Singer Tribes of Sydney

Hello there,


I'm writing a novel. There, I've said it so now I really have to do it! It's 'chick lit' - a year in the rollercoaster life of 4 best friends who are all singers living in Sydney. Hmm, sound at all familiar?


Anyway, here is a small excerpt from the current draft where the protagonist Clare is describing the different types of singers she's discovered since leaving the corporate world and becoming a professional performer. I'd love to get comments on this from Sydney singers - or people familiar with Sydney singers! Obviously I am trying to poke fun here. I think I'm allowed to, since I have had at least one foot on each of these tribal grounds at some time and you always have permission to tease your own family.


"The SKINNY INDIES
Skinny Indie singers are cool in a geeky way. But don't call them 'indie' because they don't like labels. The female members of this tribe often scorn make-up and wear masculine jeans with t-shirts that belong to their boyfriends. Or they go to the other extreme and wear really girly 'Op Shop' which of course has now been rebranded 'vintage'. They wear obnoxiously loud lipstick against pale skin. It is hip to wear glasses in this tribe, the thicker the rims the better. Long hair and facial hair, along with ironic cowboy shirts and skinny jeans are pretty much mandatory for the male scenesters. A lot of time and effort goes into looking ungroomed. Skinny Indies disdain anything played on commercial radio and only like bands that you haven't heard of, until you start hearing of them, at which point they are dropped by the Indie kids for selling out. Even if they aren't students, they live like them to satisfy their artistic integrity. They don't earn much money as singers because they refuse to sing covers of other people's songs - except for covers of songs from very obscure Indie bands. Playing their own 'original' songs only earns them a small percentage of the 'door' - the fee paid by the similarly cash-strapped hipsters who come to see these bands play at indie hangouts. But they are happy to suffer for their art, indeed, that's where the songs come from man. It is more about 'vibe' than the accuracy of the notes and sounding lo-fi is a good thing. They joke about blowing up Talent Schools but may well have been kicked out of one as a kid. On stage they'd rather gaze at their Converse Chucks than make eye contact with the audience. The Cabaret Crew think they're wankers. The Pop Tarts say they can't sing to save themselves.


The CABARET CREW.  This tribe inhabits the RSL, Bowling and Leagues Clubs that most suburbs of Sydney boast. Their audience remembers the Second World War and so the tribe members feel obliged to rely heavily on slapstick, wigs and mother-in-law jokes to entertain them. Some of the members have absconded from other tribes and there's no upper age limit for membership of this clan. This is where Pop Tarts go after they die. The Crew think of themselves as real singers and can usually dance in any style, as long as it was a style developed before 1983. They probably went to Talent School. They have stage names and carry around promotional photos that have been highly airbrushed. There are strict rules surrounding stagecraft and it is obligatory to own a wardrobe full of sequinned costumes and theatrical make-up. When they aren't singing, they are calling the Bingo or Meat Raffle within their local habitat. The Cabaret Crowd pride themselves on being true entertainers. The Pop Tarts think they are naff. The Indies think the Cabaret Crew are even more naff than the Pop Tarts.


The POP TARTS. Pride comes from being able to make enough money for rent from singing, if you're a Pop Tart. Whether it be at a funeral or bah mitsvah, doing the chicken dance or belting out the latest top 10 international chart hit, you can always count on a Pop Tart to perform in exchange for cash. They are the tribe most likely to change their names, get plastic surgery and fake tans or straighten their teeth but also consider themselves 'spiritual'. They have probably been on a diet since Talent School. Everything a Pop Tart does, at work or play, is simply a step along the path to pop stardom. Collecting famous names you have worked with for your resume is vital if you're a Pop Tart. Until of course you become a famous name yourself. Sometimes Pop Tarts write their own songs, but they are just as happy to pair up with a producer and songwriter as long as they get to show off how high they can sing and how long they can hold a perfectly pitched note.
A sub genus of Pop Tarts, who fraternise readily with the 'Tarts themselves, is the Weekend Warrior. The Weekenders are accountants and public servants during the week and rock gods in party bands after hours. They take their weekend rocking very seriously but are not willing to give up their middle class income to do it full time. They are less talented but more organised than the Pop Tarts. Skinny Indies sneer at the Pop Tarts. The Cabaret Crew don't think they are true professionals but secretly aspire to be a Pop Tart themselves."




Phew, glad I got that off my chest. See you next time,
xAmanda

Size isn't Everything!

Christmas tree has come down, time to make plans! I've been talking a bit about making Album No 3 up until now, but I've changed my mind.

Remember, back in the day, when you used to buy singles? As in the plastic variety, not the downloadable doodads. For an artist, it was a big deal to release a single and get the physical product manufactured, distributed etc. You'd usually have at least two singles from the album and then release the album (LP) itself.

Some people opted to release EPs instead but I always found them annoyingly short. As a listener it meant I had to get off my bottom after only 15 or 25 minutes to press the repeat button or change the disk, compared to the at least 40 minutes playing time you'd get out of an album.

