At one Sydney public school, one music teacher made a decision to source Japanese Westone guitars and generously lend them to the students over the Christmas holidays.
If he knew the effect this decision would have, he might have had a smile to himself, or perhaps he did know all along.Frank Sultana, the clean-faced, 15-year-old recipient of aforementioned generosity, took an axe in one hand and an amp in the other and trotted home for Christmas. Life was never the same.
Flash forward to 2023, and the now well-bearded Sultana has trudged another path, 5 days straight of competing against 148 other souls in the Solo/Duo category of the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis. A lifetime of winding through fretboards, a lifetime of rhythm and blues imprinted in his mind leads to this moment – and he is victorious.
On to today, where Sultana recovers from another weekend of organising and performing. He relaxes into the nostalgia of where it all began.
"The first music I came across was my parents' music, which was mostly '50s American rhythm and blues music, Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Elvis. Going into teenage years, you gotta go off and find your own thing, I suppose.
"Then about 14 years ago, I found myself coming back to the blues and exploring it. It became the thing I do.
"The high school let you take instruments home over Christmas. Saxophone was the first instrument I learnt, but at 15, I got it in my head to take a guitar and an amp home instead.
"My mate gave me a book of chords, and we spent Christmas holidays teaching each other. That's where it started. They had a bunch of Japanese Westones, which are now really sought after.
"It was a public school, so it was all working class, but we were pretty lucky I think. Particular teachers, if they are really enthusiastic and get amongst it, the whole musical department thrives. We were lucky with that,” Sultana expresses his gratitude, before divulging his infamous first successful rendition.
"Who am I kidding, it was 'Eye Of The Tiger'," he laughs. "We all loved 'Rocky' and that was the first song we learned, but then we ended up learning a lot of dance, rock & roll songs. That became our thing in Year Nine."
Rock & roll had its time, but 12 albums and EPs later, it is clear it's the blues that really are Sultana's thing. He muses on his writing approach, unpacking his particular conventions which usually lead to one specific guitar quality.
"When I'm writing, I'm usually on an acoustic or an electric that isn't plugged in. The writing's usually very low key, noodling about and making riffs and chordal ideas rather than lyrics. I don't write lyrics day to day.
"Once I've accumulated a bunch of musical ideas and it has musical form in my head, then I'll sit down and write words for it, and that's where I start to think about tone. I love a dirty, gritty tone, for most of what I do," he confirms.
A gritty tone synonymous with one place, the place it all began for so many, a place that bred the sound that would flow out into the globe and into ears and hearts.
The place that ironically became the end, and another beginning, of Sultana's full-circle fate. Memphis was in Sultana's bones from day one, and finally being there was a surreal experience.
"It's hard to ignore where you are. Mum and Dad's music was birthed in Memphis. All those artists recorded in Memphis, and came to prominence in Memphis. So it was hard to ignore walking in those footsteps."
Buoyed by his win, Sultana resolved to capture all he could of his spiritual home, stopping by Sun Studio to solidify his experience beneath the eyes of titans. "After the IBC win, I went to Sun Studios and recorded. There's pictures of Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley on the walls and you're standing where they stood.
"The guys mark the floor with painted Xs where all the people stood in the '50s, Elvis, Jerry Lee. It's impossible to not be swept up in the moment – and it's really cool, the whole studio is full of vintage gear that you are allowed to use. So there's 30 guitars and '50s Fender amps. It was like dropping me into a candy store.
"I got a feeling with my headphones on, between the takes. It'd just be silence waiting for the engineer to call time for the next song, and I'm looking around the room in complete silence, right inside my own head with everyone that has been here and played.
"It felt really cool. That's why I called [the album] 'The Ghosts Of Sun', because it genuinely felt like the spirits of these famous, amazing musicians were there with me."
Music was always Sultana's calling and it followed him patiently as he tried on the regular hats. Finally, he laid down the concrete, only to find it was weighing him down all along, and now free, he could soar.
"I did the 9-5 thing for a long time and music was a hobby. Even though I started playing music as a teenager, it was just a thing I did for myself, and it wasn't until 2009 that I decided to start taking it more seriously and started doing blues records and touring, but still working 9 to 5.
"Then in 2018, I gave away the 9 to 5. It was a moment where I thought, 'if I don't do it now, I won't do it and it'll end up being a regret in my life'.
"I'm grateful that I get to do it. It's a privilege really. Because I've worked the 9 to 5, I really do appreciate that I get to do something I really love to do and people appreciate it.
"I've always felt that [I was born to do music], but society tells you just go out and do things a certain way, and hold what you really want to the side. I just couldn't do that anymore."
Thankfully, Memphis returned Sultana back to Australian shores where he continues his homegrown legacy.
Winter will be slightly warmer under his guiding hand as he takes to the Winter Blues Festival in Echuca, a largely free grassroots festival of almost 60 world-class performers who are down to sink a whiskey with you as quickly as play for you. "I've been doing Echuca since 2018," Sultana shows his affinity.
"Other than one year because of COVID, I've been lucky to become a regular. I'm not just saying it, it really is one of my favourite ones because it's grassroots. There's no ego and no big stage in the middle of a field.
"It's all the venues in town, and so we all get to catch up properly with the punters and the other bands. A lot of festivals, you're passing ships in the night. I think that's what I love the most about Echuca."
The Winter Blues Festival takes place at various venues throughout Echuca-Moama 25-28 July. All venues are free entry (aside from the Sunday evening wrap party that is ticketed).
Winter Blues Festival 2024 Line-up
Aaron PollockThe Blues Roulette Big Band do Motown
Dan Dinnen & Shorty
Darcy Ramage
Doc Halibut
Grim Fawkner
Jarrod Shaw
Jesse Redwing
Jimi Hocking's Blues Machine
Julian James and The Moonshine State
Karl S. Williams
Kathleen Halloran
Miss Lou's Blues
Opelousas
Paul Buchanan's Voodoo Preachers
Rory Phillips
Slatsapalooza
Smoke Stack Rhino
Stefan Hauk
The Blues Preachers
The Hoodoo Men
The McNaMarr Project
The Windsavers
Transvaal Diamond Syndicate
Who join the already announced:
8 Ball Aitken
19 Twenty
Bill Barber & the Holding Cell
Charlie Bedford
Corey Legge
Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers
Glenn Skuthorpe
Iseula
Lady Valiant
Marshall and The Fro
Jungle Jim Smith
Nathan Beretta
Sammy Owen Blues Band
Sweet Felicia and The Honeytones
The Honey Badgers
The Mojo Corner
Tomcat Playground
