albums

New Album - 'Universal Stew' out Dec 1st
through Only Blues Music

mp3 versions of highlighted tracks from selected albums are available for download

Universal Stew (2009)

Band members:
Shane Pacey, Alan Britton, Eben Hale & Frank Corby

Most of the songs for our 6th studio album were written after the completion of 12 Lies, our last one. For 2 months solid I went down to my little shed studio & completed almost a song a day. At the end of that period I had around 18 songs, some of which I knew were pretty special.

When it came time to record, we sifted through the songs, including some from Eben and Frank, to work out which ones to record (thankfully, their ideas pretty well coincided with mine!). I had started a small project studio in Bowral with my friend Dave Sell, and it was here that we decided to begin initial recording, not in a two week concentrated spurt, but intermittently, as we felt the urge.

The other difference for us this time was not road-testing the songs. In the past we rehearsed new material, played it for a time, then recorded it. This time we routined a song or two on the day, before recording it there and then. I believe that an artist’s first idea is usually his best, and while it was a bit of a risk to go in cold, the snappiness of these performances must in some way be due to their immediacy. My first urge on recording these songs was to bring different colours to the album, mainly by utilising all of the vocal talent, so Eben sings two, Frank sings two, Al (!) sings one and I tackle the rest. Again, harmonies feature heavily here, ragged as ever, and all the better for that!

Although I handled most of the recording and engineering for Universal Stew, the production was as always pretty collaborative, and of course so were the arrangements. The tracks were taken to Megaphon studios in Sydney, to be (mainly) mixed by long-time 'Cigars aide Guy Dickerson and mastered by Don Bartley. - Shane Pacey

1 JOYFUL SOUND
We thought it best to get the most radically different song on as quickly as possible. People who view the Cigars as a 12 bar blues band may be baffled by this soulful acoustic based number, but we hope they end up loving it as we do. Its germination was a riff I heard Taj Mahal play at Byron Bay a few years ago. I loved its loping half-time feel, & remembered it wrongly as the basis for this song. My second favourite band of all time is Traffic (My first is The Band) and it is their spirit that permeates here (and other tracks too, probably.) Living in a rural area as I do, ambient sounds cut through the silence much more profoundly than they do in the city, so the things mentioned here (freight trains, blackbirds, wild dogs etc) seem to carry much more meaning. More broadly, it’s about that endless (and possibly futile) search for that perfect note. 

2 YOUR FINE FRAME
Musically straight out of the gospel/soul bag of Ray Charles and beautifully captured by our peerless rhythm section, this new live favourite is based on the germ of a memory I had of my wife rising in the morning and stretching in the sunlight. While it may be considered patronising these days to base an entire song on the way someone looks, hopefully this lands just on this side of good taste. 

3 DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE
Sick of being called a 3 chord wonder, I decided to write one with 2! This a classic New Orleans vamp in the style of Huey “Piano” Smith, and I knew as soon as I wrote it that it would be perfect for the “singular” vocal styling of Mr. Al Britton, part Dr. John, part Tom Waits after a big night. The backbeat is so “back,” it’s almost facing the other way. 

4 YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED
A proper soul ballad is a tricky thing to write, so I was quite chuffed when I came up with this. It’s my contention that, if a song is easy to write, then playing and recording it will be too. Perfectly suited to Eben Hale’s smoky voice, the key change in the middle forced him to the very limits of his range, which he tackled with good grace. 

5 CRADLE OF THE BLUES
Another song firmly in the New Orleans tradition, this happy, funky little march argues that as long as people are listening to music that they love, they can’t get into too much strife. Although Frank is from the north of the U.S. he tackles the “hot weather” rhythm of this with typical aplomb.

6 STOMPING GROUND
Anyone who’s heard Frank’s other band, Method, will know he likes a dark song or three. You’d have to ask Frank what it’s all about, but I do know that its stark instrumentation adds to its swampy menace. 

