Rattlehand

Six piece Rattlehand roll seamlessly through a set about girls cars and bushrangers, as only a band with a dedicated harmonicist can.
Money for Jam has the oldies jiving like its their 1969 school hall dance, whilst others whistle and cheer the Brisbane outfit for their ability to provide just the perfect country rock prelude for the band to come. - Time Off Magazine

Rattlehand PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 09 November 2010

ImageJOHN SHELTON, lead singer and guitarist of blues-rock band RATTLEHAND, answers some questions for RAVE.

For newcomers to Rattlehand, how would you describe the band’s approach to music?

Well we just play music that we like. I think that everyone in this band has tried other things, grown up and fallen in love with country/blues/folk/Americana-based genres in some form or another over the years. We bring all that to the rehearsal room and try to sew it all together cohesively by writing the best songs we can. I couldn’t be happier with the group dynamic and how that translates into music.

You have an upcoming gig supporting Halfway and Danny Widdicombe. What does this opportunity mean to the band?

The songs mean the most to me. These guys write great songs so that’s really what it comes down to. Playing alongside fine musicians is definitely a very rich and satisfying experience; you just know that the quality of the whole show is going to be A1. We’re flattered to be on the bill with Halfway, Danny Widdicombe and Leichardt because these bands have been playing out for a lot longer than Rattlehand, not to mention Halfway were part of the inspiration of putting our band together and actually making it work. So I’m stoked. We also have a great manager in Dan [Starkey], who is always fighting the good fight. There’s no substitute for someone’s honest belief in a band and we’d only be writing and playing in a house in East Brisbane if it wasn’t for her.
Is there collaborative harmony within the band or do you clash sometimes?

The group is really focused on enjoying the quality of music making; it’s one of the main things each member looks forward to in their lives, so there are rarely any disagreements. We all manage to have plenty of fun and get through the tough times as well. Just recently, a whole lot of our equipment was stolen from inside a van in the Valley so that has had a hefty impact on the whole Rattlehand family, yet we prevail.

RATTLEHAND play The Troubadour on Friday Nov 12 (with Halfway, Danny Widdicombe Band and Leichardt); Ric’s on Saturday Dec 4; then at the Woodford Folk Festival, which runs Tuesday Dec 28 until Friday Dec 31. See www.myspace.com/rattlehand for more details. - Rave Magazine

Rattlehand PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 12 July 2011

ImageLocal alt-country band RATTLEHAND are only just beginning, but guitarist and singer JOSH SHELTON has high hopes for this latest project. KRISSI WEISS finds out more.

Having only launched themselves onto the local music scene in 2010, alt-country band Rattlehand are doing their best to make an impact. Despite their brief time in this incarnation, members of Rattlehand arrive full of musical experience. Hailing from previous Brisbane groups such as The Cool Calm Collective, The Black Arts and The Grassroots Street Orchestra they have united to create fresh music in a genre that differs to the bands from which they came.

Josh Shelton tells me that the band are currently recording their debut album and with a little hope, they are shopping around to see if they can get some label support for its release. They have been gigging extensively since their inception last year and this album will be the culmination of some extremely focussed songwriting. “Hopefully the record we are doing at the moment will attract some attention,” Shelton says.

“We are looking far and wide for some support, nothing major label, just indie stuff. We have a few labels in Canada and the US, many [in] Nashville, that we are interested in, but nothing is for certain at all yet.”

Their recent tour was to support Melbourne’s Wagons and Shelton seems excited about the exposure that tour has given the band. “We’ve been playing a lot around the place recently,” he continues. “We just finished off with Wagons in Melbourne and that was just great. We had an absolute ball and they seemed to like what we were doing and we liked what they were doing.”

The members of Rattlehand have known each other for over 10 years and I ask Shelton why this is the first time they have gotten together to form a creative project. “You end up hanging around the same jerks all of the time and then when that band ends, you can start hanging around with your friends because you’re a real person again,” he laughs. “We were re-establishing connections with our friendship groups, we all found this one particular genre of music and we are really enjoying it.”

It seems in Brisbane, and I assume it is a phenomenon in other cities as well, that bands make a mark on the local scene, begin to attract attention and a solid fan base and then they disappear, only to reappear a little while later in new musical manifestations. I ask Shelton whether he thinks that sometimes bands give up before they have given their music enough time to reach its full potential. “That’s possible,” he says. “I don’t want to be too harsh but I guess if you’ve tried to make it in a band and you’re essentially not getting up and above that local band status, when, as a group of people, you’re sick of doing it, then you stop. Time goes by, and then you reconnect and you start a new band and that one might actually go a little bit further. I guess that’s part of what being in a broader musical community is about.”

