LI'L CHUCK THE ONE MAN SKIFFLE MACHINE 'UTILITY BLUES'
Utility Blues is Li'l Chuck's follow up to the highly acclaimed 2013 release Blues In Full Swing, and are mostly original songs inspired by the sounds of the era - Blues, Early Jazz, Western Swing, Ragtime etc - uniquely presented in the style of street performers from those glory days.
Utility Blues is Li'l Chuck's follow up to the highly acclaimed 2013 release Blues In Full Swing.
Having spent a lifetime rummaging through the drawers of 1930's - 50's music, Chuck’s mostly original songs are inspired by the sounds of the era - Blues, Early Jazz, Western Swing, Ragtime etc. and are uniquely presented in the style of street performers from those glory days.
Sticking to the traditional one man band format, Chuck plays and records all the instruments simultaneously, no overdubs or edits. Just, Chuck, his skiffle machine and a bunch of mics.
"I have nothing to hide behind other than my drum and my guitar,” says Chuck. "I recorded all songs live in the studio and aimed to capture the best performance I could.”
Captivating story telling intertwines effortlessly with heart stopping harmonica and multiple guitar styles - all underpinned by his left and right feet frantically pounding the kick and hi hat. The listener is left simply wondering, "How the hell does he do that?”
In addition to writing 11 of the 12 songs, Chuck was also Utility Blues’ chief engineer.
He handed the raw files over to Lyttelton audio wizard Ben Edwards (The Eastern, Marlon Williams, Delaney Davidson, Tami Neilson). With his rich understanding of musical ambience, Ben artfully mixed the album, creating the perfect vibe for a collection recorded with such a pared back approach.
In an age where we are rushing around at breakneck speed, where everything is instant, sugar coated, airbrushed and overly polished, Li’l Chuck brings us down to earth with some organic, all natural, whole grain, naked goodness.
Utility Blues is available for purchase digitally from iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and all good digital providers. CDs are purchasable via Bandcamp and at live shows.
Li'l Chuck the One Man Skiffle Machine upcoming shows:
Sat 8th April- Wine Cellar, Auckland - album release show
2 ONE MAN BANDS, 13 THOUSAND MILES & 25 YEARS APART
It's a one of a kind, One Man Band musical feel good story. "It’s only taken over a quarter of a century to pull this gig off…"
“A one of a kind, One Man Band musical feel good story.”
Back in the 80’s a young lad watched a One Man Band busking on a northern English street. Spellbound by what he was hearing and seeing, that young lad bought the One Man Band's cassette tape for 5 quid, stuck it in his Walkman and went home with The Blues rattling around his head. Fast forward to 2016 and that music is still rattling around his head and that tape is still proudly in his music collection.
That young lad was David Thorpe, New Zealand’s (Christchurch) very own multi tasking One Man Band Li’l Chuck The One Man Skiffle Machine. His inspiration was One Man Band Rob Gray- The Little Big Band, Manchester's legendary busker and performer who has played support to everybody from Dr. Feelgood to Donovan, John Martyn to John Cooper Clarke, Wilko to Nico. He was also the only act to busk the hacienda nightclub queue, picking up the obscure Factory Records 207 number on the way (Google it!).
In the years following that fateful day, David bought a guitar and a harmonica, figured out how to sing and became a professional ‘one man band’ who performs at all manor of events, festivals and gigs around the country.
In about 2012, David decided to do a quick Google search to see if he could find The Little Big Band and it didn’t take long before he got a possible email address. In short he wrote... "were you the one man band guy that used to busk in Manchester? - If so, I am a one man band in New Zealand doing the same kind of stuff and was inspired by you way back in the 80’s”. Encouragingly, he got a reply and bingo it was Rob!
Over the past couple of years, Rob and David have been in regular contact. The two officially met for the first time in 2014 when David was on a trip to the UK. At that meeting they discussed the possibility of doing a gig together one day.
Last week, that gig happened at The Bakers Vaults in the town of Stockport near Manchester, England. “It’s only taken over a quarter of a century to pull this gig off” says David. “We managed to sort most of it out online, I flew over and we played a double bill for the first time. It feels like the circle has been completed.”
“When you play live, you never know who is watching or what will happen”