Brothers Lachlan and Clayton Doley, both master keysmen, deliver simultaneous new albums, both exploring the roots of the music they love.
By Samuel J. Fell
There must have been something in the water in the Doley household. Brothers Lachy and Clayton, both springing from the same stock, both ending up as masters of their craft, kings of the keys, the Australian music scene’s go-to men whenever Hammond, clavinet, piano, Rhodes or Wurlitzer are required, as they have been for Jimmy Barnes, Harry Manx, Billy Thorpe, Powderfinger and Steve Vai, amongst many others.
2015 sees both brothers on a different jag however, each releasing a new album, each one mining the depths of the styles both have running through their veins. Lachlan’s new cut, Conviction, is a hard-driving blues rocker, which Clayton’s, Bayou Billabong, turns to New Orleans for influence, a good part of the album actually being recorded in the Crescent City. Both records are rock solid, both destined to become favourites of Doley fans the world over. Rhythms tracked both brothers down, to get the skinny on these cracking new releases.
LACHLAN DOLEY
Before we get into Conviction, you’ve mentioned that a lot has happened since 2013’s Singer, Organ, Soul – fill us in on what the past two years have yielded.
Well, SOS did far better that I expected, reaching #2 on the OZ Blues & Roots Charts, #2 on the Oz iTunes Blues Charts and the momentum has just kept on building with great festival spots like the main stage on Broadbeach Blues (where there’s actually some amazing footage of that show on YouTube which has also really helped me), Queenscliff Music Festival, Perisher Peak Festival, Echuca Blues, Bruthen Blues, Blues in the Briars, Sydney Blues Festival and many more.
I’m also really proud of my DVD (Live At 303), which came out last year, making its way to overseas booking agent
s and labels, landing me my first Europe and UK tour which is happening in October and November this year. Woo Hoo!
Another huge moment for me was representing the Sydney Blues Society in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January. What an amazing time we had there soaking up all the deep blues and soul history. We were lucky enough to play two nights at the iconic BB Kings on Beale St. Unforgettable stuff!
But most of all, I became a father for the first time to an amazing boy we named Dash (Dashiel). So it’s been a big couple of years and I definitely don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
How did those events inspire Conviction, how did they channel into this new record?
I believe that being on the road so much has really shaped the new record. I’m playing better, I’m singing better, I’m pushing myself to constantly be better and I’ve also learned what I can’t do, so I can focus on what I do best to make that stuff exceptional. Conviction is the way I approach music in general. When I write or perform it’s all got to have that level of commitment to it, that intensity that will make people feel something and demand their attention.
Conviction is hard-edged, doesn’t pull any punches, much more of a rock sound than SOS – tell us how this sonic shift came about.
I think the biggest shift would be in my vocal. After so many gigs now it’s really become a new world to me. The sounds, tones and strength I can get from it has really given, what I intended to be a very souly bluesy album, a rockier intent. Once the vocal heads down an certain road it’s hard for the band not to ride along. I do like it when people say my sound rocks, especially since there is no guitar on the album.
There’s a version of AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ on there, which is a cracker. They have such a vast back catalogue – why this song in particular?
The idea of covering ‘Back In Black’ wasn’t my idea at all. It came from the charity project called Back In Blue, a charity to raise money for the Beyond Blue Foundation. It’s still in its early stages, but they asked me to record ‘Back In Black’. So I did and it turned out so amazing that I just had to put it on my record as well.
In approaching that song I knew it had to be really good, but also different. If I tried to play it like the original but with no guitar, it would have sounded awful. I needed to change it up to suit the Hammond organ. It all came together real quick, sounding almost like a ‘60s psychedelic version. I got rid of the Leslie for this track and put the Hammond straight through my Fender Deville which made it sound very Deep Purple-ish. But as soon as I added the vocal it really became something special that I’m really proud of.
What was your MO with Conviction? What’d you want to come out with at the end? Think you achieved it?
‘Conviction’ is a song that came out pretty quickly. I remember I came up with the chorus first and worked backwards. I knew I wanted it to be about that horrible demon inside of us all called insecurity. The song seems like it’s more about your lover not being honest or true, but it’s actually more about the person being very insecure in their relationship and needing that constant reassurance which ultimately pushes them away anyway. I know how strong those feelings can be, so I needed to make sure the music was as strong and the intent and passion was felt the whole way through. It is hands down my the best song I have ever written. I just hoped I haven’t peaked!
