Sydney, have some dramas with low hanging power cables and finding a place to park the bus. We shower at hotel and deal with painfully happy world youth day pilgrims. I send Tim out to find and amp for the gig while I take Robin to a brass repair guy to fix his third valve that stuffed up a few days ago. Robin was running on 2 valves for a few gigs. We miss the repair guy by half an hour as well as all the brass shops. I blame the pope. Percy is able to organize half a valve trombone that Robin gaffa tapes to the other half of his – priceless.

Ross A’hern is set-up ready to record the gig with loads of gear. The Sound Lounge is a great venue – perfect size – not too big, not too small. The band plays great, even with very little sleep – I don’t know how they do it. I need to listen to what Ross has recorded and see if we can release something from it.

Straight after the gig we pack up the bus and drive all night again to get to Melbourne for a 3pm performance at Bennetts Lane. We were going to be playing at night be they double booked us… long story that does not need to be told now – ask me another time.

Sunday July 13th. The 10 hour drive lands us in Melbourne at about 11am. We are all feeling pretty average as you could imagine. Percy takes off to go home and have a shower etc. We unload all our gear on to the footpath across the road from out hotel on Kings St in Melbourne CBD. A guy approaches us that looks way worse than we feel and is trying to sell us cocaine. Good to be back in Melbourne. James decides that we would rather drive straight back to northern NSW now, than stay the night and get some sleep – he doesn’t want to miss the Super V8 car race thing. Nice to meet you and thank you for all the driving - he’s off.

The hotel lets us check in to 1 of the rooms. Benny and I go and pick up 2 x 12 seaters. After everyone is showered, we head into Bennetts Lane – set up, people arrive and we play. Bennetts was packed to the brim. My 92 y/o grandma came to the gig and love it. That was so cool. Heaps of old friends were there and we had a great time. I could now finally relax because the grueling part of the tour was over. They guys played their asses off over the last few days with very little sleep. Everyone pulled their own weight and co-operated to make sure that we always left and arrived on time. It ran beautifully with no real dramas – A dream come true.

After dinner with my parents and sister on Brunswick St I caught up with guys at The Night Cat and we partied like hell – enough said.

Monday July 14th. I spent the day in bed.

Tuesday July 15th. Today we were able to get Robin’s horn fixed on the way to the ABC TV studios in Elsternwick. This was so much fun. We arrived and there was someone take all our gear into the studio while we where shown to our dressing rooms. I got my own dressing room and the other guys got another – hilarious. They gave us lunch and ironed our shirts – sweet. My shirt didn’t even look that good in the shop when I bought it.

We had to edit 2 tunes down to under 4min each. This was hard to do as most of our music is between 6-8 minutes each. We played “Jelly Belly” and cut the whole middle section out and we played Tilman’s “Where Can I Park My Fist” – cut out the trombone solo and heaps of backings – no repeats. Afterwards I did an interview with Fenella. They needed to prop me up in the chair with pillows. No warnings of questions – bang straight into it. Robin put it up on YouTube.

That night we went out to a chilli house called The Dainty Szechuan and we all molestered our insides with loads of really hot, but oh so tasty food. We all still had our make-up on from the TV shoot – everyone had such a matt complexion – not a shiny face amongst us. We celebrated further that night ending up at all sorts of strange and wonderful places that Melbourne and especially King St has to offer.

Wednesday July 16th. Today is the day that we were supposed to be playing at The Barn Palais in Mt Gambier but due to no community interest or support I cancelled the gig – The Barn actually seemed pleased about this so I am glad we found this out before we got there.

So we spent another day in Melbourne, which was really good for all the guys – so much stuff to see and do. The Art Deco exhibition at the national gallery is amazing. That night we went to an Indian restaurant called “Gay Lords”.

Thursday July 17th. We checked out the hotel and head off for Adelaide at 5.30am. We still had the two 12 seaters which we were dropping off at Adelaide airport. We picked up Percy and then head off for Adelaide. I took a wrong turn and we head back to the city – woops. Turn around and now heading in the right direction – yeah! – 10 hours to Adelaide. Due to the little diversion and a few stops to change drivers and eat, we get to Adelaide at 5pm. We are staying next door to the venue in a shitty hostel (sorry about that guys). We shower, set up and then play. The band went off and really put it on for the last gig of the tour – we did it. A big band national tour – we did it!

Met some great guys and gals in Adelaide. We went out and partied a little – Robin can really dance!

Friday July 18th. Basically everyone was looking forward to getting on the plane and getting home. That is what we did – THE END.

"MFO LIVE" CD Launch

A NEW CD from Perth's best big band - MFO - will be launched in the port city on March 28th at the Swan Basement (201 Queen Victoria St, North Fremantle.)

`MFO LIVE' was recorded at Bennett's Lane during the MFO Victorian Tour (November '06). A string of swinging gigs (Wangaratta Festival, Lebowski's, Section 8, The Potato Shed, QDOS) fired up the band for an outstanding tour finale at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club.

"The outcome was a rare, raw recording that really grabs the energy and intensity of this band in full flight," says Mace. "I was at Bennett's Lane as guest composer/conductor in 2005, and to return with the MFO was a real kick."

The album's nine tracks are all original arrangements/compositions; six from Mace, two by saxophonist by Dan Thorne and another by German composer Ed Partyka.

Solo talent

* All MFO's musicians are noted performers in small group settings around Perth. Their solo talents are used to stunning effect in the MFO.

Instance: Catherine Noblet (trombone) won this year's WAMI Song of the Year Award, and launches her own debut album in April.

Instance: Tim Jago (guitar) recently formed his own quartet, graduating from WAAPA as `most outstanding jazz student' in his final year.

Instance: Callum G'Froerer (trumpet) is only the second-ever winner of the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship (first was Matt Jodrell). Callum is fresh back from performing in New York and Miami.

