Peter Farnan is a composer, sound designer, musical director and guitarist from Melbourne, Australia. He is one of the founding members of the band Boom Crash Opera and the 1980s pop rock band Serious Young Insects.[1] He currently produces music under the moniker 'Pesky Bones'.[2] Peter has collaborated with artists including Paul Kelly, Megan Washington, Rebecca Barnard, Charles Jenkins and Tim Rogers.
Vieux Farka Touré is one of the world’s most respected guitarists and musicians. He will be returning from from Mali to Australia with his live band to perform from his extraordinary back catalogue and his critically acclaimed new album, Les Racines. This release is one that celebrates the universal adage that says ‘to know where you’re going, you must know where you’ve come from’.
Les Racines, translating as ‘the roots’, represents a deep reconnection with the traditional Songhai music of northern Mali. This is one of the northern West African musical traditions known in the West by the catch-all term ‘Desert Blues’. And Vieux’s roots run far deeper than most. His father, the late Ali Farka Touré, was acclaimed as the finest guitarists Africa has ever produced and was a pioneer in introducing this style to audiences around the world. Vieux spent 2 years making Les Racines, but the album had been gestating in his mind even longer. “I’ve had a desire to do a more traditional album for a long, long time. It’s important to me and to Malian people that we stay connected to our roots and our history,” Vieux explains.
Never one to stick to just one creative path, Vieux’s most recent release ‘Ali’ is a collaboration album with high profile Texan trio Khruangbin, which seamlessly melds Vieux’s masterful guitar work and soulful singing with their dubby psychedelia.
“Every now and then, if you’re very lucky, you get to witness a live performance that blows everything else away. ” — The Independent, UK
"I’m going to make a pronouncement. This is one of the albums of the year. It’s amazing - the whole album." Elton John – October 2022
Northcote Social Club strives to create a safe space that everyone can enjoy.
Crowd surfing & dangerous behaviour will result in removal from the venue.
Simon Hosford is a an Australian guitarist/producer/songwriter that started playing Classical guitar at age 5, and by 19 was a member of Virgil Donati’s rock/fusion band “On The Virg”, began touring Australia and America with Tommy Emmanuel, and a year later was recruited by Colin Hay and Greg Ham to be part of the new Men At Work, as well as being the guitar clinician for Roland guitar products for Australia and Asia.
He has since toured more than 48 different countries around the world with artists including Vanessa Amorosi, Taxiride, Jon Stevens, Shannon Noll, Birtles/Shorrock/Goble, Anthony Callea, and recorded for artists including Bachelor Girl, Peter Andre, Guy Sebastian, Ross Wilson, Christine Anu, and Anna-Maria LaSpina.
Simon has also performed with Kylie Minogue, Joan Jett, Chris Isaac, Rogue Traders, Darryl Braithwaite, Petula Clarke, Thelma Houston, Steven Cummings, Errol Brown (Hot Chocolate), and Renee Geyer to name just a few. He has toured internationally supporting acts including Tina Turner, Kiss, The Backstreet Boys and Jesse McCartney.
In TV work, Simon has held the position of Associate Musical Director on the productions Australia’s Got Talent and X Factor, as well as being a member of the Australian Idol band.
Simon is currently working on his web based guitar coaching system, called “Unleash Your Guitar!”, as well doing shows with his Racer X tribute band “Racer Axe”. He’s also a contributor to the tuitional software Riff Axelerator.
Joshua Teicher is a guitarist, producer, sound engineer, songwriter and sound artist. His music has been described as having “beauty and intelligence” (Harry Angus, The Cat Empire). As a producer and sound engineer his music has been heard all over the world, performing in Europe and Australia multiple times as a touring guitarist and under the moniker for his pop project “Josh The Cat”.
Teicher co-leads Melbourne Indie Voices with Phia, and is a driving force behind the choir’s unique and non-traditional sound, distilling the role of a full band into one electric guitar (and a few effects pedals).
He is currently releasing improvised ambient music of evocative and vivid dream-like landscapes. The compositions are powerful yet gentle, vulnerable yet reassuring and invite the listener to pause and centre themselves.
Intricate finger-style guitar and dreamy vocals reflect the deeply contemplative and evocative lyrics of Melbourne’s Ernest Aines.
A multi-award winning songwriter, noting over a decade of experience, Ernest’s uniquely pure and thoughtful sound has enchanted both fans and critics across the globe.
