By MICHELLE HERBISON
UNIQUE meetings and experiences on the road are often perks of a musician’s job that audiences merely hear about in stories and songs.
But finger-picking Geelong bluesman Brian Fraser is taking storytelling to the next level with his “60 seconds on the road” video blog.
Fraser began posting the short videos on his website a few years ago, aiming to introduce his fans to the remarkable people and places of his touring journeys over 30 years.
“These days with technology it’s so simple to do it. I can do the whole thing on my iPad and upload it,” he explained.
A revisit to a friend’s property at Wells Station, near Canberra, last year prompted Fraser to recollect in video a song he wrote about the owners’ struggle with property developers.
“It’s about my friends’ old farmhouse and they were going to pull it down and put a suburb right through it. They did build a suburb but they actually kept the homestead,” Fraser recalled.
“They had a get-together there to celebrate the fact that they’re going to keep the place. My friends still live there and it’s one of those very peaceful spots.”
Ghostly happenings at Tasmania’s Forth Pub inspired another of Fraser’s songs, which he wrote one morning while staying at the hotel.
“Lots of weird things have happened there and they all blame Ernie the ghost. He used to run the hotel and was killed in the hallway in 1972,” he said.
In a spooky coincidence, after Fraser played the song to the locals they pulled out old newspaper clippings to find one of the articles began with the exact same words as his song: “He died in a pool of blood”.
“You see lots of interesting people and places, some things that inspire you and some things that frighten you,” Fraser observed.
Fraser has released seven albums and won three awards including a Chain Award in 2003 for Australian Blues Band of the Year with the Brian Fraser Trio.
Fraser will play Geelong’s inaugural three-day Motor City Music Festival, beginning this Friday night at Geelong Showgrounds.
