I was recently conversing with Australian instro surf-rock guitar ace Ben Rogers and when I told Ben that I thought it was amazing that Hank Marvin lived in Australia, he said that’s true, Hank does... but he lives 2000 miles away from him! Big country, that Australia. Anyway, I hope Hank gets to hear Ben’s latest CD. Another great new rock instro CD to come out of the continent / country of Australia in 2010 is the CD debut from The Break, entitled Church Of The Open Sky. Thanks to Ben’s suggestion, mwe3.com picked up on the Break CD and we’re pleased to report that it’s a real, rockin’ winner. Commenting on the Break’s origins and current status, Ben Rogers also informed me, ‘Incidentally there seems to be a bit of a "new wave" of interest in instrumental guitar in Australia. There's a number of young guys doing surf/Ventures/Shadows style, and there's a local Booker T. style quartet with real Hammond and Leslie, with whom we sometimes share gigs. Also, most notably, three members of one of the country's iconic rock bands of the ‘80s, Midnight Oil, have teamed up with former Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie to form an instrumental surf band called The Break. They're touring the country and pulling good crowds. This is all good for instrumental rock guitar!’ Ben’s right I must say. If the front cover art of Church Of The Open Sky doesn’t blow you away, the music inside certainly will. Driven by the thrill of riding that musical wave—and in the spirit of the classic instro guitar rockers like Davie Allan, Dick Dale, Link Wray, The Ventures and more—The Break carries on the tradition with a fresh batch of instrumental guitar rockers that truly rocks and rocks hard. As Ben correctly stated, the group features members of Midnight Oil—including guitarist and Break album producer Jim Moginie, Rob Hirst (drums) and Martin Rotset (guitars). Along with bassist Ritchie, The Break serves up a surf-rock brew well worth checking out by fans of surf-rock guitar instrumentals. There’s also somewhat of a Hank Marvin / Shadows influence on the album too, but the Break sound is much more hard rocking and is also peppered with a kind of early ‘60s, reverb laden, Joe Meek / Tornadoes influence too I might add. Joe would have loved this album. Ride the wave and catch The Break. www.Bombora.net.au / www.TheBreak.net.au

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