Checkerboard Lounge
Tour DatesAN INVITATION TO AN EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED EDITION CHECKERBOARD ALBUM!
Fans and musicians unite!
HELP US MAKE THIS ALBUM HAPPEN!
What a night… 14th June 2024 will be forever etched in our memory. After a magical gig with our all time hero Bob Sedergreen, we all let out a huge sigh of relief that indeed we had pressed record and got all that beautiful music down on tape.
Now – almost a year to the date – we are ready to press the vinyl and today is your chance to help make that happen.
You’re all well aware of the constrictions on the music industry in these times – so we’re asking fans to pre-order “Checkerboard Lounge with Bob Sedergreen Live at The Jazzlab” in order to fund the manufacture of the album and at the same time ensure that you have it in your hot little hands.
This was one special night and captured in the recording is the mastery of these players, their playfulness palpable in the delight of the audience, their joy in every last note as it rings out across the Jazzlab stage …
It’s such a great album, we’d love to give it a full production run, but as it is with live music, some such special events are often a one off opportunity. And here’s yours for the taking …
So this is something of an exclusive release – a very limited edition will be printed to vinyl – just however many are ordered – so PRE-ORDER here to secure your copy. This invitation lasts until March 31st, 2025. So please let anyone else you know who might be interested and pass the details on before that quick deadline of March 31st.
Email: checkerboardlounge4@gmail.com to secure your copy now! We’ll take your details and you’ll take our bank details and we’ll be good to go. Yep this is as grass-roots as it gets folks! 🙂
Pre-order Deadline: Next Week
To secure your copy and support this exciting project, please place your pre-order within the next week – we need all orders in by March 31st. Don’t miss out on the chance to be a part of this incredible musical celebration.
Just as soon as the album is ready – it will be posted to you for your listening pleasure! There will also be the option to pick up your personalised and signed copy from the Launch at Jazzlab on SATURDAY JUNE 7TH – save the date! Tickets to the Launch will go live next Tuesday at www:jazzlab.club
Live at Jazz Lab with Bob Sedergreen available now!
Checkerboard Lounge New Album Roller Coaster
Cheersquad Records and Tapes are thrilled to present the new album from revered Melbourne blues institution Checkerboard Lounge, produced by equally revered entity Jeff Lang.
The group’s last album, Sun Sessions, won four of six available awards at the Melbourne Blues Awards and Best Blues Album at the Music Victoria Awards in 2022. It was in Rhythms magazines Top 10 Albums of the Year, and it spent more than a year on the Australian Blues & Roots Airplay chart, including multiple months at #1.
The new album is the first to feature the band’s current line-up, which features monster muso Zoë Frater on bass alongside group founder Carl Pannuzzo on vocals and drums, Shannon Bourne on guitars and Tim Neal on Hammond Organ.
World-class musicianship, unbridled passion inspired by the moment and an almost telepathic ability to create; Checkerboard Lounge are a powerhouse to be reckoned with. Available here
Limited Edition Vinyl and CD
Checkerboard Lounge SUN Studio Album
Semi-finalists at the 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis TN, recording at the legendary SUN Studio and a new incredible live album to launch, word keeps spreading about this formidable act.
Just before the pandemic hit globally, Australia’s hottest act on the blues and roots scene, scored a recording session at the legendary SUN Studio, home to Howlin’ Wolf, B.B.King, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis and more. During a visit to the museum, Tim Neal (keys) sat at Jerry Lee Lewis’ piano and pricked up the ears of the studio engineer who invited the band to record in the hallowed studio. A 5-hour late night session saw the band lay down 12 incredible tracks: blues and soul originals, rare covers and a few golden choices the band had never played before, inspired by the history of the studio that seeded so many pivotal careers. You can even hear in a quiet brooding moment of a spontaneous version of ‘It Hurts me Too’, a ghost walk in and close a door, behind which there was no one.The electricity was alive that night and all was etched to tape.
Line-Up
Legendary underground institution, Checkerboard Lounge, deliver a dynamic, soulful well of emotion and playful abandon in collective improvisation over classic blues, soul and originals.
Singing drummer Carl Pannuzzo, guitar master Shannon Bourne, Hammond virtuoso Tim Neal and uber-musical bassist, Zoe Frater curate shows fitting to events and venues, no two shows being the same, but each unforgettable live experiences, from standing ovations at Wangaratta Jazz Festival to crammed inner Melbourne pubs.
