Exhibition launch – 6 June at 6pm at the Wheaty in the front bar. More details at the Wheaty website.
For the month of June the Wheatsheaf Hotel is holding an exhibition of a few of the handprinted posters we’ve pumped out between 2010-2013. It’s a bit of a retrospective of our journey in letterpress, silkscreen, lino and woodcut.
We’re having a few beers to celebrate the exhibition opening at the Wheaty on 6 June at about 6pm.
We’ve been busy pulling dusty posters from the back of the cupboard and re-printing long lost broadsides. At the event we’ll ply you with alcohol and persuade you to reach into your wallet, pull out some money and buy a poster. Be prepared.
It would be great to see you there.
The blurb:
Hamfisted: The Broadsides of Stobie Sounds.
An exhibition of gig posters and ephemera printed by local record label Stobie Sounds.
In 2009 a bunch of local musicians got together to record a soundtrack to a short documentary called ‘green glass blues’. The documentary maker lost his way and the film never saw the light of day but 20 copies of the soundtrack were released on 7″ vinyl. To save money, the sleeves were cut from scrap cardboard and printed using carved lino blocks. The album proved a worthy catalyst and by March 2010 Stobie Sounds was born with a pledge to produce small runs of roots records with artists and bands from Adelaide and beyond.
Since those humble beginnings Stobie Sounds has stayed true to its DIY origins with all of its projects revolving around a small print-making studio where archaic methods such as letterpress, woodcut and silk screen are utilised to craft album sleeves, t-shirts, posters and other bits and pieces.
Hamfisted! Is a celebration of the broadsides and ephemera created in the Stobie studio between 2010-2013.
If you’re in a band and would like to get your next gig posters hand printed get in touch with Jacob on 0449-815-804.
As I sit here a long way from home in a budget motel eating curry in front of a mirror I have embraced the fact that change is inevitable. There’s something about watching yourself eat dahl that gets you a little existential.
We’ve been a DIY label from the git-go. Over the years our esteemed secretary has managed to build a great little print-making studio where we’ve made album sleeves, inked posters, printed tea towels and decorated kick drums.
We’ve only ever used it for in-house label business but that is about to change.
Over the years we’ve had a bit of interest from bands and artists looking for help to print small batches of album sleeves. We’ve always provided advice but have not opened our studio to ‘outsiders’….. until now.
STOBIETOWN PRESS
Our esteemed secretary is establishing a little traditional printmaking service to be known as Stobietown Press which will provide down-home printing services to all and sundry. It’s early days yet but he’s already taking orders for gig posters, album covers, coasters, business cards, invites. You name it, he’ll do it.
Over coming months Stobietown Press will come to life. Headover to the veritable facebook to stay abreast of developments.
While the studio is getting its affairs in order Jacob is printing gig posters. BIG gig posters weighing in at 55cm x 75cm printed on his behemoth hydraulic press known as ‘the Big Red Press’. For $50 you’ll get 20 big gig posters printed using traditional letterpress techniques. Stick a few up around town and sell a few at your gig. easy! Call Jacob on 0449815804 to learn more.
WANT TO COLLABORATE?
In the true stobie spirit Stobietown Press will have a collective vibe. We’re calling out to any graphic designers, industrial designers and print makers who are keen to collaborate on projects that involve putting ink on paper.
Contact Jacob on 0449815804 if you’re keen to know more.
3/4 of ‘The Beastly Treated’: (L-R) Heath Cullen, Matt Walker and Chris Parkinson (Photograph by Lisa Sorgini).
Take a whole bunch of musicians from different States, backgrounds and genres (albeit all with a roots music connection), toss them a bunch of poems by a largely unknown, obscure Irish convict poet born a couple of hundred years ago, get them to individually compose their own musical interpretations of some and then chuck them all on a stage and have them perform.
Sounds like the perfect recipe for chaos and mayhem, but what I witnessed on Saturday night was far from that. Proceedings got under way with a few cool tunes from The Tea House Fire who set the bar pretty high to start the show, following which we got our first look at the deadly house band ‘The Beastly Treated’ (sic). Comprising Matt Walker, Heath Cullen, Chris Parkinson and B.J. Barker, these guys went on to back most of the following artists in one way or another. Read more…
Martin Cash (1808-1877), by J. W. Beattie (picture: National Library of Australia)
We popped over to Cal Williams Jr’s place the other day to chat with him about Frank The Poet, Bushrangers, Australian music and all sorts of tangents, including his interpretation of THE BALLAD OF MARTIN CASH, his contribution to ‘Banished Now From My Native Shore’. Cal had some interesting things to say about Australian music as a melting pot of global influences and how Australian musical culture is perceived in Europe.
Cal’s rendition of The Ballad of Martin Cash reworks the original poem into a sweetly rambling celebration of those brave people who spend their lives on the run, refusing to submit to authority.
It’s also worth noting that Cal’s furry sideburns and shaggy disposition bears a striking resemblance to the real Martin Cash (pictured). Could he actually be related?
Cal is playing on JUNE 1 at the Wheatsheaf Hotel as part of the launch of ‘Banished Now From My Native Shore: The Verse of Frank The Poet’.
When we launch the ‘Frank the Poet’ compilation album on June 1 & 2 there’ll be a couple of notable absences from the weekend’s line-up. For one artist in particular, making it to Adelaide, and our beloved Wheatsheaf Hotel in Thebarton probably would’ve been a bit of a stretch. Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for her), Mia Dyson has left her native shore to tour the US, and will be on the road, someplace between Venice California and Ann Arbor Michigan when the rest of the artists hit the stage.