CLAYTON DOLEY
So Bayou Billabong is quite obviously inspired by the blues piano style that came out of New Orleans – tell us how this sound and style speaks to you, what is it about this style that grabs you?
I remember the first time I heard Professor Longhair, one of the great New Orleans piano players, it turned my word upside down. I had never heard anyone play with such rhythm before, there were some really funky counter-rhythms going on, it sounded like there were two piano players at the one piano. I wanted to play like that so I set about learning as much as I could from his records. It was the start of a long journey that took lots of twists and turns but ultimately culminated in the recording of this album.
The thing that really grabs me the most is how the New Orleans piano style brings a joyful and playful feel to the blues, it still seems to convey a sad message but in an upbeat way, if that makes sense. In fact, New Orleans as a city has these same conflicting elements that fascinate me, there is a party atmosphere everywhere but just under the surface is the suffering and hardship. If people have the blues, they don’t want you to see it.
It’s also an inherently Australian album, for a variety of reasons – how important was it to you to retain some Australiana, as well as paying homage to the US style of the music?
I think it’s important to put your own stamp or personality on the style you are paying homage to, I guess that is inevitable to some extent when you write original material. I have been a student of American music my whole life but I am also a songwriter and that forces you to really observe your own surroundings. I have been very fortunate in my life to have experienced so many different musical cultures and I wanted the album to reflect that.
It was important to me to bring something new and interesting to the table and that the album reflect where I come from and my experiences as well as embracing the New Orleans style. I love the way music is onstantly evolving and I want to be part of that evolution. In a broader sense, that is essentially what New Orleans is all about. It was the merging of cultures in the first place that led to the birth of jazz in New Orleans over a century ago; now we are still merging music and cultures, just on a more global scale.
I was born in Adelaide, Sydney is where I call home, I’ve lived in New York City and Toronto, Canada, and been lucky enough to have toured all over the world. I had just moved back to Sydney after living in Toronto and spending quite a bit of time in New Orleans in between tours when I started working on the idea for the album. Whenever you live in another country I find you are really reminded of just how Australian you are, you are always ‘the Aussie guy’, if someone can’t remember your name they will remember that about you. I wanted to incorporate that Australian heritage into the album rather than just making a straight New Orleans record. Whenever I come home after being away it also reminds me of just how many world class musicians we have here and I wanted to highlight that by using Australian musicians for part of the album.
There are some stellar players on the album – Harry Manx, The Treme Funktet, Ganga Giri, a bunch of Jon Cleary’s Monster Gents – what do they all bring to the album?
Every single person on this album I consider to be essential to its sound. I am also extremely proud to know them and work with them and call them friends. I met Ganga Giri through Harry Manx, we had worked together on Harry’s Om Suite Ohm album. There is no instrument that’s more uniquely Australian than the didgeridoo and I had never heard anyone play the didge like Ganga Giri before. Ganga plays with a real funk and plays complex rhythms that weave in and out of an already very rhythmical track. He fits in so perfectly and of course really brings the album full circle back home to Australia.
I really wanted to have Harry Manx on the album, in the last five years or six years we have played so many shows together all over the world. We have an almost telepathic chemistry and we compliment each other’s playing so well, in my mind the album just would not have been complete without him contributing some beautiful lap slide guitar.
I have been huge a fan of Jon Cleary’s since I was a teenager, I love his style of playing. I was lucky enough to play with the Monster Gents when they came to Australia with Jon in the early 2000s and we had kept in touch. We’d catch up when I was in New Orleans or when they were in Sydney and go to each other’s shows and try and have a jam. It had really been a dream of mine since way back then to do this record and have the Gents involved, it’s pretty much taken this long to make it happen!
The Treme Funktet are the horn section, they add the marching brass band flavour that is uniquely New Orleans to the album. When I was writing these songs I had some specific horn arrangements in mind but I also wanted to hear a looseness that you can’t really write on a horn chart and they nailed it straight away, it was completely natural. These guys are steeped in music, they grew up in the second line marching band tradition and have been doing it since they were kids. You can see this tradition first hand when you walk around the streets, kids as young as four or five marching along and really playing great stuff. It’s like it’s in their DNA and I really wanted to capture that.
Bayou Billabong was recorded, partly, in New Orleans – how did that come about, and how did it fuel the album?
