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David Hyams |
David has a long history in the West Australian music scene, starting in blues/rock bands such as Rhode Island Red and The Appliances, then heading to Sydney for a year. There he played in original pop band, The Lifeboys, before returning to Perth to play with Devils on Horseback, The Press Gang and more recently fronting Reel to Reel.
David has also travelled and performed extensively in the eastern states of Australia and overseas, including the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Greece and recently at the 1998 Hong Kong Folk Festival. He has become a regular performer on the Australian Festival circuit and is also known for his instrumental accompaniment of a number of singer songwriters, including Jonathan Cope, Bernard Carney, Lynn Hazelton, Kimberley singer-guitarist Peter Brandy, as well as international acts Orlagh de Bhaldraithe (Ireland) and Lowry Olafson (Canada) on their tours of Australia
After a number of years in bands, David turned his hand to film soundtracks and producing in the early 1990s. As a producer he has worked on albums for Devils on Horseback, The Press Gang, Lynn Hazelton, Steve Hammond, Lara Stephen and Kimberley artists Peter Brandy and Young Guns. His instrumental recordings have been heard on many soundtracks and he also wrote the title song to the Australian feature film "Mad Bomber in Love".
David continues to produce and perform and in 1998 created the ìDark Horse Records label. In 2000, he released the first album of his own music Miles to Go, a collection of acoustic based instrumentals, launched at Kulcha in Fremantle at what became the first performance of the Miles to Go band.
The band features some of Western Australia's finest musicians from diverse musical backgrounds in a surprising and innovative combination; a rhythm section consisting of versatile percussionist Caryn Sullivan alongside Zydecats bassist Ben Franz, classical cellist Jennifer Tingley; former Devils on Horseback multi-instrumentalists Andy Copeman and Pete Grandison on various "things with strings"; and a front line featuring Dougal Adams and the Fling's Ormonde Waters, two of Australia's premier players of wind instruments in the celtic tradition.
The album and live performances have been quick to gain recognition, as evidenced by David's recent nomination for "Best Original Folk Act" at the 2000 Kiss My WAMI Awards.
In 2001, the band has already played a number of high profile concert performances in WA and is featured in this year's Fairbridge Festival "Music Deli" concert, as well as a live ABC TV performance on the upcoming "Planet" series. The band will be touring for Victoria's "Boite Winter Festival" in July and the Illawarra Festival in NSW in September of 2001.