Fatt Max – JD & Me
Independent
16 Tracks – 40 minutes
Mark “Fatt Max” Hill was born in London, England in 1967. He grew up listening to his parents’ collection of jazz, blues and Rat Pack music, but was always drawn to the blues. He was self- taught to play the guitar – “just listening and learning”. By age 9, he was “picking up riffs and tunes from the radio or the family collection. At age 11 he joined his first band which performed a mix of original tunes with covers of blues and Beatles songs. He continued in bands playing in different genres through his teen years and into his 20’s, but the blues was always foremost in his mind. The latter period found him performing in acts throughout UK.
Things changed in 1996 when he got married. His wife was born in New Zealand and in 1998, they moved to Auckland, New Zealand. Now in a new country with no knowledge of other musicians, he decided to continue his career as a solo musician. He eventually discovered the Auckland Blues Music Club and found a bunch of like-minded people all dedicated to the blues. He started playing gigs in clubs and festivals all across the country and is looking forward to playing at the 40th Anniversary of the Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival. He continues to play solo but also plays in a band called The Dirty Tones.
Mark builds his own guitars out of scrap materials like cigar boxes and hub caps. In addition to the guitar, he also plays bass, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, keyboards, harmonica and 3-string slide guitar. He does all of his own production, engineering and songwriting in his home studio. He has a regular podcast called Blues Diabolique on the RFS Network. Check Bandcamp for this album and many other albums and EPs. Although now disbanded, he was the founder and president of the Fat Bikers Motorcycle Club, which had over 300 members in New Zealand, many of whom were like-minded about the love of blues music. In fact, he notes that blues is still strong in New Zealand with many young people getting involved. “We love our blues down under”.
The album title reflects his one man and a guitar approach to music. The JD in the title references his “faithful Gretsch parlour guitar which he named Jim Dandy”. The guitar is shown on the chair in the lower corner of the album cover. The album features 16 original songs, all recorded as live first takes.
He immediately gets things jumping with the “Lucky Bo Boogie” as he says, “my baby left me and took my dog, drove around and moving on …I feel fine”. Next, he explains “I don’t really mind being out of my mind. “Whole Lotta Crazy” going on”. My “Folks” taught me to stand my ground. Don’t let anybody push you around”. “Jellybone’s Shack Pt. 1” slows things down as he tells “down in the swamp at the river bend, there’s an old-time shack where the blues never ends”.
He kicks things back up in a high-speed romp. “Up and down, around and around, wheeling around all over town, nothing will get me down at the “Roadhouse Dandy Blues”. “Today’s my eyes wide open, today I see the light. Well, I know you done me wrong, I know I done you right” on “Today Blues”. On “Busy”, he declares “I found the devil in you. You brought the devil in me. Only one thing left to do, gotta get busy with you.” On “All in All” he expresses ” I never thought how hard, how hard you’d make me fall”.
With a bit of rock ‘n’ roll, He advises ” I ain’t got no money, holes in my shoes, I ain’t got nothing, nothing I can lose but I got all I need cause ” I Got the Blues”. He asks, “Why do you “Waste My Time”? “We got no words to say”. “Don’t Care” if you left, don’t care if you’re right. “You do your thing, I’ll do mine”. He tells the “Whiskey Woman” I want to be your whiskey man. You ain’t pretty, you ain’t nice” “Heed this story, heed this song. A whiskey woman will only do you wrong”.
“You are laughing as I am crying and “You Doing It Again”. “You don’t know how much it hurts me bad”. “Stomping Hog Blues” gets the boogie going again. “Let me be your stomping hog. Baby, I’ll show you what I got. I got the boogie-woogie, make the river hot”. He returns to “Jellybone’s Shack Pt. 2” as he tells “I need a doctor; I need a cure.” He begs “Mr. Jellybone, please help me.” “Watcha Fink” ends the album in high energy as he cites ” I left myself by the side of the road, nowhere to run, nowhere to go”.
One man with a strong voice, fun lyrics and his driving guitar will make you think of an afternoon sitting in a porch swing just listening to him playing for our enjoyment. 16 songs in 40 minutes means he quickly covers a lot of ground in each song, but all sound complete in his stories or messages. An enjoyable listen to old school blues.
