Off the back of recording their fourth album, Lazy Eye will be on the road for six weeks to finish off a huge year for the band.
The beginning of the year featured an overseas trip to the heartland of blues; Memphis, Tennessee. For Evan Whetter and Erica Graf, this was a great experience and an opportunity of growth for the band. “Playing in the US was just incredible,” says Evan, the Hammond organ-player and vocalist for the trio.
“The people there are really different. I guess they wear their heart on their sleeve a bit more than what we do over here. I think part of it was the fact that we were playing blues music which is their art form. It's like going over to France and speaking French.
“We knew that we would have somewhat of an accent, and we were hoping they would like it. There was one show in particular at B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street [in] Memphis that meant a lot.”
The band was featured in the International Blues Challenge. “It’s almost like the Olympics for blues,” Evan says. Erica, the band’s guitarist, was excited to be playing alongside some of the world’s best blues artists. “Artists from around the world compete all down Beale Street,” Erica says. “It's pretty crazy. For the finals, you get to play at the Orpheum Theatre in front of thousands of people. You really are on the world stage once you are over there.”
This experience impacted the band with their new album, ‘Pocket The Black’. “If you look at music like a language,” Eric says, “to go there and be immersed in it even for a short period of time does affect you and you have a deeper sense of where the music comes from.
“That being said, we're not trying to pretend that we grew up on a cotton farm or anything like that. We've got our own, unique experience of life, and we like to play blues from that perspective.”
The group's album was recorded at Adelaide’s Chapel Lane Studios. “We decided to do this one in front of a live audience,” Erica says. “Our approach was doing five, one-hour sessions over three nights in front of a small audience of about fifteen people for each session.
“As they came in we gave them wine and canapés before escorting them into the studio to put on a live show. For people who are not musicians but are huge music fans, they might never get to experience that, so it was really great to share that.” This decision was an easy one for the band, who felt quite at home in the live setting. “We love being on the road and we love playing,” Evan says.
“It was a natural thing for us. The best thing is we were able to create an experience for people and create something special. To be able to document it as a part of our album was a really cool way to bring our audience right inside the music, and into what we do.”
The band is looking forward to sharing more great experiences with the audiences throughout the country. “I think of it as like when I go and see a movie,” Evan says. “I want to feel something, I want to be entertained, and a real part of me wants to be changed a bit. I want to have that positive experience. That's how I want people to feel when they come to our show too.”
'Pocket The Black' is available now.
Written by Edward Johnstone
Lazy Eye Shows
Thu 20 Oct - Pistol Pete’s (Geelong)Fri 21 Oct - Victoria Hotel (Warrnambool)
Sat 22 Oct - Somerset Hotel (Millicent)
Fri 28 Oct - Mildura Arts Centre
Sun 30 Oct - Moorook Club (Moorook)
4-6 Nov - Bendigo Blues And Roots Festival
Sat 12 Nov - The Left Hand Club (Whyalla)
Sun 13 Nov - The Parilla Hotel (Parilla)
Thu 17 Nov - National Press Club Of Australia (Canberra)
Fri 18 Nov - The Milton Theatre (Milton)
Sat 19 Nov - Macquarie Arms Hotel (Sydney)
Sun 20 Nov - The Camelot Lounge (Sydney)
Thu 24 Nov - Sonny’s House Of Blues (Brisbane)
Fri 25 Nov - The Royal Mail Hotel (Brisbane)
Sat 26 Nov - Burleigh Underground Drummer (Gold Coast)
Sun 27 Nov - The Yacht Club Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast)
Wed 30 Nov - Rowlands Skybar (Adelaide)
