Damon Smith | pationpics.com

Friday November 13th @ 8pm free entry!

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I first met Damon Smith while accompanying Western Australian Blues legend Ivan Zar to Damon’s home.

We were there to discuss a documentary that Damon is currently producing on Ivan’s life and times.

I was immediately impressed by Damon’s well polished appearance, polite manner and straight shooting honesty.

As a stay at home dad of a three year old and chief carer of Jerry Lee his sixteen year old dog and equally old cat Hannah, I quickly realised that this is a man that does not waste his time!

His home is immaculate and his beautiful native garden leads to a tiny, yet impressive recording studio designed and built by Damon in his spare time.

I discovered that Damon Smith is a man of many, many talents.

As a singer/ songwriter/ musican/ performer and producer Damon has created a space for a diverse selection of songwriters to come to perform one original song and one cover of an artist that inspires them. The 29 artists currently on his website come from all over the country and overseas to record their original songs in this extraordinary environment.

Every artist plays on the studio guitar named Zach Glickman and the music is performed in ‘one take’ in an effort to capture the raw, unbridled, essence of a song, including all the wobbly bits, which help to make a song truly memorable.

In the 1950’s Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash spearheaded the pathway for Rock n Roll to enter the mainstream music industry. They achieved phenomenal success and also opened the flood gates of global appreciation for “Black Music”, Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, Soul and Country, music that is the heart and soul of Sun Records.

With this powerful mojo at play, it was Sun Records producer Sam Phillips and his fundamental experience, appreciation and vision that gave birth to Rock n Roll as we know it today.

This richly layered history is what propels Melbourne’s Sun Rising Rock n Roll Tribute Band to live and breath this music and strive for excellence.

Last Saturday night at the Thornbury Theatre we captured images of this brilliantly orchestrated and passionate show.

Damon Smith multi-instrumentalist and composer (piano, guitar and vocals) produced and co-wrote this two part show with David Cosma (acoustic guitar and vocals) using spoken word between songs giving the audience background on how the music was conceived, recorded and took flight. The whole band including Trent McKenzie (upright and electric bass), Adam Coad (drums, backup vocals) and Adrian Whyte (electric guitar and vocals), are all die hard fans who have made the pilgrimage to Sun Records in Memphis to recorded their music on vinyl.

The show was a sell out success and if you love Rock n Roll music this show is a dazzling window into the magic of an ageless era.

As a follow up to this last national tour Sun Rising Rock n Roll Tribute Band will be performing at the Caravan Club on the 15 August 2015. Tickets are currently on sale, so book now to secure your seats.