7 BETTER CLASS OF FOOL
Again, quite a departure for the band, this song dips its toes a little into Tom Petty’s territory. Terrific fun to record, it has all manner of backing vocals & a guitar solo which saw me borrow Eben’s Strat & try to imitate Hank Marvin. 

8 ONE TIME AROUND
This fast paced acoustic rocker from Eben reminds us once again that life ain’t a rehearsal. I play a 55 year old Australian lap steel here, and I’m sure its makers never meant it to sound like this! 

9 THAT’S HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS
As if 1 soul ballad isn’t enough, we have to put it in competition with one of the greatest ever written. I sprang this on the boys one day, and we had it done within the hour. My favourite vocal of mine on the album, done in 1 take. Oh yes! 

10 SLAUGHTERMAN
A song about one of those nice guys who keep hard drugs in ready supply, complete with a pinned-out taxi driver and a nice mother. Musically, this is held together by a rock solid performance from Al and Frank, while Eben sprays tasty licks all the way through. 

11 OUT OF MY HEAD
The only place we can’t escape is our own head, even when on holiday, it comes with us! Frank tackles the vocal here, and gives it a sense of distance I never could. I play 12 string and Eben tears right through with another killer solo. 

12 ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
The last song written, finished as we were coming to the end of recording. Recorded totally live (voice, acoustic guitar and snare), I added a little lap steel later. A bitter but funny song, about friends you have, but wish you didn’t.




32 Premium Quality Cuts (1990 - 2006)

A double retrospective album featuring favourite songs from this iconic band's proud history.

This very welcome Cigars retrospective offers a good opportunity to follow a great Australian R&B through 17 years of hard-hitting music that is readily identifiable, and continues to evolve. For the few not familiar with the muscular sound of the Cigars, this  is the perfect introduction, while for veteran followers it provides a comprehensive overview, with 2 bonus tracks from the most recent line-up.

CD ONE

* Previously unreleased

CD TWO

* Previously unreleased

12 Lies (2003)

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Electric/Acoustic Guitars, Slide & Resonator Guitar, Vocals & Backing Vocals
Alan Britton -Electric Bass, String Bass, Backing Vocals & Percussion
Eben Hale -Electric/Acoustic Guitars, Percussion, Vocals & Backing Vocals
Frank Corby -Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals

REVIEWS
BARFLY WEBSITE (Tony Hillier) Although they've had a profile on the national scene for a dozen years and more, releasing some half a dozen albums, 12 Lies as the first release on their own label represents a career watershed for the Bondi Cigars.

One of Australia's most admired blues-aligned bands, the Bondi's have pretty well been doing it for themselves since they commenced operations in 1989, establishing a formidable reputation as a live band par excellence as Johno's regulars would be aware.

If 2001's Down in the Valley captured the essence & spirit of their gigs over the years, 12 Lies is a barometer of where they are at the present time. The new album sees the band edge a little further away from their original sound, adding alt.country & pop/rock feels to the rhythm & blues/soul/funk amalgam base. The result is a contemporary & accessible sound.

Shane Pacey, the band's powerhouse vocalist, guitar player and songwriter, is still the dominant force, in tandem with co-founder/bassman Al Britton, whose instinctive feel for groove and rhythm remains a salient element. But 12 Lies reveals a more prominent role for co-lead guitarist Eben Hale, while expat American drummer Frank Corby certainly puts his stamp on this, his first recorded outing with the Sydney band.

The Cigars trademark twin lead guitar concept works brilliantly, as always, with Pacey and Hale working in tandem, overlapping and alternating in well formulated arrangements, each solo carefully constructed and comparatively free of cliché. Pacey's incisive and inventive guitar playing is always a pleasure to hear.

A few blasts of harp or sax or some Hammond organ would have been icing on the cake, but you have to admire the band's commitment to its on-stage sound, and a style that hangs on meaty electric guitar hooks. Shane Pacey's originals are as punchy as ever, nitty gritty, down to earth, plainly worded songs relating to everyday life recurring patterns Junkie For The Past, alcohol dependence Raging Thirst, rejection You Soon Will Be and bitterness Talking Tombstone etc.

