METHADONE wins song lyric of the year in the 2023 Museboat International Radio Awards

FRAZZ a concoction of Folk/Rock/Jazz - Tracks with traces of Rock-edge, spiced with cheeky surrealism, Jazz juices, Folk reverence, African flavours, Hypnotic Grooves and Dark Tales.

“When I say this new album from WAYNE GILLESPIE & FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT is all over the place I mean it as a total compliment, such is the diversity of songs, styles, and sounds on it. That’s why they call it FRAZZ – think Folk, Rock, and Jazz.” – Stuart Coupe Music Journalist
"Like Leonard Cohen in a cosmic country folk dream" (Post to the Wire ) Oct 2022.
“a jazzy Lou Reed, film noir, Miles Davis kind of vibe –I fuckin’ love this” UK podcasters @yhhtmp Nov
2022
“The hubris of calling themselves Famous Blue Raincoat is definitely justified ..I don’t know about Cohen for me there is an essence of Lou Reed in that track (Chapel Street)..” John Lampe Tempo The Pulse (94.7FM The Pulse) Oct 2022
“Gillespie has stretched himself and pushed the boundaries here with the colour from his chiming guitar, the saxophone of Robertson on the almost eight minute, increasingly menacing Jealous Man (bleakly funny if your humour runs cold and black) and the popping Afro-sound of Papa Wemba (She Dances). Lyrically these songs are also multi-layered and repay careful attention to their detail.” Graham Reid, 6/3/2023. FRAZZ_Elsewhere.com.nz
Methadone: “The vocals are clear and crisp ...a universal story...the music supporting the vocals is as intriguing as the lyrics - a perfect match” John Lamp “Tempo-The Pulse” 3 July 2023.

Their name should have already alerted you to the fact that this is a band that knows its music history – and who wouldn’t want to name themselves after a song by Leonard Cohen? The fact that the core members have a little history themselves should also alert you to expect quality in this release. Singer/songwriter Wayne Gillespie has been making quality music in New Zealand since his debut indie release Wayward Son reached the finals o the NZ music awards in 1984. Followed by his move across the Tasman and release of his 2nd and 3rd albums New Locations and Living In Exile (via Sony NZ).
Drummer/percussionist Rob Grosser has fired the engine room of more than a few records since he emerged from Adelaide, having worked with some of Australia’s best musicians including the late Pete Wells of Rose Tattoo, Jimmy Barnes, Tim Gaze , Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne/Gary Moore) as well as overseas artists such as Bob Margolin (ex- Muddy Waters), and Deep Purple ‘s Jon Lord, Ian Gillian and Steve Morse.

Gillespie and Grosser started jamming , recording what came up and seeing where it would lead. It was a new way of writing for Wayne, accustomed to being the solo acoustic singer/songwriter with folk-rock roots, yet strapping on an electric guitar and playing along to the grooves Rob laid down made perfect sense.

The jam tracks were honed into finished songs by Wayne and enhanced with the help of a few friends who were called in, like sax player Ric Robertson (dig/eon/Baecastuff), with whom Gillespie had played back in New Zealand, as he had American guitarist now Zealander Nigel Gavin, who’d played in Robert Fripp’s League Of Crafty Guitarists, while bass player Goby Catt, now living in Vancouver, Canada, was a pal from the Slide McBride Band, and another Kiwi (whose credits include Van Morrison, Sting and Ray Charles) Brendan Power on harmonica.

So the album FRAZZ concoction of Folk/Rock/Jazz - Tracks with traces of Rock-edge, spiced with cheeky surrealism, Jazz juices, Folk reverence, African flavours, Hypnotic Grooves and Dark Tales. Released 24 June 2022 and embraced by radio stations in Australia and around the globe in the year following it’s release!

The Live band is:
Band: Wayne Gillespie -Guitar/Vocals, Pierre Luniere - Bass/Vocals (Bad Kitty), Mal Green - Drums (ex Split Enz), Stephan Schaffer - Saxophone/Flute (Joe Camilleri), Mel Forbes - Guitar/ Vocals (Swamp Daisies) & Don Hopkins - Accordion/Keys