Ernest’s journey began with busking on the streets of Melbourne, and progressed to him gracing the stages of celebrated events like The Australian Open, The Melbourne Grand Prix, The Port Fairy Folk Festival, Rockhampton Riverfest, and Canberra’s Floriade Nightfest. He has appeared on stage at Ararat Live, The Palais Theatre, and Northern Arts Hotel, and his indie-folk styling and unique vocal delicacy has been compared to James Taylor, Jeff Buckley, Ray Lamontagne and Bon Iver.
In 2021, Ernest was selected for the Sounds Australia Folk Alliance International Showcase, and Global Music Match, achievements that would see his presence within modern folk grow exponentially in the months to follow.
He has since released three original singles from his highly-anticipated new album – a project five years in the making. The single ‘Rigged Games’ spoke volumes on behalf of Ernest’s unfiltered, authentic approach to the art-form, with live performance clips depicting a compelling devotion to the heartache and desperation of the writing. Along with the single ‘So Far’, the new music has amassed thousands of streams online, and Ernest’s second single ‘Yellowstone’ earned high-rotation at ABC Country.
Ernest has taken home multiple awards for songwriting over the years, beginning with an Apollo Bay Festival Young Songwriter Competition win back in 2010. He has since noted finalist positions at the International Songwriting Competition (2013), the Melbourne Songwriting Competition (2016) and theAustralian Songwriting Awards (2021), along with another win in 2020 for the City of Melbourne Online Song Competition. 2020 also saw him earn the runner-up position in the Cygnet Folk Festival Song Awards.
Ernest’s commitment to captivating live audiences has evolved to unrivalled levels, thanks to his consistency and unwavering skill for the process. This year he has played at the huge St Kilda Festival, taken up the offer of the Folk Alliance International Official Showcase in Kansas City, USA, and was honoured to perform for the Library of Congress Archive.
Dave Leslie is a professional guitar player/songwriter who currently resides in Melbourne, Australia.
He first picked up a guitar in 1973 and has been learning ever since.
Inspired by watching TV programs such as GTK, Bandstand, Super- Flying Fun Show, Nightmoves, Rock Arena, Sounds & Countdown, Dave has made it his life’s work to play guitar and explore all facets of music creation.
Dave has toured the world several times, has met and jammed with a lot of his childhood heroes and has had many “rock ‘n’ roll dreams” come true.
The recipient of three ARIA Awards and numerous nominations, Dave continues to write, play and record with Baby Animals and many others, and still finds playing small, sweaty venues as satisfying and exciting as playing the “big gigs”.
Performed and/or Recorded with:-‐
Baby Animals (founding member)
Jimmy Barnes • Richard Clapton
Angry Anderson
Electric Mary
Palace of the King
Grinspoon
Bon Jovi
Van Halen
The Angels
Doc Neeson
Dead Daisies
Ross Wilson
George Spartels
Yianna Nicholas
Steve Prestwich (Cold Chisel)
Damien Leith
James Blundell
Jayne Denham (#1 Country Charts)
Shannon Noll
Casey Donovan
TV Advertisements (including..)
Coca Cola
VISA
Toyota
Nutri-Grain
Boags Premium
Old El Paso
Band-Aids
Dettol
Challenger Annuities • Rosemount
Paddle Pop
Tip-Top Wondersoft
Medibank Private
iscovered Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Albert King, and Johnny Winter. WOAH!! Also got my first Fender and began to woodshed and eat. My neighbor Wilf Warkentin, who played way better than me, drug me down the rock-'n'-roll path of least resistance. Played in local bands together while still having our country records at the bottom of our rock & blues stack. After we got our driver's licenses, we hardly saw each other anymore. I continued to be hired and fired many times while still noodling and knowing it all at such a young age.
1977-1985
Ran out of places to noodle in British Columbia, Canada, and relocated to Edmonton, Alberta. Once there and after lots of car trouble and nowhere to live but the car, I hooked up with a trio named 'Picker', headed by drummer /singer Gordon Green, for three years trying to learn how to sing and play at the same time.
Joined the Prairie Fire Band (a 5-piece hard core traditional Country and Western Swing band) with steel guitarist Dick Kruger in '81 for a couple of years, gathering TV and recording experience while studying under Big George Moody (my first live hero). Then entered Danny Hooper and Country Spunk with fiddle phenomenon Calvin Vollrath for another couple of years of hardcoredom. These two bands are where I think I learned a lot of music and business from two of the best band leaders in Canada.
1986-1990
I decided to go to Nashville via California, assuming everybody in Edmonton was sick of my noodling and the U.S. hadn't heard of me yet (hopeful). My first stop was in Redding, CA, at the Saddle Horn Club with Johnny Roberts for a 1-month engagement that ended suddenly with my leaving town in the middle of the night.
