The Jo Meares Band is based in Melbourne the members are:-
JO MEARES - guitars, vocals, DAVID MILNE - drums, MARK McCARTNEY - guitars, TRENT McKENZIE - bass
Additional members:- SINJ CLARK - piano, MICHAEL BRIDGES - violin, saw
Jo Meares will be releasing a double A-side EP in September 2019.
The first song 'The Fields of Yesterday' can be listened to via the Youtube link below.
Jo Meares released his last full album 'BACK TO THE WORLD' in June 2018.
Recorded over 2 years in Sydney and Melbourne it involves an extraordinary range of musicians.
Jo released the vinyl version and toured the album in Australia sept-dec 2018.
'Back to the World' is available on Bandcamp(link below) and the vinyl will be available from October 2018.
https://jomeares.bandcamp.com/album/back-to-the-world-2
'...this an album that does something for you and something to you. In a live setting at one point I would probably shed a tear. Magnificent just doesn't seem to cover it and if I would give a higher mark I would. Outstanding...' 10/10 - Ernest Platt, Wildspiritz Rising, November 2018
'Back To The World' is another of Meares’ mini-masterpieces. The 10-minute closer, An Old Dog And A Shotgun, would be worth your time alone, would be the album standout, the reason to come here to hear this – but there’s not a single dud track. Once again he’s taken time to create something ‘whole’, a piece, an album that could, in another setting, stand up as film or book, a graphic novel, a macabre ballet. - Simon Sweetman, Off The Tracks, October 2018
TOUR DATES SEPT/OCT 2019:-
SAT SEPY 07 McCROSSIN’S MILL, URALLA with Michael Bridges(violin/saw)
SUN SEPT 08 GASOLINE PONY, SYDNEY with Michael Bridges(violin/saw)
FRI SEPT 13 MACEDON RAILWAY HOTEL full band show.
SAT SEPT 14 ACLAND FOLK CLUB(DOG'S BAR) Jo Meares Trio - Mark McCartney(guitar), Dave Milne(piano)
SAT SEPT 21 MARRICKVILLE BOWLO, SYDNEY, EP LAUNCH with full band
with special guests CROW(TBC)
SAR SEPT 28 THE JUNK BAR, BRISBANE, ALBUM LAUNCH(solo). MATINEE SHOW 4pm
with special guests JIMMY BEAVIS and JANEY MAC
SAT OCT 05 THE SPOTTED MALLARD, MELBOURNE, EP LAUNCH with full band.
with special guest CHARLES JENKINS
SUN OCT 13 BRIDGE HOTEL, CASTLEMAINE with full band, afternoon 4-6pm
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'KING OF THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN' was released in June 2014
Produced by Charles Jenkins it features the guitar work of virtuoso Jeff Lang and the sublime harmonica work of Reuben Alexander
and Kari Pihl's beautiful piano work.
The haunting backing vocals were recorded by an all girl choir in an old church in Helsinki, Finland.
From Simon Sweetman at Off The Tracks....
'...the whole album hit me in a way that some albums do; something by Richmond Fontaine, say. Or Springsteen's 'Ghost of Tom Joad'. A complete thing, a completed album that plays out like a movie or a book or a stage-play. It’s there. It unfolds for you. You’re listening to it but you can see it in front of you – you can imagine, the mind wanders due to the beauty and intensity and integrity of the music and the lyrics. Big bold stories. Real'.
From Chris Familton's 4 star review at The Music....
Mood and atmosphere are key factors in the creation of immersive and transportive music and Jo Meares' new album is richly imbued with both. Eerie, forlorn harmonica; delicate and heart-wrenching piano; slow, shuffling drums; and exquisite guitar courtesy of Jeff Lang are the backdrop to Meares' tales of love, pain and emotional turbulence, rendered in the talk/sung style of Leonard Cohen yet invested with the gothic country ambience of Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) and Wovenhand. King Of The Crystal Mountain is a richly detailed and beautiful set of recordings from start to finish.