Tonight we’re honoured to introduce you to a lovely human: Mr Luke Ashby. Paul and I have known Luke for about 20 odd years. We all met on the live music scene in Adelaide at around the same time and played plenty of shows together. Luke’s a music & movie heavyweight. Suffice to say, be friendly if you see him out and about – shouting him a beer could be a good investment in being on his team at pub trivia night. You definitely don’t wanna go up against him. 

{Tori} Hey Luke! Tell us a bit about yourself.

I work in the kitchen at Bracegirdle’s House of Fine Chocolate, serving up all manner of chocolate and desserty decadence. Music also takes up a lot of my time, whether listening, performing solo or in various groups, writing about it or talking about it. I hosted a recurring music segment on ABC Radio for around three and a half years. The music triviaphile in me was truly given free and wide reign during that time. I also worked at Big Star Records for nearly a decade, so music has been a pretty constant companion.

Tell us who your favourite artists and producers are.

Musicians wise, some that i return to regularly are Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Nick Lowe, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Grizzly Bear, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, The Zombies, The Beach Boys, The Go-Betweens, Split Enz, Emmit Rhodes, Elliott Smith, ELO, Patti Smith, Little Richard, The Beatles.I could go on…and I often do

Producers: John Cale, Brian Wilson, Jeff Lynne, Nick Lowe, Jack Nitzsche, Vanda & Young

That’s a solid list. Do you remember the first live gig you went to?

My first live gig was with my parents and sister, Billy Joel’s ‘River Of Dreams’ Tour at The Ent Cent in 1993, with Vika & Linda as support. With friends it would have been Pearl Jam’s ‘Vitalogy’ tour at Memorial Drive in 1995, when I was 18 or so. Most memorable gig week was in March 1996; seeing Neil & Tim Finn (for the first time) and then Jeff Buckley (sadly the only time) at Thebby within just a few days.

Yeah. I was at that Buckley gig, too. It was sublime.

Which three things could you not live without?

Hmmm, I think lack of coffee would be a major struggle for at least a few days, also frequent laughter, warm showers and the internet. Sorry, that was 4.

That’s OK. You can have an extra ’cause you’re such a nice bloke.

What was the last album you played in its entirety? And what’s on high rotation at your place right now?

Last: ‘Blackstar’ by Bowie, a superb swan-song and the title track is just astounding.

High rotation: Roy Orbison ‘MGM Years 1965-1973’ box set; some deft and subtle remixing and remastering have made a few of the songs and albums as if hearing them for the first time. I’m really impressed.

If you could witness any live gig in history, what would it be?

While on the topic of Roy, it has to be Orbison’s ‘A Black & White Night Live’ at The Coconut Grove In LA in 1987. I’d marvel at Roy’s voice and unique compositions and arrangements in an audience that included admirers as diverse as Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Idol, Patrick Swayze and Sandra Bernhardt that night; not to mention the famous “and friends” on stage with him; Springsteen, Costello, Waits et al.

I also watched Queen at Live Aid again the other night. Freddie was magnetic and gave a frontman masterclass. That would have been amazing to witness.

What do you do in your spare time?

Struggle to keep up with the quantity ofthe quality Netflix and HBO output, get frustrated by newspaper word puzzles, write nerdy lists about my favourite things, lift weights, get very excited about going out for coffee and breakfast in the morning, have trouble deciding which episode of the 800 odd of ‘Doctor Who’ to watch, play volleyball, improvise quite well with cooking and sometimes wax lyrical about music in blogs and on the radio. I also write and play my own music and sometimes play the music of others, including some key works by Dylan, Bowie, The Who and Neil Young in recent times, as part of a shifting group of regular collaborators ‘The William Campbell Conspiracy’

Sincerely hope you share some of those nerdy lists with us. You know we wanna read those!

What movie or song title best describes your life so far?

Tough question! maybe ‘Return To Form’ by Daniel Rossen from his ‘Silent Mile, Golden Hour’ EP. I feel as if I have lost the trail of crumbs a few times over the years, only to strike it again later on, sometimes by accident. As long as I can keep returning to form after wandering off track, I reckon I’ll be alright.

OK. So tell us something that you think would surprise us.

For the first 3 or 4 years of serious record collecting, I didn’t actually own a turntable. Obviously the VG plus plusses and the NM’s held very firm in my collection in those days.

Ha! And yet, somehow I can’t imagine you ever selling them.

What was your favourite childhood movie?

There’d be some tough semi-finals featuring Superman 2, Aliens, The Swiss Family Robinson & Goonies. Very tough to split, so maybe the winner would be tennis.

What’s on your wish list right now?

Neil Young ‘Archives’ Vol 1 – I still haven’t gotten around to grabbing V1 of his mammoth Archive series, this one covering up to 1972. By all accounts it’s painfully (see: wonderfully) thorough, pimped with peripheral pleasures and sounds phenomenal.

What can we expect from your contributions to The Muses blog?

Lots of little tangents and digressions, playful alliteration, some bees in bonnets and ground axes, the odd chuckle, singing of the un or rarely sung, unashamed promotion of personal favourites, but only when really warranted. I hope.

Anything else you’d like us to know?

I’m glad to be here.

Really bloody glad to have you, Luke! Thanks for letting us get to know you.

(Psst – you can read Luke’s other blog posts here !)