Brisbane musicians will gather at the New Globe Theatre this November for Home Groan Festival to celebrate the life and legacy of a true, local, music legend, John Malcolm.
Jason Castle is the guitarist for late ‘80s Brisbane rock band Blackwater and says the event is about paying homage to John, who inspired many local musicians like Jason to pick up a guitar and start a band. “It’s a celebration of John Malcolm and his contribution to the Brisbane music industry,” Jason says.
“We used to go watch John Malcolm before there was a Blackwater, we’d go watch him at The RE and every Friday and Saturday night at the Embassy Hotel.
“So I modelled a lot of my guitar vibe, technique and feel around him and his groove, because he was such a fantastic artist. John’s been doing it longer than us and influenced so many people in the Brisbane music industry; he’s a total role model for me.”
John still performs to this day, having held long-term residencies at Brisbane venues such as the Story Bridge Hotel and the Embassy Hotel during his career. At Home Groan, Jason performs with his band Blackwater who were a mainstay in the Valley music scene during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
The original Blackwater line-up will be joined by Matt James, Andy McDonell and Blakboi, as well as a special performance from John Malcolm himself. “The people who are playing, it’s a collective of that late ‘80s golden era, a selected few musicians who were part of it,” Jason says.
Jason spent his early teen years going to see John play before learning to play guitar with friend and bass player, Marty Bouma. Since then, they’ve been writing and playing together as Blackwater, with drummer Damian Lang completing the outfit. “We’ve never really stopped,” Jason says.
“We’ve all moved on in our lives but we’ve never had the ‘we’re breaking up’ discussion. I started playing the music with the bass player when I was 13 and we’ve been playing music together ever since. I picked up the guitar when he picked up the bass and I learned off him. He was a competent guitar player and was already writing songs, so all the stuff we’ll be playing at Home Groan was written pre-1990.”
Raw rock music brewed in the backyards of primarily Western suburbs such as Kenmore and Brookfield, when Blackwater started playing live gigs, it was in the rough-and-tumble clubs of the Fortitude Valley. Recalling the period with a sense of wistful nostalgia, Jason describes the Valley of the late ’80s as a sort of musical haven, where culture and corruption went hand-in-hand. “What was happening in those days was this cultural movement,” he explains.
“Because of the Valley being the red-light district there weren’t many police in the Valley… it was the Wild West, a police free zone. The cops were all paid off, and it was a gambling precinct and a live music precinct with punk venues, hippie venues, rock venues, blues venues… it was insanely fucking cool.”
Blackwater performs at Home Groan Festival at the New Globe Theatre (Brisbane) 5 November.
