Transvaal Diamond Syndicate

An overview of the achievements/accomplishments of Transvaal Diamond Syndicate (as at Aug 2012). - Beats Cartel

An overview of the achievements/accomplishments of Transvaal Diamond Syndicate (as at Aug 2012). - Beats Cartel

TDS Bio (as at Aug 2012). - Beats Cartel

Review of 'Sins of the Blessed' album release in Australian Penthouse Magazine (Mar 2012) - Australian Penthouse Magazine

Review of 'Sins of the Blessed' album release in Australian Penthouse Magazine (Mar 2012) - Australian Penthouse Magazine

Please visit the URL to download your copy. Some exciting stuff. - Beats Cartel

As contained... - Transvaal Diamond Syndicate

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate seem to be on the up and up, and after listening to the second release from this Brisbane
blues outfit, I can see why. Opening track Devil On My Shoulder has a killer groove, slick slide guitar riffs and a stompy
dance-worthy rhythm. The album might start out all guns blazing, but it easily slips gears to cruisier tracks like I’m Your
Ticket and Blackwater, before Pistols At Dawn brings the album’s raw energy and southern groove back. The unexpected
saxophone solos on a few tracks are a unique touch, and the vocals are enticing, rich and exude cool – but I’m not sure if
all the Americana references are ironic or just clichéd. Either way, from start to finish this album is full of charismatic,
groove-filled blues-rock tunes with driving beats, and it’s definitely going to be a favourite for road trips.
- Nina Basson - Rave Magazine

as per URL - The Morning Bulletin

As per URL - The Point - Sunshine Coast

It was as though some kind of mystical, reverend cloud descended on the Step Inn. The bands for the night all specialised in hypnotic and dynamic drone rave- ups, a repetition of grooves to lull you into a sense of the spiritual, albeit with varying degrees of success. All three bands utilise a style that combines old folk music filtered through modern rock and roll. It was a tasty mix of the old and the contemporary, and most of the Step Inn punters seemed to enjoy it.



Transvaal Diamond Syndicate have attracted attention with their creative marketing techniques and a strong work ethic, but their musical aesthetic is considered, yet raw and rocking. Normally, a drums-resonator duo, they added tenor sax, bass guitar and, in some songs, the talents of local burlesque dancer Bertie Page. I have seen the band several times in various formats, but there was something special about this performance, which was also their official “Diamonds and Dust” EP release. TDS play a version of roots rock that is heavily influenced by blues but is not necessarily blues. With “Swamp Dance”, “Train A Comin’” and “Mojo” (which they dedicated to Brisbane blues godfather Mojo Webb), they know the vernacular and write songs that incorporate blues inspired riffs and hooks. However, there is a primordial push and drive from Tim Price’s drums and a high volume of crafted noise that seems to come from Africa via the Stooges.



Their compositions ebb and flow, constantly changing tempos or time signatures in a way that quickens the blood and simultaneously encourages you to sway within dirty grooves. Gravelly vocals from Christian Tryhorn, snappy dressing, raunchy sax and the dancing of Bertie Page means TDS know what rock n roll was and should be all about – style, sex and transcendence. Typical Australian rock, independent or otherwise, often forgets these defining factors of rock and roll. Oh, it was way back when, blues cats, and all them rockers, were dangerous because they produced music that made you want to get into it, man, like a sex machine, movin it! Groovin it! I fervently hope that more bands like TDS start packing the bars, with the style and panache to make people want to shake it again, cos there’s an itch there that makes me want to scratch, and TDS are part of that.



Canadian band, Elliot Brood, on tour with the Fumes, approach these rave-ups from a different angle than black American music – Celtic and country. Using acoustic guitars, drums, ukelele, banjo and bass played on pedals, Elliot Brood produced music of inconsistent quality that worked best when they added in country-style melodies. In a bastardised hybrid of post-Pogues punk, country folk and droning rave-ups, Elliot Brood were not as exciting as TDS when they were performed at their best and often the raw, shouted vocals were lost in the aural mess that comes with drone. Occasionally hypnotic grooves collided with anthemic choruses to produce something more than satisfactory but I missed the raunch and groan of TDS.



The Fumes were not as overtly sexual as TDS, but they used that rumble and blues groove to encourage the audience grinding. A slide guitar/drums duo, guitarist Steve Merry uses the traditional southern boogie thumb picking style and sits down to play like the late great RL Burnside. His sound his reminiscent of RL Burnside, using an open tuning and nailing the groove down with his thumb on the low E string. Meanwhile, Joel Battersby has pinpoint accuracy on the drums, using toms to extenuate the hypnotic feel of the music’s African roots.