The raga like Edge Of The Dirty River, with resonator guitar backing, has a more poetic feel; the genuflection to New Orleans/The Meters funk, Everybody Do The Second Line an infectious refrain. Whether any of Shane's new numbers surpass past masterpieces such as Lead Me Not Into Temptation and Intensive Care only time will tell.

Cigar Aficionados (Dave Edwards) Seems The Black Keys aren't the only ones caught up in a blues revival at the moment. Aussie bluesmen Bondi Cigars have released their latest, 12 Lies. This outing is a rather smoother effort with less of a hard edge than their American cousins, Thickfreakness. The Cigars offer a wider range of instrumentation, including acoustic and electric guitars, slide guitar and bass to create a rich but distinctly Australian sound.

The 12 Lies of the title refers to the album's 12 tracks all penned at least in part by Bondi Cigars' lead singer and guitarist Shane Pacey. Typically, the songs touch on issues of pain and loss; from the lonely pain of life on the road in Some Other Man, to a swipe at capitalistic greed in I Won't Lay Down With The Devil. Alcoholism gets a going over in Raging Thirst; although there is a moment of New Orleans style exuberance in Everybody Do The Second Line.

All this raises a question - if the album contains 12 Lies, is all this soul-searching and darkness just a little tongue-in-cheek? Is Pacey having a bit of a dig at his audience? I guess that's for you to decide. What's for certain is that 12 Lies is an accomplished slice of Australian blues from Bondi Cigars.

Down In The Valley (2001)

Live double CD Down In the Valley nominated at ARIA's for Best Blues and Roots Album 2002. 

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Guitar, Vocals
Alan Britton -Bass, Vocals
Eben Hale -Guitar, Vocals
Andrew Vainauskas -Drums

REVIEWS
ROUSEABOUT RECORDS (Warren Fahey) Down in the Valley 12th Anniversary live (and kicking) double album The Bondi Cigars' music is a peculiar animal in that it takes so many ever-changing forms. Rhythm 'n' blues has a noble history born of blues and emerging rock 'n' roll somewhere in America during the war-torn nineteen forties. It is indeed a twisted path that also takes in Elvis-styled hillbilly music, big band beat, jazz, gospel and soul.

Musical labels are always confusing however some sense can be made if one generalises as follows: Hillbilly is white country music; rock 'n' roll is latter day hillbilly plus rhythm 'n' blues, and rhythm 'n' blues is soulful blues with a big beat. To further complicate the puzzle there is such a thing as Australian rhythm 'n' blues and there is little doubt that the Bondi Cigars is its greatest success story.

Formed in 1989 the band has well and truly played itself into Australia 's musical heart. After nearly a dozen years, a half a dozen albums and exhaustive touring schedules the band continues to attract new audiences for their music. One of the keys to the continuing success of the Bondi Cigars is the highly original songs written and performed by frontman Shane Pacey.

This is no here-we-go-again 'covers' band and that in itself is evidence of a genuine Australian R&B new tradition. Shane Paceys songs smack of the real R&B tradition and I when I listen to songs like Bad Weather Blues, Key to Your Heart and Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You I still have to remind myself that these great songs were written right here in Australia by Shane Pacey.

When the band does perform covers they do so with real bite and I further recommend you to listen to their highly original version of Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. I believe the Bondi Cigars contribute a major slice of originality and excitement to the Australian musical landscape. This album celebrates their 12th Anniversary - long may their unique R&B rule this land!'

RHYTHMS - AUSTRALIA 'S ROOTS MUSIC MONTHLY (Billy Pinnell) Sydney band The Bondi Cigars celebrate twelve years together with the release of a double CD Down in the Valley recorded live over two nights at The Healer, Brisbane, in February of this year. Playing a mixture of Blues and R&B, the two guitar quartet is dominated by the awesome talents of guitarist/singer Shane Pacey who wrote fifteen of the albums' nineteen songs. A veteran of the Sydney blues scene, Pacey was an on-again off-again member of the Foreday Riders where he met bass guitarist Alan Britton, the other founder member of the Bondi Cigars.

