LATEST NEWS
It has been a while since the last Jook Joint Band newsletter. We have played at a variety of different situations in the interim – the gigs have ranged from bohemian parties in leafy suburbia to playing at full on festival venues.
We played at the South Beach Tavern on the 25 February. Once again we were graced with an enthusiastic crowd which featured plenty of new faces. We were able to introduce some new original songs and they went down a treat. I am not sure if people recognised them as new songs or just really liked them but either way we certainly appreciated the positive response. Many thanks to Stella, Nick and Paul who helped us out on stage.
One of our next set of gigs was at the Fairbridge Festival of World and Folk Music. It was this well established and respected festival’s 20th birthday. The wealth of musical talent on display at the festival was fantastic. You really do get the chance to appreciate the musical abilities of the many varied artists in the 14 or so venues available at the festival. I was particularly impressed with the Chapel as a venue and want to play there sometime in the future. We were fortunate to get ourselves a prize camping area tucked away from the crowds but close to the action. We tried to isolate Paul (“the snorer”) Wade but the paddock just wasn’t big enough. Sean arrived with the smallest tent ever commercially made and was the butt of many a joke when he tried to get both himself and his sleeping bag into it at the same time (face it Sean 2 into 1 doesn’t go).
If you haven’t been to a festival at Fairbridge make sure you put it on your bucket list as you will really appreciate the friendly atmosphere, great food, good organisation and above all the music – there is something to suit everyone’s taste. We had a couple of well received gigs at the Dining Hall and won over some new friends and fans. We sold a record number of CD’s (sorry I can’t disclose the numbers as that is commercially sensitive information and probably embarrassing as well).
The most recent gig for the boys in JJB was at The Perth Blues Club on the 17 April. This was a good night for us as we had always wanted to play there. We only played a short bracket as there were six acts up that night. Once again we were able to experience firsthand the joys of seeing and listening to some great musicians. There are so many talented musos around who really deserve an audience and it is well worth the effort to get out and about to see them particularly when they are showcased at venues like The Perth Blues Club (at the Charles Hotel every Tuesday night 8.00pm till late). We are hoping to get back to the Blues Club again to play so when we do we’ll let you all know.
That brings us to the present and we are currently hard at work getting songs together for a new CD. We hope to go the recording studio in July. We are looking to get down a few old favourites but will be giving particular emphasis to including our newer original songs. We have plenty of solid practise sessions to get them into shape.
If you have any photos of the JJB from any of our gigs we would really appreciate it if you could pass them onto us as we want to expand our photo gallery on our web site www.jookjointband.com
We don’t have any new gigs booked until later in the year, when we will be playing at the Waroona Show and back again at the South Beach Tavern, as a few of the lads have holidays and trips booked to places various and exotic. So until we see you again all the best and once again thanks for all your interest and support for the Jook Joint Band.
