Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians
Ever wondered what happens when skilled musicians throw away the sheet music and just play? Step into the world of Blues Roulette with Jimi "The Human" Hocking, guitarist for the Screaming Jets and internationally acclaimed blues artist.
Blues Roulette isn't your typical performance—it's musical improvisation at its finest. Founded by bassist Ben Wicks at Melbourne's Catfish venue, these shows feature a rhythm section backing guest artists with absolutely no rehearsal. "There's no charts, it's just get in and play," explains Jimi, whose relief was visible during his first performance when he realized the backing musicians could truly play.
Jimmi shares his remarkable journey as a blues musician parallel to his rock career with the Screaming Jets. In 2005, he became only the second non-American to win the prestigious Memphis International Blues Challenge—an extraordinary achievement considering hundreds of acts from around the world compete annually. Most fascinating is that all three non-American winners in the competition's history have been Australian, highlighting our country's unexpected prowess in this traditionally American art form.
Beyond technical proficiency, Jimi's approach to blues balances traditional elements with humor. "I like to write from a fun aspect," he says, comparing his style to Buddy Guy's more upbeat take on potentially gloomy subject matter. The Blues Roulette recordings capture these genuine moments—including musicians learning songs on the fly—preserving the raw, authentic spirit of true blues jamming.
For blues enthusiasts or anyone seeking an unfiltered musical experience, Blues Roulette delivers something increasingly rare: skilled musicians taking risks together in real-time, creating unique moments that will never be exactly replicated.
Check out their performances in Adelaide this weekend or discover their recordings at bluesroulette.com to experience this special musical phenomenon for yourself.
What has Jimi Hocking and Blues Roulette been up to lately? Let's find out!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cheryl Lee (00:02):
That Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
Musician, promoter and bookingagent Ben Wicks has spent the
last 15 years forging his placein Australian blues and in 2015
(00:24):
Ben created Blues Roulette.
With humble beginnings atMelbourne venue, the Catfish,
the popularity of Blues Rouletteand the nature of those one
night only performances haveresulted in appearances at
festivals and venues across thecountry.
As an artist primarily on bassguitar, ben has performed and or
(00:44):
recorded with the likes of DanSulton, Lloyd Spiegel, Jeff Lang
and Irish Mythen.
They're on the road and todaywe speak to Blues Roulette
favourite and all round nice guyJimi Hocking, also known as the
guitarist in the Screaming Jets.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favorite artists, simply
(01:04):
go to that radiochickcomau.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Cheryl Lee that radio chick and I'd like to welcome
into the zoom room today jimihocking.
Cheryl Lee (01:15):
Jimi the human hocking
Jimi Hocking (01:18):
Nice to be back on the show with you, cheryl yeah,
lovely to see you again.
Cheryl Lee (01:21):
So we're going to talk about today a little bit of
a new thing called BluesRoulette, and you guys are
coming to our beautiful townthis coming weekend.
You've been working with BenWicks on a blues project and
it's a little bit different,isn't it?
Because they sort of have theirband and they invite, like
you're an invited guest for themoment.
(01:42):
Is that right?
Jimi Hocking (01:43):
That's right.
In fact I've been doing it acouple of years now, off and on.
The premise of the thing wasit's the brainchild of Mr Ben
Wicks, who's the bassist in theband.
We've had a couple of drummers,or he's had a couple of
drummers do it.
The recent one, johnnyChesarero, is the current
Melbourne drummer.
I think Davo Fester's actuallycoming over to Adelaide with us.
But the story starts where hegot a gig going in a place
(02:06):
called the Catfish in Melbourneand he would just put on a
rhythm section and have guestpeople each week come in and
front the band.
So to do the show you wouldhave to come in pretty much with
a kind of a generic bluesrepertoire that could be learned
on the spot.
There's no rehearsal, there'sno charts, it's just get in and
play, which is not uncommon forblues jam situations.
(02:27):
That's right.
So Ben had started this thingprobably months before he even
spoke to me about it.
I didn't know him so well, Iknew him a little bit through
the scene, but he reached outand said would I come and do a
spot?
Of course I said yes.
So I went over there and did athing and he loves to tell a
story still, because there'sblues jams all over the world
and many of them are fantastic.
(02:47):
But occasionally there are somedisastrous ones where people
are not up to scratch, and I'msure we've all witnessed that.
But bless everybody who's youknow playing for the love of it.
I'm a big supporter.
But he reckons that we startedthe gig and I launched into the
first counted in the first songand then when the rhythm section
started playing and I realizedthat they could play, he reckons
(03:09):
my shoulders went down.
There was this real relief thatit was going to all be good and
that's probably the case.
So we started doing those shows.
I would do a couple a year, aswould a bunch of people.
I did some special feature oneswhere I brought a guest of my
own each week for a month.
I did some special feature oneswhere I brought a guest of my
own each week for a month.
I did I think that was about ayear or so ago and he said I had
(03:31):
this idea that I could bringpeople from the rock and roll
world into the blues scene.
So I remember I asked PhilSobrano to come and play as a
sideman with me and BluesRoulette.
Kathleen Halloran came and didone with me in the early days of
her doing some blues shows.
We had Timmy Henwood do one,Dave Leslie do one, so it was
great fun and it's just a jam, aguitar jam with the rhythm
section, and then I sing someblues songs.
(03:52):
But this is a longer answerthan you'd hope for, I'm sure.
Cheryl Lee (03:55):
No, not at all, no, but it's fantastic so it sort of
happens organically, and Itotally get how when you've
played with them the first time.
