In November 2005, I released my third album 'The Dragon' at The Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane. As with most endeavors such as this, within lies a tumultuous creative path whose insidious technical and creative obstacles seek to thwart progress and ultimate completion of the project. Conversely, I will always love this album. Such challenges forge inseparable love through the hardship and a deeper understanding of oneself as an artist. Revisiting, these songs transports me - with great vividity - back to the time, the people and the process.

The drums were played by Scott Lynch and recorded and engineered by my great friend Jason 'Naut' Gendrolius at Brisbane's Airlock Studios. I took the drums home and began recording my guitar and bass tracks at home in the summer of 2004. I used a myriad of equipment but due to my fascination (near obsession) with Eric Johnson, I used my Fender Stratocaster and Fender twin Amp to complete all of the melodies.

Recording and particularly, the power of editing has seemingly come a long way since then those days with Protools and an MBox but I love it more than ever for the raw emotional value of the performances and songwriting. This album was dedication to my son Jack, who at the time was only five years old. The song 'Iron Giant' was directly inspired by time spent with Jack, watching and rewatching the animated film of the same name together many times. As was 'Trek Jet' which was inspired by the excitement he had for riding his new bike at the time ...

The album is like a songline traversing the years of my memories of being the father of a young family and not really knowing what the future would look like. There are parts on this recording that truly crystalize my artistry to me. They are inspired, creative, articulate and free ... and they still move me to this day.

Contact the host of Simon Gardner Live - Celebrating 21 years of 'The Dragon'

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