My genre in 5 words or less:
Folk-pop-cabaret.
How long have you been gigging and writing?
My earliest memories are of singing my made up songs on the swing in the back yard, I still have songs on tape I wrote as a teenager. I realised it was serious after I had kids. Since then I have been gigging regularly, about 10 years now.
What inspires or has influenced your music the most?
As a kid, I constantly had headphones on listening to my parents’ records of classic 70’s songwriters like James Taylor, Carly Simon, Carol King. My family was musical, playing jazz and bringing out their instruments at parties. I think I soaked up the structure of songs this way. I am inspired by that perfect synergy of words and music that affect you physically, so suddenly you feel the emotion of that moment with the songwriter. It’s about communication for me. Right now I am listening to a lot of Josh Pyke and Clare Bowditch, two fine authentic Australian songwriters who communicate honestly and intelligently.
What makes you happiest about what you’re doing?
I love it when I perform a song and someone comes and tells me that it moved them. I know how it feels when a song affects me, so to be able to pass that on means a lot. I also love that I get to capture my ideas and experiences in little parcels of music that have a life of their own.
And what makes you unhappiest about what you’re doing?
Sometimes I struggle with the emotional effort of living an authentic creative life – but I couldn’t be any other way without a lobotomy! Oh and I hate having to sell myself and keep up with publicity – can’t wait til I can pay someone to do that for me!! Or perhaps someone could offer to do it for free? Anyone? Anyone?
When’s the gig and with who?
It’s a five night season of my show “What If?…” from September 11-15 at The Butterfly Club. It’s a one hour show of songs and stories. I play piano and I have two seasoned performers with me, Dean Lombard on guitar/bass and Bernard de la Coeur on guitar/ukelele, to create a folk-pop musical treat.
