THE HORNETS TRIO

LOADED AND LIVE AT THE VAULT Cat# SV0493

One bleak July night Jeff Burstin, Bruce Haymes and myself (otherwise known as The Hornets Trio), assembled an audient of selected friends, family and fans in the bowels of Sound Vault and recorded this CD.

It was a night of much drinking, as our good Scottish friend John, the saucy sailor from Williamstown will attest. He, with a little help from the assembled, drank the bar dry, ate all the food and ran off with the women. I lied about the women.

It was a great night. What you hear on this CD was what the audience heard. There are no over-dubs or digital manipulation, if you'll pardon the expression. We simply recorded the thing, mixed it and here it is, naked and live.

We would like to thank Adam and Craig our Sound Vault saviours, without their support and enthusiasm we would not be able to do what we do. Not forgetting Michele for her catering, thankyou.

To all of those brave souls who came that night, thanks your enthusiasm can be heard loud and clear through-out the CD.

To Gary Young, Patrick D., Lee H., Brian& the folks @ Off the Record, Helen and Tom from PBS and Mike D. your continued support is much appreciated.

May there be many more nights like this- one night in July.

The Hornets Trio

Bruce Haymes: all keyboards, plus mastering, tea, studio, the list goes on.

Jeff Burstin: acoustic guitar.

Craig Horne: vocals, guitar.

Recorded live at The Sound Vault Studios by Matt Duffy
Mixed and mastered by Bruce Haymes at Parkside Studios
Jeff Burstin uses Maton guitars, Bruce Hames, a keyboard and Craig Horne his throat.

THE SUBURBAN BEASTCat# SV0426

Here He Comes The Suburban Beast

The Hornets Trio's new CD, through Sound Vault

Mick Jagger said that he hoped he wouldn't be singing ( I Can't Get No ) Satisfaction when he turned fifty. He did. Pete Townshend said he hoped he'd die before he got old, he didn't.

What happens when we reach a certain age, apart from physical impairment and flaccidity.

We only have to drop on The Hornet's new CD The Suburban Beast to find out.

With The Suburban Beast, The Hornets Trio, guitarist Jeff Burstin from Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons and the Black Sorrows, keyboard player Bruce Haymes from the Paul Kelly Band and singer song writer and sometime author Craig Horne, entertainingly explore the middle age blues with wit and reflection.

Singer Craig Horne said that the CD's theme was explored over the six month recording process.

'We all recently turned fifty, so I came up with a bunch of songs, some humorous some reflective, that deal with that experience,' Horne said.

'The Suburban Beast could be called the middle age blues, dealing as it does with such topics as, suburban desolation, male flight fantasies like quitting the job, ditching responsibilities and hitting the road, as well as such perennial themes as regret, redemption, lust and revenge.

'Some of the songs, like All Blues Singers are Liars and Certain Age, have been an integral part of our live set for sometime. It's been great to watch the faces of the audience as they tune into the lyrics, when they smile you know that they get it,' Horne said.

This is the third CD from The Hornets, the last two, Everybody's Guilty and Can't Live With You, were both named in the top ten CD releases for their respective years by both The Age and The Herald Sun.

Mike Daly of The Age said The Hornets keep the r& b flame burning with panache, Rhythms Magazine , said The Hornets could turn into one of those legendary outfits like the New Orleans Funky Meters and finally The Age's Terry Reilly said The Hornets have produced a local blues classic..

The Suburban Beast was recorded at Parkside Records and is released through Sound Vault
Call Adam Johnstone 03 9326 9795

Liner Notes

Bruce Haymes had been putting together a recording studio in his spare bedroom for sometime. I'd been writing songs about the horrors of middle age. Jeff Burstin and myself had been playing lots of duo and trio gigs, often augmented by Bruce, in various venues around and near Melbourne.

All three of us of course had played and recorded for some years with The Hornets, which include variously Gary Young or Chris Tabone on drums, Wayne Duncan on bass, Sam See on guitar and occasionally Wayne Burt on guitar.

Now Bruce had this little studio and I had these songs and we all had Friday off. So we recorded and let it all happen. I bought lunch, Bruce brewed tea, Jeff mixed up a storm on guitar. We didn't know where it was going we just enjoyed the journey.

That journey led us to this recording. We decided to call ourselves The Hornet's trio, as opposed to the full band because that is what you hear on Suburban Beast, a trio of Hornets augmented by a bunch of over dubs and Stewart Speed on acoustic bass.

It was a great joy to come along to Bruce's place every Friday and record. I think the fun and enjoyment of the project is reflected in the music.

I want to thank Bruce aka Phil City and of course Jeff for their generosity and friendship in producing this record. Stewe for getting out of bed after a hard night with Tim Rogers, Adam and Craig at Sound Vault for their loyalty and of course all the punters and venue managers like Ross at The Albert and Natashia and Paul at Holgates for letting us play.

The Hornets Trio

Bruce Haymes: all keyboards, harmony vocals on Thank God For The Ease and guitar on Going Home, plus engineering, mixing, mastering, tea, studio, the list goes on.

Jeff Burstin: Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, arrangements, suggestions.

Craig Horne: vocals, guitar riff on Dumb Drone of Life, lunch.

Augmented by:

Phil City: Shit kicker drums

Stewart Speed: acoustic bass, hangover.

Produced by The Hornets Trio, well mainly Bruce and Jeff.
Recorded at Parkside Studios.
Jeff Burstin uses Maton guitars, Bruce Hames, a keyboard and Craig Horne his throat.

CAN'T LIVE WITH YOU Cat# SV0259

The classic line-up on this album features, Craig Horne on vocals, Jeff Burstin (Blacksorrows, Linda and Vika) guitar, Wayne Duncan Bass, Gary Young drums (both from Daddy Cool), Sam See (John Farnham, Goanna) guitar, Bruce Haymes(Paul Kelly) Keyboards, Russell Smith(Kate Cebrano, Dianah Kiss), brass and Ian Collard (Collard Greens and Gravey) on harmonica.

The Hornets, an original blues band, described by The Age as, ‘the best blues band in Australia, have just released their second CD. ‘Can’t Live With You is the next step for the band,’ said Craig, ‘It combines original material with two well chosen blues covers to produce a highly entertaining album with a sting in its tail’.

‘Can’t Live With You is an album for grown-ups, it deals with issues of love won and lost, the birth of children, communication, compromise and changes in a post modern world. That sounds terribly serious but its not, the album has a real edge, its even funny in places and, to coin a phrase, it rocks,’ said Craig.

‘The Hornet’s first album, Everybody’s Guilty was named in the top ten album releases for 1999 by both the Herald Sun and The Age, the Herald Sun describing The Hornets as… ‘an Outstanding Band.’ It sold out two pressings in the 1st two months and is still one of Sound Vault Records major sellers.

‘The albums are produced by Jeff, recorded at Atlantis and distributed by Sound Vault Records.

What the critics think

‘The best blues band in Melbourne’…The Age
‘An outstanding band’…The Herald Sun

"May well become a blues classic." - Terry Reilly, The Age

"The Hornets manage to keep the r&b flame burning." - Mike Daly, Green Guide

"Of course, we can live without this album, but it would be a lot greyer." - Lee Howard, Herald Sun

The Hornet’s are one of this country’s leading blues bands. Featuring some of Australia’s finest musicians including Jeff Burstin (Black Sorrows, Linda and Vika) Gary Young and Wayne Duncan (both from Daddy Cool) and Sam See (Farnham Band) and song writer, vocalist Craig Horne, The Hornets are an integral part of Australian music scene.