ASHLEY DAVIES

MUSCLE DRUM MUSIC - REVIEWS

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Ashley Davies, the drumming half of Australia’s premier blues duo (with Matt Walker), briefly steps out from behind the kit to release his first true solo album, possibly the first in a series. I say ‘briefly’, because, as the title suggests, Muscle Drum Music is really all about the rhythms.

Ash himself admits that he is no lead guitarist but, to quote John Lennon, he "can make a guitar fucking howl and move". While Get Thee Behind Me, Satan and Not Goin’ Down are blues of the steady, driving pedigree, the groove is put to more psychedelic ends in Glad This Ain’t Real. In almost all cases, though, it is the guitar and keyboard parts that provides the grounding for the vigorous, stomp-style percussion, rather than the other way around.

Though She Is In Your Dreams is an amiable attempt at a more traditional chorus-driven ballad, the album’s most effective moments are those when you can just tell that Ash is letting the groove control him, rather than the other way around. Highlight track Love That Stomp is an ode to all the little things that bring a smile to your face, delivered in the shuffling, toe-tapping style that obviously brings a smile to Ash’s. Grab Your Kittens And Dance is just as gloriously unrestrained as it sounds.

I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but Muscle Drum Music feels so unmistakably Australian (including, ironically, the opening instrumental Latino). I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, in a similar manner to Tommy Emmanuel’s earlier work, much of it ends up being appropriated by the department of tourism as commercial soundtrack material.

Maybe the outback flavour is a residual taste of Ash’s Ned Kelly project, but it could also stem from the production sound given to tracks like the aptly-named Rugged and Raw. With natural ambience encouraged, and even a certain amount of hiss and feedback allowed, the end result is an earthy, visceral experience.

At the end of the day, there’s a lot of ways that the nine tracks of Muscle Drum Music can be taken… anything except sitting still.

Jesse Shrock - Beat Magazine, Dec 2006

Revered and respected as Australia's most innovative drummer, Davies' first solo release is a fascinating exploration of rhythm and harmony. Using the blues as his base, he layers it with harmonica, steel and acoustic guitar, organ and piano for a soundtrack that transports you to the crashing early morning waves of Australian surf beaches. Billed as a drummer-songwriter -- not far off the mark -- Ash Davies is definitely a more muscled sound than the John Butler Trio.

Con Sarazen - mX Magazine, Nov 9 2006

Well, I'm stumped. I'm sitting here listening to Ash Davies' new record, and well, I can't think of any words. None that I can really write here anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking for words of praise. Intense words of praise, like how can you convey how music makes you feel anyway? I guess it's my job, so I'll give it a solid go.

This album is bloody great. Occasionally you get a record where, even before the first track is done, you've fallen head over heels in lust for it. This record is pure Ash Davies. He of the built in rhythm, the drummer's drummer, the top of the game in this country, and probably the world. And it's not only behind the kit you'll find Davies on this record, but also laying down some solid-as-hell rhythm guitar, dusty vocal and shit… did you know he could play harmonica? Listen to this and you will. It's like his harp is made of rusty barbed wire, particularly on 'Get Thee Behind Me, Satan' and 'Love That Stomp', it's madness.

Over the past twenty years, Davies has been one half of Matt Walker and Ash Davies, opened for the likes Dylan and Patti Smith, collaborated on countless artist's records, scored films, the man is all over it. This record, which he's done almost all on his own, including the producing duties, shows the absolute maturity he possesses as a musician.

As the title suggests, this record is pure rhythm. You must dance. Muscle Drum Music was built from the drums up, no loops or samples, the music just flows so effortlessly. It's got tinges of blues and jazz, there's a Latin American drum vibe on opener, 'Latino', I can hardly believe that this is basically one man; absolute props to Ash Davies, and the fact it's a Vol 1 has me breathlessly awaiting Vol 2.

It's exactly as the bio material attests under 'Listening Instructions': Shake the stress outta your muscles, roll up the carpet, and dance.

Sam Fell - Rhythms Magazine, December  2006

Drummer Ashley Davies found himself in completely new territory when he decided to make a record on his own. In fact, he never intended to make a record; it was born simply out of frustration and restlessness during a break from the duo with guitarist and long time musical collaborator, Matt Walker. However, after messing around in his practice room, playing some of his favourite grooves, Davies slowly began piecing together his first solo record.

Having previously always given his music to other guitar players and musicians to put their spin on it, Davies found he had very clear ideas of how he wanted his own album to turn out. He relished the experience of being alone in his drum room, just “…working out what’s workin’ and what’s fittin’,” and of the solitary creative process, Davies says: “you start to get an idea of actually what you want, and you don’t need anyone else to bounce ideas off. I knew what I was after.”

Starting off with drums (grooves he loved but couldn’t find a home for in other bands), Davies then added guitars, percussion, some more drums; he sang and played harmonica -eventually he had played just about every instrument (except Hammond organ and piano), written every song bar one, and had enough material for an entire album. This became Muscle Drum Music - Volume One: Rhythm and Dance.