We wish her happy travels and are sure that the tour will be an almighty success.
For her contribution to the album, Mia has recorded a striking acapella version of Moreton Bay, similar (although obviously quite different) to that sung by Simon McDonald and collected by Norm and Pat O’Connor back in September 1960.
Mia’s song was recorded by Erin Sidney & Patrick Cupples in a tree house somewhere in New Hampshire. Apart from being quirky in the extreme, this rather unusual recording environment seems to have had a powerful effect and has imbued the song with a quality that you simply couldn’t replicate in a traditional studio, particularly given it was raining! Although Mia left her guitar in the case for this one, the song is by no means deficient in intrigue. Her trademark husky vocals, remarkable clarity of enunciation and the sense of longing she has brought to the song creates a veritable feast for the auditory senses.
We’re not really sure what it is about this song. Patrick Cupples reckons there’s “an earthiness to the recording”, but what ever it is, we’d put money on it (if we had any) that the minute you hear it, you too will be transported to a place across the ocean called Moreton Bay.
On June 1 & 2 we’re launching our ‘Frank the Poet’ compilation album at the Wheatsheaf Hotel. Over two nights we’re inviting 16 artists to hit the stage and play the songs that feature on the album. For the occasion we’ve assembled a ragged bunch of musicians to provide backing for all of the solo artists. Not just any bunch of musos but four of the finest – most in-demand artists – going ’round at the moment.
The Beastly Treated will be playing for two nights only and will provide backing to the likes of Cal Williams Jr, Nick Kipridis, Sean McMahon (Melb), Jimmy Dowling (NSW), Max Savage, Tom West, Snooks La Vie and a whole stack more. It will be well worth the $20 just to come and see these guys play. Get Tix here
MATT WALKER needs no introduction. He’s an ARIA award winning songwriter and musician based in Melbourne. He’s widely regarded as one of Australia’s truly original roots guitarists and vocalists. He’s collaborated/played with everybody from Broderick Smith to Kim Salmon to Mia Dyson to Ashley Davies and is currently wielding his axe in Tex Perkins’ ‘Band of Gold’.
Four songs on the album were recorded in Matt’s 8 Track Shack, including his own haunting rendition of ‘Bold Jack Donohoe’
CHRIS PARKINSON is one of Austrlaia’s truely gifted roots guitarists. The tone and atmosphere that he can lull from his trusty danelectro guitar is instantly recognisable and is gaining a reputation across the nation. He’s played with some of the best, including a long stint as side man to the late-great Jimmy Little. Alongside Robyn Chalken in The Yearlings, he has recorded a haunting version of Moreton Bay on the album. A true gem on Adelaide’s scene.
HEATH CULLEN hails from Candelo, NSW (where the fuck is that?). But don’t let his small town origins fool you. Over the past decade, Heath Cullen has established a career as one of this country’s most promising and adventurous young accompanists – His driving guitar and ethereal lapsteel parts grace the records of some of Australia’s finest indie artists. Heath joined with his band ‘The 45s’ to release the critically accliamed ‘A storm was coming but I didn’t feel nothin’ and is currently planning to hit the studio in the US with legendary Jim Keltner, Marc Ribot and Larry ‘The Mole’ Taylor.
BJ BARKER is a fine and sensitive drummer. Don’t let the goatee and iron maiden t-shirts give you the wrong impression. Beej is an in-demand drummer in the roots music community and plays with the likes of Kasey Chambers, The Huckleberry Swedes, The Yearlings, The Baker Suite and, I’m sure, many more.
On the 8th of February 1840, the Sydney Gazzette published a poem some consider to be thick with the code of Irish rebels.
It was printed under the name Francis MacNamara and then forgotten for a hundred years.
Over 172 years later that same poem has been brought back to life by one of Adelaide’s most revered singer-song writers Nick Kipridis, lead vocalist and guitarist from The Streamliners.
In the lead up to the June 1 & 2 launch of Banished From My Native Shore: The Verse of Frank the Poet we’ll be showcasing a number of songs from the album and sharing snippets about each of the artists, their songs and how they approached their compositions. We’ll kick off the series with Nick Kipridis and his song ‘A Dialogue Between Two Hibernians In Botany Bay’. If like some of us you’re a visual learner, then here’s a little video we’ve put together for Nick’s song. Of course if you’d like a real treat, then don’t forget to buy a ticket for Saturday June 2 when he’ll be performing his song live at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, Thebarton.
‘Jimmy’s got a lot of stories to tell, and he tells them his own way – with strong words and an steady hand’
Jeff Lang.
To kick off our weekend of frank frivolities (festival of the frank, we like to call it) the Gilbert Street Hotel is hosting a special show on Thursday 31 May.
Singer, songwriter and all-round-rogue Jimmy Dowling is travelling from Murwillumbah in NSW to be with us for a song or two at the Wheaty and we thought it would be a lost opportunity if he didn’t have a chance to play a full set of his own material.
Come and join us at the Gilbert Street Hotel from 7pm on 31 May to hear a set from Jimmy.
Jimmy has gained a reputation as an insighful and forthright songwriter who has that rare gift of being able to sing about every-day moments with a sharp wit and beauty that is infectious. His album Dead Man’s Lullaby has been on high rotation in the Stobie Studio of late and we really encourage you to come down for a listen.
Jimmy’s song from ‘Banished Now From My Native Shore’ features in this clip we made a while back….
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Snooks La Vie: Brother James
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Jesse Deane-Freeman: I Wonder What's The Matter
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Kirk Special: Arkansas
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Brendan Gallagher: Baby Please Don't Go
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