Well a lot of this is irrelevant now isn't it? I know one of my greatest enjoyments is making playlists for my plethora of music-playing gadgets, from a selection of my favourite digitised songs. I can make that playlist as long as I like. And so you could say that whether the artist chooses to release a single, an album or EP is really irrelevant - as a fan I can choose to cherry pick my favourite tracks from my nearest download etailer anyway.

I got to thinking, I don't HAVE to release an album. In fact, if I opt to go for something closer to an EP, I can actually do releases more often. So... from now on I'm going to be talking about my upcoming EP 1 in a series of 3, although let's hope I can come up with a more interesting title than that. And I will probably make the plastic version as well as the digital doodad.

I know there are the purists out there who still like to hold those shiny disks in their hands...but just think of all that exercise, getting off your bottoms and (hopefully) pressing the repeat button on my new EP!

Best Way to get to the Entertainment Centre?

A. Practise! Practise! Practise!

Hi there,

When I released my first single, titled ironically 'Celebrity' I managed to pick myself up a little, ah, stalker. A harmless one of the variety, I believe, but who nevertheless managed to find my phone number and call me quite regularly for chats. He was a teenage boy who wanted to be a pop star and was really looking for advice on how to get there (I guess he couldn't get hold of Kylie's number!). We had a conversation about 'popstar'dom. I encouraged him to take singing lessons, learn a musical instrument or at least find someone who could play one so he could start writing songs etc. He got quite exasperated at this, saying, 'No, no, I just want to be an image-based popstar, not do all that musical stuff!'. So I gave him Kylie's number - just kidding!!

Anyway, my point is that a lot of people want to get somewhere - particularly in music - without putting the work in. I've always felt that I was a hard worker, but what if I practised, say, 20% harder - would I be able to legitimately hand out popstar advice from the lofty heights of my personal experience?

I've just finished reading a book called 'The Brain That Changes Itself' by Norman Doige. Apparently, we can repeat processes - even ones we find virtually impossible - so many times that the brain eventually rewires itself. 'Practice makes perfect', in other words? You think you weren't born with musical talent? Work hard enough and maybe it doesn't matter.

Here is the conclusion I've come to:  Talent + Hard Work = Success; Little Talent + Hard Work = Moderate Success; Talent + No Hard Work = Little Success.
Since the new resolution-forming season is upon us, I've decided I'm going to stop accepting that I'm as good as I'll ever be...and just practise! Practise! Practise!

My latest songwriting practice follows:

Should Delta Have Done It?

Hi there,
Did you watch the ARIAs on Sunday Night? Aussie pop singer Delta Goodrem performed a cover of 'The Day You Went Away' made famous by Wendy Matthews. Some people weren't happy! Wendy's version is beloved of the Aussie people, so it's pretty hard to beat. Is it one of those perfect pop songs that just shouldn't be touched?


Look I know I do go on about covers, ie 'other people's songs'. Let's face it, singing covers is how I make my living (weddings, parties, anything?) but it's more than that. I think there can be a lot of creativity in interpretation. You know Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley never wrote any of their own songs, but wow did they make other people's songs their own. But it can also be a minefield. People have connections to songs they love and don't always appreciate other folks messing with that!

Now just to be clear, there are 'cover bands', like Top 40 party bands or perhaps the band you might have at your wedding, then there are artists who perform covers. Please check out Thirsty Merc's version of Rihanna's 'Umbrella'. Just amazing and very different from RiRi's world famous version. Maybe this kind of thing could be called an 'original' cover.

If I think about what my own musical style is, I see it as being made up of a lot of the music I absorbed growing up (I'm still growing up!). Take a pinch of 80's synth pop, add a generous dash of ABBA, lightly spoon in some Madonna, don't forget to pour in at least a cup of Goldfrapp, and then sprinkle some Ella Fitzgerald over the top...and blend. Sometimes I can't resist going direct to the source of my musical love, but rather than trying to reproduce a song I adore, I might give it a go with a twist. Maybe if Delta had performed that song more differently to the original, it would have received a better reaction? 


I attempted to do my own original covers (with the brilliant arranging assistance of Simon Morel) last week at my (mostly original) gig at Kings Cross' El Rocco. Here are some videos. Let's hope you don't need to ask yourself: 'Has Mandy murdered it?'!
Cheers,

Amanda

Time to Pop the Cherry

Hi there,

I find it pretty intimidating playing brand new songs to someone for the first time. It’s one week until my first original gig of the year – where I’ve committed to perform some brand new songs destined for Album no 3...

It was a bit easier for me in the past when I mostly co-wrote songs. Like a trouble shared is a trouble halved, so the blame for a dodgy verse structure or naff lyric is not entirely your fault when more than one person has authored a song. This time, as part of the whole ‘do something that scares you’ routine, I’ve decide to write the whole bloody album by myself. The audience at Lizotte’s next week won’t hear entirely virginal songs, however – they will have been heard first, of course, by my fabulous accompanist.

