It has been 28 years since David Bridie formed My Friend The Chocolate Cake.
The two-time ARIA Award winning band will release their eighth album ‘The Revival Meeting’ on May 19.
David says ‘The Revival Meeting’ is “a collection of songs in which the protagonist (who could be you, who could be me, who could be the woman next door) is trying to find their place in an increasingly mad world… Songs that seek out beauty in the simple, wisdom in the plain, sparkle in the ordinary. To see the world through a similar prism to the Sydney painter Jeffrey Smart – urban landscapes, stark portrayals of contemporary life, the joy of shape and light and colour. Songs about love and small noises and futility and travelling and vague notions of justice and dying, the Pacific and balloons and odd people. Instrumentals from both ends of the spectrum, that make you tap your feet, or ponder. Songs with three notes in them, beats that hammer, chords that ring out, tunes that meander and make you shrug your shoulders, melodies to make you hum or single along. Cello is the voice, Violin the expression, and piano notes ring out through the valley.”
The band is founding members David Bridie (piano and vocals) and Helen Mountfort (cello) with Greg Patten (drums), Dean Addison (double bass) and Andrew Richardson (guitar).
“We all get along pretty well after all these years,” David says. “These new tunes still have that certain feel that makes us go “yeah, it’s worth all the effort”. For a while we’d pondered our mortality as a band, weren’t sure whether we’d make another one. However we’re on the creative quest yet again. And we followed through recording the album in my ToRurua studio in Thornbury with Andy Robinson, and we asked the wonderful sound artisan Simon Polinski to mix it. We’ve recorded it,we like it, and now we just hope that others will like it too. Otherwise we’ll just enjoy it on our desert island”.
My Friend The Chocolate Cake tour dates
Friday 2 June – Keilambete Music Club, Terang Civic Centre VIC
Saturday 3 June – Suttons House of Music, Ballarat VIC
Friday 16 June – Melbourne Recital Centre VIC
Friday 21 July – Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 28 July – Lizottes, Newcastle NSW
Saturday 29 July – York Theatre, Seymour Centre, Sydney NSW
Saturday 12 August – Street Theatre, Canberra ACT
Saturday 19 August – Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre NSW
Sunday 20 August – Griffith Regional Theatre, NSW
…more dates soon to be announced.
