Brilleaux

Tauranga Parking Issues - God help us

2011-04-14T21:56:00.000+12:00

I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid, which must be what the council's financial controller is pitting his hopes upon!

For all his efforts he may as well be standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle!

The rewards for his effort (apart from a healthy salary donated to him courtesy of the ratepayers) will be next to nothing, resulting in a complete waste of time, money and effort. (none of which mean anything to council or government employees anyway!)

Asking the council to solve the parking woes in the CBD is like asking Mr Wolf to investigate why the sheep keep going missing!

In laying down the gauntlet, The fat controller says "do we want to maximise occupancy ,or maximise revenue?"

Well, I say neither, and this statement alone illustrates exactly why council should not be charged with finding solutions which involve the livelihoods of private businesses.

Ideally it would be to have parking spaces available for shoppers to use, whilst being of a value to encourage - as opposed to deter more clients.

In the real world, "more customers" are a good thing.

The more people that come to town and want a parking space the better - It is only in the world of council and government that more customers are a nuissance, and where they are discouraged - ie harder to get on hospital waiting lists, school zoning etc.

The only people likely to to come up with a solution to make the parking situation work for the CBD are those whose livelihoods are dependant on more customers.

The council dont give a damn otherwise!

They are not going out of business[sic].

And they have only bowed to do something about it after continual pressure and appeased the retailers with a token jesture - Parking cheaper by 20c ( or whatever pitiful amount it is!)

Is that truly the best they can come up with? How much did that piece of genius cost ratepayers I wonder.

I see another council have recently put up a reward or incentive (to council employees) to come up with innovative solutions and for thinking outside the square, which is a good idea apart from the fact that that should be part of the criteria for being in office in the first place!

I will put money on the fact that the winner of this award will NOT be for costing ratepayers less or finding ways for council NOT to be involved - oh no! The winner will be for MORE bureaucracy and MORE council fleecing of the ratepayers - I await the results of THAT one with interest.

Go to the official Website

2010-10-27T21:02:00.000+13:00

Well, its been a while since I used this blog - probably due to getting the website up and running at last.

If you havent been there yet, go to:

www.brilleaux.co.nz

Its got all the photos and audio tracks, gig listing etc, and probably the best place to go for info on Brilleaux

Brilleaux, Ian Goodsman & Anton Elkington in Whangarei

2009-01-20T14:22:00.003+13:00

Last October, Brilleaux played at the Whangarei Jazz and Blues Festival, and once again received an awesome reception from the many fans we have accumulated in this part of the world.

At the last venue we played at, the lineup was Ian Goodsman - a masterful Slide acoustic blues player was on first, then Anton Tipi Elkington, with the Brilleaux rhythm section, and then Brilleaux.

At the end of Tipis set, he invited Ian Goodsman, Graham Clark (me) onto the stage for a jam.

And what a buzz that was. the fusion of those 3 different styles of blues was electrifying, and we all had big grins on our faces - It was a special moment.

So special, that we promised to do it again.

Sean - the owner of SALUT bar and restaurant was very keen to get us up there again, so we organised a special blues event for Saturday 17th January - a 3-kinds of blues festival. with tickets at $20 each the place was all but sold out.

Ian Goodsman played the first set, Tipi played the second set with the brilleaux rhythm section, and Brilleaux the third and fourth sets.

At the beginning of the 4th set, Brilleaux got Ian and Tipi on stage, and we jammed on 3 songs - Son Of A Bitch, Big Boss man, and Route 66, and the already energised crowd were exstatic - you could see it on their faces - man did they get a show.

What a fantastic show this is proving to be, There is something for everyone, with Ians more traditional slide and fingerpicking acoustic playing, Tipis Texas/Hendrix style blues, and Brilleaux with their British R&B, but when those three styles are combined, the result is more than just outstanding - it really is a very special aural moment.

If we ever manage to get this show to a place near you make sure you don't miss it - it is SPECIAL!

Nelson Jazz and Blues Festival 2008

2009-01-20T08:54:00.004+13:00

At 4am on January 1st, 2009, Brilleaux loaded up the van, and left Tauranga for Nelson, where they were set to play six gigs in five days at the Woolaston Jazz and Blues Festival.

We arrived without incident in Nelson in timefor the festival briefing at 7.30pm, where we meet up with Rowena - the organiser,Neville Claughton (Mr Music) who was helping us out with a bit of PA gear, and all the other artists.

On the ferry I was desperate for a bit of sleep, due to the ungodly departure time, but I still managed to hear a fantastic band, who were paying their passage by playing music. The band was Wellington Heads, and they were fantastic. Great original material that is humorous and entertaining, and played with great skill and passion, and if you ever get the chance to see these guys, I recommend that you do. Whats more, they just happen to be friends with Demian, who often plays with them I am told!

Anyway, our first gig in Nelson was at the opening show in the park. It had been threatening to rain all day, but had hel off, and was still fine when we took to the stage directly after another amazing 3-piece outfit called Hot Club Sandwich, who were my highlight of the festival.

We played a punchy 45 minute set to a crowd of about 7000 people, who didn't know what had hit them!

One report said that we "exploded" onto the stage and hit them on the nose.

From the stage, all we could see was a huge sea of people dancing, which was very satisfying.

When our set was up, we were called up for two encores by the compere as the crowd didn't want us to go! This gave us a HUGE buzz, and made us the talk of the festival for the next five days, as well as having people coming to see us based upon that first performance. Very exciting.

