Time for an Update!!

Long Time No-Chat!!

Time for an all important Update!!!  I had completely forgotten about this blog.  And now that it has international exposure in Blues E-News (http://www.blues-e-news.com) I think I had better get some new information in here!!!

King Biscuit Time featured in International Internet Blues Magazine

Blues-E-News article published including Interview with Lefty Smith

Yes! KBT have been featured in a 4 page spread in the June 2013 issue of Blues-E-News!!!!  Our thanks go to Sue Miller of B-E-N for a candidly honest article.  And thanks to Sue also for her personal words of encouragement!

It says something about your music if someone is prepared to publish their thoughts about it.  We are just fortunate that Sue has really good things to say about us!

NEW MEMBER JOINS KBT

We have a new member in the band!  Jean-Pierre Calabretto has joined KBT as our newest member.  JP is a consummate blues harp player (check out the compliment Sue Miller has paid to JP's playing in our Blues-E-News article).  He has settled into the band and is contributing to what is King Biscuit Time - All Australian Blues!

Now we have to organise a photoshoot to incorporate JP into our group photos.  Maybe we will finally do that shoot I've always wanted to do at an old rail station/siding!  There's a nice siding down at Finnis, I'm told.  And the old Strathalbyn Station has potential too!

Autumn Blues at Cowandilla S&S Club

King Biscuit Time asked to Headline

Autumn Blues was organised by our good friends and fellow blues players Brompton Blues Band.  BBB were very kind to invite us to play the headline slot which we gladly accepted.  Also on the bill were Done & Dusted fronted by one time The Others muso Dave Yelland.  Between the three bands, the audience were treated to an absolute smorgasbord of blues styles and blues influenced music.

The show was a credit to Dave White and the boys from BBB.  It was well organised and ran smoothly throughout the night.

A great night was had by all involved both muso's and punters.

Definitely looking forward to another show with these guys.

KBT return to the Millswood Club

guests Bec Gollan & Sonya Rankine Band, Arvi Petersen

KBT put on another of our blues filled soiree's at Millswood Blues Club.  The audience of about 50 were treated to a blues packed night!  Arvi Petersen opened the night with his one-man semi-acoustic blues featuring reworkings of old Rolling Stones blues and blues-based rock-n-roll.  Bec Gollan and Sonya Rankine layed out a wonderful bluesy melange of priginal australian music combined with some blues/Jazz standards including a rockin' version of the Gershwin classic - Summertime from the musical Porgy & Bess.

KBT laid down a tight set of blues originals and standards.  Now for the next gig...

We Came! We Saw! We Played!

Well there was a lot of original music played at the SCALA weekly showcase but the standout performance was delivered by the boys of King Biscuit Time.  KBT laid the All Australian Blues on the small but enthusiastic audience that gathered at Higher Ground on Thursday evening 12th May.  From Lefty's opening statement that "Not all original music is played on acoustic instruments!" to the end of a roaring encore, King Biscuit Time gave their all and came out victors!

The audience had partaken of 4 excellent acoustic performances by Marli Cregan, Clayton Werner, Casey Finlay-Thomson, and ABlackwell.  Then King Biscuit Time took to the stage.  KBT delivered a polished set of 6 original blues songs from the pen of The Prof: Watch, Graves of Calico, Navy Blue, Blues at Sunset, 4 Men, and Mezzma Club.  Each song commencing and ending with clockwork precision.  Each receiving a roaring round of applause and cheers.  This night heard the Prof lay down some of the finest blues riffs and solos. It heard Lefty's voice soar and roar.  Steve and Paul laid down the rhythms that form the heart and soul of King Biscuit Time's sound.

At the completion of the last song, the enthusiastic cry went up for more.  Such a small audience created such a loud sound!  The boys responded in like kind with one of their standards - Help Me by the great Sonny Boy Williamson.

Album, Fringe and Gig News!

King Biscuit Time to play SCALA - May 12th!

New Gig:
King Biscuit Time will debut their new sound and style of All Australian Blues at the SCALA Songcatchers Gig @ Higher Ground, Arts Cafe on the 12th of May. Checkout our Reverbnation page for gig details.

Fringe News:
King Biscuit Time are making plans for the 2012 Fringe! A tribute to Willie Dixon will feature the songs of one of the greatest Bluesmen of the 20th Century. Stay tuned for more news as it comes to hand!