From the band's earliest days, Pacey insisted on a two-lead guitar concept, initially with Les Karski who had been a member of Super Charge (remember `You've Gotta Get Up and Dance'?) and the Hippos . The Current line up consists of Pacey, Britton, drummer Andrew Vainauskas and guitarist Eben Hale who was discovered while playing in the house band at an RSL club in the Blue Mountains. Both of the new members have been in the band for five years and, on the strength of their performances on this album, have made comfortable transitions.

While there's no question that Pacey is the star of the show, his willingness to arrange songs to accommodate his guitar playing partner makes for exciting and satisfying listening. The album's first track - a re-working of Denise La Salle's R&B hit Someone Else Is Stepping In - opens with Hale's sustained wah-wah before both guitars settle in to a solo trade-off as Pacey interprets the lyric from a female point of view, as it was written.

The other non-original songs include a blues arrangement of Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice It's Alright. Solomon Burke's `60s soul classic, Cry To Me becomes a cruisy sensuous vocal workout from Pacey with the guitars playing second fiddle while Little Milton's Ain't No Big Deal takes it's inspiration from Albert Collins who is paid a heartfelt tribute on the instrumental, Albert's Alley, highlighted by Pacey's sustained, earthshaking solos and his thoughtful, passionate and inventive musicianship, free of clichés and devoid of unnecessary histrionics. Pacey also takes great care in providing varied ideas within the twin lead guitar arrangements.

On You're A Mystery Pacey and Hale play rhythm in sync, before the younger partner lets fly with another rousing wah-wah solo. Path Is Clear allows both musicians to push each other into flurries of melodic improvising, while Intensive Care (featured in the ABC-TV show Sea Change) is the album's most interesting musical diversion, the moody, atmospheric intro preceding it's funky laid-back feel that's held together by Britton's pulsating bass. This talented musician, who has played an integral role in Pacey's musical life, anticipates every move the soloists make, and with Vainauskas, fronts a tight adaptable rhythm section.

It sounds like it must have been a special night when these tracks were recorded, because the Bondi Cigars certainly came up with an inspired performance.

CD ONE

CD TWO

Mercy (1998)

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Guitar, Vocals
Alan Britton -Bass, Vocals
Eben Hale -Guitar, Vocals
Andrew Vainauskas -Drums

REVIEWS
BASEQ - Blues Assoc. of South East Queensland (Helen Farley). Nine years and numerous lineup changes have seen the Bondi Cigars go through many highs and lows, or probably more accurately many highs with some lesser ones. Hard working and totally committed to the quality and integrity of the music, the Cigars have earned themselves an enviable reputation as one of Australia 's favourite Blues / R&B bands, both live and in the studio.

As always we have the core of Shane Pacey (vocals, guitars-acoustic, electric, resonator and slide), and Alan Britton (bass, vocals), joined by newcomer Eben Hale (guitars) and Andrew Vainauskas (drums and percussion). Mercy features thirteen great songs that really move along. Each song has an infectious melody and rhythm that has you bopping and grooving to the beat.

The album features all original material. Ten tracks were written by Shane Pacey, two were written by Shane and Alan and one written by Eben Hale. It's great to see Eben already making such a significant contribution. It must be very daunting suddenly becoming a part of such a well-established institution. The material is instantly accessible, you won't have to wait for it to grow on you.

There's a variety of textures and moods partly due to the variety of guitar feels. Both Eben and Shane contribute solid solos. Eben also takes lead vocal duties on his own Make Up Your Mind lending a little vocal diversity. In The Cold Light Of Day sees Shane go it alone with his acoustic guitar, just superb! I also enjoyed Feeding Time , the lyrics of which I'm sure most musicians could identify with. High points also came with the easy grooves of Second Skin and Save A Little Mercy For Me, but in reality I loved each note of every song. Make sure you pick up a copy!

