Gary O’Dea - vocals/acoustic guitar/harmonica...plus a variety of waifs and strays!
Influences
Anything good
Sounds Like
Acoustically driven - blends together elements of classic chilled out grooves such as blues, funk n' soul with a contemporary twist - plus the passion and attitude of old school punk / rock n' roll to produce a rocking grooving organic mix of rhythms to soothe your soul in these troubled times.
Live from the Antifolk night at the Sidewalk Cafe in NYCs Greenwich (East) Village. Compered and presented by NYC underground legend Lach. Pretty cool place and crowd - enjoy!:-)
On the way back uptown from doing alittle spot at The Sidewalk Cafe in East Village (NYC) me and Deb went to get the subway train at Astor Place and this guy was busking on the subway platform - his name is Darryl Milton abd I thought he was as cool as fuck...it rounded off a lovely evening. Check it out...pretty cool geezer :-)
Martin Stephenson & Gary O'Dea (plus The Crowd) perform 'Crocodile Cryer' at The Queens Head - Top Bar Venue, Belper, Derbyshire. Sat 6th Oct 2007. What a wicked night...everything is alright in the world.
MY SWEET RITA - GOJO' MUSIC - Gary O'Dea & Eric 'Camper Man' Cox. Small World Cafe Stage (Fri 22nd June) - Green Futures Field - Glastonbury Festival 2007. 'Chillin' the people out from the mud and rain...Coxy's bare feet approach not really helping with environmental / green issues in my opinion!!! I was of course resplendent in my official 'cultural ambassadors robe'...my Tipton Town FC top! C'mon The Toon!
P.S - Hello Nic-Nacs at the end and many thanks to Dave Tucker for there tremendous support.
DISTANT FRIEND - More Glastonbury Small World Cafe stage groovin'. I'd asked the folks if they'd sing Happy Birthday to Deb (the wife) over the phone - it was her birthday. They were well up for it but I couldn't get a bloody signal on me phone...still it's the thought that counts - as I've told her! Bless her XX
BIG CITY BLUE - Mandela Acoustic Stage - Green Futures Field (not that it was very green by this time)Sat 23rd June - Glastonbury 2007. Ecka in waterproofs is ready for any severe floods that may hit the stage...I'd got me inflatable water wings in me bag!!!
Dave Tucker heckling at the end because he bet me that I couldn't get the song done under 5 mins...I told him that you can't hurry class - ha ha! Big City Blue groove monster rules!
(Get Me On A Bus To) Betterville (O'Dea 2006)...Promo film - a D.I.Y 'homemade' production (in D.I.Y. 'surroundings' sound)!!! Song - O'Dea/GOJO' MUSIC 2006. Video - O'Dea/Tucker 2007. 'Super duper' Dave Tucker has managed to work wonders in getting this video file squashed down enough to broadcast on YouTube/MySpace etc without it distorting too much at all...it's near enough perfect...the man is a genius!
Quiet Please...Songwriter at Work! Gary O'Dea solo rendition of 'Take The Money and Run My Dear' (O'Dea / Oliver 2006).
GOJO' MUSIC is the term musician / singer-songwriter Gary O'Dea uses to describe his musical output of the last few years. Gary's influences stretch far and wide across many genres of music. He's never been afraid to blend them all up and serve a musical dish that - although the ingredients may be recognisable, the way he blends them together leaves the taste buds crying out for more. He has a conviction about his music, a determination / attitude to do it his way that stems from Garys grounding as a young musician (drummer) / songwriter in the Punk / New Wave rock n roll era of the late 70s / early 80s.
With GOJO' MUSIC the genres are blended together into an all over groove. Contemporary artists such as The Fun Lovin Criminals, Ben Harper etc, are an influence alongside the late great Joe Strummers work of the past few years with The Mescaleros. Gary came up with the term GOJO' MUSIC to describe his musical plan. It resembled the term Mojo (this obviously having association / connotations with the history of black music), it also tipped a cap to Joe Strummers attitude of embracing and mixing / blending many styles into one organic groove (i.e. Jo Music). So GOJO' MUSIC was / is the name given to this groove.
For more info on Gary's past and the musicians and producers he's worked with please visit http://www.gojo-music.co.uk/gazzette.php
Gary started GOJO' MUSIC at the beginning of 2004 playing some excellent summer gigs with a full band line up. Things didn't gel as well as first expected so Gary looked elsewhere for suitable candidates to work with. He teamed up with old guitar friend and virtuoso Garry 'Olly' Oliver in Oct 2004. They had known each other since the Punk/ New Wave days of the late 70's early 80's and last played together back in 1986 (the Indie years) in a band called The Railway Children who were managed by ex Boomtown Rat's guitarist Gerry Cott (later - after O'Dea had left - they changed their name to The Weeping Messerschmidtts).
