On the Australian musical landscape, there are few guitar players more iconic than Ian Moss. From his legendary career with Cold Chisel to his successful solo career, he has been a constant on the Australian music scene. NQ Music Press’s Todd Macalpine catches up with Ian Moss ahead of his solo show at Brothers Leagues Club in Cairns on Saturday 12 July.
NQMP:- Can you tell us a but about your latest Solo tour?
Ian Moss:- Sure, it’s basically just me, a Maton acoustic guitar, and my trusty stomp box. I’ll be playing songs from my albums “Six Srings, “Let’s All Get Together” and “Soul on West 53rd”.
NQMP:- Soul on West 53rd was recorded in New york Right?
Ian Moss:- Yeah, we recorded that in New York with some rather high level musicians including Steve Jordan on drums, Hugh McCracken on Guitar, and Leon Pendarvis on Keyboards. Some great players..
NQMP:- How did you find the recording experience in New York as opposed to recording back here in Australia?
Ian Moss:- It was very slick and professional. Australia these days is coming up to the standard I reckon, but to find players like that may not be as easy to do in Australia. It was a very smooth experience working with producer Danny Korthmar.
NQMP:- I hear when you are in Cairns you like to get a guitar lesson with one of our local legends Wayne McIntosh. I lot of our readers may be surprised Ian Moss is getting guitar lessons!
Ian Moss:- (laughs) yeah, It’s mainly in the area of Jazz in which my knowledge is pretty limited. Wayne is a brilliant all round guitar player, but he knows pretty much all there is to know about jazz guitar playing. I like to pick up a lesson or two, not necessarily to become a jazz guitar player but to pick up things to bring back into my rock and blues world, different flavours, different touches that may not normally be there.
NQMP:- The last Cold Chisel album was called “No Plans”, I gotta ask, any plans?
Ian Moss:- Yeah, unfortunately I wanted to hang around in Cairns after the Tanks show and maybe go out for a spot of fishing with Wayne, but I gotta jump on a plane first thing the next morning and head back to the studio in sydney with Cold Chisel and we’ll be recording a bunch of songs. We’ve got a whole bunch of new songs that no one has even learnt yet, so we all need to go in and learn, play and record the new stuff. Once again we are with producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley.
NQMP:- He certainly gets around, having just worked with Jimmy Page remastering the Led Zeppelin catalogue..
Ian Moss:- Yep, the caveman has been incredibly successful.
NQMP:- So where to next with your solo career?
Ian Moss:- I got stuck into some writing a few years ago with an Australian guy called Sam Hawksley, and we were doing pretty well together. He’s since been living in Nashville for a couple of years and produced 7 or 8 albums. Planning on going over there in August for a month and see what happens.
NQMP:- Several years back I saw you and Billy Thorpe having an impromptu jam sessions up at the old Johno’s Blues Bar in Cairns. It was a great night, were you close to Thorpy?
Ian Moss:- Not incredibly, but we did talk more as the years went on. He wrote a few books, some of them are really well written.
NQMP:- Yes, his books are a great read, but not sure how much of it is stretching the truth a little..
Ian Moss:- Haha, yeah, I did ask him about that, but he kept his cards pretty close to his chest. He maintained it was all true and all happened. In any case, they must have been pretty exciting times for sure..
Todd Macalpine
Where – Brothers Leagues Club
When – Saturday 12th July
How Much – $35
[wpsr_facebook]
Follow @NQMusicPress
[wpsr_sharethis]