Excuse Me Just One Moment While I…….
May 19th, 2006 by guitarnews
The refurbished turntable has now proved to have magical properties. No sooner had I completed a play through of the Spectrum/Indelible Murtceps catalogue than up pops an email message from Mike Rudd himself advising of a gig to be played by Spectrum Plays The Blues at 5.30. pm on Friday 19.5.06 at the famous Broadbeach Blues Festival. Less than two day’s notice to find the blue suede shoes.
And what a gig it was! First, I arrived early to hear the familiar sound of Worm Turning Blues and thought they’d started without me! Only tuning up and doing a soundcheck, at the end of which I introduced myself to Mike Rudd whose songwriting and musicianship I have admired for over 35 years after first seeing Spectrum at The Myponga Pop Festival in 1971.
I was privileged to then chat with Mike for about 20 minutes during which time Robbo, the drummer, recorded the moment for posterity and Bill Putt, bass player and Mike’s long-time musical partner, introduced himself.
The band kicked off with Bill on down-tuned nylon-string slide guitar, Mike on vocals and harmonica and Robbo on drums. They played material drawn from their two albums – Spill and No Thinking. Songs like Baby Please Don’t Go, Hoochie Coochie Man, Sitting On Top Of The World, Spoonful, and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl – all made distinctive with Mike’s trademark quirky vocals.
They then switched to Bill on bass and Mike on electric guitar and wound up in overtime with their own classic I’ll Be Gone. And they were! After a brief but very entertaining set enjoyed by the small, but appreciative early crowd. I now look forward to catching them again either in their native Melbourne or on one of their limited jaunts to Adelaide. You can check them out at www.mikeruddbillputt.com or read more on Spectrum’s bio here.
