“Blues sunny side up, over easy, spicy or funky, it’s all on the menu with these guys.”
The Flaming Mudcats Story
Told by Ian Thomson in anticipation of the limited edition vinyl album celebrating 15 years that is due for release in November 2024.
This is a story that began in August 2009 when four passionate musicians arrived at a run-down rehearsal room behind Real Groovy records in downtown Auckland. Along with their gear, they carried in a drive to play the blues in their own way.
That original four were Craig Bracken (vocals, harmonica), Doug Bygrave (guitar), Sean McCarthy (bass), and myself, Ian Thomson (drums). None of us knew how that session would go but by the end of the first song, we looked at each other and we knew it was going to fly. By the next time we met, Doug had come up with The Flaming Mudcats name, and we were a band.
At first, we drew and played material from our eclectic list of Chicago, West Coast, Texas and Louisiana artists, but before long, Sean and Craig began to contribute original songs.
Local promoter Dean Morris gave us our first break in October with a gig at the Naval and Family Hotel on Auckland’s infamous K-road. We needed at least thirty songs and after some crash rehearsals, we found ourselves performing live to an enthusiastic audience. The warm reception sparked new invitations to perform in Auckland and out of town.
By 2011, we had performed at gigs and festivals in Auckland, Whitianga, Tauranga, Nelson, Melbourne, Samoa, and Fiji.
With that experience, we felt ready for the next step and began the long process of writing, arranging, and rehearsing for our first album. Somewhat nervously, we entered Auckland’s LAB Studio and over one weekend recorded the Gave You What You Wanted album, released in 2012.
The thirteen tracks on that album included originals from Craig and Sean, and a couple from our friends Glen Moffatt and Simen Aanerud. The versatile Murray Patten played Hammond organ on two tracks including Craig’s West Coast blues, Gimme What You Got which we still play today.
After that album there was a period when we knuckled down, polished, and tightened the sound of the band. This hard work was to bring rewards in 2013 when Sean was befriended online by a blues festival organiser in Rockford, Illinois who invited us to perform at his inaugural Field of Blues Festival. We pooled our gig money and bought air tickets to the nearby blues mecca, Chicago − home of Chess Records, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and many more legendary blues figures.
Sean managed to schedule a set at a Chicago Club, Reggies, which led to surprise guest spots at B.L.U.E.S. Chicago, Kingston Mines, and The Water Hole Lounge. It felt incredible to be so warmly welcomed by everyone. There I was, a kid from Onehunga, New Zealand, and I was living my life-long dream — playing blues clubs in Chicago. I know the other guys felt the same way. Even more than that, the American audiences loved it when we played our own stuff.
A couple of days later we drove to Rockford and opened the Field of Blues Festival held at the Aviators Baseball stadium. The headliners were Lil Ed and The Imperials, supported by Tail Dragger, Willie Buck, and Rockin’ Johnny Burgin. The four of us were blown away by the whole experience, talking to these artists backstage and watching them go on to perform.
Inspired, in 2014 we went on to record our second album, Mistress, at the intimate Tonewheel Studio in Auckland. I remember the engineer Justin James had the biggest, friendliest dog-named Buddy, who drooled as he eyed our lunches.
Our increasing confidence began to show with the addition of a horn section to some tracks. Our picks from Mistress are Sean’s Can’t Take It with You a straight ahead, Chicago shuffle along with Craig’s cautionary slow blues, Drinking My Life Away, still a showstopper today.
Regular gigs followed and in early 2016, we were rapt to receive – out of the blue – another invitation to appear in the USA, this time at the Crossroads Blues Festival in Lyran Park, which sits on the Kishwaukee River between Byron and Rockford, Illinois.
This time we flew via Houston and drove to Austin, Texas. Quite by chance at the Saxon bar I struck up a conversation with the renowned, Texan, music poster artist, Danny Garrett. Later over dinner, Danny’s wife rang her bar-owning friend and incredibly, 24 hours later we found ourselves playing a guest spot on 6th Street, Austin’s famed home of the Texas blues.
The next day we flew on to Chicago. At the Lizard’s Liquid Lounge, we shared the bill with an exotic burlesque queen and Rockin’ Johnny Burgin who we’d met in 2013. What a night! Next day, nursing sore heads, we drove on to Byron to prepare for the Lyran Park Festival.
There, we were greeted as long-lost friends by the Rockford crew who had been so helpful in 2013. There were some truly magical moments during that trip. I remember climbing on stage and pausing at the awe-inspiring sight of a magnificent bald eagle swooping low over the river. I’ll always picture that moment as somewhat symbolic of one of my most exciting days as a musician, playing alongside the likes of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, led by the big man himself, who closed the show.
Time was tight, but we had one more night back in Chicago where Craig and Doug met iconic bluesman Buddy Guy at his Legends Bar. Craig also got to jam with the late Eddie Taylor jnr at a local market.
It had been a short and intense trip. We had absorbed a lot, leaving us with plenty of memories and new ideas to mull over on the long flight home.
Back home, we restarted rehearsals and gigs, and during one rehearsal at Craig’s house, I spotted a saxophone case stashed under a bed. Craig admitted to dabbling on it and at our urging, he began to play it on stage. He often played horn lines on his harmonica and now he could play horn lines on the saxophone as well, adding a new dimension to our live arrangements and the subsequent recordings.