Worldclass Musicianship
With a history of having played with some of Australia’s best blues exponents such as Rev. Mick O’Connor, Ian Collard, Jeff Lang, Broderick Smith, Steve Teacle, Richard Tankard, Andrew Ogburn, Garrett Costigan, Nigel MacLean, Dave Boyle (USA), this current line-up is at its responsive best, boasting world class musicianship and raw unbridled passion inspired by the moment’s music to create seemingly rehearsed pieces out of nothing but great listening and reaction skills.
Limited Edition Vinyl sold out. CD still available.
Collective Improvisation Over
Classic Blues and Soul
Roots
Ever since their famed seven-year residency at the Great Britain Hotel in the early 90s, many budding young musicians have cut their blues teeth with the uncompromising fire of this band’s energy. Checkerboard has inspired the development of some of Australia’s finest musicians and bands (Powderfinger, Dirty Three, Clare Bowditch, Jet, Spoonful/Rocket Science, Kylie Auldist, to name but a few). Checkerboard’s point of difference has always been playing with a myriad of musicians and throwing them into the improvisational hot-seat. Many have come away from a first time playing with the band saying things like “That was the most fun I’ve ever had playing live music” (guitarist, Co Tipping)
You could run a small city off these guys – Fiona Boyes
Winners of the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society 2019 Blues Challenge, Legendary underground institution, Checkerboard Lounge, deliver a dynamic, soulful well of emotion and playful abandon in collective improvisation over classic blues, soul and originals.
A Dynamic Soulful Well Of
Reckless Abandon
Featured Video
From deep within the veins of Melbourne’s music scene, Checkerboard Lounge has become a cult-like underground institution. The brainchild of renowned singer and drummer Carl Pannuzzo, the band has evolved over thirty years; breathing fire, virtuosity and improvisation into classic soul and roots originals.
Mischievous and unyielding, Pannuzzo is joined on stage by master guitarist Shannon Bourne, Hammond virtuoso Tim Neal and uber-musical bassist Zoe Frater. World-class musicianship, unbridled passion and an almost telepathic ability to create, Checkerboard are a powerhouse to be reckoned with. The spirit of the blues is palpable throughout their performances, all the while with an infectious and raucous sense of play.
From standing ovations at Wangaratta Jazz Festival to crammed inner Melbourne pubs, no two shows are the same. Vibrant and unforgettable, Checkerboard are a tour-de-force demanding honesty, integrity and truthful musicianship; the very essence of a live music experience.
Ever since their famed seven-year residency at the Great Britain Hotel in the early 90s, many budding young musicians have cut their blues teeth with the uncompromising fire of this band’s energy. Checkerboard has inspired the development of some of Australia’s finest musicians and bands (Powderfinger, Dirty Three, Clare Bowditch, Jet, Spoonful/Rocket Science, Kylie Auldist, to name but a few). Checkerboard’s point of difference has always been playing with a myriad of musicians and throwing them into the improvisational hot-seat.
Over the years, band members have included Australia’s best blues exponents, such as Rev. Mick O’Connor, Ian Collard, Jeff Lang, Broderick Smith, Steve Teacle, Richard Tankard, Andrew Ogburn, Garrett Costigan, Nigel MacLean and Dave Boyle (USA).
Thirty years on, with the band’s strongest ever line up, Checkerboard continues to leave musicians and audiences enthralled by their single-minded creativity.
In performance, these guys listen hard and give 111% of the truth, creating seemingly rehearsed music from nothing.
Heart and Soul
Carl Pannuzzo, Zoe Frater, Shannon Bourne and Tim Neal
Carl Pannuzzo has been creating inspired, reckless and beautiful music just about his entire life. With the innovative and extraordinary a cappella trio, Acapelicans, he has toured the world. As a singer-songwriter he has for years been a familiar presence at folk festivals around the country. But as drummer and vocalist for Checkerboard he lets his first love, soul and blues music, run free. With uber-musical bassist Zoe Frater on bass, it’s a rhythm section-driven feel that brings a deep groove and joyous, raucous fire to the blues. Featuring the exceptional musicianship of Tim Neal and Shannon Bourne, their rapport and exchange is nothing short of inspired.
