Christiaan aka Rusty fingers

Country/Folk/Pop Solo

Christiaan, also known as rusty fingers and or rustydigits , has a long time association with music performances, predominantly on the Gold Coast but also in Vic NSW and Cairns.
Playing at restaurants, hotels and corporate venues since the heady seventies, he has
played many different and varied rolesother than a solo performer. These included 2 years as “The wandering minstrel” of “Pacific fair” during its infancy, “The wandering minstrel of Southport, in costume…sliding leotards and all. Then there were cameo roles in theatre productions such as Oklahoma, Fiddler on the roof and Oliver, television performances on the Mike Wash show, Stairway to the stars and others.

After some years travelling overseas and on the seas on his own yacht, Christiaan returned to the Gold Coast with a new passion, this time a passion for writing his own material.
With a wealth of experiences, characters and situations to write about, now he has just completed his second album. The sounds you will hear on this album are the direct result of
something profound that happened after his dual shoulder surgery.

Not being able to play in a conventional manner he played around with obscure tunings that allowed him to play his music overhand, simplifying the amount of movement required to play. Together with some new tools and with time on his hands he found new ways of making his music.
These changes really made his music come to life with new haunting sounds and a fullness he had not achieved before surgery. New melodies evolved from these new techniques and profound lyrics just fell onto the pages. All of a sudden the passion for and in his music had come of age.

Subject matter for new and original material was never an issue, as he lives every single emotion in each of his songs.
Whether it be a tongue in cheek number, jazz, rock or ballad, each song came to life as an actual experience.. this was possibly due to his experience and enjoyment during his theatre performances and his connection with other cultures.
Christiaan now performs for corporate gigs, plays in boutique breweries, restaurants and outdoor gigs. He comes on stage bearing several instruments including 6 and 12 string guitars, dobro, classical guitars and some rare guitars too…He believes each has a different voice, making his performances more varied. Blues harp and other accessories also form part of his variation in sounds.

Christiaan’s new album is called “Hooked Downwonder,” The album contains a mixture of genres, style and sound giving the listener a taste of Christiaan’s song writing ability.

One may wonder about the title of the Album? .”Hooked” is one of the tracks as is “Downwonder”. Why Downwonder and not Downunder? Christiaan rebels at a name dictated to our land by those who reside in the North.. Besides Australia is a land of wonder it just happens to be under the equator. So therefore he always signs off as Christiaan from the land Downwonder….Mystery solved!