Thursday 18 October 2007

The man who drinks.
(the other one)

There's not many things that will get Campbell out of an evening these days. There's the Doch Gypsy Orchestra, and, well I can't think of anything else right now. Doch is a small band of half a dozen players with three albums stacked up since 2002, but once a year they play a week at the Brisbane Powerhouse with an expanded band of around twenty five plus a couple of foreign guest singers. (Over two dozen classy musicians on stage all at once!!). They are one of Brisbane's treasures, a young outfit of astonshing musical ability. I first heard of them a few years back when wee hayley campbell phoned from the Queen Street pedestrian precinct shouting 'Dad, there's a band playing here. You gotta hear these people!' I've pinched this picture from the Brisbane Powerhouse site, which is also on the cover of the DVD recording titled THE MAN WHO DRINKS (can't find it for sale online, but that doesn't mean it isn't there) of their 2005 appearance at the venue, except that on there it's in greys and the design, brown on olive green, looks like they don't care much whether you buy it.


Take it from me it's an uproar of joyful music played by beautiful people, and it's exactly as I recall the night except there's only half of it on the disc. Also at the Powerhouse site there is a great video clip of this year's guest singer laying it on thick with intricate guitar accompaniment, a moment for which the wife of my bosom expressed immediate fondness, though it is not the band's typical style. The opening of the Dvd goes like this taster at YOUTUBE. From elsewhere, here's the small band doing Kiberee. And ten minutes from their New Zealand tour, with talk, explaining, rehearsing, great shots of N.Z. itself. Singer/ trumpeter Michael Rogers has a cheeky, engaging personality. They're at the Powerhouse till Sunday, but I'd be surprised if you can still get a seat, and that'll be me staying in till next year, unless they turn up unexpectedly at some other venue.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw them play a couple of years ago at The Rev back when it used to be the Rev. They had a belly dancer as their support act and attracted a crowd that was half trendy young folk and half middle-aged Eastern Europeans. It was a great show.

18 October 2007 at 01:02:00 GMT-5  
Blogger drjon said...

Did you catch their free gig at the Mulitcultural Festical at Roma St last Sunday? Bloody Brilliant! I have some photos somewhere...

18 October 2007 at 01:13:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Hayley Campbell said...

And when I saw 'em in the street years ago (I suspect it was at the Valley markets) there were only 6 or so musicians on the stage because that's all that would fit. Huge crowd. Pissed off the marketeers because they and their stuff were being trampled by dancing people.

18 October 2007 at 04:11:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hugely sad story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7050549.stm

It immediately called to mind the Pyjama Girl, which is my only reason for mentioning it.

Ben Smith

18 October 2007 at 06:30:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

yes, that's completely horrible.
thought about it all day

18 October 2007 at 07:22:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Eddie - It's Chloe here from Doch. I was trawling to see if our new CD had been reviewed and came across your most excellent page! Thank you for writing all of those lovely things about the band and the show - we have a great time doing it, but it's one of the reasons that our website ain't up to date. We do care if folks buy The Man Who Drinks! Turns out he goes hand in hand with Bride in a Red Dress...

We've been in rehearsals for our new show which goes up at QPAC in two weeks - Doch and the Great Siberian Circus. You might like it...

Your work is fantastic, and your blog, very amusing.

27 November 2007 at 16:10:00 GMT-5  

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