Different Skies.

June 17th, 2016

I always enjoy sharing a stage with Debbie & Kurt.

So great to have a packed out live music show in a pub featuring all original music. Pubs seem to be the notorious denizens of endless repeats of ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’, ‘Superstitious’ and various other rock hits played over and over again by endless cover bands churning out ‘what the public wants’. Maybe that’s not entirely true though as, as I find so often these days, there does seem to be a strong taste for quality new music, it’s got to be an exciting change to the usual stuff, surely?

So, a packed out crowd then and a support set from me, this being the album launch of a good friend of mine. You really couldn’t meet a more honest, trustworthy, principled guy than Martin. He really has a generosity of spirit which the world could do with a lot more of. Martin Rivers has his great new album out, ‘Different Skies’ and had assembled a special band just for the occasion (though who knows, will we see them again)? The band consisting of members from a range of local groups from various genres including SkeletalDamage, We Are Nomad and Green Bullet. It’s great to see Martin at a new zenith, having had a journey in music which has taken him from punk to prog, folk, singer songwriter shows and duets. A new epiphany seems to have been reached with this wonderfully dark, yet compelling and uplifting album. Do treat yourself and check out THIS LINK.

I am a little late with this blog post for various reasons, and I must now add to this that shortly after this great show, Martin had the sad task of letting his friends know that his partner in crime, musically for a number of years Dan Kelly, had sadly died. Dan was the other half of Rivers and Kelly, a very special duet, who together, had a sound reminiscent of the cozy feeling of putting on a favourite old vinyl classic from a bygone era, fabulously absorbing. Dan was a real gentleman, a gentle man in fact. He was a staunch socialist who lived by his strong principles, a lovely person who everyone who knew him will miss.

Rivers & Kelly. Dan Kelly R.I.P.