Mark Moldre – SPEED DATE with BRAG

1. Your Profile
We’re a band of misfits and marauders. We’re gin and green tea drinkers. We’re a group of musical pillager’s who sound like the un-oiled wheels on a lurching gypsy caravan. If you listen very closely you’ll experience tender romance and dark corners, death and redemption, human struggle versus biblical consequences, dreams/nightmares and bad weather. We can be as gritty as a 1920’s speakeasy and as smooth as Sinatra at The Sands.

2. Keeping Busy
We played a bunch of shows last November…since then I’ve been busy trying to break my usual pre-next album writers block curse. I know there’s a floodgate waiting to be opened – I’ve just got to get my finger out of the hole in the dam wall. Coming up is 5 days at the National Folk Festival in Canberra (that’s in April). We’re already packing our gypsy caravan with grain free bread, notebooks, Tintin books, Coopers long necks, a soldering iron, a typewriter, Chet Baker CDs, vintage instruments and probiotics.

3. Best Gig Ever
We played a bunch of shows with The Church a while back. On the night of The National Theatre show in Melbourne The Church were having problems at sound check and were running really late – which meant that when we took the stage to open the proceedings there was an absolute full house. (A rare gift for the support act) The audience were attentive and hushed, the venue was beautiful and the onstage sound was magic. A night I’ll never forget. PS: It definitely was not me who pulled out all the fuses from The Church’s amplifiers.

4. Current Playlist
Bob Dylan at the State Theatre was an evening to remember. I’d read loads of bad live Dylan reviews. He was in fine form and it was an evening of non-stop goose bumps. CW Stoneking’s new album Gon Boogaloo hit my turntable a couple of weeks ago and it won’t be coming off any time soon.

5. Your Ultimate Rider
I’m a difficult one when it comes to riders due to dietary requirements. Grain free, sugar/fructose free and no red meat and I’m OK. My ultimate rider is just something that tastes good and isn’t dust.