Tim Neal is a highly sought after Aria award winning multi-instrumentalist and Australia’s foremost exponent of the Hammond Organ. He has recorded, played or toured with Mavis Staples(U.S.A.), Ricky Lee Jones(U.S.A), Joss Stone(U.K), Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Ernest Ranglin (Jamaica) Betty Harris (USA), Bunny Ruggs (Jamaica), Duke Robillard ( USA), Shane Howard, Stephen Cummings, Dave Graney Fiona Boyes, Jody Williams (USA), Gil Askey, Billy Boy Arnold(USA), Lucky Oceans (USA), Big Jay McNeely (USA), Randy Crawford (USA), Lucky Peterson (USA), Mickey Tucker (USA), Chris Wilson, Ross Wilson, Ross Hannaford, The Fabulous Thunderbirds (USA) James Taylor (UK) , Renee Geyer, Wendy Saddington, Jeff Lang, Jimmy Smith (USA), Geoff Achison, Guy Pearce, Cattletruck, Swinging Sidewalks, Paul Williamsons Hammond Combo (Aria Nomination), Festa, Banana Oil (Aria Award), Melbourne Improvisation Association, Kate Ceberano, Kerrie Simpson, Pearly Shells, Tim Neal’s Big Organ Band, Jim Kelly, Bobby Previte (USA) and Anne McCue.
A veteran of Melbourne’s music scene, Shannon Bourne’s career began as a sideman to blues legend, Chris Wilson. Since then he has collaborated with and accompanied some of Australia’s most highly acclaimed musicians, including John Shumann, Vikka Bull, The Black Sorrows, Tex Perkins’ Band of Gold, Matt Walker, Broderick Smith, Jimmy Dowling, Kerri Simpson, Monique Brumby, Thomas Hugh to name a few. Career highlights so far have also included supporting Richard Thompson with Chris Wilson in 2001, being invited to attend SXSW in Austin, Texas (2010), and appearing in the Helpmann Award-winning show, The Man in Black starring Tex Perkins. A lyricist and composer of note, Bourne worked as a studio musician and co-writer with Russell Morris on the ARIA Award winning blues trilogy; Shark Mouth, Van Diemen’s Land, and Red Dirt – Red Heart.
Crowds love this band. Try them once and you will want them back every year.
GIGS GALORE!
SO many special events to be had – tell your mob wherever they’re near or come do a gig crawl with us – remember no two gigs are ever the same!
Fri 27th Feb – Lomond Hotel
Sat 28th Feb – Miss Celie’s, Sydney
Sun 1st Mar – Girrakool Blues girrakoolblues.com.au
Fri 6th Mar – Stag and Hunter, Newcastle, with Frank Sultana and The Honey Badgers
Sat 7th Mar – Ashfield Bowling Club, with Frank Sultana and The Honey Badgers
Sun 8th Mar – Flamin Frankos, Hobart Tas flaminbbqfestival.com.au
Sat 14th Mar – Geelong Blues Fest
Thurs 26th Mar – Bar 303 – CBL Trio featuring Tim Neal on B3 Hammond
Sun 19th April – Kingston Arts Centre for PBS
Sun 3rd May – Rainbow Hotel
Fri 15th May – Jazzlab w Bob Sedergreen
Fri 22nd May – Jazzlab w JoJo Smith
Fri 31 Jul – Lomond Hotel, Brunswick 9pm $20
www.eventbrite.com.au
Sunday 2 Aug – Way Out West at Yarraville Club 2-5pm
$25/20 for WOW members www.trybooking.com
Sunday 16 Aug – Ballarat Blues Festival, Painted Lady 7.30-8.30pm
$55 day pass / $95 weekend pass www.trybooking.com
Thursday 24 Sep – Bar 303, Northcote
CBL Trio featuring Tim Neal on the Hammond B3 Organ 8.30-11pm
$20 cash on the door – no bookings
Sunday 1 Nov – Wangaratta Jazz and Blues fest 2-3pm Main Stage, Cathedral Grounds
wangjazzblues.com.au
Sat 12 Dec – Union Hotel Brunswick
8.30-11pm Free
Sun 13th Dec – Sleepy Hollow Blues Club
Bareena Bowling Club, Newtown, Vic
2027
Sat 13 Feb – Geelong Botanical Gardens 4-6pm
Sat 20 Feb – ‘Blues and Vines’, St Annes Winery Myrniong
Thurs 11 – Sun 21 Mar – New Zealand Tour
Fri 26- Sun 28 Mar – National Folk Festival, Canberra
