Local Photographer and talented Musician Kim Ayres Tells DGWGO about his new Musical venture ” The Cracked Man “
The Cracked Man produces original foot-stomping, spine-tingling, brow-twitching, cheek-spasming, tea-dunking music that will leave you breathless but deeply satisfied.
The creation of singer and guitarist, Marcus Wright, and bouzouki player, Kim Ayres, The Cracked Man combines rock, blues, folk and even a smattering of punk influences, played on acoustic instruments.
“Marcus and I met through our connection with The Mill Sessions at the Mill on the Fleet in Gatehouse,” said Kim. “Several times throughout the year a wide variety of amazing musicians perform there and are usually supported by a local act. For the past 3 years I’ve been taking photos for the Mill Sessions Hall of Fame, while Marcus has been recording them. Then last August was the launch of The Lost Wasp Record Label, which is all about supporting local talent. Marcus and I decided to contribute a couple of songs together as a one-off performance, and discovered we worked really well together. It wasn’t difficult to find musical influences in common and we were able to channel this into creating our own original music.”
While Kim is more widely known locally for his artistic, storytelling photography and moody portraits, he was also, until recently, one of the driving creative forces in Scruffy Buzzards, with his bouzouki generating a quite a different sound.
“The bouzouki is originally a Greek instrument but back in the ’60s it was adopted by the folk scene. However, any instrument is just a device for generating sounds and there’s no reason why it needs to be restricted to just one or two genres. More recently I’ve been enjoying string-bending and even using a bottle-neck, taking it to places rarely heard before.”
As well as being a singer-songwriter, and one half of Forty Four Blues, Marcus is also a sound engineer and has produced several records: he’s currently putting together the final mix of the forthcoming Razorbills album.
If you’re free later this week, there are two opportunties to see this great new band live. This Thursday, 27th February, Marcus and Kim will be opening for Chris Mills in Newton Stewart at the Crown Hotel, and on Saturday, 1st March, they will be supporting the incredible Sean Taylor who is opening the new season for The Mill Sessions.
For more about The Cracked Man, visit their website or go and “like” them on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thecrackedman
https://www.thecrackedman.co.uk
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