One of Australia’s greatest guitarists Kirk Lorange only ever made one of his own albums because he says the industry is full of “complete B.S.”
Kirk is perform this weekend at the Melbourne Guitar Show.
In 1984 he released the ‘No Apostrophe’ album through Warner Music. It was the only album he would ever make. “I did that one. I never did another one,” he tells Noise11.com. “I found the recording industry so awful I thought ‘I won’t do this anymore’. Dealing with record companies and the complete B.S. that goes on. I’m not designed for that so I never did it again”.
Long before ‘No Apostrophe’ Kirk was one of Australia’s most in-demand session guitarists. “Back in the old days people would call me up because they wanted my style of playing on their records. That’s always great. Richard Clapton and those people would say “do your Kirk Lorange’ thing. That’s always good,” he says.
“There was one particular Richard Clapton track called ‘Capricorn Dancer’ that got a lot of airplay over the years,” he says. “I’d often be walking or shopping at Woolies walking down the aisle and on would come ‘Capricorn Dancer’. It was always kind of neat to think ‘oh there I am’. ‘Deep Water’ was another one that got a lot of airplay. I often hear myself. You get used to it’.
After he wound-down from the music industry, Kirk found a career in advertising as a guitarist on some famous jingles. “The Coca-Cola Sky Surfer was me. A guy jumps out of an aeroplane and there is a guitar playing in the background. It’s quite a prominent slide guitar and that’s me playing
Kirk has played on over 100 Australia records including albums by Dragon, Renee Geyer, Keith Urban, Marc Hunter and Swanee. He says its no longer a viable career path. “Guitar players still get the work,” he says. “It’s hard to simulate a guitar. Poor old drummers were the first to go, of course, because of drum machines. Then bass players. I don’t do that much session work anymore for the reason I just mentioned. I don’t really miss it. There is something very annoying about coming up with something in a studio and having the producer say ‘that’s good but just something different’. You end up playing something you would never play yourself thinking ‘why am I even here’”.
Kirk Lorange will showcase at the Melbourne Guitar Show this weekend at Caulfield Racecourse.
http://www.australianmusician.com.au/melbourne-guitar-show/