It'd be a little bit.
What have I got myself into?
And then you're like, oh, thankgod yeah, that's right.
Jimi Hocking (04:10):
And now I've done a bunch of them and and really,
even though, uh, it's, it's allpretty much on the spot, still
the boys have got to know whatI'm likely to do which is in my
personal repertoire.
So now it's even better becausewe can expand on that, you know
.
So they know what kind ofthings I'm likely to do, where
I'm likely to go, but I stilltry to keep them on their toes,
(04:31):
you know, by throwing somecurveballs into the mix this is
why we love the blues, becauseit's full of surprises you never
know what you're going to get.
Cheryl Lee (04:39):
A lot of the time the outfit is called Blues
Roulette and if you go to theirwebsite it's called
bluesroulettecom.
There's five CDs on the websitethat are available, but there's
a couple more of yours that areoh, yeah great.
There's some fabulousfavourites on there and a few I
haven't heard before so that'salways good as well.
Jimi Hocking (05:02):
There's probably a couple of original things that
people have put in.
But the original gig at thecatfish had the facility to
record any gig, so those cdsactually have got a few warts
and all kind of tracks on them.
I think the charm of them isthey are genuine jam sessions.
Yeah and uh.
They are really not rehearsed,they are really thrown in.
You can hear people learningthe songs on the spot, sometimes
(05:25):
in the early part of the track.
In our town that's become likethe charm of it.
You know the blues thing is alegit jam and not a contrived
one.
Cheryl Lee (05:33):
Exactly.
Jimi Hocking (05:34):
So the CDs kind of reflect that, which is nice.
Cheryl Lee (05:37):
You are listening to Still Rockin it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
One of my favourite of theblues roulette albums is Jimi
Hocking's Blues Driver.
This is the first track,Mercury Blues, and then we're
back to speak some more to Jimi.
Jimi Hocking (10:11):
I did.
Yes, I can't believe you knewabout that one.
It was at Prahran Market, whichis an old stomping ground for a
lot of people down there.
I used to live in Windsor, upthe road from Prahran Market, so
I did that one.
A bunch of people did it.
Once again, ben's the guy.
He does all the elbow work.
He puts it all together.
I'm really a passenger in theblues roulette world, but I'm a
very happy passenger because ifsomeone else says, look, I'll do
(10:33):
all the work and you just setup a play, you're in.
Cheryl Lee (10:37):
A lot of people will recognize you, obviously, jimi,
from your work with theScreaming Jets.
Of course, some people may notknow that you actually do have a
little bit of a blues pedigreebecause you won the 2005 Memphis
International Blues Challenge.
Jimi Hocking (10:54):
I did and you know I've long had a dual career
going on because of course Ijoined the Jets in 93, although
I was absent for a few years inthe middle.
I started with the band some 32, 33 years ago and even when I
was not in the band, gleaso andI were always.
We were close very early in thegame and I was really in the
(11:15):
loop with David all the time Infact in my years away from the
band.
Gleaso and I did his solo albumWanted man in that time.
So I've always been kind ofinvolved in the band,
irrespective of my onstagestatus.
And I joined.
I first met the Screaming Jetswhen they opened for me in my
act as Jimmy the Humanist, asexpected in Melbourne when they
first started.
(11:35):
So they had no profile inMelbourne and I had a great
profile in Melbourne and it wasthe opposite in Sydney.
They had a great profile, etcetera, et cetera.
So there's been that.
But all the way through thisI've had original bands on the
side.
That's how I started in thegame and I've always loved blues
and in my absence from the Jetsfor those couple of years I
started going to New York andworking one of the blues clubs
(11:57):
over there Terra Blues inManhattan I was in the house
band for a little while, so I'verecorded three electric blues
albums.
And then in 2005 came along, Iwas the Blues Performer of the
Year in Melbourne, which is thecriteria to go to Memphis and be
at the festival there theInternational Blues Challenge
where I became the second personoutside of America to win that
(12:17):
award.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Congratulations.
Jimi Hocking (12:19):
Thank you, and it's worth noting that there's
only been three people outsideof America all these years who
have won the International BluesChallenge, and they are all
from Australia.
Cheryl Lee (12:28):
Awesome, who's the other two?
Jimi Hocking (12:29):
Recently.
Frank Sultana, from Sydney, wasthe recent winner and, apart
from myself, Fiona Boyes, alsofrom Melbourne, another old mate
of mine she also won it.
So for people to understand,when you get to this festival,
there is hundreds of acts there.
The meet and greet is 2,000people strong.
There's people from all overthe world.
(12:50):
Every state in America isrepresented with an act an
acoustic and a band act, andthen the Polish Blue Society,
the London Blue Society, theTaiwan Blue Society.
All these people send an act tocompete and the only outsiders
ever to win it Fiona myself,frank Sultana.
Cheryl Lee (13:06):
That's no mean feat, is it?
That is, australians showcasingour talent to the world.
Well done.
Jimi Hocking (13:12):
Thank you, and it's really one of the part of
the prize is that you get put ona couple of the major festivals
in the States.
So I remember when I won.
It's 20 years ago, of course,but I came back to Australia for
a month or two.
Then I went back to the Statesand I spent two months or maybe
more touring as I bookended thefestivals.
(13:32):
They booked me on, so I did aquite a comprehensive tour of
the States that year.
Cheryl Lee (13:36):
What an amazing experience.
Jimi Hocking (13:38):
Yeah, it was amazing, it really was amazing.
