I remember going to the Farnham Music Festival at the age of six and watching my Uncle’s band play. That was it. I asked for a guitar and started lessons, though I didn’t start singing until a few years later while jamming with friends. We’d play the blues and sing whatever came to mind. Then I started my first band – we’d play community halls and school concerts. I also joined a local punk band.
In finishing school I was told stories of my Great Great Grandfather, the Colonial Minstrel, being one of the first recorded musicians in Australia back in the 1850s. This knowledge inspired me to continue, so I formed a psych-rock band Apparition, and we recorded our first album Self . Album in hand, we set off to England to play festivals, pubs and bars. We stayed over there for many years, backed by a friends indie record label Apple Juice Recordings. After we released the first single off our second album Fresh Floured the band split up, so I stuck around and played solo shows in the acoustic bars of Soho. This gained me a couple of bandmates, and we formed a new band called Rug.
Rug recorded an EP, Sessions at the Holloway Rose and with the EP in hand it was time to go back home to Australia. It was around this time I signed a three album deal with Fogsongs, as solo artist Patrick Carr. I then formed a band, and we play shows up and down the east coast while also joining and playing in a few bands like Montana, Michael Wheatley’s Dirt Carpet Disco Band, Wicked Beat Sound System and more. My first solo album You and Me was recorded and then I was off on tour with Montana to the UK, Spain and America. Back in Australia we played the circuit and then we were set to record Nightlife on Mars though I needed a change so decided to head to Melbourne.
Before leaving Sydney the band also put beds down of the album Cold Hands Warm Heart, which I completed here in the hills of the Dandenong’s where I lived for a while before moving into Melbourne. Then with an alt-country band formed and a new name, Shaky Stills, we did a quick tour of the States and then returned to Melbourne to play regular shows and a couple of festivals. After many moons, we released Cold Hands Warm Heart in August, and we look forward to playing it live a the Darebin Music Feast. The band features Kane Baker on drums, Matt Rodd on guitar , Tom Rodd on bass , Ryan John Brown on guitar and Rikki Arnott on BV’s.
Now you know the story, go and see the band. Shaky Stills will play at the Bain Marie Festival Hub on Sunday October 12 from 3pm – 4pm.
