Yes, I'm one of those unsociable types - I do almost everything on my recordings - guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, tambourines, shakers, handclaps, all vocals, all writing, recording and mastering. Occasionally I'm helped out by Samuel Cardwell on drums.
However, you can see me play with other people on many of my video clips here, on Facebook and on YouTube
Influences
SOME MUSICIANS THAT I LOVE AND THAT HAVE INFLUENCED ME IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER:
NEW! I've added links for all the artists - click, explore and enjoy!
Let's face it, there are too many great artists, writers and producers to list but I especially like to listen to a lot of soul music including music from the Stax and Atlantic labels, Motown, 70s soul, doo-wop, be-bop, early rock and roll, ska, reggae and New Orleans R&B. Listen to my favourite radio program, Mohair Slim
's "Blue Juice" on Melbourne's PBS 106.7 FM (www.pbsfm.org.au) and you'll get a pretty good idea!
NEW! Turn off my music, click twice on the FineTune widget and... gasp... you can hear 45 of my favourite tracks - a good time guaranteed for all!
...AND CHECK OUT MY "TOP TEN ALBUMS" GROUP
Here you'll find a lot of inspiring lists written by many of my friends, and I'd love you to join (just click "JOIN") and add your own Top Ten. Or your Top Ten Singles, Top Ten Psychedelic Albums, Top Ten Polka 78's, Top Ten Bass Players, Top Ten Producers... whatever musical lists you want.
You can find my top ten albums of al time there. You can also find the post later on where I admitted that I had completely forgotten to include anything by a certain Mr. Neil Young who some might say has had a perceptible influence on my guitar playing.
SOME LESS WELL-KNOWN MYSPACE ARTISTS THAT I LIKE:
Again, this list could be a mile long. I've been really enthralled by a lot of beautiful music on myspace over the last year or so. I'll try to keep adding to (or amending) this list, but it's like "top friends", it's impossible to truly represent my feelings! Tell you what, though - these artists are all well worth listening to so why don't you click on a few and tell them I sent you!
Don McGlashan
(Former leader of the wonderful Mutton Birds and certified National Treasure in New Zealand - unquestionably a genius, and one of the best singers you'll ever hear)
The Desert Downtown and Marshmallow
(One of the secret weapons of The Mutton Birds was their bass player/occasional songwriter and singer, Alan Gregg, and these are two of his projects, both achingly tuneful in nature)
Maxi Dunn
(One of the few women on the Jellyfish Tribute album. She's just so good. I don't know what it is about her songs - I can't analyse why I like them so much. On the surface they sound a little 80s-ish for my taste, but I just want to play them over and over again, so she's doing something that moves me!)
Martin Okasili
(He's from my hometown of Portadown, Northern Ireland, but I never met him. I read a rave review of him in Mojo once and eventually found him here on myspace, and, would you believe it, it turns out he is brilliant!)
The Electrolites
(Don't miss them)
Darren Sheppard
(Clever guy from England who still knows how to write and play songs like the British bands of the 60s - many try but few succeed)
The Taters
(Actually, this band from Virginia do a pretty good job at capturing that 60s sound, too! And I've heard first hand that they're one of the greatest live acts on the planet!)
Steve Singh
(Like the Beatles, but not like The Beatles. You know what I mean, even the Beatles were "like the Beatles, but not like the Beatles", in that they never did what anyone expected)
Linda Draper
(I love this music deeply)
Tender Slider
(Brilliant music from my good friend Achim Degen in Germany)
The Aloha Mountain Groove Band
(The name says it all! Features Renn Tiki)
Mike Dees
(Rootsy pop songs from Memphis)
Crab Bubbles
(Infinitely enjoyable pure pop from Japan)
Peter Farnan
(This guy from Melbourne is a treasure - spends a lot of time working in various projects but is working towards a solo album which I'm looking forward to)
Jane Bayley
(Partner of Mr. Farnan and equally wonderful - check out her Blossom Dearie-esque "Lovely Wife")
Darren Keith
(Amazing range and depth of material)
Jenny Queen
(Americana, but don't let that put you off!)
