Lives: Inner West of Sydney
Influences: The Beatles/ Paul McCartney, Paul Simon/ and Garfunkel, Crowded House/ Neil Finn, Augie March
Similar Artists: The Thrills, Ben Kweller, Eskimo Joe,
Playing music since 85
Writing music since 95
Gigging regularly since 02
Recordings: Calm Crazy (Album) May 04
EP from my Bedroom Studio (EP) Jan 05
Other band members: Shannon O'Connor (Bass), Anthony Cianci (Drums)
The first piece of music I wrote after that was an additive minimalist piece for an assignment. It was very tonal for minimalism and it only had 3 parts. I then moved on to writing a short string trio piece, then on to a quartet using a computer where I'd input the notes on the screen and the computer would play what I had written so I knew if it was going to sound good or not. Listening to more and more classical music I began writing more and more sophisticated pieces. The best classical piece I wrote was a full orchestral piece for my HSC in 1997. I had the privelage of conducting the school orchestra performing it which was a great joy. I hope to write more classical pieces later on down the track and perhaps conduct full scale orchestras playing my music. Till then I'll just concentrate on rock and roll.
I had a break from writing music when I left high school because I felt that I wouldn't have the opportunity to have any of my classical compositions played. Instead I just played a lot of baseball and delivered pizzas for work and was happy just making money and saving up for travel.
Late 99 I wrote my first pop tune. I decided to concentrate my efforts on more singer/songwriter material because I thought it would be a lot easier to have my music performed. I wrote 5 songs before I went to Brazil for 5 months in March of 2000. I wanted to use the trip to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life by distancing myself from my normal routine back home to see what I would miss. Not long into my journey I realized music was it. Apart from my friends and family of course.
I returned home eager to pick up a guitar again and write more tunes. I was very pleased to find that my songwriting was getting better with each song I wrote. I hadn't really sung since year 8 so my vocal chords were a bit rusty. Realising that I'd have to sing my songs myself for people to hear them, I started practicing whenever I could. The main thing that really kept me practicing was just to record my songs on to tape so I could listen back to them so as I wouldn't forget what I had just written.
My first gig infront of a decent size audience was playing solo in between my grandfathers sets at the Annandale Hotel in November 2001. I played 7 Hours, Give me Time and Heart like Snow. It was a pretty big crowd and I felt pretty good about my performance.
For the next 9 months I wrote and practiced at home until late 2002 I started getting little gigs and playing open mics at places like The Harp, The Hollywood and a few small cafes. Once I got a residency at the Glengarry Castle Hotel at the start of 2003, other gigs just started coming my way from supporting friends bands and playing acoustic evenings. One of the best things to happen for me musically was to meet Paul Greene at his residency at the Fringe Bar. He asked me to come back the next week to play a few songs between his sets. He seemed to like my music and has since had me back to support him on a number of occaisions. Earning respect from him and other singer/songwriters has given me enough belief in music to feel confident enough to perform anywhere.
I started work on my debut album in June of 2003 which I ended up completing in May of 2004 with great effort and patience from Buzz Bidstrup and Martin Hailey. During this time I had the chance to record a duet with my grandfather for his album and tour with him to Adelaide and Melbourne. This gave me a real appetite for touring which I hope to be doing as much as possible throughout my career. As I did work for the Croc Festival in August and September of 04 I took thealbum around the country dropping it into radio stations around the place and doing a few gigs.
Since then being back in Sydney I started playing most of my gigs as a 3 piece which I hope to tour with in the near future. I also completed an ep which I made entirely in my bedroom which was a very satisfing achievement.
james