Guitarist Australia "The title of Patrick Carr's sultry and accomplished You and Me is extremely well-choosen: the Album evokes nothing if not the feeling of sitting in a cafe below ground, comfortably inebriated in the small hours, with an artiste worthy of the venue. Definitely more of a crooner than a screamer, Carr's super-charismatic voice is impossible to miss. At times there is almost a Nick Drake-like sensitivity in Carr's execution of the songs, as much in his delicate yet unyielding vocal style as in his intensely balanced guitar expressionism."

Drum Media Live Reviews ..The Vanguard 28/11 "Patrick Carr shuffled onto the stage looking resplendent in his driver's cap. Carr's set featured his trademark quirkiness mixed with his quick wit and finesse at penning interesting songs. Centennial Park was perhaps Carr's shining moment, with the respectful audience giving him much applause."

Brag Magazine ..."Patrick is sure to have you drunkenly slurring along to a tune or two" ..."Man this guy is a bit of a virtuoso, if we do say so ourselves."


"FBI 94.5 FM FAVE NEW OZ STUFF ....Fell from the Stars Patrick Carr."

The Beast Magazine "This Album You and Me showcases resident guitar guru Patrick Carr's unique vocals and slick guitar (and harmonica) skills as it weaves through a diverse mix of musical genres highlighting his deft song writing touch"

Inpress Magazine ...."Patrick Carr writes up close and personal pop songs with a blend of folk, country and 60's rhythm n blues with hooks to sing to."


Drum Media.. The Vanguard, Newtown 27/05/2008 Patrick Carr opened this epic night of home grown talent with his brand of folky rhythm and blues. Whilst moodier than what we're used to, Carr's new tracks showed once again that he is a songwriter to be reckoned with. Donne Restom.

Ta to eric segs for emailing this to me

THATCHER, CHARLES ROBERT (1831-1878), goldfields entertainer, and RICHMOND (1842-1891), journalist, were the eldest and youngest sons of Charles Robert Thatcher and his wife Sophia, née Hornsby (Hossey). Charles was born in Bristol, England, but the family later moved to Brighton where Richmond was born and where their father, sometimes described as 'conchologist', owned a curio shop. As a boy, Charles was taught the flute and he later played in London theatre orchestras.

Arriving in Melbourne in November 1852 in the Isabella, Charles tried the Bendigo diggings but soon became an entertainer. He joined the orchestra at the Royal Victoria Theatre, Sandhurst, and filled in between plays by singing new words to popular tunes. In these songs he described the troubles of the new chums, the excitement of rushes, fisticuffs, horse-racing, cricket, the nuisance of dogs around the township and other topical events. He soon attracted large audiences and in May 1854 was given top billing at the Shamrock Hotel, which remained his base for several years; he also toured other goldfields. Big, broad-shouldered and weighing some fourteen stone, he was considered handsome with his well-cut hair, clean-shaven face and drooping moustache. With a pleasant but slight voice, he sang 'in that jolly off-handed style that suits so well a rattling, rollicking bit of comicality'. Other singers were vocally superior but none could match his ability to write catchy local songs.

Aged 30, on 8 February 1861 at Geelong, Thatcher married a widow Annie Vitelli, née Day, a singer. In December they left via Hobart Town for Dunedin, New Zealand. They stayed in various parts of New Zealand until the latter half of 1866. Back in Victoria Thatcher performed on his own, appearing at the Polytechnic in Melbourne in November-December 1867. In June 1869 he returned to New Zealand, but about May next year rejoined his wife and two daughters in Melbourne and from there they went to England. He settled in London, collecting and selling curios from Europe and Asia. He died of cholera in Shanghai, China, in September 1878.

Fourteen of Thatcher's songs were sold as broadsides, many appeared in newspapers, but most were published as collections, including the Victoria Songster (1855), Thatcher's Colonial Songster (1857) and Thatcher's Colonial Minstrel (1859). Booklets of his New Zealand songs appeared after 1862 and his Adelaide Songster was issued in 1866. A few have been collected as Australian folk songs, others have appeared in books of reminiscence; he himself wished them to be 'regarded as a popular history of the time'. Recent historians have spoken of Thatcher as the vocal equivalent of the artist S. T. Gill.

