Tauranga musical identity Graham Clark in the throes of shifting from his house in the Kaimais to Hawke's Bay. Photo / John Borren
Tauranga musical identity Graham Clark in the throes of shifting from his house in the Kaimais to Hawke's Bay. Photo / John Borren
One of the mainstays of Tauranga's music scene, rhythm and blues exponent Graham Clark, is quitting his mortgage and shifting to Hawke's Bay.
He has swapped a rural lifestyle in the foothills of the Kaimais for a heritage building on the main street of Waipukurau.
Clark, the lead singer and guitarist/harmonica player of Tauranga band Brilleaux, was awaiting the arrival of the furniture removal truck when the Bay of Plenty Times caught up with him.
The band, whose line-up has not changed since they got together in 1999, thrived on playing its Kiwi interpretation of British rhythm and blues - spawning nine albums and three tours of the UK.
His departure after 47 years living in and around Tauranga begged the question, what will happen to Brilleaux?
"We are going to keep going. The other members of the band are still keen to carry on, but time will tell."
The four musicians in Brilleaux were now so attuned to each other that they barely needed to practise and Clark will co-ordinate the band from his new home in Central Hawke's Bay.
Tauranga also loses the city's foremost music historian of the modern era. Clark wrote a self-published book The Right Note, a 360-page lavishly illustrated insight into Tauranga's historical music scene.
Copies were still available. His latest publishing project was a nearly completed biography on country and rock music legend Ritchie Pickett, who died five years ago.
Pickett become Tauranga's best known performer in the 1980s after featuring frequently on the TV show That's Country and releasing an LP with his band Ritchie Pickett & the In laws.
Clark was upbeat about Brilleaux and its future as an international act.
Having become festival favourites in England and wowing the Italians during this year's tour, Clark remained frustrated that he still could not convince Australian festival organisers to sign up the band.
"I've been turned down 11 times for the Blues on Broadbeach festival on the Gold Coast."
He said it was very hard to get a foot in the door of Australia's music festivals, even though he was totally convinced that Aussies would love their brand of rhythm and blues.
"I want to excite them, I want them to say 's***, why didn't we get these guys 10 years ago'."
He said Brilleaux was a lot more exciting than many other bands.
"I'm not blowing my own trumpet - it is what people say all the time."
They took their name from the legendary frontman for the British R&B band Dr Feelgood, Lee Brilleaux, who Clark befriended after being invited on to the stage to play with the band during their New Zealand tour in the 1980s.
Clark, who penned a popular column in the Bay of Plenty Times that formed the basis for The Right Note, was also a prolific writer of letters to the editor in which he never let an opportunity slip to put his libertarian perspective on topical issues.
Once he discovered the libertarian philosophy of being an objectivist, there was no going back.
"I have a set of rules or principals and I apply these principals to any situation. It tells me the moral answer, whether I like it or not."
Brilleaux's Graham Clark and Bruce Rolands performing.
He has fundamental problems with modern government. "People don't understand the concept of property rights."
Clark's departure from Tauranga stemmed from being sick of paying the mortgage.
The online graphic designer said he had an amazing house in the Kaimais, but by the time he sold it and paid off the bank, he was unable to buy anything else in Tauranga anything like what he had.
He started looking further afield and, ironically for a man who hated the millstone of a mortgage, stumbled upon the old Bank of New Zealand building in Waipukurau.
"I will convert the old bank into a house."
Farewelling Tauranga was a tough decision for Clark who shifted here as a small boy with his parents from England in 1969.
His father was a master decorator who counted musicians John Lennon and Phil Collins, racing driver Sterling Moss and actor Diana Rigg among his clients.
The family arrived just before Christmas and were unable to find any temporary accommodation.
The Lees family came to the rescue and put the Clarks up in their mansion at the top end of 14th Ave.
"They took us in until some accommodation became available. It was a lovely thing to do."
Clark had a comparatively late introduction to playing live music.
He was 24 when he saw a local guy singing in the Blue Room - part of the former Tauranga Hotel on the corner of Harington St and The Strand.
He then jammed with some friends who were wanting to form a band, discovered he could sing in tune, and the rest was history.
The spare time of the Bay of Plenty Times linotype operator had until then revolved around playing soccer, even making the New Zealand development squad for 18 to 20-year-olds.
But once Clark picked up a microphone, everything changed and he progressed into a band called Beazley Street that played all over New Zealand.
"We were quite good, not unlike what Brilleaux plays."
Brilleaux, whose other band members were Bruce Rolands (lead guitar), Ian "Beano" Gilpin (drums) and Brian Franks (bass), had recently got a lot of airplay on Tauranga's Paradise FM. Clark said it was the first radio station to play music by local bands.
"It was impossible to get airplay," said the man who swore by vinyl and still has his old collection. "I like the ritual of playing a record."
