Sydney Morning Herald. Thursday 29 May 2008
‘Pulling the right strings’
10 GUITAR PROJECT
Excelsior Hotel, May 27
Reviewed by John Shand
“What’s the collective noun for 10 electric guitarists? The unkind might suggest a 60-string racket, or even a catastrophe.
Most people would be polarised into finding the idea either hellish or heavenly. The madman/prophet making it happen was David Reaston, who assembled the largest cast of notable Sydney guitarists seen in one place at one time, including Tim Rollinson (d.i.g) and Julian Curwin (Monsieur Camembert, the Tango Saloon).
The little stage at the Excelsior looked like a forest, so dense was it with guitarists and, tucked behind a thicket of drums and cymbals, the exceptional Jamie Cameron. But the sound engineer did a sterling job and, against the odds, the 10 guitarists restrained their collective volume so we could hear what Reaston had in mind.
His compositions and arrangements embraced many options, ranging from a smattering of collective free improvisation to stonking unisons and onto the predictable employment of bass riffs, chords and solos…”