Richmond (Dick) Thatcher was to some a 'typical Australian Bohemian' but was more generally known as a facile and forcible journalist and theatre publicity agent. As a youth he had sailed as midshipman to India, China, the Cape, and Western Australia but about 1861 he joined Charles in New Zealand. He tried the diggings but, apparently unsuccessful, he spent some years collecting shell specimens for (Sir) F. McCoy of Melbourne and Dr J. C. Cox of Sydney.

Although Thatcher had contributed to Sydney Punch and other periodicals, he first gained newspaper experience as editor of the Fiji Times in 1870; from 1871 he lived in New South Wales and worked for several newspapers: he founded the Upper Hunter Courier (from Murrurundi), edited the Western Independent at Bathurst and wrote for the Empire, the Evening News, and the Town and Country Journal. Between 1875 and 1885, Richmond's publications included two anthologies, three novels, and Life and Times of Jem Punch (Sydney, 1885).

In the late 1870s he became theatrical agent for artists, including Mrs Scott Siddons and Miss Ada Ward, whom he accompanied to England, Europe and South Africa; in 1884 he went to England as advance agent for an Australian minstrel troupe. At the end of 1888 'his brain gave unmistakable signs of giving way' but he seemed to recover. Within a month of taking up a trading job in the New Hebrides in 1891 Thatcher contracted a fever and returned to Sydney where he was also found to have Bright's disease. Aged 49, he died soon after on 9 June and was buried in the Anglican section of Waverley cemetery. He had married first Maria Blunt on 4 January 1872 at St Alban's Church of England, Muswellbrook, and second, Alice Emma Smith on 29 March 1881 at Surry Hills. He was survived by his second wife and a son and a daughter of the first marriage.

Select Bibliography
G. Mackay, Annals of Bendigo (Bendigo, 1912); P. Serle, Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse (Melb, 1925); G. H. Scholefield (ed), A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Wellington, 1940); H. Anderson, The Goldrush Songster (Melb, 1958) and The Colonial Minstrel (Melb, 1960); Australasian, 23 Nov 1867; Table Talk, 19 June 1891; New Zealand Graphic and Ladies Journal, 12 May 1894; Thatcher manuscripts (State Library of Victoria)

Nightlife on Mars

Yes it done and I'm really proud of it it sounds fantastic if I do say so my self.

I went up to Sydney and spent 4 days camping out at DG's with Russell Pilling n Paul Scott Mixing and adding some magic.

As with all mixes we worked up from the drums and really focused on how we wanted them to sound eq wise as well as which mics we heard most of , what sort of compression etc and on some a tiny bit of gain to grit them up.

Muz was on fire there was much nudging at all and they were all clean takes ...with the occasional overdubbed extra cymbal and percussion patterns ..

Then we worked the songs up with guitars and bass with an emphasis on raw acoustic sounds or if the guitars were electric we only used really small amps low wattage amps like the orange crush or Vox AC15 with a close mic and a room mic and we kept the sounds as clean as possible. I had my 1972 Fender Twin on hand just in case..

We had a great armory of guitars for e.g. a National Dobro , a Taylor classical , a 64 Fender Jag 12 string , A gibson spirit, A MArtin HD28 , a beat up Japanese classical with a hole in it , a 72 custom tele , A Gibson L5 solid body, 1964 Gibson 345, A 60's lap slide , A Maton Acoustic , an Ibanez 12 string acoustic , an olde beat cheap strat , a early 80's P Bass with old wooly strings and an old Epiphone J45 Acoustic....

It was all a matter of hearing which guitar suited the song the best and really hearing its natural sound.

Although one of my favourite sounds is using my ebow on the dobro in the song nightlife on mars its kinda haunting...

Next were the vocals On all the tracks I double tracked the vocals plus double tracked different mic choices so once again we had the luxury of choice a mic tone from a dodgy old sm57 and a radio mic to the Neumans , AKG's etc sorry I can't remember all the mics..

The Mix was building and because there was minimal to not comping it was all about finding the best sounds for the piece and deciding what the needed and what wasn't .

the harmonies we quadruple tracked and stacked so it was just a matter of placement back n forth...

and then it was placing the orchestration that paul did in his home studio...

hey there was plenty to do and more stories to tell ..."A true gentleman is one whom can play the Tuba but refrains".