At some point almost everyone nods in the reverie of continuous, monotonous beat, underpinned by those dark notes. This is related to the blues of Howling Wolf or Junior Kimbrough; the modern electro-dance movement; various Middle Eastern traditions; or the Velvet Underground. The Fumes have taken this from blues and combined it with a post-grunge independent song forms. Often they travelled between juke joint boogie to clashing chords and drums reminiscent of sounds coming from Seattle in the early 1990s, and back again. Merry has a deep and ominous voice as well, and he can carry a tune with charisma. Particularly impressive was when Battersby left the stage and Merry played by himself in a song that resembled John Lee Hooker had he swamped his guitar in maximum reverb. His guitar sound, a battered Telecaster or a resonator, is big and heavy, filling all the spaces you would expect to exist with a duo and Battersby plays his drums in synchrony with the guitar. There were no dropped beats, their playing was tight and rehearsed but flexible to extend out wherever it needed to.

If there was only one criticism it would be that with a duo, there are limited opportunities for variety and as the Fumes stretched out towards an hour it was easy for the attention to drift. However, the audience did not seem to care, the throb of The Fumes lulling them into a dazed nodding dan - Press Record Online - Junior Mojoblu

It was as though some kind of mystical, reverend cloud descended on the Step Inn. The bands for the night all specialised in hypnotic and dynamic drone rave- ups, a repetition of grooves to lull you into a sense of the spiritual, albeit with varying degrees of success. All three bands utilise a style that combines old folk music filtered through modern rock and roll. It was a tasty mix of the old and the contemporary, and most of the Step Inn punters seemed to enjoy it.



Transvaal Diamond Syndicate have attracted attention with their creative marketing techniques and a strong work ethic, but their musical aesthetic is considered, yet raw and rocking. Normally, a drums-resonator duo, they added tenor sax, bass guitar and, in some songs, the talents of local burlesque dancer Bertie Page. I have seen the band several times in various formats, but there was something special about this performance, which was also their official “Diamonds and Dust” EP release. TDS play a version of roots rock that is heavily influenced by blues but is not necessarily blues. With “Swamp Dance”, “Train A Comin’” and “Mojo” (which they dedicated to Brisbane blues godfather Mojo Webb), they know the vernacular and write songs that incorporate blues inspired riffs and hooks. However, there is a primordial push and drive from Tim Price’s drums and a high volume of crafted noise that seems to come from Africa via the Stooges.



Their compositions ebb and flow, constantly changing tempos or time signatures in a way that quickens the blood and simultaneously encourages you to sway within dirty grooves. Gravelly vocals from Christian Tryhorn, snappy dressing, raunchy sax and the dancing of Bertie Page means TDS know what rock n roll was and should be all about – style, sex and transcendence. Typical Australian rock, independent or otherwise, often forgets these defining factors of rock and roll. Oh, it was way back when, blues cats, and all them rockers, were dangerous because they produced music that made you want to get into it, man, like a sex machine, movin it! Groovin it! I fervently hope that more bands like TDS start packing the bars, with the style and panache to make people want to shake it again, cos there’s an itch there that makes me want to scratch, and TDS are part of that.



Canadian band, Elliot Brood, on tour with the Fumes, approach these rave-ups from a different angle than black American music – Celtic and country. Using acoustic guitars, drums, ukelele, banjo and bass played on pedals, Elliot Brood produced music of inconsistent quality that worked best when they added in country-style melodies. In a bastardised hybrid of post-Pogues punk, country folk and droning rave-ups, Elliot Brood were not as exciting as TDS when they were performed at their best and often the raw, shouted vocals were lost in the aural mess that comes with drone. Occasionally hypnotic grooves collided with anthemic choruses to produce something more than satisfactory but I missed the raunch and groan of TDS.



The Fumes were not as overtly sexual as TDS, but they used that rumble and blues groove to encourage the audience grinding. A slide guitar/drums duo, guitarist Steve Merry uses the traditional southern boogie thumb picking style and sits down to play like the late great RL Burnside. His sound his reminiscent of RL Burnside, using an open tuning and nailing the groove down with his thumb on the low E string. Meanwhile, Joel Battersby has pinpoint accuracy on the drums, using toms to extenuate the hypnotic feel of the music’s African roots.



At some point almost everyone nods in the reverie of continuous, monotonous beat, underpinned by those dark notes. This is related to the blues of Howling Wolf or Junior Kimbrough; the modern electro-dance movement; various Middle Eastern traditions; or the Velvet Underground. The Fumes have taken this from blues and combined it with a post-grunge independent song forms. Often they travelled between juke joint boogie to clashing chords and drums reminiscent of sounds coming from Seattle in the early 1990s, and back again. Merry has a deep and ominous voice as well, and he can carry a tune with charisma. Particularly impressive was when Battersby left the stage and Merry played by himself in a song that resembled John Lee Hooker had he swamped his guitar in maximum reverb. His guitar sound, a battered Telecaster or a resonator, is big and heavy, filling all the spaces you would expect to exist with a duo and Battersby plays his drums in synchrony with the guitar. There were no dropped beats, their playing was tight and rehearsed but flexible to extend out wherever it needed to.