All in all we had a fantastic festival, and sold about $1800 worth of albums to a very enthusiastic crowd.

We also made a bunch of new friends, and caught up with some old ones.

We saw the show by Midge Marsden, Liam O Ryan, and Chet O Connell which was held in the beautiful looking, but horrible sounding old School of Music building, and we also went out to the Beautiful looking and beautiful sounding Woollaston Estate Winery to watch Grant Winterburn and Shaken Not Stirred.

Speaking of the Woollaston Winery, which happens to be the major sponsor of the event, I must mention the delicious wines they make - especially the pinot noir and the pinot gris that we all fell in love with.

This festival is without doubt, the best organised, best paying, friendliest festival, in one of the loveliest, sunniest cities in New Zealand that we have attended so far, and if anybody is looking for something to do in the first week of January next year, then I recommend spending a week down in Nelson. The food, Wine, climate shopping and entertainment was all first class.

I must also mention that at this time of year, the locally grown cherries were at markets and stalls around the place, and whilst at this festival, I made a glutton of myself on the best cherries I have ever had.

I love Nelson!

Number Five - Number Five! Number Five - Number Five!

2009-01-20T08:24:00.004+13:00

Brilleaux have been in the studio since about June, recording our fifth album (as yet untitled)

We have been recording at Tim Julians "Colourfield" studio in Welcome Bay, Tauranga.

As you may be aware, Tim is the Keyboard player that appeared on our "LIVE" at the colosseum album, and who appears live with us at various festivals on occasion.

At the time of this entry, the album is 80% complete, just waiting on the harmonica, some horn lines, and one vocal track, not to mention the mix-down and the artwork.

The album features 12 songs - a couple of which appeared on the "LIVE" album before they made it to the studio album! - Howling Wolf, PHd in Stupidity, and Son Of A Bitch.

Other tracks include:
Angry Young Man, She's a Tees (the spelling is correct! - it was my mothers maiden name!) I Love Girls, I Just Want To Make Love To You, Live With Me, Seven Shades Of Surprised, It Wasn't Me, I Wonder Why I Can't Get No Sleep and This Aint Rock-n Roll.

The guest list has been kept to a minimum, and features a small impromptu Gospel Choir, Sonja Bullot (Kokomo) on Trumpet, Demian Forlong on Trombone, Chris - the Sax player from Shaken Not Stirred, and Tim Julian on Keyboards.

It is a no-holds-barred studio album along the lines of Eight-Track Style with all the bells and whistles, not to mention foot-stomping, hand clapping and bovver-boy "Oi" chorus! except the songs are much more "Rootsy" or Rock and Roll than the previous, more contemporary studio album.

With a bit of luck we would like to get this album out before Easter, so here's hoping.

BluesFeast

2008-01-15T21:46:00.000+13:00

BluesFeast in Rotorua

2008-01-08T22:55:00.000+13:00

Press Release

BluesFeast
Playing the Blues for Refuge

The Bay of Plenty Blues Club,
Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise, Rotorua Arts Village Experience (RAVE) and the
Millennium Hotel have joined forces to present a

Food, wine, beer and blues festival
at RAVE Rotorua Arts Village Experience
on Auckland Anniversary Weekend
Monday 28th January
Opening at 1 pm
There will be a fine selection of culinary delights and refreshments to choose from.

The festival will feature a top line-up of entertainment, headlined by a special performance by the
“Legendary Mudsharks”
the Raglan band that played for years with master bluesman Midge Marsden.
The band line up on the day includes original members Noel Lamberton (drums), Liam Ryan (keyboards and vocals), Dave Maybee (guitar and vocals), and Sid Limbert (bass).
They will be joined by Sid’s son, Freddy Limbert, sharing drumming duties and Peter Skandera on harmonica.

The performance programme will also include the
BOP Blues Revue featuring local BOP Blues Club musicians,
and a specially assembled band from the
Hamilton Blues Society featuring Johnny Stash and Nate Taiapa.
The fabulous Tauranga Rhythm and blues band ‘Brilleaux’ will also feature on the programme, so this will be a true ‘feast’ of fine music, food, wine and beer.

BluesFeast will build on the RAVE/Millennium/Tamaki festival held last Anniversary weekend, and the previous year’s Last Of The Summer Wine festival held in the City Focus - an event which was the brainchild of the late Scotty Watson (Retail Rotorua). The Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise supports BluesFeast and have arranged for profit from the event to be donated to the Waiariki Women’s Refuge .

Tickets for BluesFeast are $12 (which includes a complimentary souvenir glass) and can be purchased from The Belgian Bar (in Arawa St), RAVE and the Millennium Hotel (Cnr Hinemoa & Hinemaru Sts).

For more information see www.blues.co.nz/bop-blues
or phone Sally Garner 027 2738881.

Hoegaarden Mission Bay Jazz and Blues Streetfest.

2007-12-10T12:37:00.000+13:00

We LOVE playing at festivals, and there are some AWESOME festivals in this country.

A few years ago now, we played our very first festival at MISSION BAY in Auckland.

It BLEW US AWAY!

The response we had from all the music lovers attending was nothing short of phenomenal.

A very humbling experience.

We were totally unprepared for this experience, and sold out of EVERYTHING that we had for sale!

