A journey into tongue in cheek, all original fun groove injected blues, soul & roots music. The creation of multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter Daryl Roberts from Mlebourne, Australia celebrating the influences of Oz rock and Zappa, The Band, Little Feat, Funk Brothers and more. Featuring some of the cream of Australian Music. A sign of things to come. This album received rave reviews and airplay from Australia, Argentina, Denmark to Canada, USA and Germany.
Check out the other four albums in the Hey Gringo catalogue available online. REVIEWS: I WAS THERE – HEY GRINGO – (independent) **** Terry Reilly for
The Melbourne Age Entertainment Guide 1 Sept 2000
Striking a balance between punchy and relaxed grooves is something Hey gringo do extraordinarily well. Daryl Roberts’ bluesy combo is something of a Melbourne supergroup, a bunch of old campaigners including the indefatigable Nicky Bomba, the distinctive bass of Paul Gadsby and Ross Hannaford. Hey Gringo have the chops to forge their own identity, and Only Thing I Need, the standout track, maintains a powerful, throbbing pulse, with Bomba’s sharp trap work creating beautiful space for Hannaford to colour in some economical guitar lines, while David Williamson’s sax adds dramatically warm textures only when necessary. Soul for example, is a catchy mid-tempo soul offering sparkling emotion and strengthened significantly by Gadsby’s magnificent bass figures. For a nice little sleazy walking bass blues a la Chuck E. Weiss, savour the finger-snapping Go Your Own Way.
REVIEW By Tim Holek - www.bluesbytes.com - CANADA - May 2003 - BLUESBYTES BLUES
Are you looking for a little bit of everything to satisfy your insatiable music palate? Then consider I was There, an independent release from Hey Gringo. This five piece electric Australian act is self billed as an original retro, rootsy Rhythm & Blues band, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Daryl Roberts. Daryl has been around in folk and blues bands since 1974, including a stint with legend Jimmy Witherspoon. Hey Gringo puts together some of Daryl's own material which he has performed live in various forms. On the disc Roberts performs keyboards, harmonica, mandolin, guitar, accordion and vocals. He is aptly assisted by Nicky Bomba (drums, percussion, vocals), Ross Hannaford (guitar), Paul Gadsby (bass, guitar, vocals) and David Williamson (sax). "Face Myself" is country rock with a fun and happy foot-stomping, catchy groove. On it, Daryl’s harp grabs the listener like an unwelcome visitor. His mandolin performance on "Soul" will inspire many to explore a stringed instrument other than the guitar. He then fills the gaps with his accordion and penetrates the crevices like oil sprayed onto a car. The modern sounding vocals on "Treat Me Mean" would be equally appealing to the alternative rock crowd, but the lyrics are down-home blues ... ‘...treat me like a peasant when I treat you like a Queen...' The saxophone’s brass flourish really makes this tune get down. "End Of The Road" is radio-friendly, on which the guitar strings are yanked and cranked with plenty of wah-wah pedal. They take a 90 minute action packed movie and compress it into a two and a half minute song on "Only Thing I Need." There are graphic descriptions of dinosaur and alligator attacks during this highly danceable organ groove. The keyboard is at the helm on the title track. The tune flashes back on a musical journey that begins in the Delta, matures into psychedelic rock and explodes into an arena rock fireball. Here, Roberts lets his piano rip on an album where solos are kept to a minimum. No, its not the blues and it has one of the strangest covers you will ever see, but it is earthy roots music, and its cosmic at that
MELBOURNE SUNDAY HERALD SUN 3 July 2001 - Lee Howard
“Hey, hey, my, my – Rock ‘n ‘ Roll can never die.”
Neil Young sang it and bands such as Hey Gringo are the foot soldiers who carry the flag to ensure rock’n’roll survives. And the influences that frame much of Young’s retro rock outings also colour this independent Melbourne band’s debut album.
These come courtesy of the band leader Daryl Robert’s keyboard work. Rippling piano runs reminiscent of Jerry Lee Lewis’ recordings of the late 1950’s.
Laying down a big beat are Nicky Bomba(drums) and Paul Gadsby (bass), while Roberts has Ross Hannaford providing an alternative lead on guitar.
Throw in David Williamso’s saxophone and you have some great raw rock”n”roll. The kind with echoes of country, blues and rhythm and blues. In fact, it is a style Melbourne is fast adapting as it’s own. Hey Gringo joining such acts as the Exotics and the Hornets in providing a driving groove. The songs vignettes of life as seen and sung by Roberts and well deserve the musical expertise that supports it.
REVIEW http://www.zipworld.com.au/~mr-blues/reviews/heygringoCD.html
Self proclaimed as an earthy, original, bluesy, fun RnB combo, the Daryl Roberts project "Hey Gringo" offers a great CD, appropriately titled "I Was There". A nine track, all original masterpiece featuring outstanding musicians Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool, Diana Kiss) - Paul Gadsby (Paul Kelly, Men At Work) - Nicky Bomba on drums and David Williamson on sax. Daryl himself is no stranger, having led an illustrious career since 1974, which has spanned many genres (Jimmy Witherspoon, Fingerprint, The Legends, Bobsy Die, The Breakaways).
Combine the influences of the dynamic 70's rock n roll era, with modern day blues rock and throw in the above musicians, then you have a definitive "Hey Gringo" sound, that takes you back to when 'maybe' you were there. Theoretically, this could fall into a number of genre categories, although you will most probably find it often grouped within the blues and roots sections.
Each track has it's own standout qualities, deserving individual accolades, making it almost impossible to pick out any one particular song as a favorite. After listening to many of the similar sounding recordings that pop up in the blues industry, "I Was There" is a dynamic breath of fresh air, proving once again that there is no limit to how far you can interweave the basic principles of blues, with other styles of music.
Weighing in at around 30 minutes, this CD is one that I can listen to many times over, and highly recommend the album for it's modern day nostalgic flavour.
REVIEW and Copyright by Mark 'radar' Watson (Mr Blues) on 24th August 2002REVIEW
REVIEW FROM ARGENTINA -Blues etc Newsletter FM top 104.3 Bahia Bianca Republic Argentina. email bbetc2002@yahhoo.com.ar for your free emailed copy of the Blues Magazine from Buenos Aires, Argentina - By Pablo Pineiro & Landro Crisafulli. December 2002 edition; Hey Gringo;Alabum I WAS THERE: Origon:Australia 2000
Hey Gringo is an Australian band who blends a lot of kind of rhtyhms and got an unique sound. They used acordions or percussion, instruments not for classic blues. The band reach his own sound and this is something remarcable and we can't put in an determined style. The asutralian blues is something new for us, but they used the roots music mixing and creating his own style. The song open the cd "face myself" is a texas blues, "soul" the second song make as remember the louisiana sound because they put acordion, the typical insrtument of the creole music.
Three next songs used well known structures but got own sound. Daryl Roberts, the band leaderplays a lot of instruments, slide guitar, acordion, mandolin, keys and harp. They put a funky touch to this work adding a saxaphone specially on "only thing I need". Perhaps the most bizarre song on the album is "i was there" with an orienta; arab touch arrangement and thenthe voice remeber me to Kim Wilson, fabulous thunderbirds singer.
Hey Gringo got finest musicians, a really good own sound and more than one style, and this is what is apart as traditional blues band and make his a innovative band. Maybe blues of the new millenium
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