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I played the Criterion at Carrington on friday night and what a great little venue. Mick and Deb who used to have Swansea Hotel have done some renos on the old wharfie pub with recycled timber and new windows, a great restaurant and best of all a warm friendly atmosphere. There was lots of dancing and singing along. I ended up doing quite a few DV8 songs along with the covers. Look forward to playing there again.

The Bad Bad Things played Terrigal Hotel last night Always great to have Len on bass weaving those great funky bass lines and backup vocals…we’ll be at the Duke of Wellington on Oct 31st again.

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It was a great double-bill with Spy V Spy and DV8 last friday at Caves. Lots of enthusiastic people to see both bands. We had a surprise guest with Michael Hawke of Jungle Kings/ Total Fire Band come up and play sax on a few songs. Lots of fun! One of our friends, Scott, on Facebook summed it up:

“How cool was this gig? Spy’s were great but …… DV8 with a bit of sax was awesome. Well played guys.”

This sunday September 28th DV8 will be back at the Premier Hotel, Broadmeadow from 4pm to 7.30pm.

YES! The Premier was fabulous! For the guitar enthusiasts info..I was excited to combine my Fender Twin amp and JMP Marshall and hear that creamy brown sound again. I bi-amped the way I used to back in the 80’s with a stereo Chorus pedal which gave me the perfect chorus on songs like Technical Electrical and at the flick of a switch I had 2 amps working together without the effect. We had Brian doing sound for us and from all reports it sounded fantastic.

We’re jamming with our old mate Travor Dare at the Mark Hotel today sunday October 5th from 4-7pm …it will be fun adding a second guitar to some DV8 songs.

DV8 at Caves with M. Hawke on sax

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Hot Yogis have been revitalised with the addition of Craig “Rosie” Rosevear on the drum throne. Simon Lee Pitchers who recorded “Under The Wire” with us has resigned due to other commitments. The last 3 gigs with Rosie has added a new dimension to the sound with some really inspiring spontaneous jamming and some really funky beats.

Greg is writing more bottleneck slide tunes for this line-up and we have a new song which is getting good response. It is called ”Never Used To Be This Way (Mother Nature)” which is about finding solace in Mother Nature when things may not be going so well… essentially, it’s a song about surfing the blues away.

We have another great afternoon gig coming up at the Wicko on Saturday, October 11th from 5pm to 8pm.

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I’ve been really busy with solo gigs this year and I’m enjoying the freedom of being able to respond to the moment and choose a greater range of songs. The shows range from a whole night of dancing, such as at the Belmore Hotel in Scone recently where a group of 200 or so people danced and sang crazily all night, to other shows that are somewhat more relaxed laidback atmospheres.  I also enjoyed a really special opening spot playing originals at Lizottes for the Kibbs and Mac CD launch recently. It’s just as much fun for me to do the cover nights as well as the original ones such as Lizottes. There’s also been an increasing amount of DV8 enthusiasts at these gigs so I’ve been rocking out quite a few DV8 originals which has been extra fun. Please always let me know if you’d like to hear more DV8 (or Hot Yogis/Jigzag songs) at the solo gigs. And let me know which of your favourite songs that you want to hear.

 Cheers Greg!

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September 2014

It’s been a busy and creative year so far for DV8. From a super rocking New Year’s Eve at Warners At The Bay through the many gigs and functions up to September. Mark, Trav and Greg have been in rehearsals for a new recording and have been trying out some of the new tunes live.

We found an old demo of a song called Aragon that was originally recorded with Kerry Jacobsen on drums (original Dragon drummer who played with DV8 for 8 months back in the 80’s) as well as Greg and Mark Middleton. The song was written by Greg and is about a ruthless warrior. The groove has a nice bouncy mid-paced shuffle feel and has been getting great feedback from many people at gigs, such as “That would make a great single”.  We’ll take that into consideration 🙂

Other songs are “Everything I Ever Wanted” which is a pop/rocker and has a similar pulse and key to “Back to Basics”, and “From My Mind” which has a cool riff and some great drum grooves from Trav… this one has also had some really positive comments from quite a few who like their classic rock riffs.

“Hold Me But Don’t Try Controlling Me” which is melodic and dancey, and “Are You Aware” which is a slow moody piece different to the usual DV8 tracks. It’s in drop D tuning and starts with a type of Indian raga that then morphs into a modal verse with a very positive major key chorus. We are really loving playing this one at the moment.

We have lots more new songs on the back burner and we’re even considering revitalising some old tracks in the studio as well. We’ve recently done a photo shoot with the very talented Courtney Laura so expect a new poster soon and some fresh promo photos.

Coming up on September 19th we’re excited to be doing a double-bill with Spy v Spy at Caves Beach Hotel.  These guys have some classic songs and will fit well with our music too. The gig starts at 8pm.  Free entry.dv8 spys

 

Stay tuned for more news on DV8.