“Alternative” has always felt like a good place to Luke Garfield – it appeals to the emotions and the intellect. From the alt blues/grunge and power of Soundgarden and early Pearl Jam to the experimental but hooky sounds of Radiohead’s “OK Computer” as well as a healthy appreciation for the vocal stylings of songsters like Jeff Buckley, Garfield finds his roots. But as a music producer and with age has come an appreciation for a much wider variety of genres and influences which is reflected in his more recent releases.

His first true musical love affair with came in the form of an album from the mid-90s “unplugged” craze. Eric Clapton’s ’93 rework of Cream and classic blues numbers inspired a teenaged Garfield to pick up the guitar and start playing music for the love of the songs. So with an acoustic guitar and a book of tablature he spent many hours of his teenaged years learning classic blues and rock but stripped down into it’s most basic form where musicianship and songwriting take centre stage over production.

Unlike a lot of teenage boys who find singing awkward, Garfield never found it an unusual match to playing the guitar – if you play guitar it makes sense to sing as well. This obviously went hand in hand with songwriting and even as a pubescent youth before the “light” of grunge dawned, a 14 year old Garfield was writing folky-dirges using J.R.R. Tolkien’s ballads in The Hobbit as lyrical inspirations. He moved onto some “songs about girls” but then found his “musical place” in the American grunge bands of the 90s. The likes of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and the Stone Temple Pilots being the most influential.

Over the years Luke has fronted bands (Lout), played in bands, worked in collaborations (Board Of Transportation) and taken to the stage as a solo artist. He has worked extensively in music production both in Australia and the United States calling Nashville, TN home for a number of years. In more recent years he has built a studio on the Gold Coast, Australia (Banana Llama Studios) and has been busy working with artists and producers locally and around the world.

In amongst all this Luke has been chipping away at his most recent release “Vanity, Agony, Thirst” which encompasses songs from 2000 and more recently. Originally planned as a 12 track album “Vanity, Agony, Thirst” is a collection of 6 songs from the original 12. This E.P. was successfully crowdfunded and release in late 2015. As a companion to “Vanity, Agony, Thirst” Luke has produced a “live and acoustic” video and audio release called the “Sit, Walk, Stand Sessions“.