John Ryrie, One heck of a musician

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Resident of Yarraville

I have always been surrounded by music and the arts. When I was younger, I went to the Victorian College of the Arts and studied printmaking, painting and sculpture. I work in all of these mediums but have not been painting as much due to lack of space. I mostly exhibit prints and woodcuts etchings. Most of my time is spent on visual art but I play music every day.

When I was at art school, I used to live above the Heather Dell Bakery on Anderson Street, which is still there. This was in 1987/88. For a few years, I moved to North Carlton but found myself moving back to Yarraville in 2000. I have since been renting here from a friend I went to art school with.

I work as a fireplace maintenance staff in the Australian Club in the CBD. The club has been my employer for about 29 years, and I have worked in various parts of the club. I get up at 5am, get to work by 6am and finish at 9am. I have to clean out the ash, bring wood up from the basement and bring kindling to light it as the fireplaces get used later in the day. About 12 fireplaces usually get used in the building! It’s a short shift, so I get a lot of time to make and play music.

I started playing the guitar when I was about 15 years old. I currently have 14 guitars, but if you include my banjos and ukuleles I cannot put a number to them! My favourite guitar is a Gibson Kalamazoo made in 1938. I bought it about 30 years ago.

About 13 years ago, I started playing in Yarraville Village. I just wanted to play for people as it’s an enjoyable experience. Music doesn’t help you if you are playing for yourself, so I like playing jazz standards and my own tunes to the local people. Music is meant to be shared.

When I busk, I play with my Maton Supreme 1959. My Gibson stays at home, as that’s the one I play mostly while composing.

My influences in music are mostly jazz musicians. To name a few, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane and George Gershwin have had a wonderful impact on me growing up. Even today, I listen to them a lot. I enjoy playing by myself in Yarraville Village, and I do quite a lot of hours over the weekend and will sometimes play on Thursday and Friday nights.

Occasionally I go into Victoria Market to play. I love it when complete strangers start singing, or take out their trumpets or saxophones and start performing with me.

Every year, I volunteer for the Jazz Festival. I have been doing it for the last nine years. I usually hand out brochures but that is exciting enough for me as I get free access to the shows. Highlights for me are meeting some of the famous musicians such as Mike Stern and Oliver Lake.

Yarraville has changed a lot since I arrived in the 1980s. When I was going to school in VCA, no one knew where Yarraville is. It used to have a larger Greek community. Nearly every second shop was a Greek-owned delicatessen, restaurant, cafe or cake shop. The Sun Theatre was not running at that time. These days I meet a lot of young people of different backgrounds.

There are only two locations in Yarraville where I play – next to the Sun Theatre and just outside IGA. If anyone is looking for me, these are the places to find me!

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