The interview on Thursday with Jen Cloher was full of generosity and humour.


Jen gave away writing inspriation via strip-club antics, alcohol as inspriation, lack of alcohol as inspiration, and her favourite songwriters and writers.

There were some brilliant and moving insights, which I'm dying to relay to you (as I cross my fingers and hope my digital recorder battery didn't die before the best ones...)

Come down tonight (Saturday) at 8pm for Casey Bennetto. It's at ACMI again, off Flinders st, first door on your left, next to the atrium.

I'm hoping to get some insight into his lyric writing process because he's so funny.


And here's one of the songs. I actually know the wonderful Ana and Ramon- I even sang at Cafe Bohemio.


This was the first song written and recorded specifically for the Drowsy Drivers - the first song on the first disc to boot - and was conceived as a paean to the drug dealers who used to wander up and down Smith Street, Collingwood, whistling and hissing at passers-by out of the sides of their mouths: "Are ya chasin'?" They're mostly gone now, of course, as Smith Street begins the slow process of morphing into Brunswick Street (just as Brunswick Street, in turn, devolves into Lygon Street). Cafe Bohemio made a brief return, then disappeared permanently. Ah, the memories! Ah, the olden days! Ah, shut up!


in old autumn evenings, we both felt the heat
your nose used to peel in the glaze
and asphalt was soft under young lovers' feet
as they ducked down the street to their favourite cafes

and though daylight savings has vanished like you
I still walk down Smith Street to see
the ghosts of our loving that soak the place through
they lurk in the doorways and whisper to me

Are you chasing a rainbow or chasing a storm?
Are you chasing a chance that slipped by?
Are you chasing your youth in pursuit of the truth?
well, man, I'm just chasing, but I don't know why.

I still think of Ana, remember Ramon
the Café Bohemio crew
it ain't the same sangria now that they're gone
and I don't feel like stopping to drink without you

and I know that someday I'll make a fresh start
tonight's too far gone to begin
the cold breezes blow through a hole in my heart
and I hear them whistle as the winter sets in

Are you chasing a dragon or chasing a dove?
Are you chasing a dream that fell through?
Are you chasing the sun for the love of someone?
well, man, I'm just chasing, what else can I do?

The Writers Festival So Far...

Some people are incredibly gracious interview subjects. Lilith Lane was definitely forthcoming with discussing her process for the Songwriters Speaks session for the Melbourne Writers Festival.

My first interview subject- the first person I've ever interviewed live, was a slightly different story.

There's a picture of us before the interview. He's staring off into the distance, and I'm smiling, leaning in. My hands are the give-away, already balled into fists. I'm not sure whether it was his insult to the photographer,

'Hurry up, you're too slow. All those album covers from the sixties, the photographer came in with one shot and that was it.'

Or if it was when we were crossing the road, and I mentioned that this would be my first interview ever.

'Oh well, if I get stuck, I'll just ask you to play a song.' I said, smiling.

'And I won't.' Not the kind of reply I would have anticipated, but there it was.



Sometimes people can be one thing behind the scenes, and then turn on the charm to an audience. I'm a performer, I understand that the stage is a place of shamanism, alchemy and transformation.

But then there are those of us who are pretty consistent on and off stage.

I'll add some of the transcription from the interview soon.

Lilith Lane was great. Her process seems very organic. It sounded like her influences are everything she reads and hears- ground down and used in her own work.
Her advice to budding songwriters? Enjoy the process, have fun with it.

On Thursday I'll be interviewing Jen Cloher. Jen has already mentioned being influenced by the work of Joseph Campbell (The Hero With A Thousand Faces) and she will play some songs influenced by Townes Van Zandt and another inspired by a Raymond Carver short story.

The festival club is at ACMI off Flinders st (Federation Square), first room on your left. Its FREE and Jen and I will be onstage Thursday 27th Aug at 9pm.

So, how did a nice musician like me get mixed up in all this interviewing business?

I was having a conversation with Rosemary, the director of the Melbourne Writers Festival. I wanted to be a part of their songwriters' program. But as it turned out; there was no program....So I made one.

Why?

