By Greg Phillips

If the Oxford Dictionary defined musicians in the same manner it does words, the listing for local blues/soul legend Harper would read something like this ...

Harper (Harp-ah), n. incredibly skilled blues harp player, gifted songwriter, soulful vocalist, tours incessantly (U.S., Europe and Australia).

Followers of Harper's music career will know that those four facts are inextricably linked. Australian Musician's Greg Phillips tracked Harper down to discuss the ingredients that make up Harper's successful mix.

The day I interviewed Harper, he was in a particularly good mood. Not only had he recently been awarded Male Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year at the Australian Blues Awards, plus a TREV (Australian Tertiary Campuses award) for Best Acoustic Act of the Year, he'd also just scored a deal with the huge a European record label.

A more likely reason for Harper's contentment I suspect was that he was in the midst of his other passion, house renovation. For someone who spends the majority of the year on tour, doing something 'normal' has many benefits. As well as the practical side of preparing the house for the months it lays idle while he's overseas, it's also the place that inspires the most songwriting ideas, and prepares him mentally for the long days he'll spend on the road.

"If I want to write a song, I'll paint a room", says Harper. To further emphasise the enjoyment he gets from his handy work, his spin on the newly acquired awards is that it's an excuse to make a new shelf. Not that he doesn't appreciate the kudos, it's just that his real reward is the enjoyment he gets from playing music for a living.

Currently Harper spends half of the year in Australia recording and gigging and the other half in America and Europe, taking advantage of the extensive festival circuit. For each territory he puts together a different band…

"With Australia I have about four drummers, three bass players and if one is not available then the other is, and they have all worked with me for a few years now. Often they'll cancel what they are doing to be with me, which is nice. With the US guys, the bass player Lee Lewis has been with me or five years now, an African American dude who has been with TLC and Bobby Brown."

To use a well worn blues analogy, Harper finds himself standing at the crossroads. The constant overseas flights, the love of his American band, and the many and varied opportunities presenting themselves mean that setting up camp permanently in America is looking inevitable. Then there's the signing to the Euro record label and his work with composer Joachim Griebe which requires the odd trip to Germany, a flight much less arduous from the states than all the way from Melbourne.

The annual American sojourn pays off increasingly each year to the point where Harper now secures headline spots on many of the music festivals he appears at. Consequently Harper is becoming more savvy to the principles of entertaining a larger crowd.

"I think we move around more because the stage is so big." Said Harper of the experience. "There's a dress code, we dress up more. You have to be a little bit more flamboyant on a big stage and I like the visual side. A crowd of 80,000 is not that interested in the subtleties of music, they're more interested in having a good time."

With the harmonica as lead instrument, I was interested in the on-stage dynamic of his band, particularly whether he looked to either the bass or drums for a platform to build his licks upon.

"I'm pretty much getting the whole colour because I'm known for always having great players with me. We are known for relieving people of their duty if they don't cut it, which is cruel but important. But I think I'm now listening more to drummers. Over the years I have noticed how much drumming can make a big difference to a song, where the kick sits, where the snare is. I probably do listen more to the bass and drums. I've always thought the other things are the fruit on tree. It's like classical songwriting where they write the bass section then the melody line, then fill it with all the goodies and I tend to write like that by default. It was a natural thing for me.Growing up in brass bands, I played the euphonium which is a great crossover instrument where it played contra lines and bass lines as well and counter melodies, so that was a good thing for me."

You use a Bushman harmonica, is it a chromatic?

"I use a Herring chromatic but I tend to use the Bushman diatonic more. It just has a different tonality. I like dirty harmonica and chromatics can't really give you that. They are beautiful and warm, but I always go back to diatonics. The Bushman is my harmonica that was designed for me and is now available everywhere and I believe is coming into Australia soon. I was sponsored by Lee Oskar for a while. It was more of a longevity thing. They tend to last a bit longer than most. I was offered other companies which I won't mention but their harmonicas didn't tend to last very long. I tend to rip them up a bit. I'll go through a set of harmonicas every three or four weeks. Now I have this (Bushman) sponsorship, it's saved me a lot of money. I wouldn't endorse these things if they weren't good."

Guitars can quickly go out of tune depending on the weather, are harps susceptible to the elements too?

"It’s the same thing. If you're in an environment where the humidity factor is high you can do some damage to the brass reeds. Mainly on the lower keys where the reed is larger and easier to stress. I tend to keep them in a case almost like a humidifier where I can keep them dry all the time. Some people will tune them. I know Jim Conway will have them all tuned. I love that guy. The poor man's getting worse and his mind is getting sharper."

What about mikes and amps have you had to play around with different combinations to get the sound you want?

"Mate! I've spent loads and time and money. I've got a Fender Bassman that I have had re-wired point to point by Ross Giles, my amp technician. It’s a 59 reissue with four 10s in it. I've had all the valves changed in it. I had a lot of discussion in the states and finally come up with the Fender Bassman. We pulled all the boards out and Ross completely rewired it like they used to be with the large capacitors, and what a difference that made. I also use a pre amp so I can drive a harder sound into the amp. We always discussed how I could get the distortion without ripping the speakers apart. Microphones... I've tried ribbons and everything and finally this MC150. A crystal mike and each one has a different quality so I have three of them. They all look exactly the same but each has a different tone which is inherent with crystal microphones. These are things I've learned over the years by talking to people like Ross and Dave Ulbrick who also looks after my amps. They get so excited about what they do. They say I have done this and that, and they've got these capacitors in them. I don't even know what a capacitor is."

How long did it take before you could say you play the harp well?

"I never think that way. My old man always said when you think you're good, that's when you're finished. I am never happy with what I've done, the sound, the tonality. There's always something I will want to change or work on. There's always new tricks. I've just bought a Univibe which is another thing I have been using to get the sound of a Leslie speaker box. There are other things. I'm working heavier on the chromatic. I find some people will say ‘Yeh Harper's good but he doesn't play chromatic.’ It's an Australian thing. ‘Yeh, he's good but…’

You do a lot of harmonica clinics, what advice do you give people?

"A lot of people think playing harmonica is this mysterious thing. When you play guitar you can see what the fingers are doing but with the harmonica you can't see what's going on inside someone's head or mouth. So I talk about how to get sounds using your mouth. People are interested in getting the sounds I get. A lot of times they aren’t even players. One guy I remember came up and thanked me because I said, "no you don't have to tongue block all the time" as some books tell you have to do. Being a brass player I applied my tongue techniques to the harmonica. The other thing I teach them is breathing using your diaphragm more, training to get your diaphragm stronger and not relying on the lungs so much. Do the breathing otherwise they’ll pass out. I don't care if everyone knows how I do things, it's no big secret."

Harper is looking forward to the next US tour with much anticipation. He's finally cracked the west coast of America and is looking forward to "winning over the LA nuts" as he puts it. In preparation he's given up smoking, an act which he believes has added at least three more notes to his top range. Australian fans can catch Harper live through until May or on his current CD "Way Down Deep Inside".

For additional information check out www.harper.biz