Following the overwhelmingly positive response to last year’s event, The Melbourne Guitar Show is back this year, and it’s tipped to be bigger and better than ever before. With appearances and performances by Australian guitar heroes such as Sarah Carroll AKA the Oueen of the Bellarine, AJ Leonard, Geoff Achison, Phil Cebrano and fresh talent like Heloise, Dean Ray and Cat Canteri, the Caulfield Racecourse will come alive with the sound of the six-string for two days next month.
We sat down with a local guitar legend Dean Wells of Geelong-based band, Teramaze, as they prepare to blow up the speakers with their home-grown brand of progressive metal.
“We’re looking forward to playing at the show,” Wells says. “Teramaze will play a 50-minute set on the Saturday and then Luis, our bass player, and I will be hanging around over the two days because I deal with different companies that will be there like CMC, Ernie Ball’s Music Man and Mesa/Boogie. I may even be doing a guitar clinic at the show as well – it’s going to be a good weekend.”
As a musician, song-writer and record producer, Wells lives, breathes and sleeps music and has done so since his childhood. He remembers the feeling of signing his first record contract as a teenager and says he has been enjoying the ride ever since.
“When I started Teramaze years ago in Geelong we were just kids, we were so young. I think I was about 16 when we first were signed to a label. I was just thrown into the deep end, which was cool, but I had no idea what I was doing!” he laughs.
“But it was during that time that I learnt how to produce music. It was something I really got into because we spent so much time in other people’s studios, which cost us so much money, but we never got the right sound – the sound I had in my head.”
Despite years of experience onstage and behind the mixing desk, Wells says the music industry is evolving, and works hard to stay ahead of the game.
“I’m still constantly seeking advice from other people – the music industry is a steep learning curve. Sometimes when you think you know what you’re doing, then the next day you don’t, but then the day after that you feel like you’re back on track. It can be tough, but that’s what makes it fun – it’s a bit like a rollercoaster.”
Teramaze’s latest release Her Halo (out now) was mixed by Wells and has been noticed by all the right people. Since signing with Mascot Label Group which is based in Europe, Teramaze has garnered a growing fan-base overseas, resulting in a nomination by Progressive Magazine for their Limelight award that celebrates rising stars of the prog/metal scene.
“It actually blew us away that we were nominated,” Wells says. “It’s a UK-based magazine that I’ve been reading for years and I remember thinking to myself in the past, ‘That’d be cool if we could get into this magazine one day’, so for me it amazing. If we win it would be cool, but if we don’t, at least we’re making a name for ourselves.
“I don’t take any of this stuff for granted,” he adds. “I just wanna make the best music I can, everything else is just a bonus.”
Teramaze are also planning for a Geelong show in September, so keep checking fortemag.com.au for updates.
Written by Natalie Rogers
Photo: Karina Wells
When & Where: Melbourne Guitar Show at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne – August 6 & 7