With GOJO' MUSIC - O'Dea wanted the flexibility to be able to work with a full band line up and also scale down to a more intimate acoustic set up as well when required. This was achieved via working with some excellent old musician friends who came onboard briefly and added to the GOJO' groove when required - these include Eric Cox - bass and mandolin, Andy Stokes - piano / keyboards and Tony Bate on drums & percussion.
In November 2005 Gary and Olly played a support slot to the wonderful Martin Stephenson at The Little Civic in Wolverhampton - England. It was a great night, working with Martin was a thrill for them both because they were / are both big fans. A friendship and mutual respect with Martin was struck up that resulted in Martin producing GOJO' MUSIC'S debut 4 track EP/CD titled 'Twenty Years Of Love and Pain...they hurt the same' that was releaed on GOJO' MUSIC'S own label in June 2006. It was recorded at O'Dea's home on Martin's portable ZOOM MRS 1266 recording desk and has received critical acclaim - Gary's motto is - 'Home recording...keeps the home fires burning!
Two tracks from this are included above. They are 'Tell Me Please, Is This How The West Was Won?' (a freedownload) and Distant Friend. June 2007 saw Gary's previous back catalogue (originally released via the Birmingham based Anew Music label) made available through GOJO' MUSIC. This includes the CD/Album 'Love Hounds & Fortune Cookies' and also the CD/EP 'Sittin' On Your Fence' (which features amongst others...Steve Gibbons / PJ Wright / Gary Lammin / Glenn Somerville etc). A track from each of these releases are also included above - 'Slowdown' from the 'Love Hounds & Fortune Cookies' album and the live favourite alternative blues groover 'Big City Blue' from 'Sittin' On Your Fence'.
During 2007 Gary appeared with both full band line-ups and scaled down performances plus solo performances at venues around the country ranging from small intimate little clubs to Civic Halls and Festivals including The Porter Cellar Bar - Bath, 3345 Club - Liverpool, Little Civic Club and Civic Hall - Wolverhampton, Green Futures Festival - Warwickshire, Glastonbury Festival and Birmingham Arts Festival to name a few.
Gary has continued to work solo throughout 2008 with guest appearances at numerous venues around the country that have so far included Candlelit in Mansfield, The Sage Theatre - Gateshead (with Martin Stephenson) as part of the SummerTyne Festival, De-Bees - Cheshire, two appearances at The View Two - Liverpool (Mellowtone promotions), the Birmingham Arts Festival and many more - including the legendary Anti-Folk night at The Sidewalk Cafe - Greenwich Village (East) New York City on a trip out to the USA in June 2008.
A new solo album is planned to be recorded and released in 2008 with live dates to coincide - keep checking in with us...don't forget 'Life Is Good When The Groove Is On.'
For reviews and press details please visit
http://www.gojo-music.co.uk/press.php
For previous info on GOJO' MUSIC please visit the web-site www.gojo-music.co.uk - to contact please e-mail: garysing1@aol.com
Hi Gary We'd be overjoyed if you would come and see us at the Hare and Hounds this Friday 3 July. Admission is £5 or free to MySpace friends of Moseley Folk (www.myspace.com/moseleyfolk)
I put a free Cd on my page just for You to download.I'm currently booking 09/10 shows . Let Me know if you want me back out in Your area. keep in touch, Clover X
Thank you G... its really just my way of telling all my great mates how influencial they have been to me... keep rocking cos I wouldnt have got this far without your help... God Bless. Gary Lammin.
you saying that means a lot to me thanks gary..your no fool and i know how much you "SEE" how things are...listen mate sally my girlfriend really likes your songs and i noticed your doing a bit of recording soon... if you want some great fiddle (bob dylan desire style) and a bit of ronnie lane dobro slide we would both like to lay a bit down for you cos we are planning a trip to the black country area when i get home.. be nice to see you and debbie anyway..
Gaz Im a bigger one then anyone I got a T-shirt that says so... Yeah I did another cable... when your next here perhaps I could get TJ to interview you as well...
Well...why dont you write it with me... no one else knows my career more then you... Youve heard of the two Ronnies right ? well we can bill it as the Two Cunts... :)
Yeah... but had some real scarry moments which I will tell you about on the phone when I get home... we were down in little haiti just outside of miami...so stand by for a real white knuckle ride of a story...Lammin
Gaz...I got a few good friends... maybe half a dozen and to me you half a dozen mates are like the brothers I never had...God Bless you all for reconizing the Truth
Hello mate...i'm blind drunk quite often does that count.....regarding playing together..that would be cool with me. They have got that lovely grand piano in the view 2 as well! Only issue would be i can't get down until about 6.30pm on the Saturday, because I am alone in the shop til then. I'll ask mister downes...hes not gettin free internet from next door anymore, so he won't have seen this!! cheers for now.
Hmmmm... so much music to choose from!... I'm starting with "Distant Friend" on my profile (so my-space-y) but all your songs are so good, it's a tough choice.
Not a lot of flights to UK this year. They cancelled GLA and MAN, so I have to go to Paris and Amsterdam instead, boo-hoo! :DDD
