Live Appearances & Production
Duties
Live appearances in 1995 included performing
with Dave Dobbyn,
Neil Finn and Shona
Laing at the closing night of Aucklands legendary Gluepot
venue as well as supporting US Bluesman Chris
Whitley at the basement in Sydney. Gillespie also played
and conducted songwriting workshops at music festivals throughout
Australia including Woodford
and Port Fairy.
Push The Boat Out
In Jan 1996 Gillespie was invited to produce
the third album for New Zealand music award winners the NARCS
also co-writing and performing on this album called ‘Push
the Boat Out’ (Hark records). Wayne joined the NARCS
for two New Zealand Tours in 1996 & 1997.
1999 saw Gillespie’s new band, Famous
Blue Raincoat, make their debut live performance at Auckland’s
Sweetwaters Festival.
Subsequent appearances included the Thredbo
Global Music Festival in 2001 & 2002.
Music Psychology
In between touring and producing duties, Wayne
completed an honours degree in psychology at Macquarie University.
Combining his interest in psychology with music Wayne interviewed
local musicians for a research project ‘The Personality
of Rock Musicians’. A paper from this research was published
in the UK Journal Psychology
of Music in October 2000.
Recent Projects and Collaborations
2000 saw the re-release of Wayne’s first
album “Wayward Son” on CD through his own label
Wayward Records. Wayne now owns the copyright to all his recordings.
In conjuction with drummer/songwriter/engineer
Rob Grosser they put together their own analogue/digital studio
where they work producing other acts as well as their own material.
Wayne also guested on Penelope
Swales album “Archives” released in 2000.
In 2002 EMI NZ released “The
Best of Narcs” album which included several of Gillespie’s
co-writes with Andy Dickson: “Back to the Deep”
and “Message to You”.
Covers by Other Artists
Gillespie’s songwriting prowess continues
to be acknowledged by other artists with songs such as Number
37, Once I was your Lover, Wrong Way, Invercargill and Camille
Claudel having been performed & recorded by other artists
(see Discography).
Also active as a co-writer Wayne has recently
written songs with artists such as Penelope
Swales, the The
O’Donnell Brothers and David
Benuik.
Current Projects
2003 saw Gillespie performing with old mate
Brendan Power on
his Australian tour and also recording an acoustic show at the
“The Bunker” in Aucklands’ Devenport with
guests Nigel Gavin, Tony Waine and Caitlin
Smith.
Gillespie’s current
studio project , Famous Blue Raincoat, is an international affair
with guest musicians living in 4 different countries. (see News)