Back then Brilleaux only had the 1 album out, but that did n ot seem to matter, and they were all snapped up.

Several years later, and 4 more albums to our arsenal, we have been invited to play at what is now called the "Hoegaarden Mission Bay Jazz and Blues Streetfest.," and once again, we are very excited about it.

The Hoegaarden Mission Bay Jazz and Blues Streetfest is to be held along the waterfront at where else but Mission Bay in Auckland, on 16 February, 2008. (if raining, postponed to 17th)

SO, All you NORTHERNERS who are hanging out to see your favourite Rhythm and Blues band - book it in your calender NOW - come and say hello - we would love to see you.

BRILLEAUX would like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers, committee members, and music lovers who put festivals around the country like this together, and provide musicians the STAGE. - THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Get along to Mission Bay in February

PS: Many thanks (and congratulations) to "Hoegaarden" — new major sponsor of the Mission Bay Jazz and Blues Streetfest.

Check out the link below:
http://www.jazzandbluesstreetfest.com/

Demo of New Album

2007-12-10T12:27:00.000+13:00

Brilleaux have been in the studio recently and recorded a DEMO version of our new album.

The idea was to allow us all to live with the new songs for a little while and see how we like them. See if there is anything that needs fixing or changing, or anything we would like to add.

Also to help Bruce as a tool to play along to at home, adding and planning extra and additional guitar parts etc.

This has proved itself to be a great help, and for the extra money it took is well worth the exercise.

We are hoping to record the album at Tim Julians studio - COLOURFIELD, located out in the country at Welcome Bay, in Tauranga.

Tim as some of you may know, is the piano and keyboard player that we call upon on occasion, and seeing as we were going to get him to play on the album anyway, we decided we may as well record it at his place.

Tim has just about completed a HUGE makeover on his studio, and we are quite excited about getting in there and making some noise.

2007-08-16T19:43:00.000+12:00

Posted off two albums to Switzerland today, to a chap who saw us at a live show in RAGLAN earlier in the year. He purchased Eight-Track Style, and says that he NEEDS MORE!!!

Awesome.

Also mailed off 2 albums to a Dr Feelgood fan in England, and 2 email enquiries from New Zealand, so after selling 40 Plus albums in the Bay of Islands, we are starting to get the cash together to pay for the NEW album (see previous post) which is quite exciting I can tell you.

Brilleaux have been invited to play at the WHANGAREI festival in October this year, and after a great festival last year, we cant wait.

ALSO I have just secured a gig in New Plymouth at the SURFRIDERS. They invited us to play for them a year or so ago, and have just organised to have us back again. This was a GREAT GIG, so if you live in New Plymouth, it will pay to get your tickets EARLY, as they have limited tickets available, and they sold out last year.

We have met lots of fantastic people from down there, and look forward to seeing some of them at the gig.

This year we will have a support band play before us, so it will be GREAT value, and a great nights entertainment.

Insight into our new album in progress

2007-08-16T19:01:00.000+12:00

After playing to venues full of music lovers at the Bay of Island festival, your favourite New Zealand Rhythm and Blues band are straight back into rehearsals, putting together our new studio album.
3 songs already in our live playlist, and ready to record are Howlin Wolf, Son of a Bitch, and PHD In Stupidity.
Another new song which we tried out at the festival for the first time is "It Wasn't Me." We are now quite happy with this track also.
Another 3 songs are also well underway and almost made it to the playlist at the festival, but as we have never played at the Bay of Islands before, we wanted to hit the audiences with our best, tried and true numbers, and give them a taste of the Brilleaux show, so we decided not to treat them as guineapigs and left them out.
These tracks are: I wonder Why (I Cant Get No Sleep) - a track I co-wrote with Derek of Kokomo, and which appears on their last album, although Brilleaux intend to give it quite a different treatment to the Kokomo boys and girls.
Seven Shades of Surprised, and Angry Young Man. A track entitled "I Love Girls" is also undergoing treatment, and is going to be lots of fun to record I can tell now, as it is very progressive, and features a couple of interesting musical concepts that we havent used before.

We intend the new album to feature a lot of Piano and keyboards courtesy of our friend Tim Julian, who appears on our LIVE at the Colosseum album.

Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival.

2007-08-13T13:11:00.000+12:00

On the weekend of 10-12 August, 2007 Brilleaux appeared for the first time at the Bay of Island jazz and Blues Festival.

We left Tauranga at about 11am on the Friday, and arrived in the Bay at about 6, armed with a good stock of all our albums and a van full of guitars and guys hanging out to play some kick-ass rhythm and blues.

Beano was moonlighting for Kokomo, so we had the evening off to immerse ourselves in the sights and sound of the festival.

Kokomo played to a rapturous full house at the Lighthouse venue. They certainly are treated like superstars up there, and I must say it is totally deserved. Their performances, not to mention the quality of their songs are several steps up the ladder from many of the acts you get to see on the circuit, and with the full band (Mike Kirk on Electric guitar) Our Beano, and Sonia (Sonya) Bullot on trumpet all on stage, they blew the expectant crowd away, delivering MORE than the crowd were hoping to witness.

Brilleauxs first gig wasnt until 4.45 the following day, at the Duke Hotel on Russell, which is a ferry-ride away from the main township.

By the time we got to play the adrenaline was really kicking in, after watching so many good bands, we were ready to do our thing.

