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Right up there with my love for music (think U2, The Church, Counting Crows, Lloyd Cole, Colin Hay, Gin Blossoms, etc), is my love for comedy. When I’m not playing or writing music (or watching Barney or going to the park with my adorable and persuasive little girl), I love watching or listening to standups like George Carlin, Steven Wright, and Frank Caliendo and watching shows such as Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Bored to Death etc. I’m partial to doing the odd impression and I’d like to think if I wasn’t a musician, I’d be involved in comedy in some way, shape or form (job security is pretty important to me).
When it comes to my music, I naturally write melodic pop/rock songs. Mostly I simply hear a tune in my head and will have to sit down at the guitar (and less frequently the piano) to figure out what it is I’m hearing. Likewise, I often feel my lyrics are sent from somewhere else and yet they usually seem to reflect what’s been happening for me in recent times – or, strangely, sometimes seem to speak of a future I’ve not yet reached. As time goes on, my lyrics seem to mirror my personal preoccupation with transcending the trappings of the mind, living in the present moment, and reinvention.
I count myself lucky to have been a musician pretty much since I was 17 and decided to busk (perform free in the street) in a busy mall in the city of Perth where I grew up and still base myself some of the year. When I’m not there, I’m either on the road in Australia or in North America, which is now my second home.
I’ve been fortunate enough to open up for an eclectic mix of Australian, UK and US acts (from The Black Crowes to The Church’s Marty Willson-Piper, Jimmy Barnes, Kasey Chambers, Sia and Youth Group amongst others) and have played at international festivals SXSW, CMJ and Canadian Music Week.
Some of my songs have been on hit TV shows Gossip Girl and Flash Forward and my old band The Woodenelves was on Australian TV show ROVE Live in an episode that featured U2.
In 2013, I spent 3 months in Nashville, Tennessee after being awarded a grant from the Australian Federal Government through the Australia Council for the Arts to live, write, and record there. While there I recorded my new EP, It’s Just You, with iconic Australian producer Mark Moffatt (Keith Urban, Stacey Earle, Tony Joe White and the Divinyls, Yothu Yindi, Mondo Rock, etc).
Check out my music on Soundcloud: