Dewi Evans, Author and Musician / End of 2024 Wrap Episode

Something a little different for the last show of 2024. We do a review of the year that was, with special co-host, Wales-based Dewi Evans, who amongst many other things has authored a book on rock keyboard playing. We look over the most watched and listened to episodes of 2024 and talk a little on...

The post Dewi Evans, Author and Musician / End of 2024 Wrap Episode appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Hello and welcome to this extra episode of the keyboard Chronicles.
I'm decided to call it our end of year extravaganza, just off the cuff totally.
How original is that?
I'm your host David Holway and it's always good to be here with you.
I'll firstly go to my common brother in arms, Mr.
Paul Bindig.
How are you, sir?
Mate, as always, I'm thrilled to be here, David.

(00:29):
I'm excited.
End of year show.
How cool.
And when I say common, don't mean you are common.
mean, my regular, that's the word I meant to use.
My regular brother in arms.
Well, I'm pretty common as well.
it's all good.
Well, Paul and I are both commoners compared to Mr.
Dewey Evans who joins us tonight.
Now it's a thrill to introduce Dewey.
As you'll hear at the end of the show, we've just recently done a brief interview withDewey about some of his interesting writings earlier in his career.

(00:58):
And Dewey, it's wonderful to have you here.
Thank you.
It's a real honor to, to be a guest.
Thanks.
I'm a big fan of you, you, the podcast and you guys.
And, as I was saying before, and it's a bit surreal actually sitting here talking to you,it's wonderful to have you here and doing your obviously from the wonderful country of

(01:20):
Wales.
So, it's, it's, it's great to have you here.
And, I wish I'd been to Wales more often, but I have to be honest and say I was in Cardiffin.
1997.
Wow.
Last time I was in Wales.
It's been a while.
A lovely city and it's very, very wet and windy here today.

(01:42):
cause we're kind of, think winter officially started yesterday.
Yes.
so I don't know what the weather's like in, in Australia.
Well, I think you can guess by the fact that we're both Paul and I wearing t-shirts.
So yeah, it's been swelteringly hot here.
So it was over 30 degrees Celsius here today.

(02:05):
Paul, you would have been sooner, I'm guessing.
Yeah, it's been hot, hot here and sort of wet too, hot and wet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Been raining a lot, but very, very, very warm.
So Dewey, I have to confess, I've never been to Wales, but my wife and I are planning oursecond ever trip to that part of the world.
in a couple of years time.
can you tell me why I should visit Wales?

(02:27):
I need to convince her to put Wales on the tour.
What will we see at Wales?
Well Wales is quite a small country but there's quite a lot packed into it.
So you've got some stunning scenery, you've got stunning coastline but also you've got theSnowdonia mountain range and mountain ranges down.

(02:50):
in the south of Wales too.
in the very north west of Wales on an island called Anglesey, or Unus Morn in Cymraegh, aswe say.
And it gets very wet and windy here, but when the sun is shining it is absolutelystunning.

(03:10):
So it's a great place to visit if you want a variety of different landscapes.
very friendly people.
Cardiff is an amazing city.
Cardiff is actually quite a long way from where I am.
It's probably quicker for me to get to London than is to Cardiff because the transportlinks aren't great, but fantastic city as well.

(03:38):
yeah, a lot to recommend it.
if you do, know, don't, you know, call, me a, give me a message and be nice to meet up.
So that's Dewi's way saying you can stay for a month free-board, Paul.
course.
I'm Rick.
there is just one thing I want.
It's a bit of a shameless plug for the village I grew up in.

(04:02):
You might have heard of the famous village with the long name in Wales.
Yeah, I was nearly going to ask that, Dewi.
And I thought, no, won't be stereotypical and ask that.
That's actually where I grew up, bizarrely enough.
And it's about...
I guess about 20 miles from where I live now, I live in Holyhead.
Holyhead is like one of the main ports to Ireland from the UK.

(04:27):
But yeah, I grew up in, would you like me to say it?
Yes, please.
Llanfair pwll Gwengall go gairach wyndro bwll Llanthu sylio go go go.
That alone, it's a pleasure having you, but that alone has made my year.
That's brilliant.
Thank you.
That's the best thing I've ever heard.
That's so cool.
Are you welcome.
I believe there's a town in Australia with a very long name as well, or have I got thatwrong?

(04:52):
No, there is.
I'm just trying to think which one it'd be probably somewhere in Western Australia.
But you're right.
Not as long as that though, but there is a very long named town.
I just can't think of what it's called.
I don't think, yeah, Woolamaloo counts in Sydney.
So no, great to have you here.
So I thought we'd...
And so just for the sake of our audience to do is obviously keyboard player as well thatthat goes without saying.

(05:17):
So I thought we kick off as far as the topic for an end of year discussion is it might bebecause, you know, we're so immersed in this area, but I feel like 2024 was one of the
best years for new releases of keyboards that I've seen in a number years, at least sinceCOVID, I would have thought, but I would have thought in the last four or five years.

(05:38):
I would say, yeah, the last.
Two or three years have been pretty busy.
There's been some very interesting new stuff.
I think one of the highlights of the kind of synth year, if you like, is it the Muse?
Yeah, the Muse.

(05:59):
it's funny you say that.
was thinking of that one as well.
Yeah, so tell us about that.
I've been so tempted if I had the money to buy one of those.
Well, it seems like an incredibly
capable synth from not I mean, I know it's expensive, but it doesn't seem thatunreasonable.
I think it's about 3000 pounds.

(06:20):
I remember writing in the UK.
But never haven't actually kind of laid eyes on it in the flesh kind of thing.
But I, you know, what's some some great demos on on YouTube.
And it sounds sounds amazing.
Yeah.

(06:40):
And I mean, make themselves, I mean, they've had a huge few years, but I think that'sprobably the flagship release for them.
But I mean, I apologize.
I haven't done a huge amount of research on this topic, just anecdotally thinking aroundthe past year, but I mean, every single manufacturer, or particularly the big half dozen
have all had fairly major releases.

(07:02):
Roland have certainly been busy, Akai been busy, Korg's released some stuff.
Yamaha, I've heard, just say Yamaha?
But I mean the Montage series, I'm just trying to think, was that earlier this year orvery late last year?
I reckon it was probably last year, although it seems more recently than that.

(07:25):
yeah, mean, the other one that springs to mind is something quite not unique.
Well, it's something a bit different.
Is the Arturia Astrolab?
yes.
Yes.
I'd sure had a huge year.
Actually, that's a great point.
Have you, have you laid hands on an Astrolab Dewey?

(07:45):
Cause I, I've been very tempted.
but I'm told, well, from what I've anecdotally I'm hearing, it's probably not the bestkeyboard for live work.
So as far as because there is that slight delay in loading sounds and plugins, but Ihaven't tested it.
So that, could actually be quite incorrect and welcome back Paul.

(08:09):
So yeah, that was another big one.
I started to ask you Paul was, and there was just given two great examples.
I said, I know you're not a big gear head, but are there any standouts for you this yearof whether it was a busier year and anything that even your cynical self was tempted by?
Thanks.
And yeah, I have an internet drop out there.
I just got completely booted out of the system and came back.

(08:31):
You know, Dewey was just saying before how pleased he is to be with us.
He's now seeing the real seedy unprofessional underbelly of what actually goes on here aswe have internet dropouts and all these sorts of things and thought I'd be the one having
problems today, but it's not worth it.
This is modern living I think so Yeah, I'm not so sure about that.

(08:54):
look, you're right David I'm not a massive gearhead and I don't get too caught up in
in new keyboards and all the rest of it.
I've been enjoying learning my, which is not a 2024 keyboard, but how to use my Nautilusproperly, which I got just over a year ago.
And that was thanks to you bullying me into buying it, David.

(09:17):
But I have to thank you for that because it has actually been a life-changing experience.
It's been really good.
yeah, think MIDI controllers seem to be the new hot item at the moment.
So, and I think I might have just caught Dewy talking about one as I came back into thefold here.

(09:40):
yeah, what's interesting me is how it seems to me that many people are moving away fromhardware keyboards and into a MIDI keyboard with VSTs and this sort of thing.
And I don't know whether that's just my perception, but that really seems to be what'shappening.
No, I think you're right.
And I understand the reasons why.
I mean, you can get so many great sounds.
If you're moving around traveling,
Like I do a lot.

(10:01):
It's not that I do it, but it would be a lot easier just to travel with a laptop and, and,know, you could hire a mini controller and go from there.
so nothing specific, David, if I'm on.
No, no, that's great.
And I mean, the standouts for me, I suppose, as you know, Paul, I tend to buy and sell theodd keep or not for profit, but I tend to experiment if I don't lay lay hands on things.

(10:22):
And I take the odd gamble.
And I mean, the two that I bought this year.
One was the Arturia, not the Astrolab, but the Keylab 61 Mark III.
So I've had a Mark II that I use in my band and have so for a number of years and I boughtthe Mark III and it's a beautiful piece of gear.
I love those MIDI controllers.
They're solid as a rock.
They feel substantial.

(10:44):
They're actually quite weighty for a MIDI controller.
Love them to bits.
The other one that I've bought...
And I'm not having buyer's remorse.
I've just realized it's probably not for me.
And my situation is I did buy a Nord Electro 6D.
I'm not going to talk names, but I bought it off a really well-known international artistwho had listed it for sale.

(11:08):
They needed to sell it relatively urgently.
I did put in a bid for it and was successful.
I've got it home.
and realized that the weighted piano keys and the Nord Electro sound set, which for thosea lot will be aware is mostly electric pianos, which obviously a weighted piano keyboard
is great for.

(11:29):
Not so much for all the organs and stuff and the reality is in my bands I do a fair bit oforgan and not a lot of piano.
So I've realized I probably was a bit hasty buying that.
So that's just a vile way of saying, I've got it for sale if anyone's interested and I'mhappy to tell a legitimate interested buyer who they're buying it.

(11:50):
Well, what would you call it?
The heritage or the pedigree of the keyboard.
It's only been gigged with three or four times.
It's in mint condition and I've certainly probably unlikely to gig with it.
So anyway, if you're Australia based and you want an Electro 16, yes.
I think I saw you out on Facebook.
Yes.
it's the HP keybed on it.

(12:11):
It is.
Yeah.
Cause I've got the same keybed.
I've got an old Nord stage two with that same keybed and I do like it for piano, yeah, asyou were saying, for organ it's a bit For organ it's not ideal.
Yeah.
And I used to own an Nord Electro 5-Dand loved it with the waterfall keys and I shouldnever have sold it.
But anyway, so yeah, it's been a big year for keyboards and I

(12:36):
It's hard to see 2025 having as many shake up announcements, although the rumors are thatPaul in your field of play, this, you know, the rumors for a Kronos three seem to be
growing.
So that's, that's going to be really interesting if they do announce that any thoughts onthat?
Well, it is interesting because I assume they weren't going to go down that road,particularly when they decided they were going to release a Nautilus with Aftertouch.

(13:01):
And you could also get your Nautilus retrofitted.
with Aftertouch and I thought, right, that must be them deciding that's the new flagshipkeyboard.
Although we know it's not quite as, doesn't quite have the functionality of a Kronos, butit's pretty darn close.
yeah, maybe, maybe that's what they're going to go with.
I find that sort of thing very interesting.

(13:22):
would be lovely to know the marketing strategies and what drives them and the salesnumbers that causes these decisions.
It'd be fascinating, I think, to understand that.
But yeah, getting back to your Nord, David, I saw you were selling it as well.
think I was like, Dewey, I saw it on Facebook and went, okay, that's interesting.
And I know who that used to belong to too.
let me tell you, someone very well known has had their fingers on that keyboard and verycapable too.

(13:48):
So- Yeah, it's very capable.
And as you can imagine, they are Australia based.
And to the huge credit as a modest musician, I know someone did ask them when they listedit for sale.
Would they all to graph it and to their credit?
said, I would not want to devalue it by order graphing it, which is very modest.
Cause I, I, but I wasn't about to ask him.
you want to graph it, David, when you sell it, you definitely would.

(14:10):
want to do that.
That's a way to knock a thousand dollars off of before it leaves the door.
Can I ask you a question?
Do we, I didn't really have the benefit of meeting you earlier.
So I'm really, I'm catching up here.
We're talking about keyboards and what we've enjoyed coming out.
this year.
What's currently your favorite piece of equipment you're using?

(14:38):
when you're comparing it to things like Nords and Kronos, it's actually quite a bargainbasement keyboard, but I love it.
It's something, it's the Yamaha CK61, which I bought, I think just after Christmas inJanuary.

(14:58):
And I bought it because I'd read so many good reviews about it, but I thought it would bea good backup keyboard to my Nord, which is my main, has been my main kind of
gigging keyboard for the last, I don't know, six or seven years.
But I was just totally knocked out how useful this little keyboard is.

(15:19):
I paid in the UK, I paid around 700 pounds for it.
It's it's pretty much as I know, I've got an older generation, an old stage, you know, I'mtwo generations behind, but it's all I would say it's
It's pretty much as capable as my stage two.

(15:40):
And in a lot of ways it's, it surpasses it in terms of the features it's got.
And it's super lightweight too, Dewey, isn't it?
I mean, I've been tempted a few times with the CKs because I own a Moody X and I used toown a YC that I also sold this year.
And yeah, I've heard the CKs are wonderful and really lightweight.
But it's got to the point now where I'm actually using it as my gig and keyboard becauseit's just so, it's just such a handy.

(16:07):
size to start with.
And the weight, it just weighs nothing.
But it's just the only way I can describe it's like a, a sort of Swiss Army knifekeyboard.
It's got so many useful features, you know, it's got built in speakers, but they're notobvious.
yeah, they're kind of like underneath the keyboard.
And it's got things like Bluetooth, so you can sort of play or, you know, when you'repracticing, you play like backing tracks through the speakers.

(16:35):
by Bluetooth and another really useful feature it's got is the ability to play WAV files.
So you can assign a WAV file for each sort of live program if you like.
And that's such a useful little feature, triggering little keyboard parts, little soundeffects, little drum loops.

(16:58):
My band do an Ola Gay by Orchestral Maneuvers in Dark.
And it's got that very distinctive kind of
old school Roland drum machine loop going throughout the song.
But just to have that at the beginning of the song, just really, and it's so easy just topress the bottom key on the keyboard and have that going at the beginning of the song,

(17:20):
then everybody recognizes it.
And that's right.
Yeah, just, you know, it's the first time I've actually ever owned the Yamaha keyboard,but I've been seriously impressed by it.
yeah.
I'm now tempted again.
just, aside from pronouncing the name of your hometown, you've made my, my year twice bymentioning orchestral maneuvers in the dark.

(17:45):
I'm a major fan and, I know they play the UK regularly, but it's, a bucket list moment forme early next year is when they finally, after one aborted attempt.
tour Australia.
And so I'm actually getting to see them for the very first time.
I've been waiting since I was 16 years old and that's a long time ago.
Yeah.

(18:05):
So I'm very excited.
I've seen them, I think twice.
once in the very early days when they were promoting, I think it was dazzle ships back in.
Well, yeah.
And then more recently, they did a gig in the Hammersmith, but at the old arms, mephogenin London.

(18:25):
And they were actually recording a live DVD that night.
and they were playing, they played the whole of the architecture and morality album.
Yeah.
There you go.
That was a highlight.
So yeah, they are really, really great live band.
Amazing keyboard synth driven band and Paul Humphreys answer your emails, man.
I want to talk to you.
Yeah.
so no, that that's great.

(18:45):
Thank you, Jerry, for that.
The CK.
Yeah, definitely on the bugger list.
So big, big year for that.
I thought we might also delve into, and I know we did this Paul last.
year and we'll all play guess a bit of guessing.
But I thought I'd go through what actually were the episodes that were of most interest toboth viewers and listeners.

(19:05):
So as most people know, you're either most people are listening to us on podcastplatforms.
There's also a ever growing proportion that are watching slash listening on YouTube.
So I thought I like last year would divide up into the the video views and the podcastingplatform views which I get good metrics on So and what's really interesting is there's a

(19:28):
bit of overlap but there's also and Paul you can't be guessing too much because you know,you know what these are but hopefully some of them might be a bit of a surprise to you
doing so Yeah, I thought I'd start with the most viewed episodes and these are onesreleased this year as you can imagine as
interviews sit on YouTube for a year, two, three years, they grow in views.

(19:51):
So I'm purely talking about episodes that were released this year and what have been themost popular, even in that, using that metric, obviously ones that were released at the
start of year are more likely to have more views, but it's still a better, better measure.
So the fifth most viewed one, so we're talking about videos at this stage, is Mr.

(20:12):
Jamie Hillbolt, who plays keyboards with Gary Puckett in the Union Gap.
amazing artist and Jamie was lovely to speak with him on his career.
So yeah, he came in as the fifth most viewed video of the year.
So good stuff, Jamie.
And I don't think I'm talking out of school too much to say that I'm looking forward tocatching up with Jamie, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap are touring Australia next year.

(20:38):
And Jamie and I are catching up and hopefully doing a rig tour depending on the venuerequirements.
You're traveling a few kilometers to get to him too, aren't you David?
that right?
I am.
I won't bore people with too much, but essentially I'm traveling about, where are we,about 450 kilometers to go and see Jamie and Gary Puckett.
So, but it'll be a trip well worth making.

(21:00):
because...
to our viewers, not from Australia.
If you live in Australia, that's just a pop down the road, 400 It is.
It's like driving from, I don't know, Dewey from in the UK, be like driving from London toInverness probably, or actually probably even more.
But yeah, it's a fair drive, yeah, there you go.

(21:23):
it's not because they're not playing the major cities.
It's just, I'm in the pleasant situation of either, I think the OMD gig actually may beclashing with one of the dates.
in Sydney and the other one is I'm actually playing a gig so I wasn't able to catch upwith Jamie while it's in Sydney.
So anyway, so that's Jamie came in at number five.
Now number four was a two parter and I haven't actually counted, I haven't added up anytwo parters into one viewership.

(21:49):
I've just taken the one that had the most views and that's Mr.
Larry Mullins.
So Larry is the keyboard player and drummer with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and also withIggy Pop for many years, well over a decade.
I'll talk more about that later, but yeah, Larry came in at number four.
are you seeing the pattern here?
Paul, you've not been on one of these yet.

(22:10):
I don't think I know you were there for Jamie, weren't you?
No, I wasn't.
you wasn't.
weren't.
No, no.
I, I, I've never really had too many illusions about the value or add to this podcast.
And if I did have any illusions there, they are being very quickly shattered, but that'sokay.
I've got it.
good.
can honestly say the best ones are the ones where you're here.

(22:32):
So I know you were on this one.
So the third most viewed one is Mr.
Thomas Dolby, which was obviously a bucket list moment for both you and I, Paul and I do.
You're a fan as well.
yeah, it was amazing.
And I think Thomas's interview is going to be one of those ones that will just have a lotof views over a long time because he did, you can tell he's a deep thinker, great guy.

(22:58):
Number two,
remember, Paul, I feel bad with you on this one.
Number two, you weren't?
No, you weren't.
There you go.
can't quite remember whether you're there or not.
Is Mr.
Mikey Rose, who obviously played keyboards with Oasis and more recently with NoelGallagher and the High Flying Birds.
I can honestly say Mikey's views aren't just because of the Oasis reunion announcement.

(23:21):
Most of them occurred before that, but I actually haven't, I don't know whether you'veheard anything, we?
have Oasis announced who the band will actually be supporting.
Nolan Liam when they, you know, is it the original Oasis?
All I know is it's Nolan Liam.
Yeah, that's all they've announced.
Yeah.
It's been a couple of months since I Googled, but I wasn't able to find any details.

(23:44):
It's amazing to announce an Oasis reunion when there were obviously other well-knownmembers of the band and Mikey came in later and wasn't one of the originals.
Yeah.
But it's bizarre.
I've got this theory that they're going to fall out.
The dates have been announced so far in advance that they're going to fall out againbefore they actually get around to playing live.

(24:08):
I might be wrong.
I obviously don't know this for a fact, but I can imagine the legal agreements that are inplace to ensure those gigs happen are huge.
I reckon the penalties in them would be multi, multi million dollars.
So that was Mikey and Mikey was an absolute pleasure to speak with just against so muchknowledge and so much perspective on a great career.

(24:32):
And number one on the video and it's interesting, she doesn't appear at all in the audioone, not because I mean, she had plenty of listens, but not in the top five was the
amazing Anna Lapwood.
So do we, you run across Anna before?
I haven't took to be honest.
no.
So Anna is the director of music at Pembroke College at Cambridge.

(24:58):
during COVID, I think it was, got huge positive notoriety on TikTok and so on for postingsome organ playing she'd done, like some of the songs from Interstellar and other stuff,
and got an enormous social media following.
And catching up with Anna, I think it was around February this year, was amazing.

(25:18):
She was so generous with her time.
and had this amazing perspective on just fostering young people in music.
Her own background as both an organist and conductor.
She's had an enormous year.
For those of our listeners and viewers that haven't watched or heard her interview, iswell worth, I'm stumbling on my words tonight, well worth listening to because she does

(25:44):
amazing things like goes to Royal Albert Hall, which I know you will know well, and I hadthe pleasure of.
you know, just as a tourist checking it out a few months back, she goes in there like 11o'clock midnight at night and does eight hours of practice all night on the organ there at
Royal Albert Hall, which is one, I think it's one of the five biggest organs in the world.

(26:05):
I know she talks about that in the podcast, the US hold the record for the top two biggestorgans in the world, but I know Royal Albert Hall's right up there.
just an amazing, amazing person.
does amazing mentoring of students in Africa, all sorts of stuff.
yeah, highly recommend.
So Anna Lapwood, not surprisingly, given her touring and everything this year has had ahuge response.

(26:30):
I'm definitely going to get around to hearing that because I, because I came to thepodcast, I wasn't quite sure how long it'd been running when I first started listening to
it, but I've actually been methodically working my way through all the episodes from, fromthe
from episode one to kind of them.
wow.
And I'm kind of up to, the last one I, I had heard some of them before, know, people thatI'd kind of heard of and were fans of.

(26:58):
But I think I'm up to the lady that was in the Decemberists.
yes.
Jenny Connolly Drizos.
Yeah, she's amazing.
Yeah.
Jenny was great.
Yeah.
And I have to say that that song you said,
brought a tear to your eye.
I did watch that video and it's stunning.

(27:19):
It's a great song, great video.
is absolutely amazing.
Jenny's an absolute star and deserves a lot more recognition than what she got.
yeah, they were, any comments on those?
Paul, any surprises there for you?
My big comment is, I'm just gonna reinforce what you said about Anna Lapwood, the mostpopular YouTube.
And I wasn't part of that episode, but I have watched it.

(27:41):
I watched them all.
In fact, I'm more likely to watch the ones I haven't been in than the ones that I havebeen in because I'm really interested to, you know, I've obviously heard it if I've been
part of the interview, but I'm always interested to hear what you chat to the guests aboutthat I don't get to hang out with.
And she's just an amazing person.
It's probably the best way I can describe her and a smile that lights up the screen andyou just get energy from listening to her talk and discuss her career.

(28:07):
So for all of our listeners, viewers who haven't seen that episode, please go.
join everyone else and go check it out.
It's really worth it.
Or if you like, do we, and you're working your way through, that's a real highlight foryou when you get to it, no doubt about Yeah, yeah, I think you'll love it, mate.
I really do.
But yeah, I'm not surprised.

(28:28):
Again, the Thomas Dolby interview was a real highlight for me, which I'll discuss a bitlater.
But all of those guests were wonderful.
And you did a great job, David.
And we learned a lot about them, which is what this is all about, getting to know aboutthem and their perspectives on keyboard.
I'm not pulling off my chair with shock at any of those.
No, that's right.
And just for those that follow stats, so we actually had 29 guests and 31 episodes thisyear, which I haven't compared to previous years, but I think would be slightly up.

(28:55):
It feels like I'm editing more than ever.
So I'm assuming that's the highest release in a single year since we started in November2019.
I think the maths would bear that up, but I haven't actually done the calculations.
just speaking of starting in 2019, I was pulling on this shirt today.
This isn't a plug.
Well, actually it is a plug.
So I'm pulling on this shirt today.
It says here, established 2019, right?

(29:18):
Yeah.
And I thought, really?
Did we start doing this that long ago?
can't, where's the time gone David?
I know.
I think we started November, 2019.
and then you, was about to say to Dewi, well, I hope you listened to episode six.
It's the best of the whole 130 something, which was Paul's, Paul's interview.
I did.
Cause I listened to that one before we last, you know,

(29:41):
spoke about the book and I did have a couple of questions but I can't, did I write themdown?
What was the of your kind of, not your Pink Floyd tribute but your sort of other coversband?
this is the best and I just want to jump in before Paul answers this is arguably one ofthe best band names particularly from an Australian although I'd argue in a UK perspective

(30:07):
as well.
Go.
I know if it's the best band name at all, I think it's the worst.
Finger bun.
Finger bun, that's it.
I think these only in Australia aren't they David?
I'm just trying to think, I think yeah in the UK do we, just buns with the pink coconuticing on top.
is it pink?
Yeah well I know the ones, we've got ones with white icing.

(30:30):
And white too, it can be white.
Okay right, so it's not just an Australian thing, very good.
Yeah so we're called finger bun and we get up.
all the time, why, where, how did this name come about?
And people sometimes think it's a little bit of illusion to something a bit dirty orwhatever.
It absolutely isn't.
It was just like we were trying to name the band and naming a band, and you gentlemen willboth know this, naming a band is like naming children.

(30:54):
It's very, hard to do.
naming children is hard because mum and dad can't agree.
Well, when the band's got four, five, six members, it's like three times as hard to comeup with something.
And we were trying to name the band.
and we were sick of having the discussion and someone said, I believe it may have evenbeen me said, I don't really care what we call this X bleep bleep bleep band.

(31:14):
Just let's give it a name.
The next person to say something, that's what it's been called.
And Brad, our bassist said finger bun.
So that's what the band has been called.
So ridiculous, but there you go.
It's memorable.
suppose.
Yeah.
I was going to say, I think in the UK we generally call them iced buns or iced fingers.

(31:36):
there you go.
Ice fingers.
Yeah.
Did they have them with fruit in the UK?
Like a little raisins and things in there?
that's, that's a thing here.
Yeah.
they are very nice.
The ice fingers is a good name for a band Paul.
Maybe it's time for Chase.
Yeah.
Maybe if we have a spin off band or we have a a schism.

(31:57):
One can be the ice fingers.
Gold.
Yeah.
So there you go.
And then say what we're doing stats and the other thing, Derry, I'm not sure if you're acricket tragic, but Paul and I are.
So I, the whole statistics thing appeals to the getting fan in me.
So as far as the listen to, episodes, the top five, and I've mentioned many times thepodcasts that probably 70 to 80 % of our audience is listening rather than viewing.

(32:26):
But as I said, that is changing fairly.
rapidly with YouTube, thankfully, well, not thankfully, we love our audio listeners and wedefinitely tailor the podcast as much as possible to audio as much as video, if not more.
So the top five.
So the fifth most listened to episode during 2024 was Mr.

(32:47):
Bob Fritzema, who is the keyboard player with Glenn Hughes amongst many other things.
So yeah, Bob came in at number five and he was...
I'm trying to think Paul, you weren't on that one either way.
No, no, no.
Just, and just so everyone knows that this is not because David and I have had a fallingout and he doesn't invite me.

(33:07):
Well, maybe it, maybe it is that maybe, he's, I've been very, very busy, this, year andwhich is a good thing.
So my tribute band has been really, really busy and like this podcast, it's gettingbusier.
So sometimes I can't be there.
And I always say to David, don't.
Don't make valued guests who are all notable keyboard players, don't make them changetheir schedule because of me.

(33:32):
I'm happy to work around and if I can't be there, well, bad luck for me.
And that's right.
It gives me something to listen to when I'm, when I'm hanging out on tour and listening tothe podcast.
it's cool.
I don't know where you counted them up.
Did you, would you did more than what 40 gigs this year with the Pink Floyd Trivia?
A few less than that, it between 30 and 40.
Next year is going to be the same.

(33:53):
We're probably going to push towards 40.
We're adding gig every week.
So it's good thing and so it's what we want to do.
But it just means sometimes we don't get to do some other things like this, that's all.
That's right.
And the one you definitely evolved in was, we've already talked about, was the fourth mostlistened to was Thomas Dolby.
So I'll skip over that because we're to talk more about that.

(34:14):
And number three was Mikey Rowe that we've already talked about.
Now these, the number two and number one didn't surprise me as far as the quality of theguests, because they're both absolutely amazing.
Anna Lapwood is the other example that in the traditional band-based keyboard playingworld, these guys may not be as well known as some names that we have on.

(34:40):
But I find that they are the people that in...
our audience likes the most in some respects.
And these two are no exception.
So the second most listened to episode of 2024 was Mr.
Jim Sheridan, who is from Ireland and has this amazing career in television and as a bandleader.

(35:02):
And he's just a genuinely brilliant guy all around.
And I know for a fact you were involved in that one, Paul.
it was, mean, Jim was just a damn fun chat.
and I think we're going to talk about that as well later.
So Jim came in at number two and then number one.
Yeah, please.
Yeah.
It should be interesting.
Your thoughts.
Yeah.
One of my top.
Well, I've got, I've got a number one.

(35:23):
Or are you going to talk about Jim?
Jim was one of my top three.
I love that podcast and I learned so much.
really, really lovely guy.
And, it's such an interesting conversation as well.
Yeah.
No, thank you.
Are you familiar with his TV show?
No, not at all.
No.
I it might have been from that part of the world because obviously in Australia we weren'tas aware of it down here but I it was massive in Ireland in particular, but across the UK.

(35:53):
Geographically we are quite near, we've got the Irish Sea between us but like I saidbefore, Hollyhead is one of the main ports to Dublin but we don't really see Irish TV over
here.
But yeah, I really enjoyed that one.
No, that's great.
And number one has, again, for the same reason, brilliant guess and just shows you thathis breadth of experience and perhaps his life as on both sides of the fence as a musician

(36:25):
and also as a purveyor of musical instruments is Mr.
Damon McMahon.
So for those that don't recall, Damon is an Australian based musician who spent many yearsin Asia.
I feel really bad now.
it Roland?
Definitely Roland.
And I think Yamaha at some stage, I apologize if I got that wrong, Damon, when you'relistening to this.

(36:46):
believe that's correct.
Yeah.
But it had some amazing insights into the life of, you know, working within the musicalinstrument industry in China, Hong Kong, as part of China and also in Japan.
It was absolutely fascinating.
And yeah, that's one of the reasons I think listeners have loved it.
And he's been listened to by

(37:09):
a lot of, a lot of people say, Damon, I'm going to ping you on Facebook.
once we, we've got this ready to go and, hopefully you're pleased with that deservedly.
So, so yeah, they're, they're the top five for 2024.
so I thought we might do honorable mentions, Paul, I'll start with you.
I know you've got a few there and just your thoughts on them and so on.

(37:30):
Yeah.
So just, I gave, so this is like my personal top five and I, and I, I limited it to.
to ones that I was involved in, terms of the chat and just enjoying getting to know theplayers.
So I had to have Thomas Dolby in there who, you know, what a legend he is.
He's just fun to talk to.

(37:50):
He's the real definition of a polymath.
He's just, you know, he's writing books and he's just such an artist and he's very, I lovehis creative thought process.
And I just found him to be a really interesting guy.
And I told that story on the podcast about how, when I was telling my kids,
that we were going to be interviewing him, I thought they'd be going, yeah, who's thisBlake?
I said, look, he's a really big deal if you're an old dude like me.

(38:13):
And then I played them, blinded me with science, and they both went, yeah, this is a coolsong, because it was in a video game that they played, which I had no idea.
So it just shows you good music is immortal, which I thought was a really cool thing.
I also had in there Felix Bornholt.
And I really liked that episode, because Felix was

(38:33):
not playing for necessarily a legacy artist like many of our guests do, but he was playingfor Alarm Cordiale who are a really hot band from Australia.
And again amongst people who are sort of Gen Z, I know both your, I think your daughterand my kids are big into that band.
I really enjoyed hearing his perspective.

(38:54):
And what I loved hearing about is how he was saying contrasting touring in Australiaversus touring say in Europe and how much harder it is to do in Australia.
I just learned a lot from that perspective.
And Paul, can I, can I open the curtain again for our audience on that one?
And I felt sorry for Felix whilst record, well, not whilst he was talking to us, but inthe proceeding, just a couple of days before he jumped on that podcast, he knew that he

(39:21):
was leaving Lime Cordiale, but he wasn't able to say anything until the officialannouncement.
So he was hugely apologetic at the end of the interview saying, I'm so sorry, but I'mactually going to, I'm leaving Lime Cordial.
And it's all amicable.
He's just like, there's no issue there.
So it was an interesting one for us.

(39:42):
So anyway, just a little bit of an anecdote there.
Yeah.
But he was awesome.
And as you say, there's no issues there.
He was just pursuing other musical interests and what have you.
So then I've got Dennis Atlas.
And I loved Dennis for a few reasons.
One, his energy.
Wow, what a positive and energetic guy.
He's the keyboard player for Toto.

(40:05):
But what I also really loved about him is he is not only a keyboard player for Toto, buthe plays in tribute bands and cover bands and that sort of thing as well, like a lot of us
do.
And he had just a really cool perspective.
it was just really interesting to hear what he had to say.
And then I've thrown in Larry Goulding's who is just a legend.

(40:27):
And it was just a privilege and honor to have him on the show.
He's all our guests.
But it was, you he's got a storied musical history and, and it was nice.
got to talk about Hans Gruner for a little while as well, which was very cool.
So that was like getting two guests for the price of one almost.
And I had Jim Sheridan as well.
So like you, Dewey, I really enjoyed the Jim Sheridan episode.

(40:49):
And David and I have the pleasure of knowing Jim.
maybe a little bit more intimately because he's a co-moderator on the keyboard players andcovers bands Facebook group that we're all a part of and he's just a champion bloke.
He's just such a...
how he comes across in that interview is of being a really good fella is that's exactlywhat he's like.
So it was just nice to sort of you know as much as you can call someone who's never metphysically a friend I sort of feel like he's a mate and it was nice to have that chat.

(41:17):
So they were my I guess my notable
episodes but I'm fascinated, Dewey, if David doesn't mind me taking over his smoothhosting duties, tell me about your experiences.
What were the things, the episodes that you enjoyed listening to, and I'm happy to acceptthe fact that you are doing a bit of working through the back catalogue.

(41:38):
So even if it's an older episode but you listen to it this year, I think that stillqualifies.
Well yeah, mean, I'm kind of like...
listening to the new ones, also, at some point I'm going to meet in the middle, think.
But so I have heard quite a few of the more recent ones too, this year.

(42:03):
And yeah, I've got a few highlights.
Jim Sherrod, and we've already mentioned, really interesting.
I was so interested to hear his backstory and how he got to be.
where he is today, know, it's such an interesting story.
And, you know, one I'm sure a lot of people could relate to, you know, that kind of almostlike intruder syndrome, you know, you know, but you know, just being in the right place at

(42:29):
the right time and having the gift of the gab and, know, that's great.
Thomas Dolby was such a, I was so pleased when I saw you were going to be interviewing himbecause he's been a hero of mine for so many years now, you know, since I first saw him on
TV back in 1981 and the Golden Age of Wireless is one of my you know top five desert discsif you like.

(42:58):
Such a great album and I've actually got a little story about the recent Thomas Dalbeakerbecause I saw him in...
Please yeah.
...in July or August this year so he's doing a tour he was doing some get dates in Europeand he
quite a few in the UK.
And it's quite a rarity for him to tour these days.

(43:22):
So I went to see him in Manchester and it was quite interesting.
I remember in the podcast, he was talking about his sort of backup system, his computer.
How if one goes down, the other one kind of kicks in automatically.
And of course, when I went to see him, at the end of the second song, everything wentdead, you know.

(43:47):
but if there was a backup in place, it didn't work, unfortunately.
he had to leave.
I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning this if he's, if, if he's, know, listening orwatching, but, it was quite nicely done.
kind of admitted, there's a technical issue.

(44:08):
I'm just going to get, let my guys deal with this and I'll be back in a few minutes.
And you know,
sure enough he was back in about 10 minutes but it reminded me of what he'd said in thepodcast and I wondered what happened there.
Maybe it wasn't an issue with the sound laptop because he had a video running as well.
I think the second laptop was running the video if I remember right what he said on thepodcast.

(44:38):
But if the sound one, if the music one went down the video one would kick inautomatically.
But yeah, it's just a fantastic gig otherwise, know, I'm just so just so thrilled to seehim He's playing on his own totally.
So yes But playing a lot deep cuts, you know, not not not his most obvious when he didplay the obvious, you know hits as well, but yeah a lot deep cuts, know, and Yeah, such a

(45:05):
thrill I think I've seen him maybe three times over the years and yeah
I think that what story you just told, I think that brings back a key point that a lot ofour guests will make.
And I think that all of us who play live should do well to remember which if somethingcatastrophic does happen, which clearly it did to Thomas at that particular gig you went

(45:33):
to, whilst it's not desirable, it's part of the live experience.
And you as an audience member didn't go, this is terrible.
want my money back.
went, okay, this is quite interesting.
And as you said, he hounded it really well and they got up and running again and away wewent and it was still a wonderful gig and you really enjoyed it.
And, you know, from an audience perspective, all they want to see is some, great livemusic and that is sometimes part of the live experience.

(45:57):
How we handle those moments, really speaks volumes about it.
It sounds like he hounded it like a, what the champion bloke that he seems to be.
Exactly.
mean, that was such a warm feeling from the audience as well.
You they kind of, perhaps, you know, the majority would kind of expect.
there had to be some kind of technical issues with that kind of gig, because it's verytechnology based.

(46:21):
just one more thing.
He started with an absolutely stunning version of Blue Monday by New Order, which wasreally unexpected.
I was wondering if he was just doing that in Manchester because of the Manchesterconnection.
I think he was doing it throughout the tour, but it was so atmospheric.
If there's any
I don't know if there's any clips on YouTube.

(46:42):
really, really worth watching that because it was really good, really good.
But yeah, going back to the podcast, got a little list here.
I really enjoyed Doug Petty of the Tears for Piers Keeper player.
That was really interesting.

(47:02):
I was intrigued by what he said about his backup strategy of, you know, covering a gigwith like the Orcs.
if you've got an organ sound and a piano sound you can cover a gig and that's kind ofstuck in my head and I'm thinking you would I be able to do that you know with the songs
we play in my band you know but you know might be worth if it ever happens it might be agood experiment I don't know about you guys would you be able to survive just with organs

(47:30):
an organ and a piano sound?
Probably not.
But we probably depend a bit on it I think
I was actually, answered someone's question the other day about today about this in thekeyboard players Facebook group.
But I think sometimes, I hate to say this, but I think sometimes as keyboard players, weoverestimate how much people actually listen to what we So I feel like we all probably

(47:56):
could cover a lot of things with a keyboard and an organ sound, even though it might notsound a heck of a lot like the original tune or whatever it is we're playing.
think if you're hitting the right chords at the right time, you'd get away with it, Ithink.
That's my opinion.
I think for me, just because we do a lot of 80s covers, if I had to, I could get away withpiano and strings.

(48:16):
So between those two, particularly the combo of those two, can cover probably two thirdsof the stuff and it'll sound acceptable.
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, it's true what you say about I really don't think most of the people watching reallycare, you know, as long as they can hear like a recognizable riff, you know, obviously, I
mean, I can't imagine, you know,

(48:37):
We play Jump Van Halen, which is classic.
But can you imagine that being played on an open sound?
don't know.
No.
It would probably be.
But the good thing is think 99.999 % of keyboards have a patch already in them.
Yeah, sawtooth 1984 or something like that.
So you'll find on your backup keyboard if you've got more than one.

(49:00):
That's right.
Yeah.
And one other guy I'll mention is
James prime from Deacon blue.
And he was such, such a funny guy.
So James is an absolute treasure.
And look, I've honestly, and again, Paul, I you weren't there for that one, but I've neverlaughed so much at an anecdote than he's little Richard toilet, toilet anecdote.

(49:29):
just
Billy had chest pains from laughing.
I laughed too.
And luckily I wasn't hosting.
So I didn't have to have indigo while I was laughing.
did a big ugly face belly laugh.
And I look, I do want to thank Jim again.
He was amazing.
And I think I might have mentioned this briefly at the end of one episode might've evenbeen his episode, but he's such a funny guy in that he's one of the only guests we've had

(49:51):
where I've done the rig tour before the actual interview.
And so I turned up to the Enmore theater in Sydney when Deacon Blue were playing there.
and the tour manager bought me backstage to his rig and then Jim came out and the tourmanager juiced me to Jim and Jim basically said, I would never have given you the time of

(50:11):
day, but I saw you had Bill Payne from Little Feet on the show and I thought, well, if hecan do it, I can.
And that was just, that was just what Jim was like.
So yeah, absolute treasure of a guy and an absolute pleasure to have on.
yeah, great pick, Dewey.
I'm glad you mentioned Jim.
Can I have one more honorable mention as well?
Yeah.
So I can't remember.
Cause I know you've interviewed at least two guys who've played with, God, my head's goneblank.

(50:38):
Glenn Hughes.
Glenn Hughes.
Glenn Hughes.
Yeah.
I think it was the first guy you interviewed and I can't remember his name.
Locky Dolly.
Sorry.
Locky Dolly, played with Glenn Hughes.
He's the Australian guy.
They're Mike Mangan and then Bob Fritzema.
I think it was Bob Fritzema cause I, I had.
I unexpectedly went to see Glenn Hughes, and I know you've seen him recently as well, you?

(51:03):
In a lovely venue in Yorkshire in the UK.
And I think it was the first night of his tour last year when he was playing the whole ofthe Bern album, or highlights from it.
And yeah, what a fantastic gig.
It's not normally the sort of gig I'd go to.
I'm not a big fan of like classic heavy rock, you know.

(51:24):
I like a lot prog rock, but the kind of more heavy
the heaviest stuff, but what an amazing singer and an amazing keyboard player as well.
And I know you've got a few dotted around the world.
So, so again, a little bit of an anecdote there.
So obviously, for those that do watch most things we do, we've done a re-tour with MikeMangan when he came with Glenn on this train tour.

(51:48):
So that was a couple of months ago.
And obviously I went to that gig.
and had the bizarre experience of Locky Dolly in the audience standing about a meter fromthat.
Didn't annoy Locky on the night, but staying a meter from me watching Mike play keyboardsfor Glenn Hughes, which had been a scheduling thing.
There was no, you know, Locky is still got a great relationship with Glenn and so on, butbasically two of those three people plays in the one spot at the one time.

(52:15):
Yes, so Glenn's got an amazing voice for a guy in his 70s.
His voice is incredible.
I can't believe how good a singer he is still.
He's a great singer.
And you mentioned a bit, Paul, about things going wrong.
On that night, he had enormous, I mean, really existential problems with his in-earmonitors to the point that he stopped the show, I think, three times and said, I'm really

(52:37):
sorry, but I can't work with these.
And he basically pulled them out in disgust in a nice way.
and did the whole show, even though he couldn't hear himself sing.
Wow.
Still nailed it.
So it yeah, was amazing.
So no, thanks, Jerry.
They're wonderful call outs.
Yeah, much appreciated.
For what it's worth, which is not much, because I'm the guy that edits these things, butthe one, the highlights for me, Larry Mullins, I've mentioned just Larry's perspective on

(53:04):
Iggy Pop and Nick Cave, literally everything else.
The territory he covered in those two parts was incredible.
Even his Desert Island discs are worth the price of admission alone.
But just the story, even if you're not an Iggy Pop or Nick K fan, do listen particularlyto part one of Larry talking about how he essentially, and he admits this himself, stalked

(53:30):
Iggy Pop around a whole state in the US.
And then that paid off two years later to him joining his band as a drummer.
And for those in Australia and the UK, Nick Cave is obviously a very prominent figure andvery well revered as a musician.
yeah, Larry's amazing.
It's not just the recency factor, because it was only a couple of episodes ago, but I Ispent a long time trying to get Jim Magini to come on the show.

(53:58):
So Jim is obviously the keyboard player in Midnight Oil, again for Australians, but I knowin the US and UK and Europe, or pretty much everywhere, Midnight Oil are known.
and very well respected.
So Jim came on and had some amazing insights, a very humble, wonderful guy who happens tolive locally to me.
And I'm going to see him do a really intimate gig at an art gallery in a couple of weeks.

(54:22):
And I cannot wait.
And Jim and I are to sort of catch up briefly there as well.
just heard him interview you two days ago, live on ABC radio, David.
I know you're a big fan.
So I've just sent you the link to it.
cool.
I heard it was really good.
You love it.
Yeah, he's certainly in a media frenzy at the moment because he's got a new album out,which again is superb.

(54:43):
So yeah, Jim was an absolute star.
I'll pull the curtain back once more then I won't mention names, but I have a friend thatknows Jim quite well.
Probably two years ago, I said, would you mind asking if it's not too much of a hassle toask Jim whether he'd be interested in coming on the podcast?
Jim's response was no, not because.

(55:05):
He thought he was too important for it, but because he didn't think he was a good enoughkeyboard player to come on the show.
So that's the sort of guy he is.
And Jim's just amazing.
So yeah, that was definitely a highlight.
Doug Petey, you've already mentioned, Dewey.
So he was wonderful to speak with.
And I just love seeing how tears for fears are such a tour de force again and touring,touring around.

(55:26):
And I'm hoping they get to Australia.
That'd be great.
The 80s tragic in me was only one of many reasons having Mick McKaylee from Europe on theshow was just, you know, really, really cool.
Lovely, lovely guy.
And I just love the fact that he even called out, he still to this day loves playing thefinal countdown.

(55:47):
All right.
It's there.
They have so much more music in their catalog.
They've diversified.
They're an amazing band because at the end of the day, it's not our song anymore.
It's the audience's song.
And yeah, just an amazing guy.
So that was a highlight.
And last but definitely not least for me is Franz Nicolay, who plays keyboard with TheHold Steady.
I've loved The Hold Steady for years.

(56:09):
Franz is an accomplished author.
For those out there that love musical-aided books, he released a book a couple of monthsback called Band People, which he alludes to in our interview, which is basically a year
ago now, the interview.
Just amazing, amazing guy and caught up with him for a rig tour.
again earlier this year.

(56:29):
just, yeah, but they were mine.
Last call for any honorable mentions.
Otherwise I'm to wrap that bit up.
And given that we're nearly at an hour, I think that's probably reasonable.
Yeah, well, that was a good list there.
Good list, David.
And you too, Dewey.
Some really good call outs there.
And it's exciting that we still have guests that we have queued up to release and putinto.

(56:55):
like we've got a few in the can haven't we Dave?
have so yeah look that's a beautiful segue and we didn't even plan it that way.
Thank you to what's happening next year.
So next year I don't have any particularly earth shattering announcements but next yearwe're going to continue to bring you some great guests both known and not so well known.
Yeah I think I've got three or four in the can at the moment with a couple more scheduledin.

(57:21):
We've got a few irons in the fire with some wonderful artists.
just one little anecdote, w there's an artist coming out to Australia next year, theparticularly in the UK.
I'll tell you offline, Dewey, who it is, particularly in the UK and Australia is quitewell known as a really successful, both player and singer from the 1990s.
he's coming out next year.

(57:42):
And so I've actually get in touch with these PR people.
And for the first time in 130 plus episodes, the PR person said, look, that's fine.
He'll come on, but you can only have 20 minutes.
Right.
Or 25 minutes.
Sorry.
was, it was 25 minutes.
He's doing, he basically, he was just doing a whole day of back to back media interviewsto, to promo his tour.

(58:06):
and it's like, well, I'd rather have 25 minutes than nothing at all.
So I went, yeah, that's fine.
we'd logged on at like we are all here now on the Riverside platform.
He logged in, couldn't get his video to work.
Could hear him.
He could hear me chatted to him very briefly.
He was stressed by the fact.
He couldn't get the stuff working.

(58:27):
Did the usual log off and log on again.
Still no go by this time we're 10 minutes in.
went, sorry, but you we need, you had such an amazing career.
I'm not going to try and cover that in 15 minutes.
How about we try and reconvene?
But sadly, because the way PR people work with more major artists never heard Boo since,but we shall see.

(58:50):
We'll see if I...
do here back just before the tour.
know what must have really happened.
You said, listen, mate, 25 minutes.
Don't you know who I am?
I get it.
You're out.
It's as simple as that.
I don't care who you are.
And this wasn't aimed at the artists, but you're actually right, Paul.
There was a little bit of that.
It's like we've had some of the most amazing artists, not because of me or you or anyonebeing brilliant, but just because it's a great forum for keyboard players to talk about

(59:15):
their careers.
And it's like, if you can't give me, I understand.
that he's doing a promo tour.
And the last thing he wants to do is talk to everyone for an hour.
I totally get that.
But I sort of said, you're an amazing artist.
Let's reconvene at a different time so we can actually dig into your career.
Now, he at least feigned interest in doing that, but we shall see.

(59:36):
So Do you know if I was Richard, the famous keyboard, I'm guessing he's a keyboard player,but he must be a keyboard player.
He's a singer and a keyboard player.
And it's not Elton John, by the way.
You know, I'd love to be on a podcast about keyboard players.
That's right.
Yeah.
What would be a better way than spending an hour talking about keyboard?

(59:57):
Yeah.
And I certainly didn't detect any disinterest from him.
It was more his PR people just wanting to get as many interviews for their client beforethey come out on tour to maximise their sales.
Now I'm going to see him.
I bought tickets.
And my wife's a fan as well.
So I look forward to at least seeing him from the audience, but I'll be very surprised ifhe comes on the show.
But anyway, that's just an interesting little anecdote.

(01:00:19):
So as far as next year, I assume we'll have about another 30 episodes out during the year.
We've got some minds in the fire.
As Paul said, we'd love to hear from you.
What really helps us improve is knowing what you like.
Now in every single show note.
So if you go to the keyboard Chronicles.
It doesn't matter what episode you click on in the recent episode, you will see there is alink there that's asked you for a, it's a link to a user survey.

(01:00:48):
It's died off the last few months.
So we've had quite a few people do it traditionally, but not in the last six to 12 months.
It really does help us know what you would like more or less of.
It does ask you some demographic questions that you can choose to ignore as far as age andincome and all that.
So I was just.
the podcast provider just asks those.

(01:01:08):
It doesn't from memory ask you for an email address or any other way of identifying you,which is great.
But yeah, just knowing what you would like more or less of is hugely, hugely helpful.
But otherwise, Paul, I think you and I sort of have this tentative arrangement to turn upat NAMM in 2026.
We were originally going to do it in 2025, but finances defeated me.

(01:01:29):
And just, know with your band being so busy, just...
put it in the too hard basket, but I think we're aiming for January.
it's probably worked out well that we didn't go.
when I look at what I've got committed to now, but we are keen to do it.
yeah, I think that'd be fantastic.
And David and I have this, this idea we head over to NAMM and try and do some liveinterviews with some of our previous guests and, and maybe get a couple of new guests in a

(01:01:58):
headlock before they even realize it and that's built for them.
So think that'd be a lot of fun.
that's kind of on our plan, plus the things we've been doing.
So interviewing great keyboard players, you may have heard of them, you may not have, butthey're all notable in some way or another.
And we're committed to looking after our patrons as well, as David said.

(01:02:20):
And that's what, I mean, I feel really bad always talking about the cost of this thing,but this obviously isn't a profitable exercise.
So our patrons, hugely supported Derry is one of those, Derry, I know I thanked you manytimes and I know you don't expect it, but- Well, it's a Thank you.

(01:02:41):
We do love, so patrons, every single episode get a, as I'm editing, I'll basically find areally interesting snippet of somewhere between one and three minutes and I'll post it in
the Patreon page.
so it can anywhere between 24 hours to a week before anyone else gets to see it.
This extra episode will be going to our patrons probably for at least seven days,depending on how long it takes me to edit it.

(01:03:08):
Maybe it might only be a few days before the rest of the world, see it.
And obviously patrons get to, they get a heads up on future guests.
So some of the things I've just been a little bit mysterious about patrons would alreadybe aware of.
and they are obviously very welcome to ask questions and so on.
I've guessed once I've given the flag that they're coming on.
Yeah, please.

(01:03:29):
If you, if you are a patron and you know of a guest that's coming up and you think, I hopePaul and David asked them this.
Well, you tell us and we'll It's as simple as that.
Yeah, please.
And it's, it's around $3 a month.
So it's, it's pretty low, low fi, you know, low, not low value.
It's, it's not costly.
That's the word I was after.
It's 11, 10 PM at night here.

(01:03:50):
I'm getting tired.
So no, thank you for that.
And the other thing obviously to keep afloat is we do sell merchandise on both Spreadshopand Redbubble.
And thanks to those that have bought some stuff.
Yeah, like that t-shirt.
And there are some actual non-keyboard Chronicles merchandise on there.
So it's more for keyboard players rather than just promoting us.

(01:04:12):
So, cause obviously, you know, you don't want to just be promoting a podcast.
So, yeah, you do.
Yeah, well you do, but you know what I mean?
New Year's resolutions is to buy some merchandise.
Sorry, sorry, Arben.
You're the last person I expect.
You're already supporting us.
I never feel pressured.
And the wonderful Tammy Catcher from Tammy's Musical, Stu has bought much merchandise overthe last couple of years.

(01:04:37):
And I've said the same to her.
is not expected given your wonderful support.
Now speaking of wonderful support, I just want to do a quick shout out firstly to you Paulfor your support during the year.
couldn't, literally, I know you don't think so, but I couldn't have done it without you.
whether it's your actual appearance on the shows or our chats in between and obviously gotto see your good looking face in the flesh once.

(01:04:58):
It was only a few weeks back, it was about a month ago.
I know was very exciting for me.
Thank you David and it's always a privilege to hang out with you and do this and I saythis all the time and I'm going to say it again, David does all the work.
I just turn up sometimes and bumble my way through a couple of questions.
and hope I don't sound like too much of an idiot and it's so much fun.

(01:05:21):
And like you were saying earlier, Dewey, it's just nice to be listening to other keyboardplayers and what they're interested in doing.
And it's a privilege.
So David, thank you for letting me be part of your cool project.
Pleasure is all mine.
And the other one who I want to thank is Mr.
Joe Mascara.
So for those who listen or watch regularly, we make jokes at the very end after ourinterview in the outro, when most people have turned off, we know that Joe still listens.

(01:05:46):
And I know Joel probably listened to this eventually Joe stepped in and I apologize, Joe.
was at once or twice this year.
Joe has been on the show.
I'm going to say three times.
and Joe, that's not just, I've forgotten you.
I, I forget the stats on any show as I've demonstrated by not knowing when Paul was orwasn't on a show, a show.

(01:06:07):
But, I Joe was responsible for the bill pain, interview and
Joe jumped in a couple of times over the past 12 months too, and it was brilliant havinghim.
So we had, I'm not going to attempt to remember the guest now, just like I can't rememberwhen you were on Paul.
Is it Joe that's the prog rock expert?

(01:06:28):
No, that was Matt, who is a good friend of Paul's as well.
So no, Joe, Joe's from Texas in the U S and has joined us for a number of shows and Joe'sa member of the musicplay.com forum.
And I've met Joe at NAMM in 2020, which was a highlight as well.
So thank you, Joe.
Otherwise, and Dewey, thank you for joining us this time.

(01:06:51):
And as I've alluded to, too, we'll have an interview immediately after this as part ofthis.
Dewey's did some amazing work writing a book on rock keyboards, and you'll hear more aboutthat directly after this.
So yeah, thank you, sir.
Much appreciated.
And we look forward to it.
Sounds like Paul's gonna lob on your doorstep for a month.
And, know, not refuse to leave.

(01:07:13):
So you've been warned.
I'm stuck there.
I'm never leaving.
I admire the beautiful coastline and the mountains and hear the wonderful singing that I'mtold all Welsh people do.
can't wait.
That's right.
Yeah, we're very, very famous for our singing.
Yeah.
And in the edit, so I'm going to do your wonderful pronunciation of your hometown.
I'm going to loop it about six times.

(01:07:35):
It's even six times longer.
So no, thank you, Jerry.
And most importantly, thank you to all out there that listen.
You literally number in the thousands and we hugely appreciate it.
We've talked briefly before, but you come from all parts of the world.
Funnily enough, only a small percentage of our listeners are from Australia, probablyabout 20 % and the rest coming from the US, Canada, UK, South America.

(01:08:03):
and other parts of Europe as well.
And obviously New Zealand, never forget our New Zealand friends.
so yeah, we're for these course accents that we have Paul, we have a lot of listeners fromaround the world.
I'll tell you what, if our American listeners heard me talk when I'm not on the podcast,they would be horrified because I'm very, very hard to understand.

(01:08:26):
I do understand anyway.
I get that, but
I have a very, very thick Australian accent.
talk way too quickly.
And when I'm relaxed, I think only other Australians can understand me.
So thank you to all our international guests for putting up with my voice.
Can I just say, I mean, your accent is part of the appeal to me.

(01:08:48):
I mean, I love hearing about the key, but I just love you guys and I hope things don'tstop, you know, because I just love this podcast so much.
Thank you, Joey.
Yeah, off recording, Paul does sound more like Crocodile.
That is exactly how I Yeah, no, thank you all out there for listening.

(01:09:16):
We'll be back in a cut.
Well, said, as Paul mentioned, we've got a few in the can.
So we'll be back in a few weeks.
And in the meantime, if you're watching this before the end of the year, have a great endof 2024 and a brilliant 2025.
And we'll talk to you.
Well, we won't talk to you, but you'll listen to us very, very soon.

(01:09:46):
So, and I'm really pleased to have a guest co-host with me, Mr.
Dewey Evans.
How are you, sir?
Very well, thank you.
Thanks for having me on.
So, my pleasure.
So, those that are dedicated and listen to the podcast and stick it through to the end, soJoe Mascara, I'm looking at you in particular, Dewey's very kindly been a supporter of the
podcast for quite a period of time and we hugely appreciate that.

(01:10:10):
And so I reached out to Dewey because he has a really interesting history.
as a musician and an author related to the topic we all like of keyboard.
So, Dewey, I thought I might get you to just initially start with doing a bit of a pottedhistory of, you know, just probably a shortened version of what we do on the podcast, your

(01:10:30):
life in music as far as your professional years in particular.
Yeah, so professionally, yeah.
I mean, I won't go way back to when I was a child.
I mean, it's quite familiar story, know.
My mum had a piano, started picking out tunes on the piano and then she sent me to pianolessons.

(01:10:51):
But I was always more interested in coming up with my own little tunes rather thanlearning the standard classical repertoire.
skipping forward a bit, I dabbled a bit with playing with bands in school.
I played with a band and then I actually did some solo gigs.

(01:11:13):
Just after I left school, when I was doing a college course, I was known as the Casio Kidbecause for obvious reasons I had a Casio, very basic Casio keyboard.
And I did some very basic recordings around about that time.
kind of synth pop was big.
It was the early 80s.
So I was very influenced by Depeche Mode and OMD and bands like that, Human League.

(01:11:39):
And that kind of was reflected in...
the kind of stuff I was doing.
then fast forward, I then went on to do a degree, not in music, in graphic design inLiverpool.
And then music was very much on the back burner then.
didn't.
I then moved to London to do, well, with the intention trying to find a job inadvertising, actually.

(01:12:04):
That was my specialty when I did my design degree, advertising design.
That didn't work out, but I secretly kind of had that itch that hadn't been scratched verymuch anyway to play music, you know, to try and, you know, join a band and try and, you

(01:12:27):
know, not maybe not make a living, but just kind of see what happened, you know.
So I guess that's kind of when I started kind of professionally.
I managed to
borrow some money from my brother to buy my first kind of proper synth, if you like, whichagain was a Casio, one of the early CZ synths, CZ3000.

(01:12:53):
And once I had that, I mean, it was not the best synth on the market.
It wasn't a DX7 or anything like that, but it did sound good, and it sounded a lot betterthan what I'd been used to using.
I decided to put an advert in the Melody Maker.

(01:13:14):
don't know if you're familiar with the Melody Maker.
It was quite a big music paper in the UK.
yes, sorry.
Yes, absolutely.
Like any and me and Melody Maker were the big two, they?
Yeah.
Unfortunately, it's no longer going as a lot of music papers aren't.
But it had a very kind of comprehensive classified section and that was kind of the waybands would find or musicians would find bands to work with.

(01:13:41):
and vice versa.
So I just placed a very small ad in that paper, you literally, you had to pay by the word.
So, and I was very short on money at that time.
So it's, you know, keyboard player seeks and then I think I mentioned three influenceslevel 42, TFF, because that was a way of saving

(01:14:08):
two words, if I just booked TFF, Tears for Fears, and Go West, I think, was the other one.
yeah, I wasn't really sure what's going to happen.
I didn't have transport.
All I had was the keyboard and me, and a bit of musical ability, I like to think.

(01:14:30):
And I had a few replies, one of which I ended up, one guy I ended up working with, he wasa German.
called Hans, really nice German guy.
And he had his own quite a lot more professional than I had, quite decent recording, sortof set up in his house.
You know, he had a DX7, which was nice and a Roland MSQ sequencer, sort of very basicsequencer and an 8-track.

(01:15:00):
And so I learned a lot by working with him.
over the years and a couple of other bands that I kind of tried out with and it didn'tkind of quite work out.
So I stuck with Hans.
But also a few weeks after I placed the ad, this is where the book story starts, which isguess what we're talking about today.

(01:15:21):
I had a call from this publisher called Salamander Books.
They were quite a big publisher in London.
did a lot of
kind of instructional books.
So they did a lot of cookery books and needlework and that kind of thing.
Very factual based.
And they were nice, you know, I got later got to see, you know, a lot of their productsand they were really nicely put together and everything.

(01:15:46):
And this guy just phoned me up at Blue from Salamander and he said, we're thinking ofproducing this instructional book, know, showing people how to play keyboards.
And what we want to do is we want to produce a few dummy pages to take to the FrankfurtBook Fair.

(01:16:10):
I since found out that the Frankfurt Book Fair is a very big deal in the world ofpublishing.
I don't know if you're aware of that.
So initially they just wanted to take photographs of my hands playing a keyboard.
They said, would you be interested in doing this?
think they offered me maybe 200 pounds.