The venue - although packed to the gunnels - was mostly seated.
I proceeded to explain to the crowd HOW British Rhythm and Blues came to be, and HOW we could be associated with a blues festival like this one, before hitting them with our full noise version of Riding on the L&N. The rest of the gig was great, and we even threw in our very first performance of the song "It Wasn't Me" - a new original destined to appear on our new album.

Our second gig was at 9pm at Haruru Falls. A great venue, and this place was more packed than the first place.
We played Beer Goggles (with the theremin), AND POD at this gig.

Our final gig for the day was at The paihia pacific, and the auditorium was packed.
This was our best gig of the weekend, and the entire crowd was on its feet dancing.

At 4.45 we played our final show of the weekend at the same venue. appearing straight after Kokomo. The venue was packed inside and out.

I explained to the mixed-age crowd that I could appreciate how Bob Dylan must have felt when he turned up at the Newport jazz festival with his electric band. However, the crowd at this final gig of ours was there by choice - our reputation for delivering a full-on energetic show of driving rhythm and blues had preceeded us, and they loved every minute of it.

We sold a huge number of CDs over the weekend, which all goes to spread the good word.

We cant wait to go again next year.
Thanks to all you fans and supporters, and all those who purchased CDs - it all helps to bring our next album a little closer to completion.

We were treated like celebrities up there with people wanting to get photos taken with us and get our autographs - a very humbling experience.
Thank you to all the organisers, venues, and sound people involved - a great festival.

Hoochie Coochie Man LIVE

2007-07-24T09:44:00.001+12:00

From the live album

clipped from www.youtube.com

Brilleaux LIVE

Coochie Man live at the Colosseum, April, 2007 Live album available from: brilleaux@xtra.co.nz...Rhythm & Blues R&B Dr Feelgood

Tauranga Jazz and Blues Festival

2007-04-10T20:09:00.000+12:00

Well, the Tauranga Easter jazz and Blues festival is well and truly over, and it was - as usual - an amazing experience for Brilleaux

I personally really enjoy these festivals, for several reasons. The main one being that there are about 50 live bands in town - one in every pub, bar and restaurant, and to watch them it is completely FREE.

SO, if at ANY stage in the proceedings, people do not like what you are doing, they can quite easily move off to the next bar.

SO, when you are playing to a full house, you get the feeling you are doing something right, and they must like what you are doing, else they wouldnt be there!

And as we played to a full house on both days, - well - say no more.

We did a great trade in CDs, and sold $800 worth, which will all go towards pressing, printing and duplicating the new live album.

We have also sold out of our first album and we are in need of getting a new pressing of those also.

Not to mention half way towards assembling our next Studio album of originals, so you could say its all go for us.

Another of the highlights of these festivals is that you get to catch up with heaps of other musos, and Brilleaux were thrilled to get a visit from Midge Marsden on our Sunday show.

I spotted him in the crowd, and not one to let a chance go by, I called him up on stage and he played on a song with us, which gave the guys a huge buzz. - Thanks Midge.

Special thanks from Graham, Bruce, Beano and Brian to Tim Julian for jamming with us for the weekend, and adding his wicked keyboard skills to our sound - we are very lucky to have such a wicked player on call for these special occasions - we wont want to play without him now!

Thanks heaps Tim.

the fabulous, most groovy
brilleaux
maximum rhythm & blues
p: 07 543 0334
m: 021 2368800
e: brilleaux@xtra.co.nz
w: www.brilleaux.orcon.net.nz
blog: http://brilleauxmaximumrnb.blogspot.com/