Teri LaBrecque
(Writes and records all her stuff at home by herself, just like myself, but she's a better singer and plays a more interesting range of instruments!)
Honest John
(Sydney band - just got their new EP and it's as good as anything new I've heard this year!)
Marty Williams
(Marty is kind of a perfect singer and a great supporter of local music round here on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, and he's also in this band with his brother...)
Cousin Leonard
(You'll never see a happier crowd than those at their regular Sunday afternoon gigs at the Heritage in Balnarring!)
President Roots
(Another excellent band from here on the Mornington Peninsula - their leader, Simon has a new song about Professor Longhair that I heard him play recently, and it's an instant classic.)
David Rice
(Folksy yet Beatle-tinged and eclectic Swedish artist.)
themillionstars
(I've just discovered this duo, Rose and Malcolm Moore and I fell in love instantly. They make tough music.)
Father Bloopy
(Quite a few people have likened me to Ray Davies and the Kinks, but this band's singer deserves the comparison. Even better, the band have brilliantly strong songs and sound.)
Hugh Hamilton
(Never mind his beautifully accomplished guitar playing and crafty songwriting, check out that wonderful Claptonesque voice of his!)
Ernie Dufour
(This guy's singing really affects me - you know how singers used to be back in the good old days of the 60s and 70s?)
Richard Cummins
(Richard lives very near where I used to live in Canada, but we never met each other back then. He's very accomplished and makes beautifully Beatlesque music in an effortless manner.)
Marjie Cardwell
(Marjie is my wife and after a break of some years she has been doing some new recordings with me - on this page she has posted some covers that we have done live in our home studio, with Marjie and me on guitars, Samuel on bass and Chris Haylock on drums.)
The Good China
(This band's from here in Melbourne, where there's a lot of good music made, but not much of it sounds like this. There are, like, nine people in it and they are a little like a slightly mellower New Pornographers. Nice visual style too!)
We All Want To
(This band's also from Australia - and, like the band above, they also sound like a more human New Pornographers. This is my kinda thing!)
Victor Stranges
(Victor is a Melbourne artist with a huge talent for songwriting and a big, expressive voice. If you like classic Elvis Costello you'll definitely like his songs and his sound. Check out his myspace and say hi - he's a nice guy too!)
WHAT DO I READ?
Well, some of you are probably looking at my bookcase in the video and thinking, what a pretentious git, I bet he hasn't read half of them. And you'd be right! But I do read a fair bit, and here is some stuff that as influenced me greatly over the years:
The Beano, The Dandy, Mojo Magazine, 4-4-2 Magazine, any Chesterton (but a good place to start is "The Bodley Head G.K. Chesterton"), Isaac Asimov, Charles Dickens, Ogden Nash, "The Beatles Recording Sessions", "The Expert Encyclopedia Of Recording by Rick Clark", "How To Lie With Statistics", P.G. Wodehouse, Log Tables, C.S. Lewis' fiction and non-fiction, "One, Two Three, Infinity" by George Gamow, Delia Smith's "Complete Cookery Course" (the old one), Russian Literature (in English) especially Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, "Written In My Soul: Conversations With Rock's Great Songwriters" by Bill Flanagan, "Theory & Practice Of Histological Techniques"... and then there's that old classic, The Bible
AND HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE GROOVY RADIO SHOWS THAT PLAY MY MUSIC!
THESE ARE PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO SOUND LIKE. BUT I DON'T:
Neil Young, The Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, The Kinks, Al Green, Crowded House, Neil Finn, T-Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips, Iron And Wine, Dave Dobbyn, Alpha Band, Richard Thompson, Kelley Stoltz, Edwyn Collins, The Mutton Birds, The Rolling Stones The Byrds, Roger McGuinn, Jonathan Richman, Abba, David Bowie, Elliott Smith, Nick Lowe, Johnny Cash, Ron Sexsmith, Bob Dylan, Ray Davies, World Party, Glenn Tilbrook, Sonic Youth
FOLLOW MY OCCASIONAL TRIVIAL UTTERANCES ON TWITTER:
"Sensory Lullabies" is an amazing 2-CD set that features amazing covers of both Jellyfish albums by a lot of great artists (and me) in their entirety along with a lot of rare Jellyfish songs!