After Closing Time (1995)

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Guitar, Vocals
Alan Britton -Bass, Vocals
Mitch Grainger -Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Declan Kelly -Drums, Vocals

REVIEWS
RHYTHMS - AUSTRALIA 'S ROOTS MUSIC MONTHLY (Mark D. Blues Editor, Presenter of 4ZZZ's Nothin' But The Blues) This album presents one of the country's hardest working, most widely travelled and most popular electric blues combos, just as most of us remember seeing them last. No studio 'sweetener' in the form of horns or fancy production - just the basic quartet in all it's throbbing funky blues-sodden glory.

Nine Shane Pacey originals, one almost-instrumental by the whole band, one by 'new boy' Mitch Grainger (whose guitar and excellent harp are welcome additions) and a brace of covers. Pacey's Albert Collins - influenced guitar style (sauced with soul and funk) supports an expressive voice which communicates emotion without sacrificing clarity - and his lyrics are worth hearing - not profound, but touching on our collective experiences. Alan Britton (bass) and Declan Kelly (drums) are definite groove-setters. You don't have a choice. Your body parts have to make rhythmic movements when these two are at work. The soloists work in that groove - no hysterics.

I find that the CD requires a couple of listens before individual tracks make their presence felt. This is not a bad thing. Albums which give a quick fix are often not stayers. My guess is that this one is a grower and a stayer. Nice one.

BLACK'S BEAT, THE DAILY PLAN-IT (Dan Black) Australia 's best blues band have returned with a killer new album. After Closing Time is the long awaited follow-up to Bad Weather Blues which put the Cigars firmly on the map a couple of years ago. Forget the big organ sound of last year's soul-funk effort by the short-lived Pacey & the Cigars. The new outing is what the band does best: stinging guitar & harmonica driven by a punchy rhythm section with Alan Britton surely one of the best bass players anywhere. Songwriter Shane Pacey delivers up nine original numbers mixed with a few covers, the standout being the old Dr John track, Imitation of Love.

New guitarist Mitchell Grainger contributes a fine original number for a first up effort, Cold Cold World. The non-stop touring of blues dens, nite-clubs and booze barns has paid off; the album smokes - just listen to Lead me not into Temptation . Already getting airplay, After Closing Time should sell well for the Cigars, especially in centres where they've established big reputations through their constant touring.

GOT THE NEWS (1993)

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Guitar, Vocals
Alan Britton -Bass, Vocals
Clayton Doley -Hammond Organ, Piano, Vocals
Matt Morrison -Drums, Vocals

Bad Weather Blues (1992)

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Guitar, Vocals
Les Karski -Guitar, Vocals
Alan Britton -Bass, Vocals
Ace Follington -Drums

REVIEWS
BLACK'S BEAT, THE DAILY PLAN-IT (Dan Black) It's been a long time since a fully blown blues album by an Aussie band has made the national charts. This seems sure to change with the release of Bad Weather Blues by the Bondi Cigars. Out now on Larrikin, the Cigars have unleashed a scorching set of blues and rock numbers that more than match the white blues bands coming out of the USA on such famous labels as Alligator, Rounder and Black Top.

Most of the album tracks are Pacey/Karski compositions, rather than tired old covers that most blues acts seem to rely on. Les Karski's guitar work confirms his status as one of this country's very best - smoky on the slow numbers and full of fire on the rockers. The opening track Booze Blues, a driving rocker, sets the tone for the album; but the Cigars also show they're adept at bluesy ballads with track three, Lies and Tenderness.

Bondi Cigars (1990)

Band members:
Shane Pacey -Guitar, Vocals
Les Karski -Guitar, Vocals
Alan Britton -Bass, Vocals
Ace Follington -Drums

New Album - 'Universal Stew' out Dec 1st
through Only Blues Music

The following is a list of record stores who stock our albums in Australia.

D.S.E. Powerhouse, HMV Music, IN2, JB HiFi, Leading Edge Music, Readings, Sanity, Sight & Sound, The Music Shop, Virgin, Virgin Myer and all good Independant Music Stores.