How To Record an Album in a Week

2007-04-06T09:20:00.000+12:00

After the after-match celebrations backstage on the night of the Hard To handle Reunion, and after all the gear was packed up and loaded into various cars and vans etc, the sound engineer - Dan Howard - ex click studio, Hamilton and I made our way back to my place where we proceeded to unload his van (again) and turned my office into a rather compact recording studio, where we collected all the relevant audio tracks and bounced it down (technical term) to a single file, so that I could have a listen, and make notes.
After packing down again and loading up Dans van, he hit the road back to hamilton at around 5.45am.
I had to be up at 8am (Rock n Roll and domesticity are not really compatible) I listened to the album several times through (its 52 minutes long) and made individual notes including the time - ie 2.09 minutes in Lead Guitar Solo - bring to front of mix. These notes were made of every instance something had to go up or down or mute from the recording - for example, as the guys were finishing Nadine, I put my guitar on, and hit a chord to get my levels etc - Dan was able to mute that out of the final mix. Later that day, Bruce came round and we went over it a few more times. I then typed out all these edits, and emailed it to Dan in hamilton. He had the album for 2 days to make 4 pages worth of edits, not to mention all the other stuff he does - like compressors, effects on the vocals, getting the overall rhythm section tracks balanced etc and all other stuff I dont even want to know about!. The Final mixdown arrived back to me at 4.30pm Monday, only to find that instead of a seamless live flow to it, the computer software had automatically placed in a 2 second gap between the tracks, so Tuesday night, Dan spent fixing this wee glitch. On the night of the gig, Bruces girlfriend, martine had taken heaps of photos of the night, so on Monday night Bruce dropped off a CD with all those images, and I started work on the album cover and track listing etc. After a couple of nights up till 1am, I had the cover whipped into shape, and sent it to the printers on Tuesday morning. I contacted local Tauranga resident and former keyboard player with the Narcs, Liam Ryan, who put me on to a chap to get the cds duplicated. Thursday morning and the Covers were all printed and ready to pick up. My wife Holly had to make an emergency trip to Hamilton to collect the new CD master, and return it to Tauranga before lunchtime, when I had arranged for the CD duplicator to collect it. At last all the pieces of the puzzle had come together - from now on it was all just sit back and let it come together. Bruce and I spent Thursday night folding covers and assembling CD cases. I a writing this on Friday morning. at 12 noon I pick up the duplicated CDs and put them all in the cases, and we are done! Just like THAT!!! An album READY FOR SALE in under a week! PHEW - what a mission There are some good things AND some not so good things about this album, and I will mention them here. GOOD THINGS: This album was recorded LIVE There are NO overdubs WHATSOEVER All that was done was the instruments mixed up or down in the mix This is the most honest representation of a band you could get - This is what we sound like, good or bad It was a really exciting, although nerve wracking experience - the pressure was ON BAD THINGS On the night, the harp was so quiet on stage I couldnt hear it, and at one particular point I was playing by BRAILLE, and going on instict, and consequently the accuracy of my playing suffered, hence a few dodgy notes here and there. To get the album out on time, there was no time to fix up the above, or the odd bass note missing, or where Tim, - the keyboard player on the night -who is not 100% familiar with all the songs shot the ending by a note (I know, big deal!) or cut and paste over where I sing the wrong words! Recording over one 50 minute set, gives you no room for error - If it had been recorded over 2 days, or 2 gigs, if you mucked up a song on 1 day, you could replace it with the same song from the next day, or maybe even a different song. This way it was 1 take and thats it! So now all we need to do is SELL IT, and with the Jazz fest almost here, lets hope we do just that! We have a couple of gigs at the festival in Harringtons Nightclub once again. THEN, on Saturday night, Beano is off to play for Kokomo, who are doing the support gig for Georgie Fame, and that is exactly where I shall be - and I cant wait. Happy easter everybody - enjoy the weekend. the fabulous, most groovy brilleaux maximum rhythm & blues p: 07 543 0334 m: 021 2368800 e: brilleaux@xtra.co.nz w: www.brilleaux.orcon.net.nz blog: http://brilleauxmaximumrnb.blogspot.com/

The Colosseum Gig

2007-04-05T10:52:00.000+12:00

It was about 18 years ago (so they tell me) that Hard To handle were a regular fixture on the music scene around these parts. Around this time, John and I have a close afinity with each other as we both fronted high profile, hard working blues bands, and I don't know if it is a result of the kind of drugs around at the time, but I have quite often been mistaken as the singer from hard To handle.

This doesn't really come as a surprise, because if they were playing in town, and I wasn't, I was more likely than not to be seen on stage with them at some part of the night, playing harp, and singing with John, as that is the kind of band they were when it came to inviting friends and guests up for a jam, and when you work as hard as they were at the time, any variation on the normal was welcome to give a bit of a spark to the monotony of playing the same bar night after night.

So 18 years further on down the road when the opportunity arose to carry on where we had left off, I was as keen as mustard to jump right on in there, and when John approached me to do some promotional stuff for the reunion, I wasn't about to let the opportunity pass, and suggested that they could do with a support band, and make an even bigger night of it, and Brilleaux and Kokomo would make a legendary line-up of Tauranga bluesmasters, to which he agreed, and the plans were set for the night of 31st march, 2007 at the Colosseum, Harrington Street Tauranga.

Kokomo, or their alter-ego, The Self Righteous Brothers kicked of the night with a 30 minute set to get what must have been a full house in the mood for what was to come.
Wandering through the crowd, I had a constant smile on my face, spotting the ghosts of yesterdays bar scene who had caught wind of the show and who seemed to just vaporised themselves to the Colosseum for the evening for one more night of smoke and alcohol induced rock n roll (without the smoke of course).

Brilleaux kicked off at 10.15, introduced by Derek, who rarked them up sufficiently and informing the crowd that the night was being recorded and videod for an upcoming future cd release. Brilleaux played a 50 minute set of rhythm and blues played brilleaux-style to a pretty enthusiastic crowd, but to be honest, I think they were really saving themselves (a phenomenon unknown 18 years ago, but many now only surviving on limited stores of excess energy, do not have stores to be used up too hastilly lest they fail to see out the main event!) for the main event - the reunion of Hard To Handle.

Hard To handle kicked of about 11.30, and an intense feeling of Deja vu descended upon the crowd from the first two notes Tippy struck on his guitar. It was astounding how good these guys sounded after not playing together for so many years, it may well be a cliche, but it sounded like they had only been playing yesterday, even in the absence of their most recent bass player, Kevin Coleman. Willie (Wiremu) Priestly did an amazing Job - I salute him for that.
Jon was BORN to be the frontman of a band - it is his calling in life - It is what he does and what he is - aand this was confirmed on this night. Jon hasn't actually performed for a long time - not like THIS, and he was a pleasure to watch - he brought tears in my eyes with a brilliant performance.

Im sure I saw Tippy play just the other day! His playing on the night was as it has always been - astounding, passionate, inspired - all the things that have made him a local and international legend.

I have never really noticed before, but paul has a very distinctive style on the drums, and maybe its because I have a lot more experience myself now, that I am able to pick up on that, but Paul is equally responsible for the sound that Hard To handle were the band that you HAD to go and see on a Friday or Saturday night.