CD News! CD News! CD News! CD News! CD-News!:
King Biscuit Time have made the decision to record and release their debut album in 2012! Stay tuned for more CD news as it comes to hand!

That's all for now

Cheers
Lefty

All Australian Blues

King Biscuit Time has had quite a shake up since last spring!
In this issue: New drummer; New songs; New style; New Store!

New Drummer:
Late last year, Mark "Animal" Corry, decided to move on. We were sorry to see him go, but c'est la vie, especially in the music industry. But like they say, when one door closes, another opens. And it certainly has for King Biscuit Time. We welcomed Paul "G-Man" Galbraith to the band with a baptism of fire with two quickfire gigs: one at the Blackwood RSL and another at the Squatters Arms. Paul acquitted himself very well and we have gone from strength to strength since. Paul plays the drums with an energetic but relaxed freeform jazz influenced style that has added a complete new dimension to the sound of King Biscuit Time. Like the Borg on Star Trek, we are adding his distinctiveness to our own.

New Songs:
The Prof has gone crazy! Song-writing crazy that is. He has been absolutely prolific generating new songs for the band. We've actually had to put the new song factory into summer standown while we incorporate and refine the new material. The new songs have been recorded in rehearsal and a selection is available for streaming through our webpages on Reverbnation (http://www.reverbnation.com/kingbiscuittime), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/King-Biscuit-Time-Blues-Band/79222668029), and MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/kbtblues). When you hear them you will agree that King Biscuit Time have got a new sound.

New Sound, New Style - All Australian Blues:
With the advent of Paul "G-Man" Galbraith, and Prof's new song-writing, King Biscuit Time are exploring new styles in our ongoing growth and development of All Australian Blues. We are exploring a more acoustic sound for those gigs that will benefit from the subtleties of a low-key, low-power approach.

New Store - KBTees:
"Got Blues?" If not then we now have some 'merch' for ya! You can check out our new T-shirt designs via our "Official Merch and Good Stuff Outlet". You can access it via our webpages by following the links to the store. We have mens and womens styles in S, M, L, XL sizes in White, Red and Black.

Cheers

Lefty!

Spring Is Here!

It has been a long time between drinks. King Biscuit Time have been spending the year in the rehearsal room working on songs old and new. We have had changes in line-up this year again. Karl has moved on, as has Animal. So now we have re-jigged the line up once more. But it's all good tho'. We are now a 4 piece with Prof on Guitars, Steve on Bass, me on guitars, harps and vocals, and our new man Paul on drums. Paul comes to us with a load of experience and brings a new jazzier style to the repertiore.

WE have lined up 3 gigs for November at the Blackwood RSL, the Forresters and Squatters Arms, and the Duke of Brunswick. We've got three set's of Blues, Funk and general Groovin' goodness to bring to the people.

The Blackwood RSL gig is on the 5th of Nov and starts at 8.00pm. The RSL is located at 1 Brighton Parade Blackwood. The RSL is a family friendly venue and the public is most welcome. We hit the Forresters and Squatters Arms at Thebarton on Sunday 21st Nov at 7.30pm. Then a week later we go to the Brunswick in Gilbert St in the City. All gig's are free entry.

Maybe we'll see you at one of these gigs?

Merry Xmas!

It has been a big year for King Biscuit Time and it is time to review that year.

In January, Animal rejoined the band after a minor hiatuswich he took to work out some stuff. At that point, we worked on a very short set of six songs which we would eventually commit to CD: a demo set to hand out to venue owners and booking managers. Those six quickly grew to nine!

In April, after 3 months of concentrated rehearsal, we recorded those six, er...nine, songs to CD. The recording session was quite an experience for us. We got an insight into the recording process. We will definitely make use ofthat knowledge in our next recording venture: hopefully next year. We were so well rehearsed, that the time it took to setup in the recording studio wasover three times what it took to record the nine songs! The recording was quickly cut down to the best four tracks which were then committed to CD. (I also learned a bit about licensing too as a result!).

The next big step for us was to enter the Killing Floor Blues Challenge. KFBC is conducted as a lead up to the Juke Joint At Queens: Adelaide Blues Festival. This year being the second year of the Juke Joint and the KFBC. So we honed and refined our original 6 blues songs from the recording session set over the months that followed.

