Ben Leece shakes it up with call to action on indigenous issues

Through it all, he has always yearned for his music to be heard. And never more so than with his new single, Big Red Black, which he will be playing on Sunday at The Gum Ball festival at Dashville with his band, Left of The Dial.

The song is an angry cry for white people to admit they have wronged the Indigenous community throughout Australian history.

Among the lines: The system ain't broke it does what it's supposed to do; You got blood on your hands I got blood on my hands too.

Perhaps the most poignant line is the chorus: White tongue don't tell black history. That chorus is sung by Liz Stringer, William Crighton and Julieanne Crighton.

Julieanne Crighton has co-writing credit with Leece on the song.

It was recorded with his band, Left of The Dial. The band members are Mat Taylor (drums), Liam Ferguson (bass), Chris Dale (keys), Trent Crawford (guitar) and Lachlan X Morris (guitar).

WHAT'S ON:

Leece was raised in Quirindi, on Gamilaroi country. He is not Indigenous. But the seeds of his song Big Red Black were born through his youthful experiences.

"When I grew up, I didn't know any different. Quirindi, where I grew up, had a pretty large Aboriginal population," he said. "They were just my friends, we played footy together, we were in the same classes, these are my best friends still today.

"Once I grew up and became aware of some of those social issues and recognised some of those negative connotations, stereotypes - rhetoric, that old rhetoric - they were talking about my friends, my friends' parents and families. It didn't sound at all like the people I knew. That's where it started, out of a loyalty to my friends that I grew up with, and that gave me so much."

The song is a thunderous rocker, in the spirit of Midnight Oil, both musically and message-wise. It's' no wonder, with Leece having a sidestage view of the Oils in their final European tour while assisting Crighton, who himself had done recordings with members of the Oils.

The press release issued with the single quotes Leece: "Until Australia has a treaty with its Aboriginal people, only then can we try and start to heal and move forward. The job doesn't finish on January 27. We can't just throw out a social media post one day a year, pat ourselves on the back and wonder why nothing has changed when the date rolls around again. It's a 365-day-a-year job and as a country we need to get uncomfortably honest with ourselves."

In conversation, Leece sheds more light on his views.

"That's what the song is about, there are tools, whether they are aware of it or not, these things are in place to keep Aboriginal people on the bottom rung," he said. "We seem to have got ourselves such a tangle it seems impossible to come back from.

"Like anything, once we start telling the truth and approach people from a human perspective with love, everyone is capable of empathy. It's easy to understand why we have some of the problems we have, once you tear away some of the rubbish.

"Even the way we frame them: we talk about Indigenous problems. They're just Australian problems, you know."

While it's not the music that some associate with Ben Leece, hard rock has long been in his blood. He moved to Newcastle in 2003 to play in a rock'n'roll band, Dragline - he had successfully auditioned to be the band's lead singer. He played in No Heroes ("a southern rock metal type thing"), Every Word ("hardcore") and then led Delta Lions before going out under his own name and drifting towards alt country.

Ben Leece and Left of The Dial play at The Gum Ball at Dashville on Sunday, April 23, at 2.30pm.

Seminal '90s rock band The Baby Animals will be one of the headliners at The Gum Ball this weekend, April 21-23.

The One Word and Early Warning hit-makers - led by frontwoman Suze DeMarchi - were in the final announce for the show alongside Bob 'Bongo' Starkie and his Skyhooks Show, Indigenous 12-piece Gambirra Mob, indie-pop newcomers Dande and The Lion, children's rock band Bunny Racket, and festival favourites the Dashville Progress Society and the ethereal Coda Chroma.

The other headliners are Seattle grunge luminaries Mudhoney, Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey, Canadian southern-rockers The Sheepdogs, Ainslie Wills, Darren Hanlon and Party Dozen.

Local acts Johnston City, Burger Joint, Les Poétes Pop and The Appointments are also on the line-up.

The Marcia Hines' led disco-party musical Velvet Rewired abandoned its scheduled opening night on Wednesday, April 19, due to illness of a cast member. The touring show, which had a popular run at the Sydney Opera House in December, is now scheduled for its first show tonight at the Civic.

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