Brilleaux, Ian Goodsman & Anton Elkington in Whangarei

Last October, Brilleaux played at the Whangarei Jazz and Blues Festival, and once again received an awesome reception from the many fans we have accumulated in this part of the world.

At the last venue we played at, the lineup was Ian Goodsman - a masterful Slide acoustic blues player was on first, then Anton Tipi Elkington, with the Brilleaux rhythm section, and then Brilleaux.

At the end of Tipis set, he invited Ian Goodsman, Graham Clark (me) onto the stage for a jam.

And what a buzz that was. the fusion of those 3 different styles of blues was electrifying, and we all had big grins on our faces - It was a special moment.

So special, that we promised to do it again.

Sean - the owner of SALUT bar and restaurant was very keen to get us up there again, so we organised a special blues event for Saturday 17th January - a 3-kinds of blues festival. with tickets at $20 each the place was all but sold out.

Ian Goodsman played the first set, Tipi played the second set with the brilleaux rhythm section, and Brilleaux the third and fourth sets.

At the beginning of the 4th set, Brilleaux got Ian and Tipi on stage, and we jammed on 3 songs - Son Of A Bitch, Big Boss man, and Route 66, and the already energised crowd were exstatic - you could see it on their faces - man did they get a show.

What a fantastic show this is proving to be, There is something for everyone, with Ians more traditional slide and fingerpicking acoustic playing, Tipis Texas/Hendrix style blues, and Brilleaux with their British R&B, but when those three styles are combined, the result is more than just outstanding - it really is a very special aural moment.

If we ever manage to get this show to a place near you make sure you don't miss it - it is SPECIAL!

Nelson Jazz and Blues Festival 2008

At 4am on January 1st, 2009, Brilleaux loaded up the van, and left Tauranga for Nelson, where they were set to play six gigs in five days at the Woolaston Jazz and Blues Festival.

We arrived without incident in Nelson in timefor the festival briefing at 7.30pm, where we meet up with Rowena - the organiser,Neville Claughton (Mr Music) who was helping us out with a bit of PA gear, and all the other artists.

On the ferry I was desperate for a bit of sleep, due to the ungodly departure time, but I still managed to hear a fantastic band, who were paying their passage by playing music. The band was Wellington Heads, and they were fantastic. Great original material that is humorous and entertaining, and played with great skill and passion, and if you ever get the chance to see these guys, I recommend that you do. Whats more, they just happen to be friends with Demian, who often plays with them I am told!

Anyway, our first gig in Nelson was at the opening show in the park. It had been threatening to rain all day, but had hel off, and was still fine when we took to the stage directly after another amazing 3-piece outfit called Hot Club Sandwich, who were my highlight of the festival.

We played a punchy 45 minute set to a crowd of about 7000 people, who didn't know what had hit them!

One report said that we "exploded" onto the stage and hit them on the nose.

From the stage, all we could see was a huge sea of people dancing, which was very satisfying.

When our set was up, we were called up for two encores by the compere as the crowd didn't want us to go! This gave us a HUGE buzz, and made us the talk of the festival for the next five days, as well as having people coming to see us based upon that first performance. Very exciting.

All in all we had a fantastic festival, and sold about $1800 worth of albums to a very enthusiastic crowd.

We also made a bunch of new friends, and caught up with some old ones.

We saw the show by Midge Marsden, Liam O Ryan, and Chet O Connell which was held in the beautiful looking, but horrible sounding old School of Music building, and we also went out to the Beautiful looking and beautiful sounding Woollaston Estate Winery to watch Grant Winterburn and Shaken Not Stirred.

Speaking of the Woollaston Winery, which happens to be the major sponsor of the event, I must mention the delicious wines they make - especially the pinot noir and the pinot gris that we all fell in love with.

This festival is without doubt, the best organised, best paying, friendliest festival, in one of the loveliest, sunniest cities in New Zealand that we have attended so far, and if anybody is looking for something to do in the first week of January next year, then I recommend spending a week down in Nelson. The food, Wine, climate shopping and entertainment was all first class.

I must also mention that at this time of year, the locally grown cherries were at markets and stalls around the place, and whilst at this festival, I made a glutton of myself on the best cherries I have ever had.

I love Nelson!

Number Five - Number Five! Number Five - Number Five!

Brilleaux have been in the studio since about June, recording our fifth album (as yet untitled)

We have been recording at Tim Julians "Colourfield" studio in Welcome Bay, Tauranga.

As you may be aware, Tim is the Keyboard player that appeared on our "LIVE" at the colosseum album, and who appears live with us at various festivals on occasion.

At the time of this entry, the album is 80% complete, just waiting on the harmonica, some horn lines, and one vocal track, not to mention the mix-down and the artwork.

The album features 12 songs - a couple of which appeared on the "LIVE" album before they made it to the studio album! - Howling Wolf, PHd in Stupidity, and Son Of A Bitch.

Other tracks include:
Angry Young Man, She's a Tees (the spelling is correct! - it was my mothers maiden name!) I Love Girls, I Just Want To Make Love To You, Live With Me, Seven Shades Of Surprised, It Wasn't Me, I Wonder Why I Can't Get No Sleep and This Aint Rock-n Roll.

The guest list has been kept to a minimum, and features a small impromptu Gospel Choir, Sonja Bullot (Kokomo) on Trumpet, Demian Forlong on Trombone, Chris - the Sax player from Shaken Not Stirred, and Tim Julian on Keyboards.

It is a no-holds-barred studio album along the lines of Eight-Track Style with all the bells and whistles, not to mention foot-stomping, hand clapping and bovver-boy "Oi" chorus! except the songs are much more "Rootsy" or Rock and Roll than the previous, more contemporary studio album.

With a bit of luck we would like to get this album out before Easter, so here's hoping.