The song is featured on this album which you can buy NOW! As well as my track there are two whole CDs containing versions of both Jellyfish albums in their entirety, along with covers of numerous other obscure JF songs! Click on the snazzy album cover icon below to order the CD from Burning Sky Records, or you can buy it from www.notlame.com or just search for it on Amazon. You can see my video for the song at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqDnHubEdLg
DC Cardwell grew up in Portadown, Northern Ireland and spent some years in Vancouver, Canada, before moving to Melbourne, Austral... hold on, this is actually me running this profile, not some hired PR person. I'm a one-man-guy, to quote Loudon Wainwright III, so I do everything myself: writing, singing, playing, recording and myspacing. And I can't bring myself to write in third person promo-speak. But Paul Freeman wrote something pithy (I said pithy) about me in the Palo Alto Daily News recently, and he's given me permission to quote it, so here it is:
"Irish-born, Australia-based artist DC Cardwell is a late bloomer. Now it's time for the world to discover his exceptional songwriting/performing gifts. Cardwell plays all the parts on his brilliantly conceived songs. "Peace and Love" is a pop-folk-rocker you'll immediately embrace. It's been a favorite on Neil Young's Web site showcase (neilyoung.com). Also impressive are the beautiful "The First Time," the Dylan-esque "A Way with Words" and the witty "Tom is Everybody's Friend" (which should amuse all MySpace afficionados). Cardwell is featured on two new tribute CDs, one dedicated to Ricky Nelson, the other to Jellyfish."
FREE SONG LYRICS AND CHORDS!
Apparently lyrics are one of the most searched for items on the internet, so, you won't find the Beatles lyrics you're after, but if you CLICK HERE you can read my lyrics and play along with my guitar chord charts! Cover one of my songs, have a big hit with it and earn me loads of dosh!
I'd like to be able to supply free guitar tabs for my songs, but I don't have the patience to make such things, so all you get is the chord charts!
FREE EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADS
From time to time I offer exclusive free downloads at ReverbNation. All you have to do is click on this link and follow the prompts to sign up for my free newsletter.
Subscribers will also receive an occasional newsletter about, well, about, let's see, about my CD if it ever comes out. Or my world tour. And free downloads of rare DC mp3s.
David, glad you enjoyed them. I do need to post who is in the pix, I promise to get around to that soon!! Hope all is well with you and the family, as for us...we are doing great...busy with the studio right now. ((big hugs))) vikki
Wow... so a guy with 12,000+ friends leaves a comment on my page....koolers, thank you!...Thank you for the music...you remind me of a Paul Simon acoustic..... lovely...
Love the shirt DC, maybe I could do that song for ya? The deaf would love it! And guess what! The hearing young people love to watch the signing music. Think about it. More young people will know who DC is! Have a Wonderful Father's Day!! xoxoxoxox
Hello Stranger! Hope this finds you well..... I stop by from time to time.... You and your family have been and always will be included in my thoughts. I've missed talking to you. Cheers Mate!
Hi DC, thank you so much for re-adding me and Darren's Support page. Yes, I had an absolutely awful Sunday but now I am back.Had to re-create the pages but it looks good now. Have a great Thursday.
Hey DC! Yes there are some tunes on the myspace page..all older stuff. We're going to record some new tunes soon. If you ever find yourself in Greenville South Carolina, let me know. We could get you a show at The Coffee Underground if you're interested.
Hey David, Good to hear from you. Looks like JB Hi-fi in Aus is charging double for the Neil Young Archives set as what you can get it for direct from his website... go to http://neilyoung.com/ to look and order. Isn't it wonderful how they tyranny of distance works against us down here...??? (NOT). cheers Colleen AUTHOR & ARTIST Sydney