I thought I’d try to make his job easier by recording rough demos of the songs I’ve written so far. A bit of midi drums and even a bass line, to give him the vibe man.  After his first listen (while I watched my knuckles turn white in another room), he said he didn’t ‘quite get’ one of the new tunes. But that one is supposed to be my Goldfrapp-esque dancefloor hit! He said it sounded like monkeys had played the drums in the opening. Things took a turn for the even worse when he started talking about my show tune. SHOW TUNE!? Oh you mean the sultry tear-jerking blues number? Oh dear. Things thankfully did improve when the songs were stripped back to the vocals and chords and his arranging skills were added on top.  Percussion-loving simians have now been banished and Minnelli-like melodrama has melted away.

Note to self: do not under any circumstances attempt to be a music producer. Don’t give up your night job!

The Best Things In Life are Frightening

Hi there,
Now I'm not talking about extreme sports here although perhaps the reasoning is similar. If you're a performer reading this, have you ever been backstage, about to go on and felt your nerves knot, stomach churn and brow dot with sweat? Maybe you're saying to yourself, 'What if I forget the lyrics? What if nobody likes what I do? Why the hell do I put myself in this position?' I read once that Deni Hines regularly vomited before getting on stage for a particular show.

I think part of the reason why the hell we do it is Adrenaline and other natural chemicals. I've decided that a bit of fear is actually good for you, and dare I say it, feels good. I think of all the greatest happenings in my life and fear has been an important factor in all of them. Leaving home at 17 to live in at a country university where I knew noone? Exciting! Leaving a well paid corporate job to become a professional singer. Crazy? Perhaps. Scary? Definitely. Falling in love? Cue that fight or flight syndrome, quickening heartbeat and of course that lovely Dopamine.  Having a baby - surely one of the scariest but most fulfilling things a human being can do?

So sometimes I wonder if I do things in my life on purpose to get my pulse racing, without even realising. I did hear someone advise once, that you should do something every day that scares you.

My latest attempt to keep myself unnerved is booking two gigs where I've committed to play a whole swag of new tunes. That's daunting on its own for me. Trouble is, I booked the gigs - and started promoting them - without actually having written any of the aforementioned songs.

16 days to go until the first gig. Yes I am freaking out just a bit. I am a notoriously slow songwriter and 16 days would be a reasonable timeframe for me, for the first draft of one song. But I can honestly say I like living here out on a limb. The best things in life are frightening.

Terrfiy me, please.

What Do You Hate Not Doing?

What do you hate not doing?

I love this question. It seems easier to talk about what you love doing, but for me, it's the things in life you can't do without that really matter. I've had a helluva year and while things seem to be on the up now, I've never thought more about the things I would miss if I weren't around anymore! I saw this blog from Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby and all round smart bloke). I've also just finished reading his fabulous book 'Anything You Want'. 

Things I hate not doing? Definitely in order: 1.Being with my family and friends. 2.Writing music and singing. 3.Eating. I love lots of other stuff but they're the only ones that really matter. Here's Derek's blog, below (from http://sivers.org/blog).

'We've all asked ourselves, “What do I really love?” or “What makes me happy?”

I've wrestled when the emotion-based answers conflict with expectations. (I'm a musician, but I love working alone. Does that mean I should be a producer instead of performer? I'm an entrepreneur but I hate doing business deals. Does that mean I'm more of a CTO than CEO?)

Last week I thought of it a different way, that I like better:

What do you hate NOT doing?

(What makes you feel icky, irritated, annoyed or off-track if you don't do it enough?)

I hate not programming.

Programming, to me, is the ultimate purposeful creativity. I have so many ideas in my head of websites that would make the world a better place if they existed, services that could help people. It's just a matter of taking a thousand hours to type it all out and turn ideas into reality. Any week not programming is a disappoinment to myself and maybe to others.

I hate not writing.

There are so many things I've learned that I think would help other people to know. Things I wish someone had told me sooner. Things that have made my life better, brighter, or wiser. I want to tell everyone these things before I die, in a well-explained way so they're not misunderstood, and easy to pass on to others. And more new ones are added every week. So I have to keep writing to get them all out. Any day I'm not writing, I'm falling further behind in this goal, which I makes me feel worse.

I hate not biking.

I love the adrenaline rush of riding my bike. I love knowing it's good for my health, and making my legs and cardiovascular system stronger so I can bike across India soon. I love it so much that when I don't do it for even a few days, I get annoyed. When I see other people biking, and I'm not biking, I get jealous.

I hate not talking with friends.

I'm in my own head so much, that I love hearing what my friends are thinking about instead. I love how my friends think. I care about them and feel icky when too disconnected from them for too long.

Asking the double-negative seems to be a better indicator of what I really love doing, than asking it in the positive.

Anyway - I'm probably overlooking some of my own, but now I'm more curious to hear yours.

What do you hate NOT doing?'