So the mixes were completed ....but hang on a minute what happen to "would you be missed" one of my favourite songs ahhhh paul left it on his computer at home ....

Ahhh well I was still happy for I had 12 great songs that flow beautifully together and that sat really well together as an Album ....Nightlife on Mars is born....

The Mastering ....

Marshall being a true gentleman offered to get the mastering done with his mate n mine Andy Beck and Paul Scott,

The Boys really tuned into the overall attitude and tone of the Album and whilst I had to go back to Melbs to get working I fully trusted the guys to master it up without me.

Then during this process I receive an email ...Paul the cheeky man and Andy had mixed "Would you be missed" it was like finding a long lost child I was sooooo happy cause I was kinda secretly sad that it wasn't on the Album but still happy all the same ....and now I am ecstatic I have a cracking new Album and couldn't wish for anything more it is done.

Nightlife on Mars will be released early in the New Year 2008 and Im currently looking for a label to work with me and my Publisher Fogsongs in getting it out there.

Speak Soon

Patrick Carr

"Take me to the Pictures" is a working title for my just recorded and soon to be mixed 2nd solo Album.

I have been writing a collection of songs for the last year since the release of "You and Me" anyhow when I completed 30 solid songs I was happy with.

I recorded them just with voice and guitar down at Damien Gerrards .

With a good reference of all the songs and I had time to let them marinate and to listen to them over n over.

It was then time to introduce some into my live set and as we all know this is the true test to see which ones resonated with the people.

It was great to get feedback on my new tunes not just from friends but complete strangers as well.

Slowly the 30 songs became a list of 15 not to say the others won't come back sometime its just a tone was being set and a style for a new kinda upbeat record and some of them were perhaps too mellow or sad for this Album.

I then asked Paul Scott of Montana if he would produce the Album and he being a good man was well up for it ...

Paul lives just down the road to where I used to work Bondi Intermusic the guitar shop.

So after work I'd wander down to his studio in his house in Woolarah.

We spent time going through the songs and started preproduction ie: arranging them more concisely and getting the tempo's right.

Then we re-recorded them just with voice and a guitar to a click.

The picture was building and you could hear ideas of instrumentation and harmonies.

Paul and I both agreed that this record would show more sides of my voice and guitar playing so that was the focus.

With the 15 songs arranged it was time to rehearse them up with the band . Being Murray Stewart of the Honey Palace on Drum's Conrad Harris of Entropic on added guitar and Paul Scott on Bass.

Paul and I decided that the recording technique was going to be different this time and that the beds were going to be laid down just by myself and murray to the click .

This way muzza could play to my accents and rhythms on the guitar / vocals and we can build the songs around that.

Which was great freedom for muz and I because it let the songs breath and from there you can see where the over dubs were needed.

The recording was done over 4 1/2 full days down at Damien Gerrards it was intense and a lot of fun n just enough time to get all the parts down including all the over dubs .

We basically ended up choosing the strongest 12 songs and focused on them.
Got the drums and myself down to 2 inch tape then transfered it into protools and got all the overdubs recorded as single cohesive takes. So there will be minimal comping of tracks and to keep the vibe up and live.

I then took the hard drive over to Michael Wheatleys house and he added some Hammond through his leslie on a couple of tracks.

Then Paul Scott took the hard drive back to his studio to clean and edit the tracks one by one and to add a bit of magic.

Yehhh its coming along really well and Im very excited with how its sounds and the performances that we captured.

So with that done I decided I needed a shake up so I moved from Sydney to Melbourne.

I'm here now in Richmond and just settling in ...I'm looking forward to get out there ....there are so many cool bars n pubs to play gigs at down here.

It feels like your kinda in the Middle of Australia if that make's sense Adelaide NT n Perth on one side Sydney n Brissy n Cairns on the other "kinda" and tassy right next door.

I feel a sense of renewed energy!

I shall be flying up to Sydney soon to spend 4 days back to back mixing at DG's with Paul, Russell and Marshall.

Patrick Carr grew up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and finished his school years at Pittwater High Mona Vale.

All the way through school Patrick formed rock bands from the concept band "The Stoned Rejects" to the cover band "Off Limits" they were on the bill at all the school concerts , house parties and surf clubs.

Patrick was then told the story of his Great Great Grandfather "The Colonial Minstrel".