And you're on the morning show.
You're on like it's a big deal.
You know they call you theunsigned blues artist of the
year in America.
Cheryl Lee (13:45):
Well, well done, done.
We're very proud of you ohthank you.
Still off my podcast with thatradio chick, Cheryl Lee.
I really do love this CD somuch I'm just going to play my
way through it.
Next one is Ramblin' and thenwe're back to speak some more to
Jimi the Human.
(20:57):
11th Three Brothers Arms, 12thsemaphore Workers and the 13th,
our Murray Delta Juke Joint.
No rest for the wicked.
Jimi Hocking (21:06):
Well, if you're going to come to town, you might
as well come to town.
Cheryl Lee (21:09):
Exactly right.
I was just going to say haveyou heard of our venue, Memphis
Slims?
Jimi Hocking (21:14):
Yes, I have, yeah, so you could sneak down there
after.
Are they open every night?
Cheryl Lee (21:20):
Well, they're definitely open every night over
the weekend.
Jimi Hocking (21:23):
And quite often artists that play in town, you
know, will head down there forthe after party Because Dusty
and those guys were all downthere, right, I spoke to Dusty
some time ago but we did manageto make a gig work.
But I was there.
Actually I did the Gov with athing called the Blues Guitar
Roadshow, about I don't know now, six weeks ago, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (21:43):
I saw that.
Jimi Hocking (21:44):
And that was great .
That was a full house there andJohn McNamara who puts that
together another great operator.
He does a lot of work to makesure that gigs are going to
happen, so that was great.
This is probably a little lessformal version of coming to
Adelaide in some respects, butpeople have been saying to me
for years how come I don't cometo Adelaide?
I work so much in Melbourne andeven occasionally in Sydney.
It's not that I'm ignoringAdelaide, I just didn't know
(22:05):
where to go with it at the start.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Well, I think you've got Ben now.
Jimi Hocking (22:10):
Yeah.
Cheryl Lee (22:12):
So it's just around the corner from me here in the
city.
If you've still got some energyleft and feel like playing, we
can see you down there with ourStefan Hauk.
You know, stefan, I know Stefan.
Jimi Hocking (22:23):
He appeared at the Blues Roadshow too.
He's a killer guitar player, Iknow.
Right, I nearly had toassassinate him on the spot too.
He's too cool.
I knew of Stefan.
We'd met sort of through theonline community and I was well
aware of his talents, but it wasthe first time I really saw him
play properly.
I suppose you'd say, and yeah,he was just fantastic.
(22:45):
But me and Gleeson were boththere to see him.
We loved it.
Cheryl Lee (22:47):
He was really great, get onto bluesroulette.
com.
Catch when they're coming.
These guys are coming to a townnear you.
If you're in Adelaide thisweekend, you are spoilt for
choice, and you can also grabthe five, six, seven seeds.
Well, you can grab five of themthere where do we get these
(23:08):
other two?
Jimi Hocking (23:08):
these are well, they have them online.
I don't know they're the kindof things they do a limited run
of.
I don't think they just keepthem in stock all the time, so
they do a run, then they do thenext one.
So I guess on the bluesroulette website the merch page
would be the place to check thatout, I guess well, I feel very
lucky then, because look thisone, this one, it's even signed.
Cheryl Lee (23:26):
It's even signed, love it.
I was just going to ask youquickly what your favourite song
and I know this is sort of likeasking about a favourite child,
I know but do you have afavourite song that you like?
Playing with Blues Roulette.
Jimi Hocking (23:43):
Well, I mean, the blues is the kind of form where
there are many generic ideas andthat's not a dirty word to me,
that's just the way the languageof the music style is.
But you know, I love to play aslow blues but that's not always
ideal for the audience.
But if you were to ask me whatmy favourite song is, I mean I
was very fortunate I met Mr BBKing in the late 80s when he
(24:04):
came to Australia and I hung outwith him a little bit at the
hotel.
So that was a mind-alteringmoment in my life as a blues fan
and he was everything you wanthim to be, you know.
And so actually anytime I getto play a BB King song, I
revisit that feeling and Isometimes play a song called
Sweet 16, which is an old BBKing song.
Of course I've got a bunch oforiginals that I play, but one
(24:27):
of my favourite blues songs ofall time was BB's version of the
Thrill Is Gone, which isarguably one of the first blues
songs to sell online like amillion copies in America.
It was like a breakthroughmoment for the genre.
So the Thriller's Gone isprobably one of my favourite
songs of all time in the bluesscene.
Cheryl Lee (24:46):
Does that one appear on any of those CDs?
Jimi Hocking (24:49):
I'm afraid it does not.
Cheryl Lee (24:53):
Next time, next time .
Jimi Hocking (24:54):
Well, you asked me what my favourite one.
You didn't allude to what theCDs were all about.
That's all right.
Cheryl Lee (24:59):
on the next one.
Jimi Hocking (25:01):
Yeah, yeah.
And of course I've got a coupleof albums which I my blues
style on my original albums is alittle bit tongue-in-cheek, you
know, like it's not all doomand gloom.
I like to write from a funaspect, kind of like in the
buddy guy sort of sense, whichis a little bit more of a
lighter upbeat, a little bitmore of a lighter upbeat version
of what could be a very gloomysubject matter sometimes.
Cheryl Lee (25:22):
Well, that's right.
Sometimes the blues can get alittle bit dark.
It can, and I love that.
Jimi Hocking (25:30):
But I also I'm a fun kind of guy and I think that
even when you're really hurting, sometimes being able to laugh
at yourself is a great catharticapproach.
So I write like that.
I think there's a little bit ofFrank Zappa in me, you see,
that does human belonging.
Music is always in the back ofmy mind, you know.
Cheryl Lee (25:44):
Yeah, and even with the sads.
I mean because country can be alittle bit the same.
You know, my dog died, thetruck's broken down, the wife
left.
It's good if you can, somewherein there, just find that a
little bit of a silver lining.
Jimi Hocking (25:56):
Yeah, I heard somebody say it's funny to say
that I was teaching today and Iwas teaching some country licks,
and I heard myself saysomething which somebody said to
me years ago about countrylicks.
They said there's two kinds ofcountry songs You're either
making them dance or you'remaking them cry, cry, nothing in
between.
Cheryl Lee (26:13):
You are listening to Still Rockin it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
In the absence of JimiHocking's favourite BB King song
, let's have the third one fromthe CD.
This one's called Rock Me Baby.
And then we're back to saygoodbye to Jimi the Human
Hocking from Blues Roulette.
(31:08):
I just want to also ask you onemore question because I've
almost been harassing DaveGleeson, your band mate, Dave.
Jimi Hocking (31:14):
Dave, you can't get him on the phone.
You've got to answer the phoneto four people.
Cheryl Lee (31:18):
What?
And I'm not one of them.
I just wondered are you goingto be involved in his next?
Jimi Hocking (31:23):
album.
Oh yeah, he can't do it withoutme.
What are you talking about?
Cheryl Lee (31:25):
Exactly.
Jimi Hocking (31:26):
I knew that Well when is it coming, jimi?
I don't know.
We've been workshopping thisidea for the longest time and in
recent times of course we lostour beloved brother Paul Wozeen.
Course we lost our belovedbrother, Paul was seen, but what
that meant is we've now taken alot of songs that we have been
workshopping for Dave's albumand actually seeing if any of
them work in a Screaming Jetsworld as well.
(31:47):
So there's a little bit ofoverlap happening right now
behind the scenes in theexperiment of songwriting.
But I would say dave's beenreally keen to do a second album
for quite a long time.
That first first album, wantedman, we actually recorded at my
studio in Victoria.
It was going to be done atThorpey Studio in Sydney but it
all fell over the book and gotdouble booked or something and
(32:08):
we last minute did it at myplace.
So I would imagine we'llprobably do the next one in
Adelaide.
That's what I imagine.
I'll probably come over andwe'll do it there, but it's just
a matter of finding the timeand squeezing it in between
everything else.
I know we're on the road rightnow, but we've still got lots of
stuff going on behind thescenes and I would like to say
soon though, I would like to dothat project soon.
Cheryl Lee (32:28):
I think I've asked him every time.
I've seen him like the lasthalf a dozen times, and I feel
like he's like shut up, Cheryl.
Jimi Hocking (32:34):
No, no, he really wants to do it.
That's a labour of love for himbecause, even though you know,
the Screaming Jets has been thebiggest part of our lives
musically for all these years,you know, dave in some way
suffered from being in a bandwith such great songwriters like
Paul, because that meant thatPaul's songs were always the
ones we worked up moreimmediately, because it was a
(32:56):
natural for the band To somedegree.
Dave has written a lot of stuffthat has not seen a lot of day,
and it really should, so thesolo album is really a great
platform for him to expresshimself.
Cheryl Lee (33:09):
It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.
Jimi Hocking (33:12):
I say it will definitely happen.
Cheryl Lee (33:13):
Awesome.
Was there anything else, Jimi,that you wanted to mention today
?
Have we missed anythingimportant?
Jimi Hocking (33:19):
Nothing is springing to mind as far as
Adelaide goes.
We've covered doing the gigsand talking about Ben and the
genesis of the thing.
You're probably more aware withwhat I need to talk about than
I am.
Cheryl Lee (33:30):
Have you got a scoop for me?
Is there any Screaming Jetsnews?
Jimi Hocking (33:34):
There are festivals emerging throughout
the year and I havenon-confirmed dates now, looking
at November, december for a runof dates.
No one has talked about thatyet.
I'm sure there's a possibility.
I'll get into trouble forsaying that, but that's the
discussion on my desk right now,so we're just waiting for a
firm up of what venues will do.
(33:55):
I'd say we'll probably tourover summer again and then maybe
do one of those big tours againin the new year that I can't
say the name of excellent.
Cheryl Lee (34:02):
Well, I'm very excited about that yeah, so
that's great.
Jimi Hocking (34:06):
We it's been.
It's been a a strange, weirdand wonderful time for the band
in the last year and a half.
But I'm happy to say that Ithink we've all come to the same
realization is that playingtogether is still a happy place
and without that, you know, youknow it would just be a foolish
thing to walk away from anythingthat's still so good for us.
Cheryl Lee (34:27):
You know, as people, and we, the punters, wouldn't
be very happy either.
Jimi Hocking (34:31):
It's really nice to hear that because you know we
live in our own bubble when wedo this thing from the inside
out and even though you know,certainly I see that people
appreciate and love the band,sometimes it's hard to see it in
a real sense.
Cheryl Lee (34:43):
I know that sounds a bit weird, I'm not trying to
when you're in it and you've gotyour feet down and your bum up.
Jimi Hocking (34:48):
I'm not fishing for affirmations, but when
you're on the inside looking out, it's not the same as watching
something unfold before youreyes, you know.
Cheryl Lee (34:55):
Well, we're very excited about everything that's
coming up.
Do get onto the Blues Roulettewebsite.
Check out their dates.
Check out their CDs.
They're fabulous.
I've been listening to themsince my little packet arrived
Great.
We look forward to seeing youdown the front at one of our big
triple venues on the weekend.
Jimi Hocking (35:14):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for yoursupport, as always, cheryl, we
really appreciate it.
Cheryl Lee (35:18):
Thank you.
Thanks for having a chat.
Jimi Hocking (35:21):
No worries, enjoy the rest of your day, jimi.
Cheryl Lee (35:22):
Yeah, you too.
Bye for now.
Bye Still rocking the podcastwith that radio chick, Cheryl
Lee.
Why stop now?
From one of my favourite bluesroulette CDs.
This is the fourth and finalsong Sunshine of your Love,
Stenland Dawn.
That Radio Chick Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
Musician, promoter and bookingagent Ben Wicks has spent the
last 15 years forging his placein Australian blues and in 2015
(00:24):
Ben created Blues Roulette.
With humble beginnings atMelbourne venue, the Catfish,
the popularity of Blues Rouletteand the nature of those one
night only performances haveresulted in appearances at
festivals and venues across thecountry.
As an artist primarily on bassguitar, ben has performed and or
(00:44):
recorded with the likes of DanSulton, Lloyd Spiegel, Jeff Lang
and Irish Mythen.
They're on the road and todaywe speak to Blues Roulette
favourite and all round nice guyJimi Hocking, also known as the
guitarist in the Screaming Jets.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favorite artists, simply
(01:04):
go to that radiochickcomau.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Cheryl Lee that radio chick and I'd like to welcome
into the zoom room today jimihocking.
Cheryl Lee (01:15):
Jimi the human hocking
Jimi Hocking (01:18):
Nice to be back on the show with you, cheryl yeah,
lovely to see you again.
Cheryl Lee (01:21):
So we're going to talk about today a little bit of
a new thing called BluesRoulette, and you guys are
coming to our beautiful townthis coming weekend.
You've been working with BenWicks on a blues project and
it's a little bit different,isn't it?
Because they sort of have theirband and they invite, like
you're an invited guest for themoment.
(01:42):
Is that right?
Jimi Hocking (01:43):
That's right.
In fact I've been doing it acouple of years now, off and on.
The premise of the thing wasit's the brainchild of Mr Ben
Wicks, who's the bassist in theband.
We've had a couple of drummers,or he's had a couple of
drummers do it.
The recent one, johnnyChesarero, is the current
Melbourne drummer.
I think Davo Fester's actuallycoming over to Adelaide with us.
But the story starts where hegot a gig going in a place
(02:06):
called the Catfish in Melbourneand he would just put on a
rhythm section and have guestpeople each week come in and
front the band.
So to do the show you wouldhave to come in pretty much with
a kind of a generic bluesrepertoire that could be learned
on the spot.
There's no rehearsal, there'sno charts, it's just get in and
play, which is not uncommon forblues jam situations.
(02:27):
That's right.
So Ben had started this thingprobably months before he even
spoke to me about it.
I didn't know him so well, Iknew him a little bit through
the scene, but he reached outand said would I come and do a
spot?
Of course I said yes.
So I went over there and did athing and he loves to tell a
story still, because there'sblues jams all over the world
and many of them are fantastic.
(02:47):
But occasionally there are somedisastrous ones where people
are not up to scratch, and I'msure we've all witnessed that.
But bless everybody who's youknow playing for the love of it.
I'm a big supporter.
But he reckons that we startedthe gig and I launched into the
first counted in the first songand then when the rhythm section
started playing and I realizedthat they could play, he reckons
(03:09):
my shoulders went down.
There was this real relief thatit was going to all be good and
that's probably the case.
So we started doing those shows.
I would do a couple a year, aswould a bunch of people.
I did some special feature oneswhere I brought a guest of my
own each week for a month.
I did some special feature oneswhere I brought a guest of my
own each week for a month.
I did I think that was about ayear or so ago and he said I had
(03:31):
this idea that I could bringpeople from the rock and roll
world into the blues scene.
So I remember I asked PhilSobrano to come and play as a
sideman with me and BluesRoulette.
Kathleen Halloran came and didone with me in the early days of
her doing some blues shows.
We had Timmy Henwood do one,Dave Leslie do one, so it was
great fun and it's just a jam, aguitar jam with the rhythm
section, and then I sing someblues songs.
(03:52):
But this is a longer answerthan you'd hope for, I'm sure.
Cheryl Lee (03:55):
No, not at all, no, but it's fantastic so it sort of
happens organically, and Itotally get how when you've
played with them the first time.
It'd be a little bit.
What have I got myself into?
And then you're like, oh, thankgod yeah, that's right.
Jimi Hocking (04:10):
And now I've done a bunch of them and and really,
even though, uh, it's, it's allpretty much on the spot, still
the boys have got to know whatI'm likely to do which is in my
personal repertoire.
So now it's even better becausewe can expand on that, you know
.
So they know what kind ofthings I'm likely to do, where
I'm likely to go, but I stilltry to keep them on their toes,
(04:31):
you know, by throwing somecurveballs into the mix this is
why we love the blues, becauseit's full of surprises you never
know what you're going to get.
Cheryl Lee (04:39):
A lot of the time the outfit is called Blues
Roulette and if you go to theirwebsite it's called
bluesroulettecom.
There's five CDs on the websitethat are available, but there's
a couple more of yours that areoh, yeah great.
There's some fabulousfavourites on there and a few I
haven't heard before so that'salways good as well.
Jimi Hocking (05:02):
There's probably a couple of original things that
people have put in.
But the original gig at thecatfish had the facility to
record any gig, so those cdsactually have got a few warts
and all kind of tracks on them.
I think the charm of them isthey are genuine jam sessions.
Yeah and uh.
They are really not rehearsed,they are really thrown in.
You can hear people learningthe songs on the spot, sometimes
(05:25):
in the early part of the track.
In our town that's become likethe charm of it.
You know the blues thing is alegit jam and not a contrived
one.
Cheryl Lee (05:33):
Exactly.
Jimi Hocking (05:34):
So the CDs kind of reflect that, which is nice.
Cheryl Lee (05:37):
You are listening to Still Rockin it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
One of my favourite of theblues roulette albums is Jimi
Hocking's Blues Driver.
This is the first track,Mercury Blues, and then we're
back to speak some more to Jimi.
Jimi Hocking (10:11):
I did.
Yes, I can't believe you knewabout that one.
It was at Prahran Market, whichis an old stomping ground for a
lot of people down there.
I used to live in Windsor, upthe road from Prahran Market, so
I did that one.
A bunch of people did it.
Once again, ben's the guy.
He does all the elbow work.
He puts it all together.
I'm really a passenger in theblues roulette world, but I'm a
very happy passenger because ifsomeone else says, look, I'll do
(10:33):
all the work and you just setup a play, you're in.
Cheryl Lee (10:37):
A lot of people will recognize you, obviously, jimi,
from your work with theScreaming Jets.
Of course, some people may notknow that you actually do have a
little bit of a blues pedigreebecause you won the 2005 Memphis
International Blues Challenge.
Jimi Hocking (10:54):
I did and you know I've long had a dual career
going on because of course Ijoined the Jets in 93, although
I was absent for a few years inthe middle.
I started with the band some 32, 33 years ago and even when I
was not in the band, gleaso andI were always.
We were close very early in thegame and I was really in the
(11:15):
loop with David all the time Infact in my years away from the
band.
Gleaso and I did his solo albumWanted man in that time.
So I've always been kind ofinvolved in the band,
irrespective of my onstagestatus.
And I joined.
I first met the Screaming Jetswhen they opened for me in my
act as Jimmy the Humanist, asexpected in Melbourne when they
first started.
(11:35):
So they had no profile inMelbourne and I had a great
profile in Melbourne and it wasthe opposite in Sydney.
They had a great profile, etcetera, et cetera.
So there's been that.
But all the way through thisI've had original bands on the
side.
That's how I started in thegame and I've always loved blues
and in my absence from the Jetsfor those couple of years I
started going to New York andworking one of the blues clubs
(11:57):
over there Terra Blues inManhattan I was in the house
band for a little while, so I'verecorded three electric blues
albums.
And then in 2005 came along, Iwas the Blues Performer of the
Year in Melbourne, which is thecriteria to go to Memphis and be
at the festival there theInternational Blues Challenge
where I became the second personoutside of America to win that
(12:17):
award.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Congratulations.
Jimi Hocking (12:19):
Thank you, and it's worth noting that there's
only been three people outsideof America all these years who
have won the International BluesChallenge, and they are all
from Australia.
Cheryl Lee (12:28):
Awesome, who's the other two?
Jimi Hocking (12:29):
Recently.
Frank Sultana, from Sydney, wasthe recent winner and, apart
from myself, Fiona Boyes, alsofrom Melbourne, another old mate
of mine she also won it.
So for people to understand,when you get to this festival,
there is hundreds of acts there.
The meet and greet is 2,000people strong.
There's people from all overthe world.
(12:50):
Every state in America isrepresented with an act an
acoustic and a band act, andthen the Polish Blue Society,
the London Blue Society, theTaiwan Blue Society.
All these people send an act tocompete and the only outsiders
ever to win it Fiona myself,frank Sultana.
Cheryl Lee (13:06):
That's no mean feat, is it?
That is, australians showcasingour talent to the world.
Well done.
Jimi Hocking (13:12):
Thank you, and it's really one of the part of
the prize is that you get put ona couple of the major festivals
in the States.
So I remember when I won.
It's 20 years ago, of course,but I came back to Australia for
a month or two.
Then I went back to the Statesand I spent two months or maybe
more touring as I bookended thefestivals.
(13:32):
They booked me on, so I did aquite a comprehensive tour of
the States that year.
Cheryl Lee (13:36):
What an amazing experience.
Jimi Hocking (13:38):
Yeah, it was amazing, it really was amazing.
And you're on the morning show.
You're on like it's a big deal.
You know they call you theunsigned blues artist of the
year in America.
Cheryl Lee (13:45):
Well, well done, done.
We're very proud of you ohthank you.
Still off my podcast with thatradio chick, Cheryl Lee.
I really do love this CD somuch I'm just going to play my
way through it.
Next one is Ramblin' and thenwe're back to speak some more to
Jimi the Human.
(20:57):
11th Three Brothers Arms, 12thsemaphore Workers and the 13th,
our Murray Delta Juke Joint.
No rest for the wicked.
Jimi Hocking (21:06):
Well, if you're going to come to town, you might
as well come to town.
Cheryl Lee (21:09):
Exactly right.
I was just going to say haveyou heard of our venue, Memphis
Slims?
Jimi Hocking (21:14):
Yes, I have, yeah, so you could sneak down there
after.
