LLOYD SPIEGEL
Indi Bar, Perth
25 September 2011

By Shane Pinnegar

Talk about “out of the blue” – I literally knew nothing about Mister Spiegel at 6 o’clock this evening (No offence!) but by 7:30 I’m picked up by the redoubtable Gazman and we find Scarborough’s beachside Indi Bar frizzing with electricity.

Spiegel explains that he’s in Western Australia on holiday, but he couldn’t be here and not come to the Indi Bar… and he didn’t want to PAY for drinks - hence the gig, and that’s such a solid excuse for playing a show that we’re determined to enjoy the festivities and the laid back casualness of it all.

Seeing as this is an impromptu, solo gig, we have Spiegel, one acoustic guitar, and nothing else – but with lightning fast fingers, originals such as ‘Tangled Brew’ – the title track of his latest CD – and standards such as ‘Lucille’, ‘Nadine’ and ‘Who Do You Love’, that’s more than enough.

Over two sets Monsignor Spiegel dazzles with some of the fastest acoustic blues I’ve ever seen, without ever sacrificing feel or vibe. He’s an unassuming looking fella – you might pick him as an accountant or a bus driver without a guitar in his hands, but what we have here is a master Aussie bluesman.

Spiegel tosses back a few shots, uses the guitar body to great percussive effect, and makes classics like ‘I Just Wanna Make Love To You’ and ‘Strong Persuader’ perfectly at home alongside his best originals – ‘If I Killed Ya When I Met Ya’ being the best.

If this is what touring from the age of eleven can do, I’ll be sending my daughter out at ten and a half and reaping the rewards a decade or so later – raw, very very solo, and utterly convincing!