TRACK LIST
MID LIFE CRISIS
(Brian Ralston)
Brian Ralston: Vocals, guitar
Chris Stafford: Bass
Ben Hewson: Guitar
Lilo Blyton: Fiddle
Graham Doust: Drums
TON NEZ
(Saladin de Tolosa/Brian Ralston)
Brian Ralston: Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Stewart Havill: Drums and bass programming
LOVE BLINDNESS
(Mel Barnett/Brian Ralston)
Brian Ralston: Vocals, guitar
John Coates: Bass
Dan Bennett: Piano
Donovan Gall: Drums
OLDEST ROADIES ON THE EARTH
(Brian Ralston)
Brian Ralston: Vocals, guitar
Chris Stafford: Bass
Ben Hewson: Guitar
Lilo Blyton: Fiddle
Graham Doust: Drums
All tracks recorded by Stewart Havill at Dogstar Studios, Chatswood, NSW, Australia, with additional recording of Track 3 by David Pendragon at The Studio, Canberra, ACT, Australia. Final mixing and mastering by David Pendragon.
Artwork, layout and design www.design-r.net
The EP "Oldest Roadies on the Earth" came about by accident. The tracks "Oldest Roadies on the Earth" and "Mid Life Crisis" were scheduled to be included in the CD "Stripped Bare". However, during the recording of "Stripped Bare", Brian Ralston's Self Tort entered the "Exhumed" competition conducted by James Valentine of ABC 702 in search of "the best bands you've never heard", and won the Sydney Final at The Basement in Sydney, performing both Oldest Roadies and Mid Life Crisis. As a result it was decided to take advantage of the win and bring out an EP on which both tracks would appear.
The cover of the EP depicts Brian's old roadies, Jack "Attack" Ryan, and Alan "Chokoes" Musgrave. These two guys used to help Brian with his gear, free of charge, for many years at his monthly gig at the Mortdale Hotel in Sydney's southern suburbs. The relationship is pretty well summed up by the song's lyrics.
There have been a number of different versions of "Mid Life Crisis". It was originally written in the 1990s when Brian was a member of a band called "Mid Life Crisis". The first recorded version appears on the debut CD "N.I.C" - however, it is a much different version to that which appears here. The original was a minor blues rocker which suited well in a band setting, but did not work so well for Brian's solo acoustic gigs. So he changed the chord structure and added a middle 8 to get to the version that appears on this EP.
"Love Blindness" is a track co-written with Mel Barnett from the UK. Mel and I have co-written a number of other tracks together, including "Dark Eyes" from the TORTOLOGY CD and Hold Me Back which appears on the INCA HOOTS EP.
"Ton Nez" was originally written by Brian as an instrumental, but after encouragement from others he decided to turn it into a song. He has always had a but of a "thing" for ladies with "turned up" or "ski slope noses" and thought he would dedicate the song to them. Sadly, however, the English language is less than romantic at times, particularly when dealing with probosci and other fundamental human parts. He proposed to adopt the French word for "turned up nose", retrousse, but being aware of his limitations with the French language, called upon the services of a musical friend from Europe, Saladin de Tolosa to provide the lyrics.
