SIMPLY SIX: 8 Ball Aitken

8 Ball Aitken is a singer/songwriter from Australia.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?

I used to work on a farm all week, then party all weekend. An Aboriginal elder was visiting my town, and we were talking on Sunday morning after he had been watching me play guitar all weekend. He sat me down and told me off sternly – ‘I will be really disappointed if I visit next year and see you still here drinking and smoking, just wasting your talent and your life away,”. That was the light bulb going on moment in my mind that made me pack my bags, grab my guitar, and hitch-hike south to the big city of Brisbane. It was a ‘time stands still’, life-changing experience. From that point on, I have stayed true, and followed my dream of making music and taking it out to the people.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?

The roots of blues, bluegrass and country music as well as The Allman Brothers Band, Daddy Cool
Tony Joe White & Neil Young.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

‘Outback Booty Call’ is a song I wrote about regional romance and dating in the bush. I was touring in USA a few years back when I found out about the booty call phenomenon. I thought to myself, we have booty calls back in Australia, it is just that we have a lot further to travel between love interests because of our small population on a large island. This song is practically a documentary. You can see the clip at -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RYcXmuZqDY

4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?

I honestly believe that music can change the world. Songwriting is creative and can promote a positive outcome and cause listeners to take action. I have witnessed powerful movements start in peoples back yards first and then go on to great things. To me, a good song can bring light to the world whether it is played to twenty people in a bar or a million people on television.

5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?

I think that the access to affordable recording equipment for independent musicians and having the internet as a marketing tool has made it possible for more musicians and bands to find an audience than ever before. It is exciting times for me me, touring all over the world as an independent and making a living from playing music without a major record company running the show means freedom, fun and a career doing what I love to do the most... Play music.


6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

Probably red crocodile (or alligator for USA) skin cowboy boots with 8 Ball inlays.

The Waifs

You know those times when you hear a voice that you don’t recognize but it reaches out and just grabs ahold of you. One of those voices that you can’t get out of your head. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s magic. Sometimes when I’m shopping, checking out the music bins and I don’t have any particular cd or person or group that I’m looking for, I’ll just stroll through the bins, skipping around and looking through names that I don’t recognize or sometimes finding a name that I vaguely remember reading something about. I was at Borders one day, doing just this, when I came across a cd by a group called the Waifs. No idea who they were. Now I do a lot of reading about music and musicians, so I generally have some clue to a lot of names in the record bins, but there are still some out there that for one reason or another has escaped my eye. This group called the Waifs was one of them.

I was looking at a double album, a live album by them called “A Brief History.” They got marks for having a Dylan song on the album. The price was good for a double album. I didn’t have anything else to buy, nothing else reached out and spoke to me, so I decided to give this album a chance. After getting in my car and fighting with the packaging (why do they make cds so hard to open?) I finally managed to get the cd out and in the player. The last time I was so moved by a new voice that I didn’t know was when I heard Joss Stone. The sound coming out of my car stero captivated me. The voices did more than just reach out to me, they reached out and shook me. I didn’t just like this cd, I feel in love with it. There was something in the music, something in the voices that sang it, that just made me want to listen to it over and over.

The Waifs are Donna and Vikki Simpson and Josh Cunningham. They are from Australia and sing folk rock. The two sisters started singing as a group called Colours. After they met Josh and he joined the duo they changed their name to the Waifs.

In Australia they built up their fan base until the release of their fourth album Up All Night in 2003 which debuted at number 3 in Australia and went double platinum in their home country. Later that year Bob Dylan toured Australia and the band opened for him. Dylan was so impressed by the band that he offered them the opening spot for them on his U.S. tour.

The single for this week is “Bridal Train” and tells the story of Vikki and Donna’s Grandmother, a war-bride of a U.S. sailor during World War II.

After the release of their double live album in 2004 the Waifs have been quiet on the album front. The two sisters have been busy having children and getting on with their lives. But this month the group released a new album entitled Sun, Dirt, Water.