RATTLEHAND will be at The Step Inn, Friday Jul 15 with The Wildes, Duke Wilde Band and Silent Feature Era as well as The Loft, Gold Coast, Saturday Jul 16 with The Wildes, Duke Wilde Band and Cascadeer, and Paddington’s Dowse Bar on Sunday Jul 24. Check out www.rattlehand.com for more info. - Rave Magazine

RATTLEHAND PDF Print E-mail
Rattlehand_0910_h

THEY'VE NOT YET PLAYED A SHOW, BUT ALREADY LOCAL ACT RATTLEHAND ARE ENJOYING AN ADMIRABLE DEGREE OF SUCCESS. DAN CONDON SPEAKS TO FRONT MAN JOSH SHELTON ABOUT GOING COUNTRY AND WHERE IT WILL TAKE THEM.

Josh Shelton had the itch to write again following the demise of his former group so took it upon himself to bring together some likeminded, and perhaps not so likeminded people, to form Rattlehand.
“Well it had been about three years since my last project the Black Arts and I’d been writing lots of new songs and realising that the material had a particular country kind of lean to it,” he explains of the band's genesis. “So I called on a bunch of old friends, some of who I thought would not really be into the style and some who I knew would. My goal was just to rehearse a couple of tunes and make a quick demo.
“So after just one rehearsal, when all seven of us were beyond impressed with the result and keen to keep working on it I was pretty surprised. The next time we got together was in the studio to make our current demo, and now we’re booking shows and festivals all over the country. It’s been a busy three months and is shaping up to be a very busy year.”
The band are understandably keen to get an album ready for release, but Shelton says it is still a little while off.
“We’re recording our first album at Alchemix Studios in with local producer Marly Luske,” Shelton says. “The goal is to release and tour it in June/July next year. Myself and some of the other guys in Rattlehand go way back with Marly and there’s a lot of trust and respect there between both parties. It will be the first full-length album that any of us has made so we’re already a little excited about that even though pre-production won’t be starting until February next year.”

WHO: Rattlehand
WHERE & WHEN: Brisbane Powerhouse Sunday Sep 19 - Time Off Magazine

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE, LANIE LANE, RATTLEHAND PDF Print E-mail
THE STEP INN: 11.03.10
Who knows what rock Rattlehand crawled out from under, but they should do it a helluva lot more often! Kicking things off with their Wagons-styled urban country, this six-piece are all ragged, rollickin’ and a great fit to tonight’s bill.
Lanie Lane, on the other hand, has a harder time. Possibly because her blues-breakers and tearjerkers just never sit right with her voice – all sweet and often too sexy to be singin’ the blues.
Country singers usually find themselves in one of two places when they’re about to take the stage: dive bars or theatre halls. Tonight Justin Townes Earle and whole heap of folks are sweatin’ it out in this shitty back room.
Apart from the heat, Earle seems right at home and takes no time winning over everyone with his now well-worn tales and perpetual charm. Move Over Mama, They Killed John Henry and Wanderin’ are instantly familiar, but tonight made different with the addition of Josh Hedley accompanying on fiddle. Earle’s usual slick bawdiness is heavily tempered throughout most of tonight’s set, Mama’s Eyes and One More Night In Brooklyn reduced to sombre lullabies, aching much more so than on record (due often in no small part to Hedley).
Earle makes sure any remaining gloss is wiped away, adding stories about cocaine abuse and vodka in the shower before breakfast to already dog-eared tunes Ain’t Waiting and Slippin’ And Slidin’, among others. But, as he tarnishes his image with one hand, he equally sets about placing you under his heartbreaking spell with Christchurch Woman and Someday I’ll Be Forgiven For This.
Spin in a little Lightnin’ Hopkins blues, a dose of honky tonk (Halfway To Jackson) and even the skiffle of Walk Out and it’s impossible not to feel satisfied by the strange contradictions of the man on stage who through his set continues to dilute his own tenderness with added shots of piss and vinegar.
As Harlem River Blues draws the set to an end, it’s a strange relief to be momentarily freed from the sardine tin of all those in their Sunday best. Justin Townes Earle however takes a different route, returning shirtless for a three-song encore that ticks all the boxes and leaves us on a high with Can’t Hardly Wait. Very apt, since we’ll all be keenly waiting for him to return to our shores and a stage more befitting our adoration and his talents.
RICHARD ALVEREZ - Time Off Magazine

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate and Rattlehand. A recipe for Rootsy Goodness.
Sunday, 03 October 2010

Rattlehand have confirmed that they will be supporting Transvaal Diamond Syndicate at the Troubadour on October 28th.

"TDS are seriously talented dudes," say the Rattlehand Boys, "we're damned lucky to be playing with them."

