The Mike Rudd trio @ Gilmore Street Sessions

About The Mike Rudd trio

The Mike Rudd trio sees piano accordionist George Butrumlis (Black Sorrows, Zydeco Jump, The Purple Dentists and Raga Dolls) and bassist Jeremy Alsop (Ron Charles Band, Allan Zavod, The David Chesworth Ensemble) joining Spectrum’s main man, Mike Rudd, in an acoustic-skewed reappraisal of his previously all-electric output.

Mike Rudd is best known for writing Spectrum’s 1971 national number one hit single, I’ll Be Gone, (Someday I’ll Have Money), but he also wrote the majority of the material in the subsequent 20th century albums produced by Spectrum, The Indelible Murtceps, Ariel, Mike Rudd & the Heaters and WHY, which amounts to a considerable legacy.

More recently there have been other projects, including the Mike Rudd & Bill Putt’s Living on a Volcano CD and the Breathing Space series of EPs that saw the re-adoption of the grand old Spectrum monicker bringing us to the present day.

For the trio, Mike has chosen songs from his solo repertoire that respond to being stripped back and reworked and that have a story to tell. Of course, Rudd is inclined to make a fascinating commentary about the songs he’s playing and the bands that originally played them, so there are stories all round.

Butrumlis’ lyrical piano accordion in place of Spectrum’s Hammond organ is not as implausible as it sounds, and Jeremy’s double bass lines are all about restraint and intelligence, and so you can easily imagine the pair’s instrumental combination with Rudd’s nylon-string guitar, blues harp and even recorder playing, is sublime.George (and occasionally Jeremy’s) vocal harmonies are a bonus and serve to sweeten Rudd’s idiosyncratic vocal style. Rudd’s lyrics are, perhaps for the first time in a band context anyway, clear and understandable, giving even more impact to some of his famously audacious themes.

About the venue

This is an outdoor COVID safe house concert only open to those who are fully vaccinated. Maximum audience numbers are 40 people.

Admission is by prepaid ticket only. There are no tickets for sale on the night of the show.

The stage is on the front lawn to the right of the pathway leading to the house with seating available on the lawn on the left of the pathway. Seating is also available on the verandah overlooking the lawn. There are outdoor toilet facilities.

What to bring

Please bring your seating with you - deck chair, beach chair or blanket. Please bring whatever it is you wish to drink or eat. There is no food or alcohol for sale at the venue.

Parking

There's very limited parking in Gilmore Street. Patrons are advised to park in Smiths's Beach Road and walk to Gilmore St. - approx 250 metres.