Bruce Mathiske - Live at the Chapel Theatre, Glen Innes, 2008
by Col Pike

"Bruce who?" The nice lady in the shop queried.

"MA-TISS-KEY" says I, carefully. "He's a guitarist".

"What kind of guitarist?" She followed up. This was an opening too good to miss.

"A bloody good one!" says I.

Once again Bruce dazzled a near-capacity audience at the Chapel on thursday 21 feb, with his pleasant, easy-going manner and his breathtaking guitar skills. He's a hard man to pigeon-hole. No, it's not jazz, not boogey, bluegrass, rock or blues, not classical, country, celtic, folk or flamenco. It's "Bruce"! And it's built from a complex palette of many influences. "World music" is a phrase he used more than once.

Think Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, Django Rheinhardt, Jose Feliciano plus a few others and you could be just starting to get the picture. Bruce is always stretching the envelope and trying new techniques and styles explaining that he just wouldn't be comfortable staying, as so many do, in the one niche for life.

The great thing about his music though is you don't have to classify it, or even understand it, just sit back and enjoy it. And enjoy it is exactly what the audience on thursday did. (As an aside, I can claim credit for persuading Bruce who, as the audience will testify, has a great singing voice, to sing precisely twice as many songs as he did last year. This year he sang two songs!) My only regret is that so many Glenizens who would have enjoyed it immensely missed out by not being there.

Earlier in the day Bruce had run a workshop with about 30 kids aged 6 to around 60, explaining that there really wasn't a secret, you just had to put in the hours. This was a rare chance for budding guitarists to get up close and personal with an internationally acclaimed expert and we are all very grateful to him for giving so freely of his time.

Personally, I was encouraged by his comments that he wasn't a born guitarist and that when he first picked up a guitar (at the age of 7) he was as clumsy as the rest of us were. No, he isn't lucky to be a good guitarist, "Luck never entered into it!" he emphasised.

Sadly, Dave Hellens who was billed to appear on banjo with Bruce was unable to attend due to what the Mathiske entourage, with knowing nods and winks, described as "a banjo incident"! But Bruce and his trusty Maton guitar were joined in around 6 songs by his friend Greg Young (a superb player of the ukelele) who admitted later with a grin that it was "very daunting" to be on the same stage as Bruce. I can believe that!

Thanks Bruce, thanks Greg and thanks also to all the Arts Council volunteers who, as ever, put in the effort to make such an outstanding, pleasurable and successful evening possible.

Looking forward very much to the return visit.

Visit Bruce's website