First night of Retro variety set

DR FEELGOOD: "Dr Rob" Maunsell (left) and Keith Austin of the Grafia band. PHOTO/SUPPLIEDWTA260913SUPGRAFIA

The Retro Club is bringing home to Wairarapa its feel-good sounds and toe-tapping jams.

"Dr Rob" Maunsell will play MC for the inaugural Retro Club evening at King Street Live on October 4, and with his Wairarapa band Grafia and a company of visiting and hometown musicians will help create "a night to come and be entertained by good listening, toe-tapping and dancing music".

King Street Live was "a perfect environment for Grafia's form of musical delivery and variety", Maunsell said, and the inaugural Wairarapa show would follow three "audience tested and approved" performances at The Old Mill in Napier.

The Grafia trio would be first to take the stage at King Street Live, featuring Stephan Schultz on violin and recorders, Keith Austin on keyboards and bass guitar, and "Dr Rob" on vocals, guitar and harmonica.

Special guests include Auckland-based singer/songwriter Callum Gentleman and alto saxophonist Andrew Miller, who would present an acoustic set on the heels of veteran Wairarapa performer Stefan Brown and his backing band.

Grafia would later in the evening run through two sets embracing an "eclectic mix of danceable blues and 60s rock songs", Maunsell said, and would feature Kemp Turirirangi on lead guitar, John Jukes on drums and Dan Fearn on bass alongside "the lads" of the Grafia trio and Miller as guest instrumentalist. The show also would feature "a spectacular display of lights and video images" arranged by graphic artist, AJ Hunter.

Maunsell said other Retro Club nights next month and in November would feature as special guests Andrew London, and Neil Warboys and the Wellington Heads. He said Grafia's music traversed blues, Irish, folk, 60s rock and country.