A year or so later, Sean secured a guest spot for us at the 2017 Broadbeach Blues Festival in Queensland, but as the date approached, he relocated out of Auckland and left the band. We never would have got to where we were without Sean’s initiative and dedication. But we needed a bass player — and quick.
Hal Tupaea had just returned to New Zealand after a distinguished career in Australia with Ray Beadle, The Little River Band, among others. He agreed to fill in. At the same time, I rang Chris Hartley in Toowoomba, to play Hammond organ and keys. It was a relief to finally get on stage at Broadbeach and to give a creditable performance.
In November that same year, Craig received an email out of the blue from a friend in the States advising that an American bass player had recently arrived in Auckland and was looking for a gig. When Craig and I met Johnny Yu, we hired him on the spot. Johnny brought a wealth of experience from his extensive career in San Francisco — including a spell in Daniel Castro’s band. It was a relief to have a regular bass man again, especially one with Johnny’s solid, driving style that propelled the band to new levels. A great performer, Johnny was hugely popular with our fans and followers.
We did a lot of miles in Craig’s Hiace van to regional centres like Whanganui and New Plymouth. We played at the Manawatu Jazz & Blues Festival and especially enjoyed playing towns and community halls in places like Taihape and Horseshoe Bend.
2018 arrived with our collective writing and arrangement juices flowing. After six months of rehearsing and road testing the new material, we recorded our third album Cut Loose at Ellamy Studios with Louis Bernstone on the desk and Toby, his golden retriever, on security duties. The ten new tracks and two covers showcase Johnny’s influence in the more contemporary R&B bass grooves — along with added keys and horns. The up-tempo swing, Show Me Some Love and the driving Hey Margarita with its Latino chorus, are from the Cut Loose album.
Over the next eighteen months or so we made several short tours around the lower North Island in Craig’s trusty van. These experiences triggered further fresh material, enough to return to Louis and Toby at Ellamy Studios in 2020. Our fourth album Forever And A Day featured fourteen original tracks including three of my first songwriting efforts. Black Limousine, is a nod to our times on the road while Good Behaviour is written around a funky riff and groove. Craig’s All Around the World highlights Johnny’s powerhouse bass lines.
While touring the new album in the South Island Covid-19 struck and a lockdown was announced. We caught one of the last ferry sailings from the South Island and drove through to make it home to Auckland just in time before all travel was frozen.
But for Johnny it didn’t end there, he had to return to the States or risk being locked out of his home country and unable to join his family. That left a huge hole, so we formed a Covid ‘bubble’ that allowed us to meet and rehearse without mixing with others. Two talented bass players, Paul Merriott and Pete Parnham came to our rescue. Paul helped us out when he was available, but we knew we needed our own bass player if we wanted to develop the band any further. So, in mid-2022, Pete became a Mudcat.
We completed the current line-up almost by accident when we encountered Liam Ryan fittingly, on International Blues Music Day 2021 in Nelson. While getting on stage to play our set we found, due to a misunderstanding, the previous band’s keyboard equipment was still on stage. Rather than shift it, we invited him to sit in with us. A chance meeting quickly became an open invitation to join us whenever he could.
Liam’s vast musical knowledge and experience showed as new songs began to emerge for the ‘Til The Money’$ All Gone Album. We recorded this album live in September 2023 at Mt. Maunganui’s Studio 11b with Evan Pope engineering.
Evan’s lanky Greyhound supervised from the control room reminding us of Buddy and Toby at the earlier recording sessions.
This time, the songs were contributed from myself, Craig, Pete, and Liam, and Liam’s keyboard playing is central to the arrangements. Pete introduces his upright acoustic bass on four tracks which also adds a new dimension. We chose three of the songs for this album. Pete’s song I Should’ve Told You That has a New Orleans groove.
Waiting For The River to Fall is Liam’s song about cyclone Gabrielle, and opens with the classic Stratocaster guitar from Doug against the backdrop of Liam’s Hammond.
The title track from Craig, ‘Til the Money’$s All Gone captures how this album was approached — a more stripped back, sophisticated live sound.
The rhumba, Satan’s Grip, is an emotional journey that showcases Craig’s chromatic harmonica as well as his song writing.
This brings us to the November 2024 release of our 15-year Anniversary Album with tracks chosen to reflect our progression and growth as songwriters and musicians. The album is ordered for the listening experience rather than chronological order and with the limited duration allowed on vinyl we have omitted a lot of our favourite tracks.
Still, when you hear us live you’ll hear songs from all our albums. One thing you can be sure of is that we will always play classic Chicago and Texas style blues in the set, and when we do, it is like lighting a fire under the band.
After all, we haven’t forgotten the reasons we went to that first rehearsal 15 years ago. It’s what has fueled us this far, and what will shape The Flaming Mudcat future — our shared drive to play blues in our own way.
We invite you, our fans and followers to join us.
— Ian Thomson June 24
So we’re out here on the road playing for the folks
— Black Limousine, Forever And A Day.
Seeing sights, talking trash, telling bad jokes.
We been a lotta places, not many we missed
We’ve even been to places that don’t exist.
We all had hopes, we all had dreams
Shame we never rode in a black limousine.
“The Flaming Mudcats hail from Auckland, New Zealand, but easily could be mistaken to be from Chicago’s south side.”
Steve Jones. Crossroads Blues Society, Rockford Illinois USA.
“Being a blues band is a real calling because it demands a big commitment. So, it’s hats off to the ‘Mudcats.’ Not for doing this but doing it so well.”
Graham Reid, Auckland.