Landed a gig with Don Cox and the Cowtown Band featuring steel guitarist Bobby Black (WOW!) in San José where Don told me that he had had some ugly guitar players in his 20 years at that club, but I was the best of the truck driver lookin' ones.
Six months later I moved to Santa Cruz to work with Ginny Mitchell in her trio for the summer (two guitars and bass) doing country, bluegrass, and swing. That was a blast!
Tired of being a noodling beach bum, I headed south to L.A. where I played seven nights a week in Huntington Beach with Chad Watson, Mike Thomas, and Alan Rich (Charlie's boy), met hundreds of new pickers, got my ass kicked by thousands of guitar players, it was wonderful. There I listened as much as I played. The L.A. music scene at that time was a great and exciting learning time for me. I got to experience country, blues, rockabilly, swing, and jazz like I'd never heard or seen before. I was lucky enough to get to play on many demos and recordings of everything but jazz; I still get a headache when I try to figure that stuff out. I even considered giving up food for music - there was so much variety there.
After ODing on L.A. I decided Nashville was my next move, knowing they fully needed another noodler with a Telecaster. So I stopped in San Angelo, TX, to visit Lynn Massey, former drummer of Red Steagall's band, whom I'd met in Calgary 10 years earlier. He just happened to need a guitar player for a couple of months, so we kicked around Texas for the winter. His band later became Neil McCoy's band and still is today.
1990-1997
I got to Nashville in November '90, did sub work and fill-ins around town and surrounding areas 'til March. Had a house gig fall through in January so I was broke and ready to leave town already. I would go to clubs every night and sit in if they'd let me. I wound up getting more fill-in work until I was offered a job at the Stage Coach Lounge on Murfreesboro Road with the Don Kelley Band which turned out to be a springboard for many premiere guitarists in Nashville, such as Brent Mason, Sid Hudson, Danny Parks, Troy Lancaster, Walter Garland, etc. So for me at the time I didn't know that I would be the one to break the springboard! Oops, the club closed four years later. When Don would pay me at the end of the week, he would say "Here, go buy you a tone!" Needless to say this is where I learned how to pawnshop for new and exciting gear. Don Kelley is the best band leader Nashville has ever known. Being a great player himself, he always let the guitarist in his band go nuts within reason, his. After I left his band, he must have got his stride back 'cause he's got the great Johnny Hiland pickin' with him.
While in his band, Clinton Gregory, his fiddle player, scored a deal with Step One Records and hit the road 340 days a year with me for two and a half years. He did plenty of TV work for TNN at the time and he was sort of an underdog in the industry being as successful as he was and being on an independent label.
From then on, it was back to the clubs subbing and filling in for different folks with the odd week out of town here and there. A few years later, Don had moved to a club down on Broadway called 'Robert's Western World' six nights a week, so I went back to work with him, doing showcases and demos during the day, teaching, fixing guitars, and building pedal boards for friends around town.
1997-2000
One day the phone rang and Merle Haggard wanted to know if I was interested in working with him. I hesitated, because of the "Roberts" gig, for 3/10ths of a second. I had jammed with and got to know some of the guys in his band. So when Joe Manuel left to go with Lee Anne Womack, Merle asked the band who they wanted on guitar, five out of eight said me, so I am still getting even with the other three.
Lucky for me Don said I could do both gigs until it got too hectic (pretty accommodating fella). So I did and had Johnny Hiland fill in as much as he could for me while gone. Later that fall, a tornado came through downtown and cleaned off Johnny's house gig, The Turf Club across the street. At that point, I was gone enough and Johnny needed a steady gig, and I think he's still playing there with Don.
2000-2002
After not listening to commercial radio anymore for the last two years, I was asked when I moved to Austin, TX in an interview what had brought me to Austin. All I could say was "Nashville." I'd always enjoyed the live music scene in Austin, especially the variety: country, blues, swing, jazz, tejano, salsa, and everything else you can think of. At that point I had enough of the pop bubble gum music that I hadn't cared for the first time around, being played on the radio and in all the studios. The crowds in Austin seem to accept people for their musical ability more than their clothes or lack of, hair or lack of, cowboy hats or lack of.
So now I live in south Austin, play a few nights a week with my own band where I can noodle to my heart's content, within reason, mine. Play with Merle Haggard, around a hundred days a year, give or take a few, until he hangs it up or runs me off.
