ricky is in w.a. for a while
hanging out n producing a record
he bumps into richard lane
keyboard player with the stems and sometime promoter
tho promoter is a silly term to apply to richard n fambley
who are total hippies
they drive around in a truck with a portable little cabin on the back
kind n nice and helpful n dreamy people
anyway richard books me 3 gigs in wa
ricky picks a band n rehearses em
n blow me down with a feather
they are tight
they are “on the money” as we showbiz types say
they already know all the songs by the time i get there
they made hardly any mistakes
shaun hoffman on drums is like a controlled explosion
or hes as exact as a drum machine
his hi hat work is great
he locks it down n he doesnt wander
no extra malarkey
hes like a full back in a team
and he doesnt let the timing slip
his son adrian 18 is playing bass for the 1st time
normally that would probably disqualify him for being in my band right there
but i saw adrian sing a song with the triffids
and hes got a lotta soul
his bass playing was
exact tight and almost error free
he was not nervous at all
a very matter of fact guy
someone should study the hoffmans
cos their kids are gifted and kind hearted
thats right
gifted AND kind hearted
i kept waiting to see this kids darkside
cos boy he was pretty good on the old bass
i heard him play guitar
he can sing in tune EVERY time
and i heard him tinker on the piano n it was
pretty good too
now the hoffmen were verily team players
and they did their jobs well
ricky of course was doing exactly the right thing
so we immediately had a good band going
and we acquitted ourselves well
considering we had 1 rehearsal
anyway
freo was a good gig for me
i enjoyed myself thoroughly at the fly by night club
a great venue indeed
easy going
fremantle is very easy going
not really in any rush or anything
anyway
i rarely say nothing went wrong
but nothing went wrong
i now have ricky n the hoffmen as my band when im solo
(when in season)
we got good houses in perth n freo
every single person i met was laid back n nice
no one laid any unpleasantness upon me
and i in my turn was fairly cordial
the freo crowd are really the coolest bunch
no pretenses no bullshit
the kids are all playing music
the airs fresh
the seas blue
the houses are quaint n great
i had me a real good time
ricky did a huge job as MD
the hoffmen were a dream rhythm section
richard was not yer run of the mill promoter
and the audiences were very very nice
maybe the west is the best after all..
how strange….