Luck and good timing were probably the biggest factors initially, it would have been prohibitively expensive for an independent artist like myself to fly over to the USA cold from Australia and organise a recording session of this scale. The songs were ready and I had my wish list of musicians, my dream team I wanted on the album and the first step was to see if they were interested in being part of the project. Everyone I had asked had come back with a positive response so the logistics were the next hurdle.
I was already in that part of the world touring with Harry Manx, there was a two week break in his schedule coming up so I emailed the Monster Gents and made sure they were all in town. Then I just booked a day in the best studio in town and made it happen. It was quite a scary feeling but it was also a really exciting challenge, I actually think that working outside of my comfort zone brought out the best in me and my songs.
I had about a week up my sleeve to soak up the atmosphere and see as much music as I could before we had a quick rehearsal and hit the studio. During that time the drummer Eddie said I should come and see him play with Corey Henry from Galactic and his horn section the Treme Funktet – as soon as I heard them I knew they would be perfect on the record so I just booked them straight away at the gig, it was that easy.
That all happened really quickly and I left New Orleans with what I knew was going to be a great album, I was straight back on tour so I didn’t get to work on it again for some months. When I got home and starting going through the recordings I was incredibly happy with how it had all turned out. The next obstacle was to not get too excited and be tempted to just put it out and rush to finish, I really had to restrain myself and wait for the right players to be available to put the finishing touches on.
What was your MO with this album? What did you want to come out with at the end? Think you achieved it?
With each new album I try to incorporate all of the most important elements of my life at that moment in time, it’s like a snapshot of my life in music. Therefore all of my favourite people are in the mix somehow, most obviously my favourite musicians are playing on the album, but also the songs are either about important people in my life or a dedication to them. The album hopefully reflects how I felt at that time as an Australian in New Orleans and Bayou Billabong seemed a very apt title for the project. The Billabong and the Bayou are both bodies of water and we are all connected by water just as we are all connected by music. Our two great countries are on opposite sides of the world but yet we are still connected somehow, I like that thought.
I prepared a lot for this album in my mind before we got anywhere near starting. From its conception I had a clear picture of how I wanted this album to sound and who I wanted playing on it. I feel that if I had rushed and compromised at any point in the process I would not be doing the project justice. For backing vocals I knew I wanted to get the ‘Claytones’ back together, that is Mahalia Barnes, Jade MacRae, and Juanita Tippins. They are some of my oldest friends and we know exactly each other’s tastes, styles, strengths and weaknesses and we share a lot of musical history. They were the original backing singers for the very first album I ever produced, wrote and recorded back in 2003. Since then not only have they all had hugely successful individual careers, together they are one of the best backing vocal sections in the world, they are on tour in the US with Joe Bonamassa right now, so getting us all together is not as easy as it used to be ten years ago! I was adamant I could not have used anyone else so I had to be patient and wait for the right time.
On previous albums I have let the songs evolve and let the album come together organically. As much as I like working like that, I was much more strict on myself this time, I had a clear vision so I kept my eye on the prize the whole time and waited for the right opportunities to get the right people into the right studios. I wanted to record my songs in a way that I would love hearing them back. So ultimately I made an album for myself and hopefully some others might like it too. I think it all paid off, I really couldn’t be happier with how the album has turned out.
BROTHER ASKS BROTHER
Clayton: Being that we share the same parents, the same love of music, the same instrument of choice, and the same hair style, how do you think we differ?
Lachy: I think we mainly differ in personality. This shines through a lot in the way we learnt music and the way we perform it. I would think I’ve put a lot less time into learning the legends and fundamentals of the organ and more time into adapting and feeling my way through, which has ultimately shaped my unique style of playing.
On stage I like to take risks trying to play things I’ve only just heard in my head without any idea whether I can or not. I’m also impulsive with shapes and sequences which I also love to confidently smash into with out really knowing what I’ll get. It sometimes leads to greatness and sometimes the opposite, but it’s always exciting. I think you are in far more control much more of the time and you consistently put on a great performance will the masterful skills you have acquired.
CL: Are there any specific artists that influenced your new record?
LD: The main influence is probably not a particular artist but the question, “What do I enjoy playing most LIVE?” I really tailored a lot of the songs around the kind of music, grooves and emotions I enjoy expressing and playing the most on stage. Therefore I took note of which songs of mine I’ve enjoyed playing most and also what covers I’ve enjoyed playing and started the song writing process there. Therefore there’s a lot a lot of stuff which fits in directly from the last album but also tracks that are influenced by some of the covers I perform from the Spencer Davis Group, The Small Faces or The Meters. I even threw in a classic blues shuffle on the album because I just love to play them live.