Now, I have the recollection of the very first incarnations of hard to Handle, with Jim on drums, and then later with Nick the Russian on Bass, and Derek Jacombs on guitar, alonside a "yet to find-himself" Tippy, right through to the powerhouse lineup with Paul, and the legendary Kevin Coleman on bass, and on this night, this line-up was as good as any of them.

I hope the recording does the band justice, and they deliver the public with the SECOND Hard To Handle album EVER.

Awesome night you guys - you gave a lot of people a lot of enjoyment

I thank everybody that made the night go smoothly, from Tim Cooper for all his effort before, during and after the gig. Dan Howard for making a great job of the live sound, and for recording the audio. To Mike Butler who video taped the entire proceedings on and back stage, and last but not least all the lovers of live music that PAID and had a night to be remembered for a very long time.

Brilleaux LIVE

2007-03-29T20:18:00.000+12:00

Just a last minute reminder everybody - dont miss the hard to Handle Reunion gig at the Colosseum THIS WEEKEND

Did I forget to mention - it is being RECORDED LIVE, and we are hoping to have a LIVE ALBUM ready (albeit a limited number) ready for the Easter jazz and Blues Fest in Tauranga.

The gig is being recorded and engineered by Daniel Howard, who was "the Man" responsible for recording 8-Track Style. He is coming over to Tauranga for the weekend to make sure the sound on the night is as good as it could be.

Brilleaux are very fortunate to have enlisted the services of a very good friend of ours, Mr Tim Julian on keyboards. We are just blown away by the wicked extra flavour he adds to the Brilleaux sound, and some of our old numbers really come alive with what he has to offer.

On top of some of our regular favourites, this gig will actually record 3 brand new, as yet unrecorded originals, so keep your ear out for them.

At this stage, the set list looks like being as follows, but may change depending on how long we are due to play for.

Gimme one more shot
Phd in stupidity (New)
Howlin wolf (Unrecorded)
Beer goggles
Son of a bitch (New)
Brilleaux show
pod
Your going home in an ambulance
Hit man
Nadine

Phantom Teardrop or a Teisco May Queen

2007-03-20T21:32:00.000+12:00

Anybody out there got a Phantom or a Vox Teardrop Guitar? How about a Teisco May Queen? I am pretty keen to get my hands on either one of these. You can contact me at: brilleaux@xtra.co.nz or phone 021 236 8800

Live at the Food and Wine Festival

2007-03-20T21:22:00.000+12:00

Some pics taken of Brilleaux Live at the food and wine festival recently

Hard To Handle Reunion

2007-03-19T18:19:00.000+12:00

OK all you music lovers out there - Whatever you do, do not miss the following event - mark it in your busy schedule NOW.
In fact I would go so far as to suggest you pre-purchase tickets to avoid disappointment - this gig will sell out FAST

Saturday March 31
Live @ the Colosseum, Harrington Street, Tauranga

HARD TO HANDLE
BRILLEAUX
KOKOMO/Self Righteous Brothers

The very best of blues music in 3 very different styles.

I shall post a gig poster up here as soon as it is available

See you there

Wine and Food Festival

2007-03-06T11:48:00.000+13:00

We are playing HERE
Can you think of a BETTER way to spend a sunny afternoon?

Best Wishes

2006-10-30T13:23:00.000+13:00

Thanks for a great nights entertainment you guys really show how it should be done.
The music was brilliant! Good to see Steve doing his thing up there I bet it was a thrill for him.
Congratulations on the new album I like it a lot keep up the good work

best wishes Rick

New Plymouth Surfriders

2006-10-29T08:46:00.000+13:00

Hey Graham ,

Thanks for an awesome nights entertainment last Sat night.

I have people who attended coming up to me all week raving about how good you guys are what an awesome night they had.

All are keen to see you back here again.

As we said we have a big Easter Masters surf comp here every Easter & have a big party on the SUNDAY night.

If you guys are available we would be keen to book you.

Thanks again to Beano,Bruce Brian & yourself you guys put on an awesome show
.
Change your catch phrase to The $%^#@ fabulous Brilleax I reckon.

Cheers
Mark

****************************
Posted above is a letter of thanks from the New Plymouth Surfriders gig we played at recently Brilleaux had a Brilleaux time down there with hospitality second to NONE - thanks Mark for looking after the band - it is much appreciated.
We caught up with some old (as in known for a long time!) friends down there as in Steve and Cheryl Oconnor, who had previously booked us to play at the basement Blues Club. We got Steve up on stage for a bit of a jam during the night which was a bit of fun. Cheryl invited us round to their house for breakfast the next day before we made our trip home, and for which we are very grateful. I have some good pics of the event which I will post at a later date.
Thanks again to everybody for making this a fantastic gig.

QuarryFest Programme

2006-10-18T19:18:00.000+13:00

Here is the programme for the Quarryfest - It looks like it will be a great day with stalls and food vendors and rides and all kinds of cool stuff to do on a SUNNY weekend.

