By John Van Klaveren
A LOVE of various musical genres has coalesced into the blues, rock and Latin fusion that is Phil Para.
Defying musical categories has been Para’s legacy for a long time, perhaps best defined by the long-running Saturday night residency at Melbourne’s famous Espy hotel.
And long-running it really is – three decades of fans have continually returned for another dose of Para’s high-energy showmanship.
Para will bring his distinctive guitar talents, exceptional vocal abilities and powerful stage presence to Geelong’s Motor City Music Festival, lighting up the Friday night line-up.
For a muso who loves playing live, an invitation to the second annual Motor City gig was, well, music to his ears.
“I love what I do,” Para said simply.
“It comes from the audience, getting the energy, seeing people having a good time.
“And festivals are so great for that, not just the musos but for everyone, because there’s usually other creative artists involved, in fact the whole community gets into it.”
A veteran of the Echuca-Moama Winter Blues festival, Para said he was looking forward to experiencing Geelong’s version.
It’s all part of the journey for a guitarist who has seen many trends come and go but who sees the honest roots of music still standing strong.
“It’s been a bit of a crazy journey. We get all sorts of ages to our gigs, and a lot of young people coming through.
“They were brought up on a lot of it because their mums and dads listened to it, and though they might have been too young to understand, you find they often come back to it.
“If the music is honest it will touch the hearts of music lovers, instead of the marketing thing, which is all about money.”
Para predicted a resurgence of rock ‘n’ roll and blues in the next couple of years for that very reason, although, he said “it never really died out but it was on the sidelines for a while”.
He will be part of a three-piece outfit at Motor City, channelling his inspirations Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Carlos Santana along with original songs.
In fact, Para hoped to unveil some new material at Motor City as well as some rearranged tracks from his previous albums.
“There are more songs in the pipeline. I’m working on a heavy metal and a punk-style song and maybe we might throw in some reggae ideas.
“We always chuck in an original or new cover, and we can play around with the set lists a little bit because we are playing over two sessions.”
Para was also keen to record a live album including some acoustic blues.
“Live is always the best,” Para declared.
“There’s nothing like a live album.”