CL: I love your Clavinet playing, so much so I got you to guest on my album. Tell us about your Whammy Clav and what inspired you to become one of Australia’s only Whammy Clav players?
LD: The Whammy Clavinet was like a dream come true for me. After playing Clavinet for so many years in our band The Hands, I always thought, in the back of my head, how awesome it would be to bend the pitch somehow and gain another serious level of expression, especially in soloing. So when I heard about this Whammy Clavinet business I immediately looked it up. That was about 10 years ago and it seemed like it was just a myth. It wasn’t! It was a modification to an original Clavinet that just never took off. It probably came out too late as synthesisers were becoming the fashion. Anyway, I decided to look it up again and discovered that in LA a company started making the modification again. All you needed was an original Clav. I jumped on the chance and it cost me a small fortune but I love it, love it, love it!
It’s such a unique and super expressive instrument and I can’t believe I got by without it. It’s the only one in Australia as far as I know, it sounds awesome and is very visual too, so it’s a good way to set me apart from the masses in this crazy music business and have a ball at the same time.
Lachy: You’ve been playing and performing your own music as well as playing for other artists from a very early age. How much importance do you place on just getting out there, playing and learning on the road?
Clayton: I think it’s really important to get out there and play live, there are definitely things you can only learn from experience. That being said, it was really the only option available to me when I was younger. Being a musician was all I wanted to be but I really had no formal training. When other kids had sporting heroes I wanted to be Booker T Jones when I grew up. Failure was not an option, there was no backup plan.
I left home at 17 and moved to Sydney and was on my own, I needed to get out there and play. I was fortunate enough to have a good ear and be able to learn and play songs. I thought my life could not get any better, playing in bands and earning money, but as I grew older and wiser I realised it was important to back up your talent with some knowledge of what you are playing. Looking back, if I’d been in a position to go to one of the music schools and spend my days playing music with other likeminded people, that would have been amazing too.
As I got more experienced I realised I needed to keep growing as a musician and to do that I needed to be able to read and write music so I had to teach myself how. I wanted to be able to write horn arrangements and vocal arrangements for my songs to bring them to a new level. I think everyone needs to find their own balance. If my kids decided they wanted to play music, I would encourage them to learn as much as they can from all available sources, be a sponge, study the theory and technique as well as learning, as we did, by ear from records and on the road.
LD: There are so many people who have helped us and mentored us over our career. You and Billy Thorpe I consider to be my biggest mentors and role models. Who do value most for helping you become who you are musically?
CD: I have been really lucky with who I have played with over my career. I have often been the youngest person in the band and been surrounded by musicians who were a bit older and wiser that I looked up too. I think all those players really helped shape the musician I became, but if I had to single out one I would have to say that Hungarian/Australian Bass player Jackie Orszaczky (1948-2008) would be my biggest mentor. He saw something in me that I didn’t know was there, I was only 19 or 20 when I started playing with him and I had not really attempted to play complex music before. Thankfully he was a tough but patient band leader, his music was really hard so at first I felt out of my depth, but he took the time to nurture me. He not only gave me invaluable ‘on the job’ music theory training but he also encouraged me to sing. It was a period of huge musical growth for me and I can’t thank him enough for his encouragement.
LD: If there’s one album out there every young musician that digs roots, blues and soul music should listen to, what is it and why?
CD: It’s so hard to choose just one! Personally I probably took the most from the Donny Hathaway Live album. That album has the most amazing soul keyboards and singing I have ever heard. There is so much vibe, groove, and intensity on that recording and it is delivered with such good taste and style. I must have played along with that record a thousand times, pretending I was in the band and pretending the audience was cheering was for me. Years later when I was living in the States I had the good fortune to play quite regularly in the venue where that album was recorded, The Bitter End in NYC. It was like stepping on sacred ground and a surreal experience being on that stage. I knew the acoustics of the room so well from the album that it actually felt like I had been playing there my whole life.
Conviction is available now via www.lachydoley.com. Bayou Billabong is available now via Hi-Fi-Doley-T. Both Doleys play the Great Southern Blues Festival, October 2-4. Clayton Doley plays the Caloundra Music Festival, October 2-5.
# Brothers Doling It Out #