BLUES guitarist and songwriter Lloyd Spiegel played at the very first Blues Festival back in 1997 and is appearing again at the 20th festival, this weekend.
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Since his first appearance all those years ago, at the tender age of 16 with his then band Midnight Special, he has gone on to achieve international fame as a blues axeman.
At the ripe age of 36, he is already like an elder statesman of blues, having been the Blues Ambassador for the Goulburn Festival in 2006.
With 22 years of playing, constant international touring, many albums and a swag of accolades to his name, he is one of the most experienced blues artists in the country.
Spiegel said he had seen a lot of changes over those years, but says he still enjoys the buzz of playing solo in front of a live audience.
“When I played at the very first Blues Festival, all the musos stayed at the same hotel (The Astor),” Spiegel said.
“I had been a bit sheltered up to that point and I was hanging out with these guys and they may have well as been The Beatles as far as I was concerned. They were like my heroes and I loved hanging out with them. I love Goulburn and I have great memories of the place.”
Spiegel is known for his wild live shows and he recalls an early show at the Tatts where he went a bit over the top to get a more vigorous response from the crowd, after driving for nine hours to play there.
“I remember one time we had played at the Melbourne Music Festival and we finished at 9pm and we left for Goulburn at 3.30am and drove to Goulburn and got onstage about 45 minutes after we arrived,” he said.
“During the set some people were dancing and some were sitting - it was at the back of the Tatts and I got very grumpy - I just jumped off the stage and I lifted people off their chairs and threw the chairs out of the tent to get them on their feet. I would never do that these days and anyway, my audience has probably aged and may need to sit down.”
Spiegel said the Australian Blues Music Festival is essential for Aussie blues players.
“It is essential for Australia to have a national blues event like the one in Goulburn,” he said.
“We have world class blues musicians in this country - I am touring through 11 countries this year and I am not the only blues artist from Australia doing that.
“The recognition comes when you play at Goulburn because the other major blues events in the country seem to favour having American artists as performers - not the guys who are playing week to week in the blues clubs in this country.
At Goulburn everyone gets to be a headliner - a celebration of the Australian element of players.
“It is a great bill this year - a lot of my friends are playing. Geoff Bell has put a really good bill together and if you put the acts on that people respect and love then people are going to come.”
He said the event is great for Goulburn and for blues artists.
“The blues crowd appreciate it. It is set up really well - it has the perfect number of venues.
“I am really proud to be a part of it and I always have been,” he said.
“I remember being Ambassador and I took that as an honour of the highest order.”
Spiegel said he was back playing solo and he loved it. “I am back to playing solo for the first time in six years,” he said.
“When you are playing on your own you connect with the audience better - the shows are more up close and personal and I need to fire up to to play a good show.”
He said he was hoping to record a new album mid-year.
“Three weeks after Goulburn, I am heading to Europe for six weeks and I am hoping the tour gives me the motivation to write song more songs,” he said.
“I have a guest house in a country area of the Netherlands where the phone doesn’t work and there is no internet reception - so I am forcing myself to write - that is the plan anyway.”
Lloyd Spiegel is playing at the Astor on Friday night at 10pm, on Saturday at 9pm and Sunday at 1.30pm.