Pass the word around and lets make this a great day.
Brilleaux are doing this for FREE - All proceeds go to the Te Puna Quarry park

QuarryFest 2006 Nov 5th
10am -4pm Te Puna Quarry Park
Entry: Gold coin donation

Amphitheatre Programme

10.00 Hunterville Pipe Band (to be confirmed)

11.00 Rodrick Stewart - magician

11.30 In –Situ Dance

12.00 Brilleaux - Rhythm & Blues band

12.30 ……..T’ai chi …………

1.00 Belisha - belly dancers

1.20 Brilleaux - Rhythm & Blues band

1.45 The Barbershop Decibels - barbershop singers

2.30 Brilleaux - Rhythm & Blues band

3.00 Omokoroa Pipe Band and dancers

Brilleaux Newspaper Review

2006-10-15T11:09:00.000+13:00

The following report taken from the KOKOMO website was also printed in the Tauranga Newspaper The Weekend Sun.

(Brilleaux were on after Grant and Derek from Kokomo, and were simply superb. OK, so it was a Saturday night, and I’m sure the red wine had been flowing with the generosity that you would expect at a festival, but seeing them pumping it out in a hot sweaty bar full of enraptured punters I formed the firm opinion that they are pretty much the best rhythm and blues band in New Zealand today.

They are now - as was only one other band I saw in Whangarei - the complete package; they could play on any stage, anywhere in the world, and get the same reaction. As far as I see it, they have several essential factors - which every top band need - going for them.

Firstly, in Graham Clark they have a great frontman. I’ve watched Graham perform for a couple of decades now and – without wanting to sound condescending - he has become really good at it. He is both relaxed and energized while on stage, can talk to a crowd at the level required, has slick moves, and projects absolute commitment.

Second up, they have a great rock guitar player. Bruce Rolands, with a suit, bald head and grinding guitar, is the Keith Richards of the band: driving rhythms, crunching R&B lead and… that X-factor, the fact that he just looks right, absolutely embodying what a cool rock ‘n’ roll guitar player should be on stage.

Then there’s the rhythm section, with Beano and Brian Frank playing together as one unit. It takes years to do this properly and they’ve put in the hard yards. Brian having a weird DIY bass doesn’t hurt either. A bit of quirky character is always good.

Next there are the songs: the band are amassing a slew of solid originals (remember Graham wrote most of "Wonder Why I Can't Get No Sleep" from our Songs Of Love And Not album), and from the crowd reaction in Whangarei they’re songs an audience can relate to. It helps that being blues-based they have familiar rhythms, but when you’re slotting your own tunes in amongst classic R&B they better be strong enough to hold up.

And lastly (though I’m skipping a few things) Brilleaux have a gimmick. They have Graham’s theremin, that strange electronic instrument beloved of sci-fi movies and Brian Wilson. People are understandably gobsmacked by it and it provides that most essential thing for a band - it is memorable. Often bands forget this. You can be really really good without being memorable. Brilleaux manage to be both.

Whangarei Festival Reports

2006-10-15T10:53:00.000+13:00

Here is what they had to say about Brilleaux on the Whats on NZ website - you can check it out here for more info in the Whangarei fest.

www.nzwhatson.co.nz

Another Tauranga band is Brilleaux. Described as Rhythm and Blues these boys know how to rock. They played to full houses all weekend with there high energy music. Often I heard "It's not Jazz, but they're bloody good". I was so wrapped by their performances I forgot to get their names, but I will track them down. They are a four piece band and play as tight as you can get. They are well rehearsed and know how to put on a damned good show. I will be keeping you updated when I get more info...

Brilleaux in New Plymouth

2006-10-11T23:59:00.000+13:00

Brilleaux will be playing in
New Plymouth on Saturday 21st October (Labour Weekend)
at a gig put on by the New Plymouth Surfriders

Tickets are only $10.00 & available to the general public.c
from Beach street Surfshop &
Taranaki Hardcore
or Friday evenings at the bar of New Plymouth surfriders club fitzroy beach.

Bar opens on the night @ 7.30

Brilleaux kick off @ 8.00- 8.30.

or contact Mark on 0275580400 if you want to buy tickets.

Awesome Whangarei Festival

2006-10-10T15:30:00.000+13:00

Well the Whangarei Jazz and Blues Festival is all over, and what a wicked time we had. Brilleaux shocked the hell out of a number of poor, unsuspecting music lovers, and came away with a whole bunch of new friends and fans.

We sold heaps of CDs, and completely sold out of our first album - Welcome to the Brilleaux
Show.

Our first gig was at DICKENS, where we unleashed the theremin - seen there obviously for the very first time. The people that saw us at that gig, followed us to the next 3 gigs!

Second gig was outside at IBANEZ, and this was probably our very best gig of the weekend (although I must say I enjoyed them all) We had the crowd dancing the entire gig, and I have never seen so many photos being snapped as at this gig!
We started this set with "Give Me One More Shot" and a bit later in the gig debuted one of our very new songs "PHD in Stupidity," and it went OFF. Derek of Kokomo was also at this gig, and said he enjoyed the song - He knew it was a new one.

Third gig of the day was at the Red Iguana at 9.45. This gig was building up to be the gig of the weekend, as Kokomo (or should I say Grant and Derek and Sonja from Kokomo) played before us, and had a FULL HOUSE in the palm of their hands. They warmed them up nicely for us. By the time we came on it was dark, and so we had the light show and everything. Derek said this gig was the very best he had ever heard Brilleaux play - the sound was awesome, and the band was just 1 big throbbing organism!!!! We had a ball, and I lost a few pints of sweat I dont mind saying!

