Alex Boneham: “Getting to return to Australia with The Vampires is extra special”

“The guys in the band did such a great job of writing music to really bring Lionel Loueke into the group so he’s a fifth member as opposed to just a guest. I would have loved to be present in the studio just to watch the magic happen!”

Gig review: The Vampires at SIMA

The horn unison passages have the extraordinary unity – bright and seemingly electrically fused – that characterised the famous pairing or alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry; while their solos are freely melodic, somewhat in the Coleman vein.

Album review: Digital Seed (Mike Rivett)

Rivett has broken cover not with yet another musical artefact from a schooled and accomplished improvising musician, but with a true work of the imagination.

Album review: Tiro (The Vampires) by John Hardaker

on ‘Brother Sykes’ – The band play around each other here, as if conversing, exchanging their grief – the feeling is one of a wake, funereal and puffed-out. It is a nod to the complete musicianship of Alex Boneham that the bass dominates here, expressing so much in answer to the gray-blues and watery mauves thrown at him by Rose and Garbett. All seems to happen underwater, beneath a heavy lid of mortality.

Cover of Ben Panucci Trio CD Short Stories - river with buildings lining the bank

Album review: Short Stories (Ben Panucci Trio) by John Hardaker

Such is the range and span of colours and shifting scenes across Short Stories. That all of this can be expressed through the limited means of a jazz guitar trio – to all intents and purposes acoustic – is not only a measure of Panucci, Boneham and Waples’ creative mastery, but also of their vision.

Review by John Hardaker: Steve Barry

On the strength of his eponymous debut album, Steve Barry, I get the feeling we will have to do as we did with the Finn brothers and Rusty Crowe (and any other frighteningly talented Kiwi) and willingly refer to him as the Australian pianist and composer Steve Barry. The album really is that good.

The Vampires in an Alley – a post-gig gig

With some colourful street art as a backdrop, The Vampires give a dimly-lit alleyway and a small group of passers-by a special performance of ‘All […] Read More

Q&A with Alex Boneham – 2008 NJA Finalist

When did you start playing bass and why? For example, was there a ‘moment’ when it came to you as a calling or vocation? I […] Read More