With Talent Unrivalled
It matters not how many times I see Joe and James perform, individually and together, and it matters not how many times I sing along at the top of my lungs to their enormous collections of classics; I will always look forward to their next gig with gusto. And there’s one hell of a gig on the horizon. On Friday June 11 Joe and The James Fahy Trio will launch their new EPs at McGregor Hall, and they’re forming a supergroup to celebrate. Team of Rivals also comprises the charisma-dripping Ramsay Nuthall, bassist and vocalist of Fun Machine, and the ridiculously talented, massive babe Bec Taylor, drummer of the Trio as well as drummer, keyboardist and vocalist of Fun Machine. Team of Rivals will play two sets, the first soft and the second loud, with the sublime voice of Josef Salvat providing what will no doubt be a magical interlude.
The origin of all this musical magic could be said to be the open mic night Pedestrian Orchestra, held every Wednesday for the past year in Joe and James’ backyard shed. Now an institution, Ped Orch’s tenth birthday was the best night of local music I’ve ever experienced; a testament to our brilliant and burgeoning local scene. Muses Lennon lookalike Joe, “I think a lot of genius comes into Canberra. They’re usually here for something else, and then their talents get channelled into some kind of artform.” Reflects James, “we started Ped Orch with no idea how big it would get, or how long it would last, and talent just gravitated to it. Most of the 15-odd people on Joe’s EP came from that crowd. It was like magic. Little self-appointed music supports grow all over Canberra. If only they had more places to play, other than backyards and garages…” We hear you James.
When asked how their music has shaped them, Joe replies, “I was thinking the other day about my uni work, and how it doesn’t really challenge me so much. Thinking about what people see of me, about who I am, and how that doesn’t come across in my uni work. But I realised that it’s my songwriting where I really put myself; it’s in my songs that people can see. In that way it’s a very public display of my real self, of what really fascinates me!” Ponders James, “songwriting, composition, it feels like a true use of all my faculties. What will the reaction be? What’s the narrative? How can I do this with my hands, with my head, and my friends? I learned how to exist through my music… it was music that proved to me that I could make something – it proved to me that I had worth.”
Their music is worth the world to my ears. Don’t miss Joe Oppenheimer and The James Fahy Trio’s double EP launch at McGregor Hall on Friday June 11. I’ll be the one up front dancing like a loon and singing my heart out.
ARIETTA MCCLOUD, 2010