Geoff Achison

If you look at the best Australian blues guitarists of all time, Geoff Achison is without a doubt on the list. In 1994, Achison released his debut album Big Machine and since then has gone in leaps and bounds. I got the opportunity to sit down with Achison recently to have a chat about guesting with the Allman Brothers, playing alongside his long-time mentor and collaborator Dutch Tilders and how it feels to be celebrating the anniversary of the disc.
“That was the first project out of the Dutch Tilders band. It’s kind of shocking when you add it all up, but there we go, 20 years. I don’t feel that old,” Achison jests. Like many guitarists before him, Achison got his start playing in bands from an early age and was taken under Tilders wing, who Achison describes as the Godfather of Australian blues.
“Dutch emigrated from Holland during his teenage years and after living in post war Europe for many years – and discovering old American blues records – came out to Melbourne. He began to play in coffee shops around town and was a shining light at the time. Nobody had really heard this blues music before – it was a revolutionary time to be involved in the scene,” he says.
Striking up a lifelong friendship, Achison took off on the road with the Dutch Tilders band, playing hundreds of gigs all around Australia. Talking about their time on the road, Achison is quick to tell me that he never really relaxed completely around Tilders. “I was always star struck by him, even after spending five or six years on the road – there was just something that took him to another level. He was a brilliant performer and someone that we all miss very dearly,” Achison says.
Inspired by Tilders to pick up the acoustic guitar, the sound that Achison now produces with his solo show and the Souldiggers, is astounding and still to this day turning heads both here and abroad. One of the best things that Achison did for his music career was to head over to the US and soak up the atmosphere and blues scene. It is an experience that Achison would recommend to any young blues player, without hesitation.
“Oh yeah! I would highly recommend that. On my first few visits, I didn’t have much more of a plan than go to America. You just got to turn up. If you want to investigate what might happen, you just have to put yourself in that scenario. Besides the money for the airfare, it’s an easy country to get into – there’s no language barrier and the blues clubs are just great. You are always likely to strike up a conversation. They’re friendly and it’ll do wonders for your music,” he says.
The next few months are a celebration of Big Machine, culminating in the live disc that was recorded at the GH hotel in St Kilda with the Souldiggers earlier this year. Playing at the Bridge Hotel on November 29, Achison is excited about the opportunity to get back down there to play.
“That’s my home turf. I used to play with Allan Watson’s jazz band at the Theatre Royale, it was a pseudo hippy jazz band. They’d play the latest movie and we’d have our gear set up and when that finished, we kicked in to play some tunes. I can’t wait to get back that way and play again,” Achison says.
Release: Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers 20th Anniversary Concert DVD available now
When&Where: Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine – November 29
By Tex Miller