SINGING is especially liberating for Craig Horne, singer-songwriter for Melbourne blues band The Hornets.
A stutter impairs his speaking voice but his words become fluent when singing.
“I suppose it’s the one time when I can actually express myself vocally. I don’t think anyone quite understands why it happens but I think it’s relatively common for people with my affliction,” Horne told the Independent.
The Hornets brings together some of the country’s best veteran musicians – joining Horne are guitarist Jeff Burstin (Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, The Black Sorrows), bassist Wayne Duncan (Daddy Cool), drummer Chris Tabone (The Bad Loves) and keyboardist Bruce Haymes (Paul Kelly and Renee Geyer bands).
The band’s dark, bluesy sound has been entertaining audiences since 1997, with the band having produced five CDs and performing as everything from a duo up to a five-piece.
“We’re sort of an amalgamation of our influences, which range from folk to country to blues to straight ahead rock to New Orleans barrel-house piano playing. If you stir it all up, that’s The Hornets,” Horne explained.
The band was enjoying a younger audience becoming interested in the group’s beloved blues, he said.
“The blues has had resurgence in a lot of young people’s musical listening and increasingly our audience is often split between a certain age and also those in their 20s.”
That “certain age” belonged to anyone “who knew Daddy Cool in the ’70s or The Black Sorrows in the ’80s”, Horne clarified.
He had even written a song, When You Reach a Certain Age”, that often yielded requests from fans who could relate to its sentiment.
“I love the blues because it’s real. There’s nothing between the audience and the musicians other than some guitars and a keyboard. It speaks to universal issues,” Horne asserted.
Horne ranked Ocean Grove’s Piping Hot Chicken Shop as among the best venues to play.
“We love it. It’s hilarious.
“They empty out the chicken shop and people sit and listen and applaud and occasionally jump up and have a groove around.
“That’s our job – to get them up dancing and clapping along.”
The Hornets play the Ocean Grove shop on 16 March.