Are they open every night?
Cheryl Lee (21:20):
Well, they're definitely open every night over
the weekend.
Jimi Hocking (21:23):
And quite often artists that play in town, you
know, will head down there forthe after party Because Dusty
and those guys were all downthere, right, I spoke to Dusty
some time ago but we did manageto make a gig work.
But I was there.
Actually I did the Gov with athing called the Blues Guitar
Roadshow, about I don't know now, six weeks ago, yeah.
Cheryl Lee (21:43):
I saw that.
Jimi Hocking (21:44):
And that was great .
That was a full house there andJohn McNamara who puts that
together another great operator.
He does a lot of work to makesure that gigs are going to
happen, so that was great.
This is probably a little lessformal version of coming to
Adelaide in some respects, butpeople have been saying to me
for years how come I don't cometo Adelaide?
I work so much in Melbourne andeven occasionally in Sydney.
It's not that I'm ignoringAdelaide, I just didn't know
(22:05):
where to go with it at the start.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Well, I think you've got Ben now.
Jimi Hocking (22:10):
Yeah.
Cheryl Lee (22:12):
So it's just around the corner from me here in the
city.
If you've still got some energyleft and feel like playing, we
can see you down there with ourStefan Hauk.
You know, stefan, I know Stefan.
Jimi Hocking (22:23):
He appeared at the Blues Roadshow too.
He's a killer guitar player, Iknow.
Right, I nearly had toassassinate him on the spot too.
He's too cool.
I knew of Stefan.
We'd met sort of through theonline community and I was well
aware of his talents, but it wasthe first time I really saw him
play properly.
I suppose you'd say, and yeah,he was just fantastic.
(22:45):
But me and Gleeson were boththere to see him.
We loved it.
Cheryl Lee (22:47):
He was really great, get onto bluesroulette.
com.
Catch when they're coming.
These guys are coming to a townnear you.
If you're in Adelaide thisweekend, you are spoilt for
choice, and you can also grabthe five, six, seven seeds.
Well, you can grab five of themthere where do we get these
(23:08):
other two?
Jimi Hocking (23:08):
these are well, they have them online.
I don't know they're the kindof things they do a limited run
of.
I don't think they just keepthem in stock all the time, so
they do a run, then they do thenext one.
So I guess on the bluesroulette website the merch page
would be the place to check thatout, I guess well, I feel very
lucky then, because look thisone, this one, it's even signed.
Cheryl Lee (23:26):
It's even signed, love it.
I was just going to ask youquickly what your favourite song
and I know this is sort of likeasking about a favourite child,
I know but do you have afavourite song that you like?
Playing with Blues Roulette.
Jimi Hocking (23:43):
Well, I mean, the blues is the kind of form where
there are many generic ideas andthat's not a dirty word to me,
that's just the way the languageof the music style is.
But you know, I love to play aslow blues but that's not always
ideal for the audience.
But if you were to ask me whatmy favourite song is, I mean I
was very fortunate I met Mr BBKing in the late 80s when he
(24:04):
came to Australia and I hung outwith him a little bit at the
hotel.
So that was a mind-alteringmoment in my life as a blues fan
and he was everything you wanthim to be, you know.
And so actually anytime I getto play a BB King song, I
revisit that feeling and Isometimes play a song called
Sweet 16, which is an old BBKing song.
Of course I've got a bunch oforiginals that I play, but one
(24:27):
of my favourite blues songs ofall time was BB's version of the
Thrill Is Gone, which isarguably one of the first blues
songs to sell online like amillion copies in America.
It was like a breakthroughmoment for the genre.
So the Thriller's Gone isprobably one of my favourite
songs of all time in the bluesscene.
Cheryl Lee (24:46):
Does that one appear on any of those CDs?
Jimi Hocking (24:49):
I'm afraid it does not.
Cheryl Lee (24:53):
Next time, next time .
Jimi Hocking (24:54):
Well, you asked me what my favourite one.
You didn't allude to what theCDs were all about.
That's all right.
Cheryl Lee (24:59):
on the next one.
Jimi Hocking (25:01):
Yeah, yeah.
And of course I've got a coupleof albums which I my blues
style on my original albums is alittle bit tongue-in-cheek, you
know, like it's not all doomand gloom.
I like to write from a funaspect, kind of like in the
buddy guy sort of sense, whichis a little bit more of a
lighter upbeat, a little bitmore of a lighter upbeat version
of what could be a very gloomysubject matter sometimes.
Cheryl Lee (25:22):
Well, that's right.
Sometimes the blues can get alittle bit dark.
It can, and I love that.
Jimi Hocking (25:30):
But I also I'm a fun kind of guy and I think that
even when you're really hurting, sometimes being able to laugh
at yourself is a great catharticapproach.
So I write like that.
I think there's a little bit ofFrank Zappa in me, you see,
that does human belonging.
Music is always in the back ofmy mind, you know.
Cheryl Lee (25:44):
Yeah, and even with the sads.
I mean because country can be alittle bit the same.
You know, my dog died, thetruck's broken down, the wife
left.
It's good if you can, somewherein there, just find that a
little bit of a silver lining.
Jimi Hocking (25:56):
Yeah, I heard somebody say it's funny to say
that I was teaching today and Iwas teaching some country licks,
and I heard myself saysomething which somebody said to
me years ago about countrylicks.
They said there's two kinds ofcountry songs You're either
making them dance or you'remaking them cry, cry, nothing in
between.
