Creature On Display - Coverbands
Thursday July 26th, 2001
Author: Coverbands
They
say you can learn a lot from taking just a short stroll, and
now, I'm enclined to be a following artifact to that statement.
As I make my way through the shoulder to shoulder crowd, I
can already hear whispers of endorsement for Jason Stan but
there are also many veiws of short fall on the man and I could'nt
help but wonder just how he felt about all of that, if at
all. The man that so many Melbourne musicians love to hate
arrives. You have to ask yourself if it's about the music
or the money for Jason Stan and by the looks of the shiny
new BMW pulling into the parking space, I would say at a guess,
it's about the money. Of course I could be wrong. He hands
the keys to security, lends a boyish smile and makes his way
to the front door amongst busy whispers of contempt, obviously
from other musicians who have strangely enough come to see,
as indeed I have, just what all the fuss is about.
He's
a very guarded individual and not the expected big ego man
behind the mic. It left me to thinking, would I even know
who he was or what he did if it were left up to him to tell
me? I think not. He's a humble sort of lad, making no mention
at all of the 25,000 or so albums he has sold in that middle
of the road pop rock market where he seems to have a cult
following.
Jason
is without a doubt one of the most underated singer/songwriters
Australia has known for some time and although being the highest
selling fully independent artist on his home soil, he still
struggles tremendously to be heard by the empires of recording
companies worldwide. Speak to the throws of people in and
about the clubs where Jason performs in and feelings about
him are mixed. He is prodominantly disliked by the rest of
the Melbourne cover scene for treading on turf that they feel
he is just not welcome to. Afterall, he is an original artist,
so what is he doing here? Although the stories change, the
bottom line is always the same, that Jason simply does'nt
fit in, never has and is commonly known to the rest of the
tribe as the White Collar Musician. He does'nt drink, he does'nt
smoke and he rarely mingles with other musicians.
After
seeing Jason live, I do see what all the fuss is about. Putting
aside just for a moment all of the aches and quirks from those
evil eyed onlookers and what you have is plain and simple,
a great stage performer. On stage he simply oozes appeal and
has the confidence of a python in a mouse cage and with a
voice like that, wouldn't we all. he seems to have a limitless
range to play with. His 5 member band consisting of Stuart
Taylor and Colin Burridge on guitars, David
Shephard on bass guitar and Glenn Skane on drums
fly on stage. From the very moment they start up until the
time they end, it's a full on club concert, nothing less.
Never before have I seen a band where all members jell so
well together, perhaps for the reasoning that now they have
travelled this road for over 3 years.
Jason
along with his band currently only work one night per week
in the Melbourne club sector, and if it's left up to the critics
to decide, then Jason by all stretches of the imagination
is paid far too handsomly for what he does, important to note
however that he does pull the numbers and solidly.There is
also talk of a new Thursday venue in August but we'll have
to wait and see. Let us not forget Jason's accumulating frequent
flyer points as he fly's to Singapore on every 3rd week of
the month, what a life!
In
summary, all of the hype that seems to surround Jason is in
fact note worthy yet he seems to be a creature on display
for many a musician. His reputation of being an incredibly
talented vocalist preceeds him and reputatation doesn't happen
by accident.
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