I want to turn 50 now so I can have a party with these guys playing, before they get too expensive. I’ve been trying to catch them in Adelaide for a while, but as it turned out they were playing at Bennett’s Lane in Melbourne (one of my favourite ever venues) while I was over there for work. I went with a workmate and they blew us both away, along with the rest of a quite small crowd. At the end of their 2 sets, everyone was up and cheering, and happy.
That’s what live music is all about.
The band is made up of Tom Kneebone on guitar, Tom Boehm on violin, Kiah Gossner on Bass and Kyrie Anderson on drums. The songs varied in style from jazzy to almost zydeco to celtic to, well, gypsy. They are four very talented young musicians with a long future in front of them.
The album I bought at the gig, from which I lifted this track, is a live recording of theirs from the Wheatsheaf. Huge props to the recording and production team of David Lokan, Tom Barnes and Mick Wordley; it sounds like a studio recording.
This song, “Hungarian Holiday”, starts and finishes off sounding true to the name, but about halfway through it changes to bluegrass, and then to almost ragtime. But it doesn’t sound disjointed at all. And listen closely at the very start; buggered if I can work out what time signature they’re using there. Any trained muso’s please write in and let me know.
Apart from the musicianship, the arrangement is their songs is incredible and they obviously enjoy what they do. Due to my own background and performing interest, I’m often looking for the craft behind the shows and so notice things that others may not. On the show at Bennetts Lane, Kyrie started doing a “Hey Ho” in the wrong part of the song. It’s a sign of their enjoyment that Tom K turned around and looked at her when she did it, and they both had huge smiles on their faces, because it was funny and not the end of the world. That kind of relaxed approach is part of the reason their performance is so energising.
I am seriously in awe of these guys on every level.
https://www.facebook.com/BeardedGypsyBand
http://www.beardedgypsyband.com
https://theadelaideshow.com.au/podcast-episodes/039-don-dunstan-gay-adelaide/