With New Orleans swagger, a large cup of soul, a spoonful of blues, and a dash of jazz noir, Steve Boyd’s Rum Reverie hoots and hollers.
The sound is heartfelt and raw, the influences primal and instinctive.
Steve Boyd’s Rum Reverie is essentially the brainchild of Paul Fiddes and Steve Boyd. With a wealth of creative experience, their respective pasts intertwine in the music of the band. Not just collaborators but life-long friends (and former Steve Boyd & The Preachers bandmates), the project was conceived over many late nights of shared musings and listening to old vinyl records.
And what did they listen to? What amalgam of sounds ended up coalescing into Steve Boyd’s Rum Reverie? Try The Clash, Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, Miles Davis, Bette Davis, Nina Simone, Burt Bacharach, Joni Mitchell, Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and everything in between.
The influences are raw and instinctive. The core group of Paul on drums and Steve on guitar and vocals is augmented by upright bass, brass and keys. The sound is heartfelt and real.
With a punk brain, a gospel soul, a blues heart and hints of jazz trickling through its veins.
Their debut EP Healers and Howlers was nominated in The Age Music Victoria Music Awards ‘Best Blues Album’ category in 2016, and in 2018 their first full length album Hoodoo Hipshake was nominated in the same category.
Performances in 2016:
- Leaps and Bounds Festival – The Gasometer Hotel
- Rainbow Hotel/The Catfish/The Retreat/Post Office Hotel/Cherry Bar/Yarraville Club
Performances in 2017:
- Port Fairy Folk Festival
- Blues at the Briars Festival
- Docklands Blues Festival
- Cherry Bar/Pistol Pete’s/Gem Bar/Union Hotel/The Lomond
Performances in 2018:
- Festival of Sails Geelong
- Pistol Pete’s New Orleans Marti Gras
- Echuca Winter Blues Festival – Radcliffes / Star on the Wharf / Henry’s
- Spotted Mallard/Pistol Pete’s/Gem Bar/The Lomond/Dogs Bar