Back In The Day: Fords Music Store and Home Grown Amplification

By Tony De Caria and Les FORDS BLUES CONNECTION Now that I think of it all these years later, Fords was destined to have a heavy blues influence many years before I got there. The Purple Hearts had completely blown away three kids at a venue across the road in Stanley St. called “The Bowl”. We had been having guitar lessons for some months and had at the time become rather bored with Shadows instrumentals and the top 40 hits played by the resident bands, finding [...]

By |2021-05-12T19:03:04+10:00May 12th, 2021|Back In The Day, The Groove|

Azure Blue CD Review

Azure Blue CD by Craig Claxton CD Review by Tracey Hammell Craig Claxton made excellent use of his time in lockdown during the shift into the “new normal” by writing and recording his first solo album, Azure Blue. Craig Claxton and his fabulous rhythm section ... sometimes known as The Barbarians at the Azure Blue Album preview. L-R Craig Claxton (guitar & vox), John Postlethwaite (dums), Kevin Howard (bass), Brendan St Ledger (keyboards). "It was so much fun to do ... I [...]

By |2021-05-12T18:01:50+10:00May 12th, 2021|News, Reviews and Events, The Groove|

Back In The Day – Fords Music Store – Mal Stevens Remembers

BACK IN THE DAY… Intro from MICK POWER Greetings Fellow BASEQ Members and welcome to our second edition of “BACK IN THE DAY”  This month we start a two series edition on the history of one of Brisbane’s go to music stores “FORDS MUSIC” Woolloongabba. We discover the main personnel behind this iconic institution and the impact it made on so many upcoming musicians of the day. As an introduction, we hear from the main man behind Fords Music Mal Stevens and, while reading his account of [...]

By |2021-04-08T02:08:20+10:00April 8th, 2021|Back In The Day, The Groove|

The “Secret Sauce” from the BBFactory: New Album – Track By Track

So I heard that BBFactory had recorded a new live album and were getting ready to release it with a series of album launches... ... and I harassed and harangued Pedro for more info on it, that "Secret Sauce", as it were, of the album Pedro and Jackson, BBFactory (photo by Dianne Haistie) But first, the BBFactory story so far: ... the band has already released their highly regarded ‘First World Blues’ and ‘Let the Good Times Roll’ albums ( the latter is a live [...]

By |2021-03-17T01:19:45+10:00March 17th, 2021|The Groove|

Back In The Day … Keith “Stretch” Kerwin Remembers.

Hi Folks, this is basically the remnants of memories about the early days of the Brisbane music scene from individual personal perspectives .. and for all  intents and purposes concentrating more towards the 'Blues' scenario. My name's Keith Kerwin but possibly more Sanctuary - L-R Mal Logan, Barry Sullivan, Keith "Stretch" Kerwin and Adrian Payne [drums] well known via my nickname 'Stretch'. I was born and raised in Coorparoo, Brisbane, in May, 1949 ... so that makes me approaching my 72nd birthday. I'm the youngest [...]

By |2021-02-24T02:28:39+10:00February 24th, 2021|Back In The Day, The Groove|