(01:16:32):
Of course I jumped at it, know, because I needed the money.
So I went down to the studio, photographic studio somewhere in London, and they actuallymade up my hands.
They put makeup on my hands.
And I took my keyboard along as well, and they kind of photographed me playing a fewchords and stuff, whatever.

(01:16:56):
couple of hours work and that was it and they said thank you very much we'll send you acheck you know probably about a month later they they got in touch again and they said the
guy we had in mind to do no I think no I think we we haven't managed to find anybody towrite some text for these dummy pages would you be interested in just writing anything and

(01:17:23):
any you know anything that comes to mind about keyboard playing
just so we've got something to show at this book fair.
And I kind of thought, well, yeah, okay, I'll give it a go.
But I must say, I'm not a writer, you know, and I've never written before in my life, butyou know, I'll happily give it a go.
So I just kind of wrote a few kind of basics that I remembered from, you know, pianolessons and, you know, just stuff about chords and whatever scales.

(01:17:56):
I just wrote a couple of pages, sent it in and they said, yeah, that's great.
That's great.
We'll use that.
You know, he said, nobody's going to read it.
It's really just to kind of soak, so we can produce these dummy pages.
Off they went to the Frankfurt Book Fair, seemed to generate quite a bit of interest.
So I was told.

(01:18:16):
And then probably, I don't know, maybe two or three months passed and they got in touchwith me again and said,
So we did have this guy lined up to write this section of the book, because what they wereplanning was they were going to have like a theory section, you know, how to play.
They were going to have like a buyer's guide.

(01:18:38):
So you could kind of get an idea of all the synthesizers were on the market at the time,you know, and kind of like reviews of different keyboards.
And then there was a section about the music business as well.
So it's quite a comprehensive book, you know, wasn't just
necessarily good on showing you how to play the keyboards.

(01:18:58):
was, you know, showing you how to kind of learn how to play the keyboards and then form aband, what to buy, you know, how to kind of make it in the music business kind of thing.
this is the mid eighties, by the way.
I'm fascinated Dewey.
So there's three brilliant topics we could explore there.

(01:19:19):
We probably don't have time to explore more, but I'm fascinated by,
A, what the buyer's guide.
I assume, what was it, do you remember what it was suggesting?
And sorry, just for our viewers and listeners, the actual book is called Play RockKeyboard.
And just before we recorded, Dewey and I were looking, I had a look and it's stillavailable on Amazon.

(01:19:40):
Yeah, there it is.
Perfect.
That's exactly what we want.
So, and I'm planning on picking up a copy because I just think as a bit of a time capture,it'd be amazing.
So what were some of the keyboards that were suggesting in the buyer's guide?
Okay, so in the buyer's guide, we've got a few kind of basic Casio.
I think there were different price ranges.

(01:20:02):
Yeah.
There's a nice picture there of an emulator too, think.
nice.
And PPG wave.
What were the Casio's?
So they were...
Hold on a minute, let me just get that in camera.
So we have the CT360.
yeah.
CT...
630 and then various other models that he mentioned.

(01:20:28):
But then they kind of go a little bit more.
That was quite a lot of Casio's.
must have known who I was in my previous life.
Stuff like was the CZ101.
Going up a little bit more pricey.
CZ1000.
we've got the Oscar.
The OSC Oscar.
wow.
Yeah.

(01:20:49):
I forgot about the Oscar.
Yeah.
What else the x27 Yamaha.
Yep, the Roland Alphard Juno 2 nice number 80s Kind of analog synth but with a digitalInterface if I remember right so it's a bit like a DX7 crossed with a yeah an Analog with

(01:21:13):
an analog sound s10 sampler.
That's right.
Yeah, sampler
No, I'm going to have to pick up one of these.
Aside from the keyboard magazines, this is the stuff people just love browsing through.
And now you've got the DX7 and you've got a Super Jupiter there.
yeah, the we did talk about modules, Super JX of course was a lovely synthesizer.

(01:21:36):
And when they came out, Dewey, what was the response?
mean, again, people were lapping stuff up like this, particularly in the eighties.
And there was really only keyboard magazine.
I assume electronic musician might have been around then and in the UK, Future Music, wasthat around in the 80s?
was, yeah.
So there was some, had Sound on Sound, I think Sound on Sound started in 1985, if Iremember rightly.

(01:22:03):
There was another really good magazine called Music Technology, which was around,certainly probably until the early to mid 90s.
So yeah, was loads of stuff.
It was a very exciting time to be, you know,
keyboard player and starting out as I was because, you know, every week some great newsynth or sampler would come out, what it seemed, you know, and I couldn't afford them,

(01:22:28):
obviously, but it was nice to kind of dream, you know, one good thing that did come out ofthe book, I should go on to say actually, so just to try and finish off the story of the
book.
So they had somebody in mind, this guy obviously dropped out.
And they said, would you be interested in writing it?

(01:22:49):
Of course it was like, my God, know, am I up to this?
You know, I feel like I'm, you know, real imposter syndrome, you know, because I've neverwritten before.
But of course, you know, what do you do in a situation like that?
You know, you just say yes, don't you?
And then very fortunately, they put me together with this really nice guy called PhilMcNeil.

(01:23:09):
He'd had a lot of experience of working in writing for music magazines.
he was editing the book.
He was kind of like the overall kind of, you know, keeping an eye on everybody basically.
And he really helped me out.
He would take my handwritten, you know, days before word processes even, my handwrittennotes, and he would kind of make them into something readable.

(01:23:34):
And I actually ended up using my design skills as well, because I kind of came up with akind of simplified way of
you know, how to play keyboards, but it's very graphics orientated.
If you look, you know, and show you some examples of, you know, some of the graphics thatI came up with and so quite colorful and quite clear.

(01:24:02):
And I mean, you say, did you come up with it?
Cause they're quite good.
So did you draw them in their typeset or not typeset them that, or you were doing them oncomputer.
So I, so this was even, I mean,
Apple Macs were just starting to be used in the design world.
To be honest, I did my degree at just the wrong time because I was learning how to handtype set, which is like something from the arc now.

(01:24:31):
I think the Apple Mac came out in 84 and of course that revolutionized not just musiceventually, but design as well.
I missed out on
So I basically had very kind of rough designs that I kind of hand drew.
And they had a designer, obviously, for the book.
And he would take those designs and adapt them and did a great job.

(01:24:57):
So in a way, not only did I write it, I kind of almost designed a lot of it as well.
So it was a real thrown in a deep end situation.
And at that stage, you were you're actually playing in bands and I know your bio you'veyou've done a lot of really interesting, particularly in the electronic music genre, which
is an area that I love as well.

(01:25:22):
So you were sort of exposed to all the technology that you're writing about and actuallydoing some of the stuff yourself.
So, I mean, was it an exciting time for you as a musician at that time?
Yeah, I mean, the one thing this book did enable me to do was it kind of got me off thedole.
Did you call it a dull in Australia?
You know, unemployment benefit.
For a short time anyway, I managed to stay off for two years.

(01:25:46):
that, but the other thing it did was it enabled me to, because obviously I got paid quitewell to do it.
I thought, now I'm going to buy myself a really professional synthesizer.
And of course, what was coming up as I was writing was the Roland D50.
was hoping you would say that.
Yeah.

(01:26:08):
And so I was actually, I believe, one of the first people in the UK to get hold of aRoland D50, which it was this shop I used to go to in London called Future Music.
was down in New King's Road.
don't know how well people know London, but it's a shop I used to go to a lot and justkind of like hang around and, you know, probably be a nuisance.

(01:26:31):
But as soon as I found out about the D50, I thought, right, that's the one I'm going to gofor, you know.
And I put down my deposit, you know, because I some money, you know, from the bookalready, you know, I got paid in installments and yeah, and it was, you know, a dream come

(01:26:52):
true to actually get my hands on one.
And I regret, I did actually sell it in the end, but you know, it's one of my biggestregrets as a keyboard player, selling that keyboard.
Do you remember how much it cost at the time?
I believe
If I remember right, I think it was about 1400, 1500 pounds.
Yeah.
So doing the conversions, that's, that's roughly 3000 Australian.

(01:27:15):
So it'd be roughly 15 to 1600 us dollars.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's a lot of money.
Particularly in the, that's a lot of money.
Yeah.
It was, yeah.
Yeah.
But I just knew, you know, if I'm going to do this seriously, I needed a professionalquality synth and it was very, you know, the hype around it at the time was,

(01:27:36):
You know, it's like a really big, really big news because it's just something sodifferent.
You know, the DX7 had been like ruling the roost up.
It's funny to think now, but the DX7 had only been out for about maybe four years, longer.
yeah, absolutely.
It seems that of our, of our generation, Dewey, who had the pleasure and only did for acouple of days in about 1988.

(01:28:02):
did I get my hands on a D50, but it was life changing as far as you said, the quality ofthe sound even compared to the DX7, was just on another whole plane.
So sadly we've lost Dewey, a huge thanks to him.
And I will post a link to the Amazon link to Play Rock Keyboards.

(01:28:24):
So you're talking about buying something from the 80s, it is not cheap and Dewey obviouslydoesn't get any benefit from that, but it could be money very well spent if you're into
memorabilia.
And I think I'm about to jump off and do just that.
Thank you and keep on playing.