Well known for his inimitable playing as one half of ARIA award-winning duo Matt Walker and Ashley Davies, Ash has supplied the rhythms for some of Australia’s best recording artists, including Tex Perkins, Chris Wilson, Lisa Miller, and The Blackeyed Susans. His own band Mighty Servant collaborated with noted historian, Ian Jones, on the groundbreaking CD and live show Ned Kelly. Davies has also had his music featured on major Australian films Somersault and Australian Rules.

With Muscle Drum Music, Davies reveals himself as a multi-faceted musical artist; one of those rare musicians who writes his own songs, plays all his own instruments, and is talented enough to justify being called a ‘one-man band’. Don’t you just hate them?

On the first track Latino, Davies creates an airy introduction by gently finger-picking an acoustic guitar -the delicate melody setting the mood for a snare-led rhythm that owes as much to funky New Orleans jazz as it does to Latin America. With drums and guitar swirling away, Davies sets out on his first truly solo outing, which, like his duo work with Matt Walker, is often instrumentally sparse, yet full sounding and very musical.

The album’s only guest, Tim Neal, adds his signature Hammond organ to Latino, giving it a Booker T. & The MGs-type feel, and when Davies digs in on guitar and the second drum kit comes in with a big backbeat, the track really takes off.

On Get Thee Behind Me, Satan, the only cover on the album, Davies steps in to country blues terrain. In his own updated version of this old blues relic, Davies sings of the temptations of whiskey, women, and perhaps most significantly given the controversial new Industrial Relations laws, corrupt politicians promising workers a better life while encouraging them to abandon their unions. In two-part minor harmonies on lines like: “Get thee behind me, Satan”, Davies emphatically resists temptation.

Conjuring up blue-collar passions and loyalties, he sings,“Travel on down the line”, and then well and truly takes off down the metaphorical highway to freedom in a big rig with: “I’m a union man, I’m gonna leave you behind”, as the drums beat out a driving four-on-the-floor groove. Get Thee Behind Me, Satan also sees Davies exorcising some serious harmonica demons.

The uncertainty of this particular track’s source is interesting to note while listening to it. After having discovered it reading How to Play Blues Guitar, Davies struggled to find its original author, despite using the necessary legal channels to register it as a cover song on his album.

“It was very unfortunate because I had to go to print and AMCOS Societies still didn’t have who wrote the song,” he recalls.

“They said: ‘We need to check it, because we’re getting a few titles here and a few people who had written the song [laughs].”

The song is believed to be written by folk legend Pete Seeger, along with two other people, despite conjecture. One thing is certain however, the good-versus-bad blues lyrics on Get Thee Behind Me, Satan are as pertinent today, if not more so, than ever before.

Grab Your Kittens and Dance sounds like ACDC meets dancehall jazz. The track is layered with rollicking drums played over two kits, conversing back-and-forth with a tap-dancing woodblock rhythm, and interspersed with Davies shouting the odd “hey!” Around a minute in to Grab Your Kittens comes a monstrous, funky, ACDC-esque guitar riff, thrown in with traditional Latin clave rhythms tapped out on cowbell. The track thunders along relentlessly, with manic percussion and colossal guitar bulldozing their way through three minutes, until a soaringly beautiful slide guitar melody comes in; one Matt Walker would be proud to call his own.

She Is In Your Dreams is a ballad that sees Davies taking up the brushes and playing a gentler role on drums. He extols the power within a simple drum groove and explains how he wanted something quieter on the record, hearing something “a bit Beatlesy” for this track. The track sees Davies showing relaxed restraint on vocals and is the only other track featuring Tim Neal (this time on piano).

Describing one aspect of a unique songwriting process, Davies excitedly explains seeking the perfect formula for the whole to equal the sum of its musical parts. “It’s like mathematics a bit. It’s a bit weird but I love mathematics,” he says. “When you talk arrangement and, say, a guitar lick; when do you bring it in and how long do you bring it in for? When do you take it out? Do you go for four more or is that gonna be too long? I know it’s not mathematics but in some sense it is because you’re just talking in bars of four and stuff like that. But I love just sitting there trying to work it out -what actually is going to fit and what’s not.”

Davies seems to have gotten it right this time; working his way through varied musical styles, from Latin American to Blues, Rock, Country, he stretches the boundaries of his own music and that of the genres themselves, and not only using his signature drums but with guitars, harmonica and vocals. Now, with the first volume of Muscle Drum Music under his belt, Davies plans to put a band together to play the record live (and hopefully record his next two albums).

When asked how he wants Muscle Drum Music to affect people, he says: “I just want people to enjoy what I do, whether they’re gettin’ off on the drumming, whether they’re not listening to the lyrics and they’re dancin’ around the room, whether they’re listening to the lyrics and thinkin’: this is cool. This is nice. This makes me feel strong. It’s whatever. I want people to feel good. I just want people to dig it and to make them feel good in some way. Like I said, whether that’s musically, lyrically, or they love the drums or dig the harmonica, I don’t care.”

Simon Gordon - THE DUES – ISSUE 11 VOL 1 DEC 2006

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