Andy Baylor

... a poetic collection of new songs written and recorded in Melbourne at Jen Anderson's studio during the spring of 1999.

I am launching my latest CD ... a collection of poetic ballads and exotic sounds at The Cornish Arms on Saturday 13 July.

The Butterfly Effect is a result of an ongoing collaboration with poet Nicholas Langton and explores themes of faith, love, alienation, paranoia, modernity and much more.

A gentle, lyrical mood pervades the album and it has an intimate atmosphere of surreal sadness. Guitars, voice, trumpet, keyboards, violin, bass and drums ... at once folky, new, old, cool, strange, bluesy, cosmic.

The Butterfly Effect is a new direction for Andy Baylor. It is a strong, moving and assured collection of original songs.

Andy Baylor and The Hometown Prophets

When The Avalanches recently wanted someone to play some real music to open their shows, they called Andy Baylor.

I picked up the phone and this guy called Darren said they had a band and they wanted some Hawaiian string music, all acoustic, to get their crowd in the mood. I said I could do it, that they would have to pay me, and who were they anyway?

Well, we came out on stage and the joint was packed. I thought, "this is insane, these kids won't want to hear what we're gonna play, you know, traditional Hawaiian music," but they loved it and applauded every song ... it was a great gig and The Avalanches blew me away ... anything is possible.

From there I launched into acting, composing and singing in Richard Frankland's new play, Conversations With The Dead, which was an amazing cross-cultural experience ... I had never acted before in my life and here were people like Geoffory Rush shaking my hand.

What's with this DJ thing??? I was asked by keyboard virtuoso, Tim Neal, who played with Banana Oil a few years back, to do a chow with these hot DJs from the UK. It was called the %100 dynamite show ... out band, The Dirty Ass Three, blew them off stage with a mix of psychadelic soulfunk and one-handed guitar playing ... I felt like telling some of these DJs to get a life... get a musical life.

So, now there's some confusion about my latest CD ... The Butterfly Effect ... it seems there is some young rock band with the same name... all I got to say is than my song, the Butterfly Effect, was written some time during 1999, whene these guys were still in short pants ... in fact my CD actually finished in that year. So there! I'm expecting some nasty business type from some rotten record company to knock on my door and threaten me with some rock'n'roll type litigation ... as most people would know, the term was used by some chaos theory scientist to describe the phenomenon of interconnectedness of things.

Speaking of things being connected, I have known many strange instances of plagaristic coincidence in local rock'n'roll ... when my band, The Dancehall Racketeers supported Robert Plant some time ago, we had a long conversation about roots music, you know blues, western swing, country, cajun ... he told me how he and Charlie Watts used to get the American 78s fresh from the docks and sit round listening to all the latest releases on a wind-up gramaphone in some housing commission ... an intersting insight into British Rock n roll.

I told him about my group the Honeydrippers, a group which played black style R n B blues swing, around all the pubs in Melbourne in the late '70s ... I remember that they taped the whole concert that night and that the Racketeers did a swingin' version of Roy Brown's Good Rockin' Tonite, complete with killer riffs ... had a great night and didn't think too much about it until four months later ... Robert Plant's Honeydrippers were riding high on the charts with a rockin' version of Good Rockin' Tonite.

Speaking of strange coincidence and butterfly effect ... I have lately made contact with... yes Andy Baylor, guitar player, songwriter, musician from USA. We are currently caught up in heavy legal battles trying to resolve who is the real Andy Baylor... this could go on for some time and we are currently working on an album together while the lawyers fight it out. Truth is stranger than fiction.

By the way , you know that red Fender Telecaster that the guy in the Wiggles plays... I think it was stolen out of the van on tour in Sydney some years back ... now there's another legal battle ... I'm a busy musician.

I have finally found time to put together a new band...The Hometown Prophets, focusing on original songs. It is a mixture of many different styles and features Mr Ed Bates on pedal steel, Eugene Ball and Bec James on brass, Ian Kitney is the percussion man and Andy Price is on double bass. I will be on surf guitar, vocals and violin....that should take care of all factions.

I have asked some of my musical friends to play with me at CD launch ... The Growling Dogs will be playing traditional fiddle music, Cindy Frost will be singing her new acoustic love songs and Mark Ferrie with Ross Hannaford will be doing their Melbourne Town blues...

Come for dinner and show.... come for drinks and show ... just come along!

For enquiries, phone Niki or Ange on 9380 8322 or email: info@cornisharms.com.au