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| Dwayne Bunney and Mark Brzezicki of Big Country |
Dwayne has been a presenter for Kaleidoscope Ears since 2006, making this year his seventh year of broadcasting. Not one to stick to the shadows, Dwayne was also a member of the Tasmanian Youth Broadcasters Inc Committee of Management between 2007-2010.
Dwayne’s earliest musical memory is listening to and watching his dad’s vinyl spinning on the record player.
“His favourite albums were The Shadows Greatest Hits, The Beatles Greatest Hits, Popcorn And Other Electric Hits and Beethovan’s Greatest Hits. He also liked the trumpet players Herb Alpert and James Last, probably their greatest hits. I loved staring at the covers and I can still remember their very distinct and comforting smell.”
Can you believe though, the first time Dwayne was asked to be a co-host for Kaleidoscope Ears, he declined. Crazy right?
“Then one day I went in to the studio with Nobby to see how it was done. I loved it! I asked if we could do a feature on my favourite band. He agreed and I never stopped coming along as co-host. It was Nobby really who inspired me to develop my passion for music. We would sit for hours at his place listening to old vinyl and he would get so excited about the music. His enthusiasm was infectious. I started collecting, and my favourite genre became Progressive Rock. I often lean towards that genre on The Ears, even though our musical base is broader than that.
“Our motto at Kaleidoscope Ears is to “put colour into your music”. We feature interviews with international guests and promote local new music too. We often do features on particular bands or albums. Our sound springs from the late 60′s era of Psychedelic and Progressive Rock, but we don’t limit ourselves to that. We’ve done features on bands as hard hitting as Rammstein and as popular as ABBA. We try not to play tunes you’ll hear on commercial radio. If we want to play a well-known song, we’ll try and find a rare live or demo version of it. Over the years the different presenters on the Ears have had their preferred styles. Ears founder Lockey’s favourite genre was Beat and Garage, Nobby tended toward Psychedelia and I veer towards Progressive.
In the last seven years Dwayne has certainly had his share of big name interviews and unforgettable fan boy moments, getting to hang out with the likes of Big Country, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Damo Suzuki (Can) and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru).
“I’m very happy to say that I have interviewed members of most of my favourite bands. I’ve interviewed all three members of Klaatu, who were once famously mistaken for the Beatles. I’ve interviewed Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, the king of the hill, as it were, of progressive rock, on four occasions. I did one interview with him back stage at the Palace in Melbourne where I spent 45 minutes chatting with him in person. That was a huge thrill. I’ve now interviewed him enough times that recently when he performed in Melbourne with his solo band, he remembered me when he saw me. When I was in London a few years back I saw another band that Steven Wilson plays in called Blackfield. I interviewed front man Aviv Geffen backstage at the O2 Shepherds Bush, an iconic venue. Geffen is a hugely famous pop star in Israel and he knew it! I found that the most nerve-wracking interview I’ve done.
“My favourite bunch of interviews would have to be those I did with the band that was most influential to me as a kid, Big Country. To this day I still believe Big Country are the most underrated band to come out of the 80′s. Sadly the front man Stuart Adamson died in 2001, but when the band reformed in 2010 with Mike Peters from The Alarm on lead vocals, I travelled to the UK to follow them around. It was a great way to see the UK! As I’d already done a couple of interviews from Australia with members of the band, they welcomed me at the first gig I saw them at in Manchester. Mike Peters shouted out to me from the stage during the gig, which was a huge thrill. Then I was asked to accompany them back to their hotel to hang out and have a few beers. Even more thrilling! It was an absolutely unforgettable experience! Video’s of the interviews I did on that tour are still up on youtube, as is a clip of Mike Peters yelling out to me again during another gig in Bristol when he spotted me in the front row.
“I would have to say the two biggest guests we had in the studio with us were Damo Suzuki from Can and Mani Neumeier from Guru Guru. Nobby was the main presenter at the time, and as a German himself, to be there with him in the studio with these legends of the Krautrock scene was very special.”
And why does our Prog Rock specialist love community radio?
“I love the freedom we have to play what we perceive as good music rather than popular music.”
When he’s not immersed in researching Prog Rock and sourcing interviews with the big names, Dwayne does volunteer Bible education work, helps his wife with her child care business, write stories and plays canteen lady at his daughter’s school.
You can listen to Dwayne on Kaleidoscope Ears on Sundays 6-8pm, and repeated Tuesdays 3-5pm.
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