GIG: MISTER & SUNBIRD
Take a nice cut of the choicest guitars, double bass and banjos, throw in a good measure of drums, congas and organs, a dollop of harmonicas, a slice of baritone saxophones, a pinch of flutes, a smidgen of clarinets, even some glockenspiel to taste, and season it all with some luscious, undulating vocals. What you get is Mister & Sunbird, one fragrant big band stew of roots, swing, bluegrass, ska and blues, with a whiff of an old fashioned hoedown. “There is so much music out there, it’s getting harder to come up with something different, so it makes sense that people dig deeper into the past every year to find their inspiration,” says the band’s co-founder Scott Kociuruba. With their inspiration ranging from Tom Waits and Bob Dylan to Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, Mister & Sunbird are actually a morphing of two bands, Kociuruba’s Mister & the Near Mrs and Dave Lawrence’s Sunbird. “I handle the sweet, Dave handles the savoury,” Kociuruba explains. “I come from a folk/bluegrass angle whereas Dave delivers a jazz/rock/blues element. Together we got all the bases loaded. We got away with being a two-piece for some time because between the two of us we could play more than a band’s worth of instruments.” Fresh from the release of their latest album, Spirit Fingers, Mister & Sunbird are returning to Sydney – where the union first took place in 2006 – on their way to the Woodford Folk Festival. These days, however, the band divide their time between Perth where, Kociuruba believes, there is a, “healthier” original live music scene and that nerve centre of all things hip and arty, Barcelona. “During the summer months there’s no better place [than Barcelona] to sleep all day and play all night,” he says. “Also, we have a few band members over there now so we can show up and we have an instant ‘big band’.”
Dec 22, 6.30 pm, The Vanguard, 42 King Street, Newtown, from $12, 9020 6959 or thevanguard.com.au
