By MICHELLE HERBISON
QUEENSCLIFF’S The Blues Train rattled past Alister Turrill’s house teasing him long before the bluesman was old enough for a ride.
The 21-year-old guitarist-songwriter has come a long way in a few short years, now gearing up for his second year performing on the train during Queenscliff Music Festival (QMF).
“I’ve always loved the idea of the train. I’d wanted to do it for a long time so I was pretty happy,” he grinned.
Turrill is celebrating the release of his first album, Reverance and Resonance, which he put together with the help of a QMF perpetual scholarship won last year.
“Most of the songs are based on personal experience and stories and things like that. Most of it was very recently written, between November last year and up until I recorded it in April,” Turrill explained.
He fittingly released the album on his 21st birthday in April at Apollo Bay Music Festival.
“It was a pretty crazy feeling the moment the CDs were delivered to my house – I had a box of 500 CDs that were my own. I was stoked.”
Turrill described the blues as a “particular sound” that really spoke to him despite enjoying various musical styles from acoustic rock to metal.
“There’s a lot of feeling in the blues. I don’t want to pretend I grew up in some sort of slave time and had those sorts of hardships because that wouldn’t be fair or relevant.
“But I found I was able to use it as an outlet for any sort of hardships I was going through but also be able to tell happy stories through it as well.”
Turrill’s successes so far have included winning blues and song-writing competitions and sharing the stage with Jeff Lang, Geoff Achison and Lloyd Spiegel, who produced his new album.
Pursuing his music is Turrill’s top goal, with his sights set on touring interstate next year.
“I hear a lot of stories about back-up plans but I want to work very hard at what I’m doing.”
Turrill will perform in his hometown during Queenscliff Music Festival on 23 November.