Cheryl Lee (26:13):
You are listening to Still Rockin it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
In the absence of JimiHocking's favourite BB King song
, let's have the third one fromthe CD.
This one's called Rock Me Baby.
And then we're back to saygoodbye to Jimi the Human
Hocking from Blues Roulette.
(31:08):
I just want to also ask you onemore question because I've
almost been harassing DaveGleeson, your band mate, Dave.
Jimi Hocking (31:14):
Dave, you can't get him on the phone.
You've got to answer the phoneto four people.
Cheryl Lee (31:18):
What?
And I'm not one of them.
I just wondered are you goingto be involved in his next?
Jimi Hocking (31:23):
album.
Oh yeah, he can't do it withoutme.
What are you talking about?
Cheryl Lee (31:25):
Exactly.
Jimi Hocking (31:26):
I knew that Well when is it coming, jimi?
I don't know.
We've been workshopping thisidea for the longest time and in
recent times of course we lostour beloved brother Paul Wozeen.
Course we lost our belovedbrother, Paul was seen, but what
that meant is we've now taken alot of songs that we have been
workshopping for Dave's albumand actually seeing if any of
them work in a Screaming Jetsworld as well.
(31:47):
So there's a little bit ofoverlap happening right now
behind the scenes in theexperiment of songwriting.
But I would say dave's beenreally keen to do a second album
for quite a long time.
That first first album, wantedman, we actually recorded at my
studio in Victoria.
It was going to be done atThorpey Studio in Sydney but it
all fell over the book and gotdouble booked or something and
(32:08):
we last minute did it at myplace.
So I would imagine we'llprobably do the next one in
Adelaide.
That's what I imagine.
I'll probably come over andwe'll do it there, but it's just
a matter of finding the timeand squeezing it in between
everything else.
I know we're on the road rightnow, but we've still got lots of
stuff going on behind thescenes and I would like to say
soon though, I would like to dothat project soon.
Cheryl Lee (32:28):
I think I've asked him every time.
I've seen him like the lasthalf a dozen times, and I feel
like he's like shut up, Cheryl.
Jimi Hocking (32:34):
No, no, he really wants to do it.
That's a labour of love for himbecause, even though you know,
the Screaming Jets has been thebiggest part of our lives
musically for all these years,you know, dave in some way
suffered from being in a bandwith such great songwriters like
Paul, because that meant thatPaul's songs were always the
ones we worked up moreimmediately, because it was a
(32:56):
natural for the band To somedegree.
Dave has written a lot of stuffthat has not seen a lot of day,
and it really should, so thesolo album is really a great
platform for him to expresshimself.
Cheryl Lee (33:09):
It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.
Jimi Hocking (33:12):
I say it will definitely happen.
Cheryl Lee (33:13):
Awesome.
Was there anything else, Jimi,that you wanted to mention today
?
Have we missed anythingimportant?
Jimi Hocking (33:19):
Nothing is springing to mind as far as
Adelaide goes.
We've covered doing the gigsand talking about Ben and the
genesis of the thing.
You're probably more aware withwhat I need to talk about than
I am.
Cheryl Lee (33:30):
Have you got a scoop for me?
Is there any Screaming Jetsnews?
Jimi Hocking (33:34):
There are festivals emerging throughout
the year and I havenon-confirmed dates now, looking
at November, december for a runof dates.
No one has talked about thatyet.
I'm sure there's a possibility.
I'll get into trouble forsaying that, but that's the
discussion on my desk right now,so we're just waiting for a
firm up of what venues will do.
(33:55):
I'd say we'll probably tourover summer again and then maybe
do one of those big tours againin the new year that I can't
say the name of excellent.
Cheryl Lee (34:02):
Well, I'm very excited about that yeah, so
that's great.
Jimi Hocking (34:06):
We it's been.
It's been a a strange, weirdand wonderful time for the band
in the last year and a half.
But I'm happy to say that Ithink we've all come to the same
realization is that playingtogether is still a happy place
and without that, you know, youknow it would just be a foolish
thing to walk away from anythingthat's still so good for us.
Cheryl Lee (34:27):
You know, as people, and we, the punters, wouldn't
be very happy either.
Jimi Hocking (34:31):
It's really nice to hear that because you know we
live in our own bubble when wedo this thing from the inside
out and even though you know,certainly I see that people
appreciate and love the band,sometimes it's hard to see it in
a real sense.
Cheryl Lee (34:43):
I know that sounds a bit weird, I'm not trying to
when you're in it and you've gotyour feet down and your bum up.
Jimi Hocking (34:48):
I'm not fishing for affirmations, but when
you're on the inside looking out, it's not the same as watching
something unfold before youreyes, you know.
Cheryl Lee (34:55):
Well, we're very excited about everything that's
coming up.
Do get onto the Blues Roulettewebsite.
Check out their dates.
Check out their CDs.
They're fabulous.
I've been listening to themsince my little packet arrived
Great.
We look forward to seeing youdown the front at one of our big
triple venues on the weekend.
Jimi Hocking (35:14):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for yoursupport, as always, cheryl, we
really appreciate it.
Cheryl Lee (35:18):
Thank you.
Thanks for having a chat.
Jimi Hocking (35:21):
No worries, enjoy the rest of your day, jimi.
Cheryl Lee (35:22):
Yeah, you too.
Bye for now.
Bye Still rocking the podcastwith that radio chick, Cheryl
Lee.
Why stop now?
From one of my favourite bluesroulette CDs.
This is the fourth and finalsong Sunshine of your Love,
Stenland Dawn.
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