If there was only one criticism it would be that with a duo, there are limited opportunities for variety and as the Fumes stretched out towards an hour it was easy for the attention to drift. However, the audience did not seem to care, the throb of The Fumes lulling them into a dazed nodding dan - Press Record Online - Junior Mojoblu

1 Kasey Chambers – Little Bird
2 Custom Kings – Sunday
3 Little Red – Rock It
4 My Fiction – Every June
5 Wagons – Goodtown
6 The Bakery – Giving Your Love Away
7 Dan Banks Band – She Got Me
8 Transvaal Diamond Syndicate – Home
9 Ben Wells & The Middle Names – I Just Wanna Be Your Friend
10 Nathan Kaye – Couldn’t Put You Down

Top 5s By Category

Blues

1. Dan Banks Band – She Got Me
2. Transvaal Diamond Syndicate – Home
3. Nathan Kaye – Couldn’t Put You Down
4. Lisa Miller – Hidden Charms
5. Chase The Sun – Living Free
- AMRAP

Are you tired of your regular Tuesday free to air viewing and keen for something a little more DIY and just generally better than Modern Family?


Simply avert your eyes away from the television back to the computer screen and check out how Brisbane band Transvaal Diamond Syndicate is making the viral phenomenon of internet TV and YouTube work for them.

Low budget and enhanced by beer, Tuesday Tinnie’s are 10 minute oddments into the life of the band. It’s pretty much the shit you already do with your mates- hang out, get quietly drunk and talk about music. But they’ve got the initiative to film it and add in cuts to Alf Stewart and record the voices you make when you do that voiceover game in front of the TV just to add to the hilarity of it all. It’s not all about TDs, though. Occasionally you’ll catch a special guest like guitarist Jackson Dunn’s appearance in Episode 4 as well as the live music clip.

It makes me wonder- maybe my own antics and insights are YouTube worthy? Next time I get drunk with my friends I might set up a tripod. Wait- that sounds bad. Don’t expect a sex tape anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter.

Head along to the TDS YouTube channel tonight and find out how 2 guys with a digital camera and basic editing skills are changing the world one beer at a time and get inspired
- passengerside.net

Oh, bands with silly names. There sure are plenty of you out there.

To be fair, Transvaal Diamond Syndicate’s name does make sense in the right context, and if you can’t be arsed caring about that, it at least sticks in your mind. Ostensibly a blues rock two-piece, they’ve been smart enough enough to beef up their recordings with added bass, percussion and a great horn section – the effort was definitely worth it. They’re right up there with contemparies The Fumes and Dan Sultan, and hopefully soon they’ll be playing to audiences just as devoted and sizeable. At any rate, their hard work ethic when it comes to touring should keep them fed from merch sales alone.

Their EP ‘Diamonds and Dust’ is out September 15, and they’re playing a shitload of gigs over the next few months, beginning with the Sunshine Coast Blues Festival on Saturday.

www.myspace.com/transvaaldiamondsyndicate
- whothehell.net

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate grab The Zoo crowd’s attention with a wall of tribal drums featuring three extra drummers. Stripping to a two-piece the band bring on a whip-toting burlesque dancer while guest saxophonist Matt Barker joins the resonator stomp of ‘Home’ until the guitar drops away and returns half-time to a close. Ambling blues follow-up ‘Get On The Corner’ has singer-guitarist Christian Tryhorn switching between a bluesy voice and a smokier tenor. Matt Barker returns on sax as the band play ‘Breakdown’ with drummer Tim Price lashing his kit during the break. Playing an unnamed new song Tryhorn channels Hendrix in his guitar work before the band close with danceworthy ‘Behind That Smile’ as Barker plays slap notes against fast fluid riffs. Finishing as they started with an eight member percussion piece and Barker seguing sax tunes the band leave the audience on a high. - Time Off Magazine - Brisbane

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate grab The Zoo crowd’s attention with a wall of tribal drums featuring three extra drummers. Stripping to a two-piece the band bring on a whip-toting burlesque dancer while guest saxophonist Matt Barker joins the resonator stomp of ‘Home’ until the guitar drops away and returns half-time to a close. Ambling blues follow-up ‘Get On The Corner’ has singer-guitarist Christian Tryhorn switching between a bluesy voice and a smokier tenor. Matt Barker returns on sax as the band play ‘Breakdown’ with drummer Tim Price lashing his kit during the break. Playing an unnamed new song Tryhorn channels Hendrix in his guitar work before the band close with danceworthy ‘Behind That Smile’ as Barker plays slap notes against fast fluid riffs. Finishing as they started with an eight member percussion piece and Barker seguing sax tunes the band leave the audience on a high. - Time Off Magazine - Brisbane