Sunday afternoon saw us at the quietest, poshest venue of the festival, and the boys were not looking forward to playing in there, but by the time we got started, we had a good sized, VERY appreciative crowd, who hung on every note we played. Several punters - not content with just purchasing 1 album - purchased all three, and we are most grateful.

Thanks to Li'l Ian Goodsman and his wife, and all the other festival committee members, and thanks to all the venues that participated - lets hope all the rest in town come to the party next year, to make it an even bigger success.

Thanks to all the sound crews who did a great job under pressure, I must say they did a bloody great job.

It is playing festivals like this that brings home to us how much we love this band, because it is at festivals like this that we get to play to people who are only there for ONE REASON - to SEE AND HEAR US PLAY, and you cannot get a better audience than that, so to all you fans and music lovers out there that saw us at the festival - a big thanks from the fabulouse, most groovy Brilleaux - maximum R&B

If any of you took any photos on this weekend, we would love to see them.

PS: Don't forget - If you got the CD, then all you need now is the T-Shirt!

See earlier posting for prices etc.
To ORDER contact:
brilleaux@xtra.co.nz

Thanks

Graham

New Album In Progress

2006-09-07T12:57:00.000+12:00

Brilleaux are well underway with a new batch of songs for the next album.
Last night at a rehearsal, we actually arranged 2 brand new songs that Graham had been working on.
Once handed over to the boys, they soon added their vital ingredients to the concepts, and I must say, these, I'm sure, will be two of the highlights of this new recording.

The songs from last night are:
It Wasn't Me
and
Phd in Stupidity

Already well underway, arranged and rehearsed are:
I Wonder Why (I Can't Get No Sleep)
Seven Shades of Surprised
Your an Angry Young Man

not to mention the as yet, un-recorded
I'm a Howlin Wolf

Also in progress is:
21st Century Voodoo
and
Get Oughta My Way

All of these titles are original works.
We are also considering a cover version or two to add to these titles, so there is an album already.

We have some recording time owing to us at The Boatshed Studio, and Dan - previously of Click Studio in Hamilton, who engineered our last album "Eight-Track-Style": has expressed his interest in working with us again, so things are looking pretty exciting in the near future, so WATCH THIS SPACE.

Whangarei Jazz & Blues Festival

2006-08-22T14:43:00.001+12:00

Our Auckland fans will be glad to hear that the fabulous, most groovy BRILLEAUX will be appearing at the
Whangarei Jazz and Blues Festival
to be held on the
7th and 8th OCTOBER, 2006
in Whangarei.
No venue has been assigned to us as yet, but I will keep you all posted as to where and when etc as details become available, but in the meantime - pass this blog address on to all your friends and music lovers around the country, and help make this an AMAZING EVENT
I will post a programme of events here as soon as they become available.
Feel free to contact BRILLEAUX by the link below.

See you there

Brilleaux at Quarryfest 2006

2006-08-17T10:13:00.001+12:00

Brilleaux
will be making an appearance at the
2006 Quarryfest,
to be held at
Te Puna Quarry Park
on 5th November, 2006

Te Puna Quarry Park is as you may have guessed a beautiful park on the site of the old quarry, featuring landscaped gardens, old quarry machinery, and many beautiful rock sculptures. It is an ideal venue, and a lovely place to take the family. INFORMATION To reserve a site for the day or for more details: Ph Merry 552-5579 fax 552-5879 or merry.cooney ihug.co.nz Wet weather venue if weather unsuitable Quality craft stalls Kaimai Coast products Food and drinks Family Entertainment Activities for children Buskers and
Live Music by
the fabulous, most groovy
BRILLEAUX

Brilleaux Merchandise anyone

2006-08-16T18:11:00.000+12:00

T-Shirts
Score yourself some fabulous, most groovy, Brilleaux merchandise folks!
Long sleeve Black T-shirts (200gsm material) Pocket logo on front, Large Logo on back, Maximum Rhythm and Blues, and The fabulous, most groovy printed down each sleeve.
Fantastic value at only $40 (+ P&P)

PLUS
White, short-sleeve Shower Girl T's (same pic as our posters) only $30 each (+ P&P)

BUT WAIT - THERES MORE!
Black Beanies (not pictured) with Embroidered logo on front for $20 each

TO ORDER:
Simply leave a comment (at bottom of this post, and I will get right on to it.

Recent Brilleaux Gig Pics

2006-08-16T17:59:00.000+12:00

TOP:
Live at the 2006 Montana Tauranga Easter Jazz and Blues Festival.

CENTRE:
Live on stage for TVs Sports Cafe

BOTTOM:
Relaxing on the Sports Cafe Couch

VIDEO CLIP OF BRILLEAUX LIVE ON TV1

2006-08-16T12:02:00.000+12:00

Maximum Rhythm and Blues

2006-08-14T13:06:00.000+12:00

This ladies and gentlemen, is the place to come and check out the latest news and information on New Zealand premiere, kick-ass Rhythm and Blues Band.

The blog format is much easier and user friendly for the band to keep you up to date as opposed to the original website thing. We are able to post news and stuff as it happens - we can attach pictures, gigs, movies and songs as frequently as we wish, so this site should be a lot more interesting and up to date than the website.
We will keep the website as our Homepage, so that people can still contact us using the old "www.brilleaux.orcon.net.nz" address, but it will eventually have a link direct to THIS site.

We have a fair bit of interesting news, so make sure you check this site every few days for updates.