“Dave Keogh responded to my suggestion of booking one Irlan Joney, a swarthy Brazilian guitar-shredder and singer, with irrepressible, beaming, gleaming smile andexplosive black locks, who I found punching well above his weight, as a busker, outsideWoolies, Dee Why. Joney has accessorised his own, near-phenomenal skills with a bassist and drummer that complement his own prowess & musicality. As a trio, they’re known—not entirely inappropriately—as Irlan Joney & The Carcara; the carcara being a large South American bird of prey, with colourful beak and majestic plumage. IJ & The Carcara were warming up the stage for full-on party band, Blackbird Hum, who cross terrain from roots, to reggae, to dub. Joney, backed by an admirable rhythm section, plays jazz-inflected guitar, to impress; an aspiration in which he very substantially succeeds. Honey and co are blues rockers par excellence, with a distinctive panache, in no small measure thanks to intra-band cohesion and simpatico, as well as Joney’s unto himself guitar stylings. The guitar he was playing, too, lent a certain unfamiliar sound. I wish I was well-versed enough to identify it.”

Lloyd Bradford (Brad) Syke
ECD, Grapevine Communications & Dogsballs Advertising; Editor, Syke On Stage; Judge, Siver Gull (Playwriting) Award.