After the swinging, swigging, celebratory summation of ten years of THE EASTERN back in December in front of 800 of their closest friends, lead singer and songwriter Adam McGrath embarks on a year long journey which will see him release a solo album and clock up countless shows throughout the whole of New Zealand and the rest of the world (both in solo form and with The Eastern).
Before any of that begins though he steps up to the stage in Christchurch's home of original music Blue Smoke, to try and woodshed a bunch of his new songs and stories and to whittle some new arrangements of old Eastern classics.
Intimate, heartwarming and often hilarious songs and tales will all be showcased on this special night.
With The Eastern and solo he has shared stages with and opened for Fleetwood Mac, Steve Earle, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jimmy Barnes and many more. But he takes the most pride in getting up and putting it down, in both small towns and big, choosing real gigs over showcases and the joy of shaking hands and sharing beers with the folks met along the way
His songs have gathered a clutch of good reviews in NZ and overseas, he's been nominated for a couple of serious music awards (including the Apra Silver Scroll), Graham Reid from the NZ herald called him 'NZ's toughest minded songwriter’ and Barry Saunders from The Warratahs simply described him as “The Truth”.
His song ‘Hope and Wire’ became the inspiration for the tv3 drama series ‘Hope and Wire’ directed by Gaylene Preston, and was noted for his community work during the Christchurch earthquake.
The Eastern are renowned for their ferocious roof raising live shows and have gathered a reputation for being the country's hardest working band playing up to and beyond 200 shows a year, every year. Their latest album ‘The Territory’ was described as one of the best albums of 2014 from any band in any country by No Depression magazine.
Although the gathering of such plaudits makes him blush behind his rapidly graying beard, McGrath is very thankful and hopes that in someway this might help him in continuing to pay his rent through his roundabout stories and admittedly pretty crappy guitar playing. A people’s player, he works his ass off for any audience he finds himself in front of. Through, yarns, ballads and barnstormers, he goes looking most nights of the year for that deep well of magic that threads through the humble folk song.
Described as “two parts Woody Guthrie, one part revival meeting and one part group hug” a McGrath show goes straight for the spirit level in all of us. Looking deep for the heart and hoping to reach the thinking part of the brain all the while strumming his three chords like his life depended on it. Which of course it does, as of course it should.
