Shane Forbes

I grew up in the notorious western suburbs of Sydney. Schooled up by a group of crazy, god fearing berserk nuns, my young life was not filled with pleasure.Constant whipping was the order of the day.

At 14 years I moved with my family to the central NSW coast.Where I spent my time fishing ,surfing and learning plumbing from my father, and later chasing women .
At 24 years I grew restless left NSW and moved to a remote area in Far North Queensland.
It was here I first learned to play guitar then electric bass . I have played in many bands both original & covers. All around North Queensland.

I have been writing stories and doing art in many forms, such as songs, poems & tunes since I was very young.
I have had a long & continuous involvement with ABORIGINAL PEOPLE many of whom consider me to be a brother ie; FAMILY.
I' am very proud of this!

Along the way I made friends and worked with some very talented musicians:

FRANK MACKDONALD,
GARY DOZIER ,
MAX PERKIN,
KENNY DEVINE,
CARMEL MARTIN,
CHERIL DAHLSTROM,
and my god son MARLEY SHANE SHARP.

Their brilliant performances on these recordings are testimonial to their talents!

Buy & download songs for as low as $1.50 ea

Inspiration

I have always been a big fan of funky sounds, of course James Brown , known as the godfather of soul music, was to me the first inspiration to produce our own funk influenced tracks.

This influence is clearly evident on the first album ten to midnight, on songs such as Never coming back, and to a lesser extent Outlaw man, although these tracks are not funk in its pure form they are certainly the start of my flirtation with the feel of funk .

I,ve also always loved reggae ,even though I didn,t produce many songs in this genre,it is definitely inspirational ,the way funk gets you wanting to dance is overwhelming and mesmerizing - in my latest album,this influence has evolved even more .

When we were working on Mistaken both Max - my engineer and I both felt that we had found something new & funky but evil ,dirty and brooding all at once or the song Toy creek is a great example of how funk has infiltrated hillbilly rhyming.
to come up with some new hybrid groovy but still a descriptive ballad of the trial of living in the wilds on the wrong side of the river,when she floods and rain that feels like it will never stop,crazy mixed up love .;I seem to be expert at this story ,they say you got to pay your dues to the blues ,believe me I payed them many times.

The music

I see recording so many different styles of music as something akin to shizophrenia.
I feel funky, I'm a dude and a weirdo ,which surely effects the music. Hot pants is a story being repeated often and everywhere , I made this song happy sad a little funky ,bluesie the great musicianship,inspiring guitar of Kenny Devine,makes me feel good every time I hear it ,originally Frank Mc Donald came up with the lick which I copied on bass,using a pre set beat which I had picked- it was all easy in fact the truth is I've never taken more than ten minutes to write any song .
I can't understand why anyone couldn't do it ,mabey being crazy helps .Funk is great whoever first thought of it should be given a medal.
perhaps thats enough for now - always on the edge .

Shane Forbes

Announcement:

NEW to this site: An E-BOOK:
{KING WEDGETAIL AND THE PHEASANT CUCKOO}
It's purpose is to entertain the little ones and subtly warn them of the hidden dangers of alcohol before they grow up.
I hope it;s enjoyed by all and achieves it's mission.