A Bombazine White Xmas

Jayne and I are holed up in an apartment in Montmartre playing chess and writing songs for the next Bombazine Black album.  Snow is falling as I type and it's almost time to break out the vin chaud.

It's a complete coincidence that in the year we release a song called Montmartre we find ourselves here for Xmas - life moves in mysterious ways doesn't it?  Next year we'll release a song called the Maldives and let's see what happens.

Among other things it seems the perfect time to have a bit of a look back on the year and see if we actually did anything, or am I just tired because I'm suffering from mono.

Thank you to everyone that came to shows, bought records, gave encouragement or even downloaded our songs illegally.  It's just nice to be in your life.


2010: A Re-Cap

January

Matt, Dan and Daryl's 'other' band Gersey begin rehearsals for the Pavement Australian shows in March.


February

Gersey play their first show since 2007 at The Toff in Town, Melbourne.


March

Gersey tour Australia with Pavement and have an absolute blast.  Lots of photos up on Facebook.




April

Matt composes the score and Jayne is a twisted sister in the theatre production Cageling, conceived by the unstoppable force that is The Rabble. It opens to rave reviews and full houses at Melbourne's Forty-Five Downstairs. A "nuanced sound design" said esteemed theatre critic Alison Croggon among other things.




Dan and Daryl's other other band Tall Buildings record their debut album at SoundPark in Northcote.


May

Mixing of second Bombazine Black album Motion Picture completed by Tim Whitten in Sydney.


June

Cageling opens in Sydney to more rave reviews.  Curtain Call say the score is "one of the most engrossing and cohesives aspects of the work."
The Sydney Morning Herald said it was "a ringing score." 


July

Motion Picture is mastered by Roger Siebel at SAE in Arizona.

Matt and Marty from Gaslight Radio start record label/distro house Letters & Tapes.




August

Jayne completes the artwork for Motion Picture, with layout by Iain Downie.




Paris-based Bombazine Black bass player/drummer Taylor Holland releases a book of his photographs, Lignes.




September

Motion Picture is released to universal acclaim.  Wireless Bollinger called it "heartfelt, emotive music that trades in sincerity and timelessness" and The Music Blogs said "I’m a little speechless. This album is incredible."

You can read all the reviews for yourself here.


Bombazine Black perform the album launch show at The Toff in Town in Melbourne with The Marlon Winterbourne Movement and Sirens of Venice. The AU Review review the show and say "there are movies and there are motion pictures and the Melbourne based instrumental band led by Matt Davis of Gersey fame, proved that they are Scorsese."




October

Rehearsals begin in Berlin for theatre/dance piece Soft Landing that features music from both Bombazine Black records.




Letters & Tapes releases The Marlon Winterbourne Movement album Merry Go Round on the Moon.




November

Soft Landing opens in Berlin and sells out the season.

Tall Buildings finish mixing their new record with Sloth at Head Gap.  Expect the release early next year.


December

Matt completes score for Jonathan auf der Heide's new film The Day Before Yesterday.

Jayne publishes a book of her writing and artworks from The Existential Bunny Rabbit.




It snows in Paris.


Merry Xmas all, see you on the other side.

M

Live review - The Toff in Town - September 23, 2010

Occasionally album titles really hit the mark. Motion Picture, the second release for Bombazine Black, embodies its title so effectively, audience members at the album launch last Thursday night could taste salty butter and corn in their mouths.

There are movies and there are motion pictures and the Melbourne based instrumental band led by Matt Davis of Gersey fame, proved that they are Scorsese. Scorsese who knows how to stir your emotions, how to hold back, and when, at the right time, to relocate your heart to your sleeve with no qualms.

With its old-school presence of Chaplin and Vaudeville, The Toff in Town was the perfect venue. And Bombazine Black’s intriguing and warm onstage energy matched the space. Davis led the group with humility and charm, and at times the band used the stage and interacted as though they were huddled around a Boston street fire-drum in the 1930s; playing as much to each other as they did for their audience.

Not for a second was the absence of vocals felt. Just like the days of the silent movie—before Woody Allen started chewing everyone’s ears off—it was refreshing re connecting with the basics. And Bombazine Black connected. The solid line up of Daryl Bradie on guitar, Dan Tulen on drums, Jayne Tuttle on keys, Miles Browne on bass, and Matt Davis on guitar, was joined by vibraphone virtuoso Laura MacFarlane from Ninety-Nine, and trumpeter-about-town Eugene Ball. The combination was magical, transporting the audience to places far beyond The Toff and the cinema it seemed they were in.

Like a good screenplay, the playlist built well and projected the right degree of light and shade. Act one, if you will, eased everyone in with the emotive yet cruisy Annelets and The New Ruse, while the darker Montmartre set the scene for the more epic Dark Kellys and climactic Springheel Sunset, which almost turned Motion Picture into moonlight cinema, generating such tension it seemed the roof might lift off. All done, paradoxically, with an element of restraint.

At one point, Davis treated the crowd to some narrative, introducing Dark Kellys by asking everyone to visualise being on the run from the Kelly Gang. The song’s inspiration arose from Davis’ reflections on Australia’s lack of fiction based on early white settlement. The crowd embraced it—as well as Davis’ momentary AC/DC breakout—and the atmosphere intensified.

Bombazine Black succeeded in fusing cinema and live music, the gig at times comparable to an iconic tribute montage at The Oscars. The only irony which challenged Bombazine Black’s album title was that they captivated their crowd so tremendously, their feature length playlist whizzed by like a short film.

With such a moving and sincere album on their hands, this is anything but The End for Bombazine Black.

by Michele Davis-Gray
The AU Review