There has never been a better time to make some NOISE… one way or another! In this issue we follow the journeys of two radiant, divergent and quirky Aussie artists as culture questions today’s construction of the noisy stuff in life.
As I sat in awe at the musical tapestry Café Ghecocho proffered on a somewhat bohemian silver platter recently, I could only wonder how the hell do these guys do it? How do musos these days create the goods, feed their bellies and light up one’s home sweet home? All I know is, ‘back in the day’, to produce your magical musical masterpiece you needed to be – as they say in the biz – ‘signed’. So with an enquiring mind I went on a mission to find the truth about what we call ‘making it’.
After exploring the histories of two very different but equally talented modern day musicians I discovered that the warming of our globe is not all bad news – and the good news is (drum roll)… technology! I know, I know, there are no excuses to heating our beloved planet but at least we have paved some superhighways for all those hungry artists. It is quite amazing to see how the music industry has grown from the age of The Stones, Queen and our beloved ABBA, to now – a time of dreaming big and quite righteously chasing it down and breaking down the walls. I realised (whilst on my musical band wagon of discovery) that nowadays being signed or not no longer defines your music status or success.
Read on my fellow humming-birds and learn from both ends of the drumstick…
Life of the ‘unsigned’…
GAVIN INGHAM
Just Quickly…
Manner: Articulate Indie Pop
Song of Choice: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen
Sway: Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Paul Kelly
Reason for living: “Coz I don’t want to organise my funeral! However, I do know my funeral song – ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’ by Simply Red.” Hehehe…
He slouches across the couch with a cheeky grin, slurping an old-fashioned, tin-cup chocolate milkshake, and hands me his demo. I am cautiously awaiting the ‘superstar’ persona to emerge after watching his charming and slick performance at Café Checocho a week earlier… but nothing. Just a down to earth, happy-go-lucky, hard-working music addict chatting away, keen to satisfy my journalistic needs. At times I find it hard to separate the jokes from truth or to stop myself being sidetracked by the banter and eventually I draw from this Brisbane-based one-man-band, Gavin Ingham, his musical journey, thus far.
Gavin has always loved an audience and a story to tell either through his acting work or his more beloved music dedication. He claims his music has a unique style of indie folk pop mixed in with a little Australian hip hop all delivered with a dollop of passion and charm. Gavin was afraid to dream big and admits he has had a slow musical journey – but with no regrets has lived an artful life so far via acting, writing, directing and music.
Getting more musically serious in 2003, Gavin has spent his time song-writing, gigging, and making his own noise through café tours and the like.
“I’ve even been on radio!” he enthuses. So I’m thinking to myself: wow, which station? As if reading my thoughts, Gavin replies: “Oh, Planet Radio. I seriously don’t know how they even got my stuff. It was so surreal… though it wasn’t like it was a number one hit – but it was rather swell.”
I’ve seen Gavin perform and know he is a lively, confident performer and I’ve heard his songs and smiled with empathy at the lyrics, so overall, I’m thinking that this guy has got a good thing going on. So how does he sustain the ‘business’ and stay true and hopeful?
“I have chosen to focus more on a musical career as I can design my journey a lot more easily,” Gavin states with belief. “I’m not signed (yet), but I do believe that in today’s world things are a lot more accessible to an artist and things can be done by oneself.”
Goals? “To tell the world I’m a nice guy through my music,” Gavin smiles. “But you know, then I guess it’s all about making a successful album, supporting a mega-band and then ultimately being my own glam rock band.”
Sounds exciting indeed but before that happens Gavin is content to spend time in his fully equipped (but low budget) home studio, experimenting with sounds and building his first EP working title – ‘Trusting Pigs and Chasing Horses’.
“I’m also looking at playing in other states. I’m thinking Tasmania, as the demographic is smaller, therefore easier to gain fans, but Tasmanian radio may be costly. You know, with everything needing to be supplied on vinyl,” Gavin quips, no insult intended.
This happy muso seems perfectly on track to me. He has beautiful stories told in great riffs and melodies and chooses to write his songs on the human condition.
To me, this lad has many places still to go and definite potential waiting to be discovered by the rest of the world. And with his eager desires, smart decision-making and that creative blood surging through his veins, I’m sure Gavin Ingham will be further sated by his musical journey.
“Oh, and just so you know, I was offered to play in Albert Hall but I knocked it back,” he says matter-of-factly. “I just don’t seem to able to keep my guitar in tune...”
Well, at least he has a sense of humour to lift his spirit… maybe that’s the key – fake it ‘til you make it!
More info: hit on www.reverbnation.com/gaviningham, http://www.myspace.com/gaviningham. FYI, Gavin Ingham is also a part of Triple J’s Unearthed Competition.
Life of the ‘signed’…
KATE MILLER HEIDKE
Just Quickly…
Shtick: Art Pop
Bend: Theatrical presence in musical stories
Wise Words: “Get your heart broken a couple of times.”
One to sing before she talks is the pocket-edition, musician extraordinaire, Kate Miller Heidke. As with most aspiring artists, all Kate knew was that “singing was all I was good at” and that song writing “blew my balls off” (as you can see, colourful and unexpected word prose is definitely one of Kate’s favourable qualities). Now to be completely honest, I didn’t need to delve too far into Kate’s biography for this exploration as I am an old-girl of the same school as Kate. Being several years below her at school I remember thinking, at the tender age of 12 as I watched her perform at a school assembly, that she would indeed go far… and amazingly, for once, I was right! A couple of years passed until one day my ears smiled at the sound of an amazing Nick Cave cover on Triple J. Since then I was closely attuned to her demos, EPs and album releases… and now, to this well established signed musician with original creativity and amazing sound.
So how did she get this far and achieve such status at this young age?
“Basically it’s just been a gradual process – a labour of love, an organic growth,” Kate decides. After school Kate studied classical music at the Queensland Conservatorium for four years whilst continuously working on crafting her own music. After her graduation, Kate joined the tight knit Brisbane music community by gigging here, there and everywhere (seedy suburban pubs were a frequent), until finally building a national profile with her self-funded EP ‘Telegram’. Subsequently, Arts Queensland granted production of her second EP ‘Circular Breathing’. After this the rest pretty much fell quite nicely into place, with Sony signing her shortly after.
So being signed? Dream or curse? Well duh!, it’s a pretty sweet life to know you have about 20 other people working for your cause.
“I have creative control in my contract but it’s great to have others working hard for you,” Kate says about the perks of signed success. “On the flipside however, these days its is so cheap and accessible to set up your own home studio, to record and experiment in your own time.”
So where does the journey go from here? After recently releasing her second album ‘Curiouser’ Kate is ready to go abroad. “One of my songs ‘Caught in a Crowd’ recently won an International Song-writing Competition, which means it’s time to base myself in the UK,” Kate excitedly plots. It’s no wonder Kate speaks with a cheer in her voice. Finally she offers some wise thoughts for others: “Keep writing, keep playing, keep putting your name down for gigs.”
So off she goes round the globe, forever developing her career and accepting the path of organic growth… singing all the way, of course.
“But wait!” Kate says at the end of our pow-wow, “don’t you want to know who does my hair?” With a chuckle I accept – “Darcy Stratford at Fabrik Hair in Brisbane,” she tells me.
Hmm… lucky Darcy.
More info: hit on www.katemillerheidke.com