I'm passionate about lyrics and writing, and am keen for a greater understanding of songwriters as wordsmiths.

Also, I got the chance to choose my favorite songwriters and research their work. Now I'll have the opportunity to pick their brains about their relationship to writing. Pretty cool.

I've always been attracted to writing in all its forms. Writing gives you a licence to be curious.

When I was studying writing at university, one of the lecturers asked me why I didn't just stick to writing;

'Why would you waste your time writing songs, when you can write?'

The thing with writing a song, is you get to amplify meaning with so many other elements; vocals, rhythm, chords, arrangement, performance.

And: a song can sneak up on you.

With a book, or a poem you have to engage with it. You have to take the time to read it and consider it. Which is a wonderful process. Both fiction and non-fiction books have changed the way I understand the world. As a little girl I remember sneaking the torch under the bedclothes so I could read late into the night.

But a song is something you can hum along to, tap your feet to, or not even really notice it at all.

That is- until it speaks to you. Until that sound captures something of your imagination, maybe a heartbreak, or a new way of feeling through the world.

I remember the first time I heard Stevie Wonder's 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life.' I was very young, but I remember we had just pulled into a petrol station next to the freeway, and dad was filling up the tank as it came on the radio.

I was captivated, I'd never heard anything like it in my life. That song transported me to new possibilities.

Even when I was about five, the ABC radio was on all the time at my house. I think I must have heard free jazz and contemporary classical piano compositions on the radio. I remember thinking, 'I could do that!'

So I did.

I'd go to the piano and 'compose' for hours. I'd play with different volume- tapping from loud to soft, playing the lowest and highest notes, seeing how many notes I could play together, how far apart I could make the notes,  finding 'movements' of repeating ideas, or finding contrasting sounds to that.

In a way, that's what I'm still doing today. But it's even better now. I get the chance to try out the different colours from different shapes of words with all their nuances, and their potential for perfect rhyme, or partial rhyme, or consonant rhyme, or no rhyme at all. And those rhythms themselves are 'movements' within the song.

I'm keen to find out how other songwriters relate to their writing.

Who do they listen to? Who do they read, and how does that affect their songs?

So come along and find out with me at the Festival Club.

More details are on the Gig section of my Homepage.

This is still gossip- because I can't say until the festival launches their program- but I will be interviewing some of Austrilia's finest songwriting talent for the Melbourne Writers Festival.

I can say that to begin with I thought I'd be interviewing Don Walker- who is one of my greatest songwriting heroes.

But no.



Still, it will be pretty exciting.

Very exciting news- Pat Pattison, the lyric writing professor from Berklee, is in Australia.
He mentored me through writing my album, and I can't rave enough about what he brings to the process.

Here are the details:

"I count myself lucky and proud to have studied with Mr. Pattison. I would not be the writer I am today without his teaching and his unique and comprehensive understanding of language, rhyme, rhythm, and structure." - 3-time Grammy winner Gillian Welch

CMC Productions proudly presents
Lyric Writing Seminars with Pat Pattison
Australia, May/June 2009

Writing Lyrics to Melody (Melbourne)
There's no use writing a great lyric and a great melody if they don't work together. An unfortunate setting of a word or phrase can sink the emotion of the song, calling your listener's attention away from WHAT you are saying to HOW you are saying it. This 2-day seminar shows you how to get the most out of your lyrics by combining them accurately and effectively with melody. This is a "can't miss" seminar--it's bound to take your writing to the next level.

Masterclass
Limited places available – contact Clare for more information 0417 049 616

MELBOURNE
Writing Lyrics to Melody
Saturday June 13 and Sunday June 14
10am-4pm both days

JMC Academy
171 Bank St
South Melbourne VIC
Cost: $225 per person/$175 conc (APRA/JMC/Soundworks)

To register: Visit www.cmcproductions.com.au to register online or send cheque or money order
(payable to Pat Pattison) to PO Box 1088, Collingwood, VIC 3066.
Please include in the envelope your contact details: name, phone number, email and address and indicate which city/seminar you are registering for.

Questions: Clare McLeod at info@cmcproductions.com.au or 0417 049 616