I threw in a couple of links above to a favourite band of mine - The 10 Cent Shooters
Here is a bit of a bio:
"The Shooters' approach to blues is different on a couple of levels. Firstly, they like the sounds of the early performers from the 20s and 30s. Secondly, they keep the music clean of the rock influences.
Both Scotty and Pete had been listening to country blues for a long time when they got together. Before radio and recording, regional differences were much more marked, based on individual players or perhaps a community style, says Scott. Come recording, a snapshot of those sounds from the 20s and 30s was laid down.
There are recognised styles, says Scott, such as Piedmont blues which is distinct from Mississippi or delta blues. "It's quieter, more ragtime with an alternating bass."
The Chicago sound evolved as people like Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie, Washboard Sam and Lucille Bogan settled there in the 30s. Then after the war, the electric guitar entered the mix. The new generation of Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk, (Little) Walter Jacobs came along and embraced the electric sound with added drums and bass. "What came out is a strong, recognisable style of blues which is once removed from the country blues that we play," says Scott. "We don't do the standard blues songs that people might expect."
Nor do they play it in a way that might be expected. Delta is a less regulated style, says Scott. "Blues only became 12, 16, 8 bar after the jazz bands got hold of it and everyone had to agree on when the chord changes were going to come. Before that, it was a vocal style and people changed chord when it suited the song."
"And Woody still plays like that."
Woody agrees. "I do because I learned to play listening to the records and reading books." As a miner working underground and on exploration out in the remote goldfields country, Woody was far removed from other musicians. Isolated and not having the discipline of playing with others, he developed some "deeply ingrained habits", he says. "If I felt like changing the chord when I was singing a song in a particular way, I did."
Woody still learns the same way, from the record, committing the melody to memory. "Scott just knows how to deal with it and so does Sean." Adds Scott, "We are different. You could say we were special." You get the feeling there's a little bit of tongue-in-cheek. "As a group, there's no one really like the Shooters that I have ever heard."
The Ten Cent Shooters as Woody and Scott explain it, is a synthesis of those regional styles, listened to for so long that they've become ingrained. "It's a combination of the way Sean plays and the way Woody approaches the music." Scott has strong melodic lines rather than patterns, Woody tries to explain when asked to be more specific - while his own rhythm playing is finger picked rather than strummed.
As for Sean, he prefers not to listen too closely to a recording before he learns a song, so that his style is his own. But then none of the Shooters are mimics, says Pete. Rather, they play from that place where a music is well known and well loved.
Bass player Sean Diggins joined in 1992. Scott had moved down to Margaret River from Perth and shared his time between playing, surfing and building up his instrument making business. One day he got a call from Sean. Steve Tallis (another Perth blues player) couldn't do a gig. Could Scotty fill in?
He sneaks little things in and makes fun of us
Scott rang Pete. "Yep," was the answer. Pete takes up the story. "We'd never played together," he says, in fact, he'd not even seen Sean play. Sean just sat in and twigged straight away, he remembers. "We've played ever since."
"We've only ever had one rehearsal?" It's a question to Scott. "Yep," replies Scott. "And we didn't enjoy it at all."
The rest of the Shooters' line up is Scott on guitar, mandolin and harmonica; Pete on dobro and foot percussion. After having played together so long, and given Woody's eccentric style, is Scott ever surprised by something he does? "Oh constantly."
The comment is one that's made affectionately. You get the feeling that the Shooters appreciate each others' talent and ability. Pete always listens carefully to a Scott Wise solo. "He sneaks little things in and makes fun of us." Musical in-jokes for the band? "Yes," says Scott.
The Shooters' fan base is a passionate one. That was evidenced last April at the Fairbridge Music Festival. Pete was ill and about to undergo radiation therapy. The band didn't know when they would get together again. People jammed the dance stage venue for the last gig of the festival, for what could have been a farewell.
After 15 years together, if they ever doubted the affection in which they're held, that gig would dispel any doubts. "It was humbling, actually," says Woody.
The Shooters are often given the dance gigs at festivals, says Scott. "We play a slow blues and people get up and dance," says Pete. Forget about constructing a set; building up the excitement to get people on the floor. They're up and dancing from the first note.
So what is it about the sounds of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Boy Fuller, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, Memphis Minnie and Robert Johnson that attracted the guys? Pete remembers being down from the bush one time and going to the old WA music library where they had Library of Congress recordings. He put a on track and out jumped this "frantic bit of playing".
Nobody knows old Memphis like I do, sings Woody. "I thought, 'What's that?' I want to learn to play like that. I love that."
Scott had something of the same sort of reaction when he first heard Blind Boy Fuller. "He rocks and it's incredibly lively music." He was fascinated by the guitar sound which turned out to be a resophonic metal body.
Scott started listening to blues again after high school. An older cousin had given him a harmonica. "'Have a go at this,' she said, and I did." He played along to records and soon had it sorted. Pete remembers his first instrument too. His Dad brought it for him. "A wooden Eko guitar in a cardboard box for $14."
"Hard to break," says Scott.
Scott might have gone off in a different direction musically if it hadn't been for John Hood. In 1968, Scott and his mate Bob Searles entered the University Folk Club talent quest. They won. Then he met John who introduced him to the world of country and Chicago blues and to the current crop; the likes of Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, BB King. "I owe John Hood a great debt."
Perth was isolated musically back in the 70s and both men agree that records were their most accessible source of inspiration. Just the same, there were some terrific finger pickers around, says Woody. You could go down to Perth, pick up your bottle of claret and head off to the Stables and the Hayloft Folk Club or the Shiralee down in Sherwood Court. "That was a lot of inspiration for me."
Harp player Little Walter was a favourite, naturally enough, of Scott's. So too, Mississippi John Hurt, Joseph Spence and the early small jazz combos. Robert J is a name that crops up often among blues players. "He was a freak," says Scott, a second generation blues musician and probably one of the first self aware self-promoters. Today, he'd be a singer songwriter rock star, Scott reckons: someone who knew their own worth and were determined to succeed.
The UK's Rory McLeod is a name that get the nod from both guys. He's "a logical extension of what the old guys were about", says Scott. Ry Cooder was also a strong influence, or perhaps affirmation, playing a lot of the same people as they were.
Nearly 30 years of music later, the Shooters are preparing to tour East again and there's a new CD in the pipeline. Pete has retired from his day job with the Musicians Union. He's feeling stronger everyday, he says and enthusiastic about playing again. The voice still has to be given a real work out but Woody's confident. Just no more four hour gigs.
Scott loves touring, the travel, the constant playing and performing. "My workshop hands disappear and I suddenly have clean fingernails. My hands start working as a musician's hands again."
There's a lot of goodwill capital in the band, says Scott. And it's been earned. He adds up the ticks - conscientious, play for good causes, start on time and give good value. All good manners, good behaviour stuff?
"Yep. Goes a long way."
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/...08/1783940.htm