WDB's autobiography;
I got my first guitar on my 13th birthday and was instantly obsessed, bought a music book as soon as I could get down to the shop and started to teach myself the basics. Once school started up again that year I got proper lessons and on it goes...
I've been writing songs, tunes, poetry etc as long as I can remember. With the guitar in hand it slowly developed, I could play a bunch of Blink 182, Frenzal Rhomb or Pennywise songs and I reckoned I sounded just like the real thing...
Toward the end of High School my brother, and friend of ours and myself formed a band, A Cardboard Hero. We played the usual covers of the era, blink, pennywise, grinspoon, powderfinger, one dollar short.... We were also writing and performing our own songs with varying success around the Geraldton music scene. Didn't get very far but we had a good time doing it!
With the onset of the John Butler, Xavier Rudd, Jack Johnson, Pete Murray era and the petering out of the band thing, I began to play and write more mellow acoustic type rootsy stuff. Xavier Rudd in particular completely blew me away and opened me up to a whole other world. Inspiration beyond comprehension!
With all these different elements and life events my music slowly developed. In 2006 I recorded a number of Demo's with the intention of recording an EP. It never eventuated but the songs, and therefore that snapshot of my life, are still recorded in some form and are there for my retrospective listening when the urge takes me...
After a relocation to the South West of WA and a hiatus of maybe 5 or 6 years, I began to write and play again and the feeling took hold once more! I got back into it with a view to recording and performing again. Starting from scratch again almost, but it felt good. And with a couple of good mates to jam with and feed off it continued to grow and evolve, as I hope it always will.
WDB's influences;
Bob Dylan, Xavier Rudd, Jack Johnson, Neil Young, The Beautiful Girls, Eric Bibb, Ben Harper, Paul Kelly, Dan Sultan, Family, Friends, anyone I've ever shared a stage with or jammed with, Mother Nature
WDB's Sample Repertoire
• Magnolia - J.J. Cale
• I’m on Fire - Bruce Springsteen
• Let’s Take The Long Way Home - The Beautiful Girls
• Cash Money - The Beautiful Girls
• Rolling Stone - Passenger
• Yesterday’s Gone - Bernard Fanning
• Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright - Bob Dylan
• Tomorrow Is A Long Time - Bob Dylan
• Chances - Xavier Rudd
• Solace - Xavier Rudd
• Redemption Song - Bob Marley
• No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
• Gentle On My Mind - Glen Campbell
• The Weight - The Band
• Flame Trees - Cold Chisel
• Mango Tree - Angus & Julia Stone
• Your Lovin’ Is On My Mind - Paul Kelly
• Don’t Stand So Close To The Window - Paul Kelly
• Fall At Your Feet - Crowded House
• Home - Jack Johnson
• Gone - Jack Johnson
• You And Me - Jake Bugg
• Catch The Wind - Donovan