DAVE'S DIARY - 21 NOVEMBER 2004 - LOUIE & THE FLIES
FROM BEHIND THE GRILL TO RIDING THE RANGE
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When
Louise Clancey grew up in New Zealand she was exposed to the country
music of her mentors on the radio. Louise was raised in Huntly and learned country music from her parents vast record collection. "She was so desperate to sing that she would sing to people in cars as they drove past just to get an audience!" reports fellow Jon Clegg from her Warrnambool band The Rustlers. "She would get her brother to tell her when a car was coming so she'd be prepared. She met with New Zealand country singer Joy Adams and sang with her at a local Country Music club. She was invited to join a tour but she was a bit too young at the time. The family moved to Perth and Louie followed in her early twenties. She continued singing in musicals with theatre companies." |
Louise embarked
on a solo singing career when she teamed up with local musicians on the
Shipwreck Coast at Port Fairy prior to Louie And The Rustlers.
The Port Fairy princess of the prairie is such in big demand she has two
bands - the Rustlers in Warrnambool and The Flies in Melbourne.
PORT FAIRY TO TAMWORTH
Louise swapped
her career as a restaurateur in the historic seaside village - known for
former singing publican and VFL star Ronnie Wearmouth - for the stage.
Louie & The Rustlers spread their fame beyond the Great Southern Ocean
when they performed at the famed Tamworth country music festival in 2003
and 2004.
They won an enthusiastic following at venues diverse as the famed Longyard
hotel and Southgate.
Louise released a solo indie CD Be Kind - featuring her original
tunes - and wowed audiences on the Guinness stage at the annual Port Fairy
folk festival.
One of the originals Sad Love Song won her a nomination in the
finals of the 2004 Victorian Country Music Awards at Whittlesea.
"Louise's recent song writing has taken on a mixture of bluegrass
and country blues influences," says fellow Rustler Jon Clegg - a
veteran Shipwreck Coast musician.
FLIES SOAR
Dead Livers
bassist Michael Schack, a South West TAFE librarian and talent spotter,
alerted Livers guitarist Rodger Delfos.
Delfos caught Louie performing with the Rustlers on trips to Warrnambool
and Port Fairy with the Dead Livers and Broken Spoke.
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The
singing Nu Country audio technician has formed a Melbourne band
to back her on trips to the big smoke. Instead
Louie strutted her stuff with the Flies who back her at the Nu Country
10th Christmas party at Bush Inn, West Toorak, on Saturday December
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Louie then
fronted the Rustlers for a Sabbath gig at the nearby Caledonian Hotel
on a recent weekend.
"Louie was singing with Roger, Don, Ron and myself at the Criterion,"
Clegg reported.
"Then on Sunday night we played as Louie And The Rustlers at the
Caledonian. But we had some special guests arrive to watch the show (Roger
and Don) and I invited them up to play. The audience reaction was fantastic.
I was personally in awe of Roger and Don because they had had a late night
on Saturday finishing their last whiskey at 9 am Sunday morning! A good
effort given they had a Sunday arvo gig at the Stump."
LITTLE LIVER BAND
Among one
of many country bands fuelled by Schack - the Count of Yartpturk (a satellite
suburb of Koroit) - is the Little Liver Band.
The band, featuring Schack, Delfos, Mahney and Dead Livers singer Marty
Atchison, is a popular pub band.
"Rodger, Don and Ron Mahony are joining Russell and myself for a
Rusty Buckets gig at the over 40s club," Schack reported.
"The Little Liver Band has been booked Sunday at the Caledonian.
Unfortunately advertising has gone out in yesterday's Warrnambool Standard
as Little River Band. Hold the lawsuit.
You're confused? No more so than the musicians and punters!"
It's unlikely the foreign outfit that owns the Little River Band name
will sue the lads from the deepest south on the Shipwreck Coast.