Charles Robert Thatcher (1831-1878) on his Mothers side of the family, was one of the first minstrels to travel to Australia from England.
His folk songs and book are part of Australia's National Archive.

So in October 1994 Patrick grabbed his guitar and set off for England to write and play his songs.

His first English gig was at the Farnham blues festival in Surrey.

Patrick's Uncle and Aunty, Colin and Judy Webb had a folk band back in the 70's called "Amity." They still hold the Annual Farnham Music festival and help organize and play in the blues festival they also are personal friends with the "Jagger" family and other such musical families.

So it was easy for him to join in and play with their family band.

He liked it so much he stayed with them for a year to write music and to perform in the local folk and blues clubs.

In wanting to get his band back together, Patrick travelled and played the streets across Europe then headed back to Australia.

Back in the land of Oz..... Patrick formed the band "Apparition" with his old school friends John Latin and Nick Mascall.

In 1996 Apparition recorded their first Album "Self" at Sydney's Sony Studio's with Louise Taylor.

The Band consisted of John Latin on Bass / BV's also of " La Huva" and "Youth Group", Nick Mascall on the drums, Jade Macrae on Backing Vocals and Patrick singing and playing Guitar.

With the CD pressed they decided to go straight back to England to base themselves in the heart of London's indie music scene Camden Town.

They played all the clubs from the Water Rats to the Monarch and many more.

Then with new financial backing from "Apple Juice Recording's" they were set to record the second Album.

The Album "Sweet Lips Kissed" was recorded in a loft studio in the forest of Farnham Surrey with a long lost friend Andrew Burke on lead guitar.

Apparition then flew back to Sydney to mix and master... once again with Louise Taylor.

They then played a sell out gig at Sydney's Habourside Brasserie before promptly returning to London to continue touring and later to press the first single "Fresh Floured" which was received well on the London Indie Circuit.

During this time... to learn more about his love for the guitar Patrick worked in London's famous "Tin Pan Alley" Denmark St. .
From Rose Morris to Rhodes Music then to Hank's Guitars he soaked up the History and the depth of such a place.

Then there was news from his brother Jeremy..... a family tragedy.

Patrick had to race back to his Mother in Sydney for she was dying of a fatal virus CJD .

Jennifer Margaret Robinson Carr passed away in October 1998 holding her sons and her husband Terry Allan Carr's hand.

A broken man Patrick set off to travel India to try to make some sense of it all and learn the ways of eastern music and the sitar.

Sense found he returned to London and got straight back on to ye olde horse ... the folk n blues scene playing solo gig's at all the acoustic venues.

Places like the Sound Republic Leicester Square, The Acoustic Cafe Soho and the 12 Bar Club all the while still gigging with Apparition down the Monarch or the Borderline.

Patrick with his new strength recorded a side project "RUG'" the "Sessions at the Holloway Rose" EP on a 4 track with Michael Michaelson of Apparition and with at Stu the Fancy Man of "The Black Madonna's" at Stu's House in Holloway London.

With the recording in hand it was the right time to go home to his family in Sydney Australia to make peace and to continue in his musical journey.

Home now...In Sydney Patrick formed the band "Rug" with Garry Daglish and Tamlin Tregonning it was "electric" they would play the Sydney Indie Circuit from the Hopetoun to the Annandale Hotel.

The new band Rug recorded an EP "The Dead Would Sea" which they sold at gigs and some songs were aired on the local radio stations.

During this time he also joined other bands Montana, The Michael Wheatley dirty carpet disco band and Stewart and Melville.

One of these bands Montana (whom he is still a member) with the success of their Album "Bubble Gum Love" went on tour around London, Spain and the U.S of A so !!!!

The time had come for a new project ..... Patrick started writing with Ken Stewart of "Mr Blonde" the writing was fluid and had to be recorded.

They got together with Paul Newcomb at Tweak Lab Studio's Bondi and recorded a demo.

The Demo "Vanishing Cream" consisted of five songs and was recorded with friends from his other bands.

It was pressed, sold at gigs and posted out.

The Demo had legs for it landed Patrick a 3 Album Publishing Deal with Marshall Cullen and Paul Nearhos of Fogsongs.

The first of which "You and Me" recorded at Damien Gerrard Studio's Balmain with Russell Pilling and the help of his great friends and musicians alike is now available.

The next chapter is currently being written ...