Saturday Walk of Shame

Yup that’s right, the boys from Transvaal Diamond Syndicate have picked us a blinding set of rip roaring, guns blazin’ scorching tunes that go hand in hand with the Brizzy blues-rockers style & personality… Fingers crossed next time they’re in Sydney they can tell us all about their picks in person. Till then, read on fellow music lovers! —————————-

Yo!  My Name is Tim Price and I smash the skins in Transvaal Diamond Syndicate alongside Christian Tryhorn on resonator guitar – a dirty, raw sounding two-piece Blues/Rock outfit from Brisbane, we’ve been profiled on the Polyphonic Three before…cheers!

We’ve been asked to profile 2 artists who are influencing us right now and 1 whose track is just straight up amazing, old or new.

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate straddles the old blues and the new rock, really, so I think we are perfect for this job!

First cab of the rank has to be Dallas Frasca and her Gentlemen.  This song is called Burnt Toast. We chose Dallas Frasca as an influence of TDS for a number of reasons -

1. It was after seeing Dallas Frasca at the Village Festival, Yeppoon, that Christian took an interest in Oz-Blues and therefore bought a resonator guitar, giving birth to the idea of TDS.

2. Dallas and her writing partner and guitarist, Jeff Curran are amazing songwriters.

3. Dallas and Jeff are completely self-made musicians – everything they have achieved thus far has been from real blood, sweat and tears.  This is really what we aspire to be and we take inspiration from their incredible work ethic.

4. Dallas is doing amazing things for both the Blues and for women in music in Australia.  She takes all of the business side of her music in her stride and is a powerful role model for women in the music industry.

5. We have played support for Dallas numerous times and I have even had the pleasure of playing drums with her and Jeff (as well as rapped with them a couple of times!)

We love this song because it speaks to us in the same way we love our songs to be.  Bluesy and dirty, with rough edges and hard-rock sensibilities. Check out the attitude on Dallas’ face as she roars the lyrics down the barrel of the camera and smacks it around.

The Fumes are the other influence we have chosen – for obvious reasons. The Fumes are a two-piece who basically showed us that there is as much sound and raw energy that can be created out of two people on stage as five.  Steve and Joel epitomise the tough, blues-inspired rock and roll that we admire so much.

I have chosen the song Python for a Pillow for this blog because it’s just got everything. Rough blues vocals, a roots-rock riff, great visual imagery, beards, energy and a steam train. We played with these guys recently in Brisbane at the Step Inn and it was amazing to see them hold the crowd’s attention, even in their slower songs. They just had the audience rapt.

We have both been to a number of their shows now and they never fail to disappoint.  A brilliant band bringing old-style blues and combining with such energy that it can’t be described as anything else other than great music.

The final track I will throw up here is Rage Against The Machine’s  Know Your Enemy.

Rage Against the Machine are an integral part of what inspired both Christian and I to pick up instruments.  We both love music with soul and heart and music doesn’t come with much more heart than Rage.  Not only that, it is music that broke down conventions and made people aware of the plight of those not as fortunate.  It was (and still is) music with a message.  Musically, what we love about this song and pretty much all RATM songs is the grooves.  Both of us hail Tom Morello as a revolutionary guitarist and songwriter and Zack De La Rocha as an inspirational front man.

This particular song is great because it really challenged (at least the American population) people at the time to look at who the real enemies were – at the time this song was released, the US was at war with Iraq and were daily being fed news that the enemy was in Iraq.  Meanwhile, Rage was telling the kids of the US to look closer – the enemy was those who would tell them to take up apathy and not question the world around them, those not inspiring the next generation to be all they could be.  Powerful messages and mind-blowing revelations for those hearing this song at the time.

One mistake I feel people make about RATM is that they think of them as a ‘heavy’ band.  The guitar riffs are energetic, sure, but the real attitude and ‘heaviness’ comes from Zack’s lyrics and how he spits them.  As a Drummer, I love how locked in the rhythm section of Timmy C and Brad Wilk are. Brilliant.  They just lock into a groove and let Tom doing his whacked-out, always unique solos. Transvaal Diamond Syndicate wouldn’t be quite the band we are without RATM.

For more info on Transvaal Diamond Syndicate check out their myspace & facebook pages!

Read Full Post »