It's this kind of talent that has thrust the MFO, its dynamic original sounds, its high octane `big band' brass sound, to the forefront of Perth jazz.

MFO's mid-week residency at the Swan Basement (Wednesday, 9pm) is part of a developing arts and performance scene below the traditional pub.

They launch the new `MFO LIVE' with a choice of four different original art covers.

The first Thursday of the month @ the Bakery is the new home of Club EMU (starting in Febuary 2007). Amber and Mr M at artrage are very supportive of the idea and they are looking foward to hearing the great new music that will be produced at their venue.

It was very difficult this year for me to continue with Club EMU because of the loss of venue and all the extra work I took on this year. 2007 is already looking very exciting with this venue and support. Thank you artrage!!!

I am looking foward to seeing you all down at the Bakery - 1st Thursday of the month.

2006 has been a very successful year for MFO - the release of the CD “Introducing the Mace Francis Orchestra”, Chinese Whispers II and the Victorian tour. I want to say a massive thank you to the guys and gals in the band who put in so much time and hard work to make to music sound so good.

The Victorian tour went really, really well. I know I had a little too much fun and would love to do it all the time, but……….

Our performance at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz was only a short one set but we were pumping from the count-in of the first tune. We had a really good time slot – 7.30pm on the Sunday (prime time) – and a large, appreciative audience. Thanks to Graeme Lyall who gave us an awesome plug during his gig, which by the way was incredibly beautiful hour of music that I will never forget.

From Wangaratta we went back to Melbourne to play at Lebowski’s on the Monday. Audience was a little low due to the fact that most of the Melbourne jazz community and listeners were still in Wangaratta, however the audience did out number the band which means it was a success.

Qdos art space in Lorne was our next gig. It is a beautiful gallery in the bush run by Grame Wilkie. We were looked after and again had a great turn out. Thank you to my sister, Cinnamon, for finding that beautiful space a organizing the night.

On the Friday we held a workshop for the Gordon Institute of Tafe’s jazz program. Straight after the workshop we head down to Drysdale to play at the Patato Shed. We actually had a real stage with enough room to sit comfortably. A luxury for the band.

Section 8 was our Saturday gig. A great venue in the Melbourne CBD. There are 2 shipping crates in a car lot in Tattersalls Lane. One crate is the bar and the other is the toilets. Our stage was varies heights of fork lift pallets. The set up was strange but the gig went off. The place was packed with people screaming and dancing all around us. A MFO high light for me. So much fun – I still haven’t come down from that gig.

The finally gig of the tour was at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club. We were all a little nervous playing at this prestigious venue but soon got over them when we started up. The band played the best they have ever played and the large crowd really enjoyed it. It was the perfect was to finish the tour.

After the tour it was goodbye to our guitarist – Johanne Druitt – who has moved to Germany for an undecided amount of time. Good luck Jo!!!!

It is for that reason that we now welcome Tim Jago into the band. I am looking forward to hearing what he is going to bring to the MFO table.

I know it is half way through Feburary but on behalf of MFO and EMU - Happy New Year. The year has started so quickly already.

As some of you may or may not know from last year - a few of the MFO and EMU gigs had to be cancelled at the last minute due to unhappy Brisbane Hotel "down stairs" staff. The problem being - that the "weird music" upstairs (us) was filtering through the floor downstairs and this was making the dowstairs customers (them) uneasy.

This makes things very difficult and extremely stressful so I am now looking for a new venue to host MFO and EMU gigs for 2006. The Brisbane Hotel is still an option as they have informed me that the floor has been sound-proofed, but I am yet to get in there to try it out.

I will keep you posted with the progress as I hope to keep quality original/improvised music alive here in Perth.

Speak with you soon.

Mace

Unfortunatly due to ill health the Aaron Choulai Quintet gig has been cancelled at Club EMU. We look foward to presenting this amazing Quintet in the new year. Sorry about the late notice.

Wednesday 23rd November is your last chance to experience the Mace Francis Orchestra (MFO) live at the Brisbane Hotel for 2005.

MFO is an exciting new big band featuring some of the Perth’s finest up and coming musicians. The 12-piece big band was formed late last year, by composer Mace Francis, as a rehearsal band to experiment with composition, but soon had a large enough repertoire to put on some concerts.

MFO launched themselves in to the public eye with a “Month of Wednesdays” in April, upstairs at the Brisbane Hotel. This successful month led to a once a month residency at the Brisbane Hotel. During this time MFO has developed an individual and exciting new sound which will be recorded for their first CD in a few weeks.

This year has also seen MFO put on two “concept” concerts. “Chinese Whispers” was a new body of music which featured a collaborative work composed by eight WA composers;

“an inspiring performance… show-casing the extremely diverse creative approaches of each of the composers to this challenging compositional task and made for an absorbing, exciting and very entertaining evening.” Alan Corbet JazzWA.

The other concert, commissioned by the Perth Jazz Society, “The Unpopular Songbook”, was a reworking of pop tunes like AC/DC’s TNT, MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This and Enter Sandman by Metallica.

Make sure you don’t miss the final MFO performance for 2005 which will feature all the hits plus music from their two commissioned concerts.

Wednesday 23rd November
9.30pm
Upstairs @ the Brisbane Hotel
(Lazy Suzans)
cnr Beaufort & Brisbane St, Highgate
entry $7/$5

MFO is now part of the Martian Music family. www.martianmusic.com is a place where you can buy all sorts of MP3's from all sorts of artist.

On December 7th and 8th MFO will be going into the studio to record their first CD. It will consist of (hopfully) 7 original compositions by Mace Francis which the band has been performing for a while. Keep an eye out for it. It will be for sale on this website as soon as it is released.