August saw us compete in Heat #1 of the Killing Floor Blues Challenge which was held at the Blackwood RSL. On the bill for heat #1 were, Mick Kidd, Abby Howlett, and King Biscuit Time. The competition was certainly diverse with Mick laying down very nice acoustic slide style country blues and Abby presenting a selection of her own original compositions. We played last and we "layed them in the aisles", even if I say so myself. This is not a complete boast on my part. As it turned out, the Functions Manager of the Blackwood RSL was present and she heard us play. More importantly, she heard the audience reaction. Now it is true that the audience was mainly full of friends, family and fans of the three acts that were playing. However, we managed to get most of them to react to our music in an eager and vigorous manner. The end result was that although we did not win the heat, we did get personal commendations and encouragements from the Juke Joint organisers, Rob Eyers Andrew Dundon and Chris Jennings. Thanks Guys! Besides that, and more importantly, we scored a gig at the Blackwood RSL...

August would also be a watershed for the band for another reason. Tommy "Mott" Hunter resigned from the band after suffering a personal crisis. This left the band without a Harp player right before the KFBC. So we went to the comp down one man but we forged on regardless, exhibiting two of King Biscuit Time's greatest strengths: flexibility and versatility.

In October, we played that gig in the front bar of the Blackwood RSL. A gig that would become one in a series over the next few months, that would be called "Live at the RSL featuring King Biscuit Time". This first gig, opened with an acoustic set by Karl and Lefty and finished with 3 solid sets with the full band. The audience started strong then thinned out over the course of the evening. But it was a good first gig as the only band on the bill and with that line-up. The management were impressed and pleased with our effort. Thanks goes out to Mark Stewart-Jones of the Brompton Blues Band who sat in with us on Harmonica's that night. Cheers mate.

November started out with our second gig at the RSL. The functions manager told me that we did an excellent job the previous month. If we kept up the good work this night, then more work would likely be forthcoming. We dropped the acoustic set and just played three sets this time. The audience was once more strong at the beginning then thinned out once more over the course of the evening. This time we had about 5 more people left at the end that were not related to the band or the bar staff! So we figured we're developing some amount of crowd appeal. Before the month ended, I received a call from the RSL Function Manager: the band that was booked ould not make it; Would we like to play in their place this coming Friday? YES! "Oh, and do you want to play New Years Eve?" Buh..Buh..Y..Y..YES!!! "And your booked in for the 4th December as well." Well you could have rolled me in maple syruip and called me dessert! 3 gigs in one phone call.

We played the November emergency gig and we played December 4th. Both gigs went very well with more and more people staying to the end. December saw a change in our lineup. We returned to being a 5 piece. I handed the bass over to our newest member Stephen "Mr Cool" Rees. And I took up guitar, harmonica's, slide guitar and still doing vocals too.

That brings us to New Year's Eve. That gig is just 7 days away. Animal is having that gig off and celebrating the New Year with his family. So we have enlisted Terry Strand of Lost In Bass to play drums for us that night. It is going to be a great way to finish off the first 10 years of the 21st Century and kick off the next 10. I hope you will come and see us on New Years Eve 2009 at the Blackwood RSL starting at 9pm.

Finally, on behalf of the band, I would like to send out thanks to our wives: Lynn, Darla, & Jo; to our friends and fans who have supported us this year; and the Blackwood RSL for giving us the opportunity to show what we can do.

cheers for now,

Lefty.

Since the Killing Floor Blues Challenge, King Biscuit Time have been playing quite a bit at the Blackwood RSL, scoring 5 gig's in all: 1 in October, 2 in November and 1 in December. In addition to those, we have also been invited to play New Years Eve at the RSL! We must be doing something right, that's for sure. Each gig is noteable for the new people we are meeting and who like our music.

Over the Xmas/New Year break, we will be getting out and about visiting venues to get gig's for 2010.

King Biscuit Time has a new member in the band: Stephen "Mr. Cool" Rees has joined the band and is taking over the role of Bassman. Lefty has moved on to guitar, including slide guitar, and harp's while continuing on lead vocals.

In the New Year, the band will being preparations on new material. The Prof has a load of riffs and arrangements which will be in need of lyrics from Karl and Lefty.

So come and check out King Biscuit Time, on New Years Eve at the Blackwood RSL. And stay tuned for our gig's in the new year.

cheers

Lefty