Catch Transvaal Diamond Syndicate supported by Rattlehand at the Troubadour from 8pm October 28th. - Rave Magazine Australia

Danny Widdicombe / Rattlehand
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Powerhouse - Sun Sep 19
There isn’t a better way to spend an overcast Sunday afternoon than watching some quality local music. Rattlehand are up first playing to an intimate crowd of about 100 people. Although boasting much experience in other individual projects this is their first show together and the seven-piece is one tight country outfit. The three guitars play catchy country riffs with fitting support from the lap steel and harmonica. Their opening number, Fire In Flight is a stand out and demonstrates the talent these guys have. A quick 45-minute set is not long enough as Rattlehand are a pleasure to listen to.

RICHARD COOMBS
- Rave Magazine Australia

THEY'VE NOT YET PLAYED A SHOW, BUT ALREADY LOCAL ACT RATTLEHAND ARE ENJOYING AN ADMIRABLE DEGREE OF SUCCESS. DAN CONDON SPEAKS TO FRONT MAN JOSH SHELTON ABOUT GOING COUNTRY AND WHERE IT WILL TAKE THEM.

Josh Shelton had the itch to write again following the demise of his former group so took it upon himself to bring together some likeminded, and perhaps not so likeminded people, to form Rattlehand.
“Well it had been about three years since my last project the Black Arts and I’d been writing lots of new songs and realising that the material had a particular country kind of lean to it,” he explains of the band's genesis. “So I called on a bunch of old friends, some of who I thought would not really be into the style and some who I knew would. My goal was just to rehearse a couple of tunes and make a quick demo.
“So after just one rehearsal, when all seven of us were beyond impressed with the result and keen to keep working on it I was pretty surprised. The next time we got together was in the studio to make our current demo, and now we’re booking shows and festivals all over the country. It’s been a busy three months and is shaping up to be a very busy year.”
The band are understandably keen to get an album ready for release, but Shelton says it is still a little while off.
“We’re recording our first album at Alchemix Studios in with local producer Marly Luske,” Shelton says. “The goal is to release and tour it in June/July next year. Myself and some of the other guys in Rattlehand go way back with Marly and there’s a lot of trust and respect there between both parties. It will be the first full-length album that any of us has made so we’re already a little excited about that even though pre-production won’t be starting until February next year.”


- Time Off Magazine Australia

JOSH SHELTON, singer and songwriter with sweet-pickin’ country-tinged rock & roll septet RATTLEHAND, who play their first show this weekend at Live Spark, answers some questions for RAVE.

There are a lot of you – how do you all fit on stage?
We’re compact dudes and don’t mind getting up close and personal. The band has a nice strong energy and as great mates who love just love playing the kind of music we’re playing, having seven people doesn’t feel like strange or excessive at all.

Rattlehand has risen from the ashes of The Black Arts, and recruited Grassroots Street Orchestra, Say Nothing and Fat Man’s Cleavage members to its flock. How is the melting pot of influences working out?
My honest opinion is that those bands don’t have much of an influence on Rattlehand at all. We all came into this project with heaps of musical experience and that obviously gets put to good use, but we we’re also looking to put those chapters of our musical lives behind us and do something that for us personally is fresh and new. Americana, folk, bluegrass, blues and alt-country are musical currents that all of us have felt the pull from for a few years now, and the stars have only just aligned now so we can follow these creative pursuits.
In a city like Brisbane, how prevalent is gamblin’, hustlin’, drinkin’ and wrangling’?
It’s really just a joke I guess, but in order of prevalence I’d have to say we get plenty of drinking done between us, and I know myself and a few others are very partial to a game of Five Card Stud or Texas Hold’em. Wranglin’ and hustlin’ just tend to form a part of life for anyone strugglin’ to get a musical project up and runnin’. I guess you could say they’re good descriptors for the dirty, rough n’ tumble business of making rock & roll music a way of life, as cheesy as it sounds.

You employ a vast array of instrumentation – ever considered employing a lagerphone?
As you can tell we pretty much have our hands full, due to the aforementioned prevalence of drinking. We could probably put our hands on enough XXXX stubby bottle tops to fashion a very authentic lagerphone in about two weeks. The lagerphone has a unique Australiana sound in my opinion, but I guess it could be worked there somewhere.

You’re supporting Wilson Picker Danny Widdicombe at Live Spark. Do you consider the Pickers kindred spirits?
We’re big fans of The Wilson Pickers and Danny is a great songwriter, but this is our first show together and it’s not a Wilson Pickers show so I wouldn’t say kindred spirits, Rattlehand does a little more rock & roll than The Wilson Pickers and those guys are steering towards a purer blue grassy, roots sound and Rattlehand doesn’t really do that. However, we’re definitely barking up a similar Weeping Willow tree, if you know what I mean.

RATTLEHAND support Danny Widdicombe at Live Spark at The Brisbane Powerhouse Turbine Platform from 3.30pm on Sunday Sep 19. www.myspace.com/rattlehand
- Rave Magazine Australia