New Music Discovery

There is quite a story attached to my discovery of Ginja Roe, a young local female duo whose music I have only managed to track down in the past week.

I first heard their music at the Fred Eaglesmith show at the East Brunswick Club back in March. In between acts, the sound guy was playing a really ear catching CD of an unknown female singer. My friends and I were speculating on who it could possibly be, so I approached the sound guy and asked him. He was preoccupied and it was dark, so I didn’t catch the name of the artist or only came away with a vague impression of it. I spelt it as Chinja Roe on my notes. A subsequent search on the Internet came up blank. I even rang the East Brunswick Club and asked them. They spelled out the name and I wrote it down incorrectly as Ginger Roe. Still not right, obviously, as a Google search on that spelling proved unfruitful.

Finally, I found them after reading an article in the Age newspaper on a business enterprise called New Found Frequency. New Found Frequency technicians attend small venues and record the shows live. They have the means to be able to produce a CD of the show and offer multiple copies of it for sale to the audience before they leave the venue. An intriguing concept, I thought. I checked out their website and noticed they had recorded some shows at the East Brunswick Club and Ginja Roe – I recognised the name instantly – was on their books. A direct link led me to Ginja Roe’s website and I promptly sent off a cheque for their CD. A listen on their My Space page, confirmed what my ears had heard before, these girls were something special.

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of seeing them perform live at a gig in Fitzroy at the formerly infamous Rob Roy Hotel.

On walking into the venue I was pleasantly surprised to hear a Whiskeytown CD being played through the sound system. What good taste, I remarked to the friend who accompanied me. Whiskeytown is of course Ryan Adams former band and the CD was Whiskytown’s last hurrah, Pneumonia, which I had not listened to for ages.

Ginja Roe when they took the stage, were quite wonderful. The first artist on the schedule was a single artist, singer songwriter Carolyn Oates who was quite good but limited by her resources, the sameness of her songs and her serious attitude. Not a light set by any means, which showed up Ginja Roe’s assured and lively act to advantage.

Ginja Roe are Megan Doherty and Pamela Wouters who both hail from the outer suburban township of Pakenham. Meg is the songwriter of the duo and is the main singer. Her voice is amazing. Think Natalie Mains (Dixie Chicks) with an Aussie accent and you’ll get an idea. Pam takes the lead on occasions but mostly sings harmony vocals. She also has a very fine voice which when blended with Meg’s creates beautiful harmonies. Both girls play a variety of instruments, Meg on guitar and harmonica with Pam providing guitar support, drums and other tympanic effects. Together they make a big, bold sound to accompany their beautiful singing.

Not only was Ginja Roe’s performance good, Meg is no mean slouch at song writing. Their music is sort of alt country pop with catchy lyrics and engaging melodies. I was very impressed with their performance and am astounded that they are not all that well known. Yesterday there were only about four or five people watching the show (including me and my friend).

Check out Ginja Roe’s My Space page to listen to some of their music.

The above photo is one I snapped yesterday with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ3 digital camera. I am rather disappointed with its performance in low light so will probably revert to my old Panasonic camera in those situations in future, as it appears to take a better, clearer picture in low light. I was attracted to the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ3 because of its wide-angle lens and 10 X Optical Zoom feature. However the burst mode, which I generally use at concerts seems sluggish in action so you get more blurred than sharp pictures. Noise is also evident at full size. It is good for daylight shots and macros of small objects. I’m glad I didn’t dispose of the old Panasonic as it has always served me well and takes remarkably good photos in most situations.