After a successful sophomore event last year and an overwhelmingly positive reception to their initial lineup, the organisers of Mojo Burning Festival is not ready for round number two.
Kicking off in Brissy this Saturday, 12th March this celebration of blues, roots, rock and everything in between will see the likes of Bob Log III, Mason Rack Band, Jackson Firebird, and The Fumes among many more blow the roof off the Hamilton Hotel. Born from a passionate desire to bring blues and rock n roll back into the Aussie music conscience, festival promoter Christian Tryhorn is spearheading the event.
Having cut his teeth playing in bands, touring, starting his own booking agency and now a successful festival, Tryhorn believes the appreciation for blues and rock has been lost in Australia’s (often contentious) musical climate and wants to do something about it. To help push the cause, he penned this piece below.
I spent my youth growing up in the 90s. There was always pop music around but the majority of kids were vibing off guitar driven stuff with multi-layered lyrics.
We were coming out of the hair phase of Rock’n’Roll and laughing at the cheesiness of it all. Kids were introspective. Deep. Bands of the day such as Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam were laying lyrics you studied and tripped on over the top of awesome riff-based guitar.
Who could learn that lick? “No way you nailed it!” Who could play the solo of Pearl Jam ‘Alive’… who could hit that Cornell power note. Venues were packed with young quality original Aussie Rock acts week in week out. Grinspoon, Spiderbait, Silverchair, Jebediah… these were the bands leading the charge. They are still in the mix today.
Fashion wasn’t a focus. Drugs were a focus. Anti-establishment was a focus. Apathy and self-deprecation were rife. Good times.
People talk about rock ‘n’ roll and its surrounding ideals… I felt right at home amongst plenty of home-grown rock in the ’90s. It was aggressive without being overt and had depth without taking itself too seriously. We were living it.
[include_post id=”468770″]When the 2000s hit guitar music became diluted once more. A rebirth of the 80s. Synth. Flash. Power ballads with child choirs. Even Rock was becoming cheesy again. Too much image, not enough groove and substance, drawing from pop too much. I looked elsewhere for ‘real’ stimulus. This led me to the blues.
I first heard slide guitar in 2009 at a festival in Central Queensland. This is it! This is my saviour as a guitarist! A new way to groove and be aggressive without resorting to the depths of metal blackness.
Kevin Rudd’s $900 bonus was timely and enabling. I bought my first resonator guitar and felt reborn. At only a few instances of my life did I trawl back through the family tree surrounding a genre. The first was with rock ‘n’ roll lineage, the second with Blues. Howlin’ Wolf. John Lee Hooker. Buddy Guy.
These musicians had attitude, cool and an understated depth without any sort of cheese or force. How had I missed this!? In my late 20s, I was over the indie-pop-rock of the time with its child-like qualities and abilities, the 1980s regression/emulation. I now had a new favourite genre.
In the late 2000s through to about 2012 there were a bunch of acts smashing out groove-based blues rock in Australia and doing it well. The Fumes, Dallas Frasca, The Blackwater Fever, The Mess Hall and The Vasco Era were drawing on the blues and smashing it nationally without tagging themselves as such.
The scene had triple j support, bands were touring internationally, crowds and festivals were plentiful. I was just starting out in my band Transvaal Diamond Syndicate. We rode the coat tails of the end of the Aussie Blues Rock dynasty. The scene had a two year flash at genre equality at most. Then ‘blues’ became a dirty word.
For the next five years I chalked up 10 months of the year on the road straight. 200 gigs per year. Multiple tours. Multiple festivals. Multiple positive reviews. Critical acclaim.
I was joined by my musical brothers and sisters at every gig, on every tour, at every rest stop in their own vans, station wagons and hire cars. There were many bands playing blues/ rock fusion whom I met personally all over the country.
Each major city had a relative scene. But all, even the ones up top of the blues/roots/rock festival posters, were flying relatively under the radar. These were the best acts I had ever seen. Groove riff. Musicianship. Showmanship. Sweat-ridden guitar energy.
It felt like the 90s again on the road. But for some reason my passion and the toil of my brothers and sisters didn’t seem to measure up to receive its proportional chunk of ‘J-play’, the new judge/ jury/ executioner of Australian original talent.
I started helping friend’s bands in the blues rock scene through our pop-up-out-of-necessity agency Beats Cartel. Booking tours, promoting, shooting out press releases, putting up posters and generally trying to lay focus on the style of music I loved through the many bands that were representing and representing well nationally.
For the last three years we’ve booked more than 2000 original gigs focusing on Aussie blues rock and roots. We aim to support the bands flying under the corporate radar with their own pockets of fans and success by creating as many original music opportunities as possible.
My love of blues rock and the continual questioning of its relevance in today’s Australian musical culture has been personally polarising to say the least. I see so much talent around but continually wonder what the fuck is going on…. why aren’t these bands on the radio? Why aren’t these bands household names? Why are people paying attention to BAND A when BAND B brings so much more to the table and has been working hard for years?
Obviously the generation gap is a factor. The kids man. The kids. But kids will follow what they hear regularly and what has vibe. The scene is self-created at the benefit and detriment to many a hard working musician. Rock is still here but holding on by a thread. Blues ain’t heard much.
Mojo Burning Festival is our attempt to bring together the lost remaining children of Australian Blues Rock. We bring the best scene acts from all over the country straight to the punter annually. This will be our third attempt. The lineup makes me smile and features truly talented musicians with love for the craft, plenty of groove, plenty of show and plenty of MOJO. Blues rock revival… You with me?
Mojo Burning Festival
March 12 – Hamilton Hotel Brisbane
2pm – 2am $35/40 Moshtix
www.mojoburning.com
Feat. Bob Log III (USA), Mason Rack Band (QLD), Shaun Kirk (VIC), The Fumes (NSW), Born Lion (NSW), Transvaal Diamond Syndicate (QLD), Tropical Zombie (NSW), Hobo Magic (QLD), The Ugly Kings (VIC), Smoke Stack Rhino (VIC), Guthrie (TAS), The Royal Artillery (QLD), The Hunted Crows (VIC), NARLA (NSW) and The Free Loves (QLD)