2002-present
Well all things good & shiny sometimes tarnish, fade, and lose their luster, then come to an end, bands, marriages ya ya ya . . . but since I got here to Austin in 2000, I've been playing in clubs around town, with my own little band and some others, doing some recording and Tv work as well, and periodicly flying to Nashville to record, doing some guitar clinics here and there. Mostly I've got to play with some fantastic players, live and on digital tape here in Texas. I jammed with some great players too. There's alot of great music right here in Texas, I just wish I'd come here sooner! Check out my ' News & Pig Tales' page!
Bye for now, this isn't all (I hope)
On his latest single “Waiting For The Dawn,” released today via Provogue/Mascot Label Group, the
iconic blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout urges fans – and himself – to stay strong, in light of all of the
challenges we’ve faced over the past few years. “There were times in this pandemic where I have sunk
into some pretty deep depressions, sitting around, wondering whether life has a point,” Trout recalls.
It’s the latest single from Trout’s new studio album ‘Ride,’ out August 19th. Written in his beloved and
often-missed home in Huntington Beach, California, the album is filled with pointed reflections from
Trout, informed by his decades of stardom in the blues world.
As long-standing Trout fans know, the Golden State has been the bluesman’s home for 47 years. Trout
joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers lineup in ’85, before embarking on an acclaimed solo career from ’89 onwards. But before that came
Photo by Austin Hargrave
his chaotic, self-destructive years as a jobbing lead guitarist, whether for
revered-but-tricky blues pioneers like John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton, or an unhinged tenure
in an ’80s Canned Heat line-up controlled by the Hell’s Angels.
Trout’s well-documented excess in this era was darker than a young rock star cutting loose. It could all
be traced back to his troubled childhood in New Jersey, he explains, where an unstable stepfather –
himself the victim of shocking cruelty as a prisoner of war – was a terrifying presence. As 'Ride' took
form, such memories couldn’t help but flavor the music. “This album is obviously what I was going
through mentally and emotionally,” he considers. “All I did was express it. I spent a lot of time crying,
because I would dig down into my emotional core. I want my songs to have some sort of truth to them.”
Some memories that Trout examines on 'Ride' are long-distant but eternally poignant. Try the
deceptively upbeat title track, another song that began as a poem, recounting the locomotive that
rattled past his childhood home each night and enticed him to freight-hop to freedom. “That song is
about what it felt like to lay there in bed and dream about escaping on that train. I also wanted to
express that music has always been another sort of virtual escape for me.”
The stormy "Hey Mama" takes inspiration from the same period, with Trout debating whether his
trauma could have been averted. “I’m not pissed off with my mom and I love her memory,” he says,
“but my wife says, ‘Your mom probably could have done more to protect you from your stepdad’. Yeah,
maybe she could have. But it’s easy to say that looking back.”
Walter Trout is the beating heart of the modern blues rock scene. Respected by the old guard. Revered
by the young guns. Adored by the fans who shake his hand after the show each night, and after five
decades in the game, Trout remains a talismanic figure.
But, however fast or far a man travels, he can never truly outrun his past. On the new album he found
himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of his triumphant late career. There was a new record
deal with Mascot/Provogue. A temporary move from California to Denmark to be with his beloved
family. Even now, aged 70, Trout was still writing fresh chapters of his life story.
By now, Trout knows that nobody ever really leaves their old selves behind. But with 'Ride' providing an
emotional release-valve – both for its creator and his loyal listeners – perhaps this veteran artist can
reconcile with his past, accept his future and live in the present as it unfolds. “I think you can interpret
this album title a few different ways,” he concludes. “I mean, this album is definitely a musical ride and I
certainly tried to cover a lot of ground. But, really, life is kind of a ride too, isn’t it? And I want to live
mine to the fullest.”
is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has been a member of The New Christs (1987–90), Louis Tillett and His Cast of Aspersions (1990), Tex, Don and Charlie (1993–95, 2005–06), Tendrils (1994–99) and Beasts of Bourbon (1996–97, 2003). His solo album, Vertigo and Other Phobias, was released in 1994 on Red Eye/Polydor.
Owen has produced albums by The Plunderers, Louis Tillett (both solo and in a duo with Owen), Tex Perkins, and Penny Ikinger. As a session player, he has appeared on albums by Tony Buck, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Robert Forster, Spencer P. Jones, The Cruel Sea, Steve Prestwich, Conway Savage and Don Walker.
In May 2012 Australian Guitar magazine listed Owen in the Top 40 of Australia's best guitarists.