By MICHELLE HERBISON
THE addition of a two-piece horn section to Chris Wilson’s Crown of Thorns will add an extra element to the reformed band’s sound at Motor City Music Festival.
The renowned bluesman and stalwart of the Geelong and Melbourne music scenes told the Independent that he had “come round to the idea” of reforming the successful band at the suggestion of guitarist/vocalist Barbara Waters.
Crown of Thorns toured the east coast and South Australia throughout the mid-to-late ’80s, releasing two albums, Babylon and Carnival, and an EP, Gnawing on the Bones of Elvis.
“There was a really vibrant scene in Melbourne at the time and we were part of that scene,” Wilson recalled.
“We had a pretty good time with it, actually. We did a lot of really good supports for really good bands and a lot of stuff on our own – with Mick Taylor who played with the Rolling Stones and with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Forum in Melbourne.”
Wilson, renowned for his blues harmonica, guitar and vocals, described the band’s sound as “hard to pigeon-hole”.
“It had a sprinkling of blues in it but it was original stuff. It had a folk element and a country element and a blues element in it.
“I guess it’s what you’d call at that time as part of independent music,” he concluded, settling on the often-used description.
Band-members Wilson, Waters, bassist Chris Rogers and drummer Ashley Davies had all continued with music but Crown of Thorns’ hiatus had been more than two decades, he said.
“A lot of the songs in that band hadn’t been played for quite a while and I thought they were still worthy of being played. We’ve never had a horn section before, so it’s been an interesting experiment.”
A Drysdale resident, Wilson continues to perform solo gigs around the area as well as touring, having recently released a solo acoustic blues album, Live at Cherry.
“I’m really pleased to be playing at this festival (Motor City). Geelong’s had an extraordinary musical history – it consolidates the scene and reminds people of how vibrant the scene here has been.”
