Bliss Blog

Matt Paull's drum solo

2008-08-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

My son Matt has just uploaded a video of him playing to a Dream Theater backing track. He created the backing track on his own and played all the instruments himeself. The sound and picture quality of the camera was not too brilliant but the drumming was very good.
Follow the link below to check it out.

Matt Paull's Dream Theater drum solo

Taupo Community Expo

2008-08-15T03:14:00.000-07:00

The Taupo Youth Wind band is playing tomorrow (Saturday 16th) at the Great Lake Centre in Taupo. Both my sons are members of this fantastic ensemble which is steadily putting together a very good set of material. They will be playing for half an hour from 12:30pm.

Latest news

2008-08-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Extremely busy week. Couple of gigs over the weekend. One at Suncourt with the bliss duo, the other at the Taupo Cossie for the Ulysses club with Working Class. Both nights were fantastic. The Cossie was absolutely packed and the dancefloor was full right from the first song of the evening till 12 O'clock.
Spent many hours helping my son Matt put the final touches to a Dream Theater backing track he has created. He is going to be using this track to audition for a drum competition in Australia later on in the year. He is also going to upload a film of his drum solo on youtube, I'll post a link to this at a later date.

Guitar Tuition Wairakei

2008-08-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

I've been teaching guitar at Wairakei school for about 9 months now. I started off with 4 groups of 4 kids. Since the beginning of the year this has increased to 6 groups. I've been really impressed with their enthusiasm and the speed with which they've picked it up.

I did a small musical item with the kids last Christmas and tomorrow we're going to perform again. The School Hall at the moment is sited on the other side of the road. Over the next few weeks the Hall is being relocated on to the School grounds. The performance tomorrow will be the last time the kids have to cross the road to have assemblies and concerts etc.

Great Lake Big Band Review

2008-07-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

Just read the review of the Big Bands last gig at the Rotorua Jazz Club. Very pleased with the write up. Click on the following link to read it:

http://www.blissnz.co.nz/text_files/RotoruaReview.pdf

Rob's Ditty

2008-07-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

An old friend of mine from London wrote a song once which we used to play in our local pub, the Magdala in Hampstead. His name was Robert Plant, not of Led Zeppelin fame, just West Hampstead fame. Anyway he never came up with a name for the song so we just used to call it 'Rob's Ditty'. I've just recently transcribed the song and have begun using it in some of my guitar lessons. Most of my students who have heard the song really enjoy the challenge of playing it, it's played very fast! I've just included it as a sample song on the guitar tuition page of my website.

Drum tracks for Midnight Sun

2008-07-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

Laid some drum tracks down for local band Midnight Sun this weekend. Many hours of work but well worth it as the finished result was very very good. Looking forward to finishing off the tracks over the next few weeks.

Melbourne Part 2

2008-07-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Melbourne. What a fantastic place! Full of hustle and bustle, we only really scratched the surface of things to do. Was really impressed with the amount of live entertainment on offer. We were there for 5 nights and we must have seen about 10 different acts!
The trams in the city centre made it very easy to get around in. The mix of old and new architecture was really unique, unlike any other city I can think of.
Got back to a load of phone messages, some duo and band enquiries and a couple of jingle requests. Looks like it's going to be a busy year!

Melbourne

2008-07-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Been in Melbourne for a couple of days now but seems a lot longer. Have already seen lots of live entertainment, from solo artists in pubs and clubs to live bands. Even in the CBD there is some amazing entertainment from the street buskers. Saw an brilliant guy this afternoon who played lap steel guitar and harmonica and had a device which he played with his foot which simulated a bass drum. Going to Chinatown this evening and hopefully will catch some more live entertainment later on.

Rotorua Jazz Club Gig

2008-07-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic gig last night. The band were really cooking and the sound was awesome. The place was packed and everyone had a great time. The mc commented over the microphone that Rotorua even though it's a much bigger centre than Taupo, hasn't got a Big Band. I must admit I'd never really thought about it before, but we are very lucky in Taupo to have so many talented musicians. Potentially the future is looking extremely bright because there is so much amazing younger talent waiting in the wings.

The next big gig on the horizon is the Everest Charity Ball which is to be held on the 30th August at the Great Lake Centre in Taupo. The evening promises to be quite spectacular with many celebrities in attendance and quite a few surprises!

Navy band gig, Taupo

2008-07-05T02:51:00.000-07:00

Saw the Navy band at the Great Lake Centre last night. What a brilliant night out! The sound quality was amazing, the band played with such feeling that you were simply drawn in to the whole experience. It was so nice to see a group of musicians who obviously love what they are doing. The band leader announced during the concert that the proceeds of the event would be donated to both the Taupo School of Music and the Concert Band.

5 gigs this week!

2008-06-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Really busy week coming up. On Sunday we've got a Bliss duo gig at the Suncourt Motel. On Tuesday Bliss are performing for the Probus club of Taupo at the Events Centre. On Thursday Bliss are playing at the Suncourt Motel. Then on Friday lunchtime I'm doing a classical guitar performance at St Andrews church Taupo with a couple of my students. And Sunday Jo and I are playing with the Great Lake Big Band at the Rotorua Jazz Club. Reminds me of our days with "Dont call me Jane" in London when playing a triple header over the weekend was fairly normal!

Taupo School of Music

2008-06-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

Just finished uploading the Taupo School of Music website. It still needs quite a bit of editing but the bare bones are all there! For anyone in Taupo who wants to learn an instrument this has got to be the best value out there!

Suncourt Motel gig was even better than last week! More people and really good atmosphere.

Taupo gigs

2008-06-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

A couple more gigs have just come in for the Suncourt Motel. The Bliss duo will play there on 22nd June and 29th June, starting at 6pm till 8:30pm. I've also been invited to play at the July Friday lunchtime concert on Friday 4th July at St Andrews church, Taupo. I'll be performing a few pieces with a couple of my students - Charles Allen and Jared Adlam.

Gig at the Suncourt Motel

2008-06-15T03:54:00.000-07:00

Just got back from doing a Bliss Duo gig with Jo at the Suncourt Motel in Taupo. What a great night! The place was really busy and we had a great time. We did quite a few songs we haven't played for quite a long time so it was good to see if we could still remember them! The whole evening was very relaxing, totally unlike the High School Musical performances last week.

High School Musical Part 3

2008-06-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last night was the final performance of HSM and what a fabulous night it was. The whole cast have been getting better and better as the week week progressed. The audience too were really getting behind the actors and this seemed to inspire the cast even more. I'll really miss being part of such a fantastic production, however it's going to be great to have my weekends back again! (at least for a little while anyway).

High School Musical Part 2

2008-06-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Just got back from doing the first performance of High School Musical. Taupo Nui a Tia College always do a preview show for the local Intermediate age School kids. Went really well. The show proper starts tonight - should be great.

High School Musical

2008-06-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

All the work has now been done. The cast have all learnt their lines, and the band are now as ready as they'll ever be. I didn't realise quite how much work would have to be put in when I agreed to play the guitar for the Taupo-Nui-a-Tia school production of High School Musical.
The guitar parts for last years production of Grease were an absolute breeze in comparison. Still, I must say that I'm really looking forward to the show which starts on Monday 9th June.