The Australian Songwriter Issue 121, February 2017 First published 1979 The Magazine of The Australian Songwriters Association Inc. In This Edition: On the Cover Of The ASA: Sophia Chesworth performing at The 2016 National Songwriting Awards Chairman’s Message Editor’s Message The Red Carpet At The 2016 National Songwriting Awards Thanks To The Orion Centre! Behind The Scenes At The 2016 National Songwriting Awards Sophia Chesworth: 2016 Winner Of The Youth Category 2017 Australia Day Awards: Paul Kelly, Nick Cave, Jimmy Barnes and John “Swanee” Swan Alex Tobin: 2016 Winner Of The Rudy Brandsma Award Wax Lyrical Roundup The Throb: Australia’s First Punk Band? Wendy J Ford: 2016 ASA Regional Co-Ordinator Of The Year th Gary Luck: Remembering the 75 Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin 2016 PPCA Live Performance Award Sponsors Profiles Members News And Information 2016 In Memoriam The Load Out Official Sponsors of the Australian Songwriting Contest About Us: o Aims of the ASA o History of the Association o Contact Us o Patron o Life Members o Directors o Regional Co-Ordinators o APRA/ASA Songwriter of the Year o Rudy Brandsma Award Winner o PPCA Live Performance Award Winner o Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame o Australian Songwriting Contest Winners Chairman’s Message Happy New Year everyone, Now that we have taken a break after what was the best and most successful year ever for the ASA, your Board is back ‘on the case’ and working hard, in order to make 2017 even bigger and better. There are talks going on to bring the National Songwriting Awards Evening forward in 2017, as for the last few years it has seemed to interrupt some Member’s plans for Christmas. It is early days yet, but any feedback would be welcome, so please email me if you have a view on this. My details are on the ‘Contact Details’ page on the ASA Website. Plans are also being put forward for Directors to visit our Regional Coordinators this year to participate in special ‘ASA Top 30 Showcases’, with local APRA reps invited along to speak and listen to ASA Members perform. This could prove to be a very positive step forward for our organisation. You can be sure that the Board will keep you up to date with any breaking news. For now it is back to work for all Directors to help get the 2017 Australian Songwriting Contest up and running. Editor and Vice Chairman Alan Gilmour has started off the year with a bang, bringing you a cracker (no pun intended) of an eNewsletter. I would personally like to thank Alan for the inclusion of the ‘Throb’ interview. It was a long time ago, but it seems like only yesterday. The story from Director Gary Luck re the song about his father is fascinating. I have heard Gary sing the tune, and I can tell you he has a special ‘feel’ for it. It is a wonderful and haunting song. Enjoy the missive! See you at the ‘Wax Lyricals’ and ‘Showcases’ this year. Denny Burgess Editor’s Message Welcome to our first edition of The Australian Songwriter for 2017. In this edition, we look back at some of the highlights of the 2016 National Songwriting Awards and speak to 2016 Rudy Brandsma Award winner, Alex Tobin, and 2016 Youth Category winner, Sophia Chesworth. There’s also a couple of interesting articles on ASA directors, Denny Burgess and Gary Luck. Happy reading! The Australian Songwriter welcomes written contributions from ASA members and readers of the magazine. If you have anything that you would like to say about yourself, other songwriters/musicians/artists/new releases or upcoming events, simply send your contribution via email to the Editor at [email protected]. Alan Gilmour The Red Carpet: 2016 National Songwriting Awards Thanks To The Orion Centre! The Orion Centre in Sydney was an unlikely, but ultimately inspired choice, for the 2016 National Songwriting Awards. It is great to see that the splendor of some of these Art Deco monuments from the 1930s are still being preserved for the future. The venue is home to one of the finest remaining Wurlitzer theatre organs in Australia, and guests were treated to an opening fanfare from the organ. The organ itself dates from 1927, when it was shipped from the US to Australia, to be installed in Sydney’s Capitol Theatre. It contains 173 orchestral and organ effects and cost the massive sum of $42,000 at the time. The organ continued to be used until 1957, when television began to overtake cinemas. The organ was kept in storage from 1963 by the Theatre Organ Society of Australia, until it found its new home in The Orion Centre in 1988. Behind The Scenes At The 2016 National Songwriting Awards The stage is ready The venue is ready The entertainment is ready The trophies are ready More trophies are ready! The merchandise is ready The MC is ready The audience is ready The hostesses are ready Roger is ready The ASA volunteers are ready The Chairman is ready It’s Showtime! Sophia Chesworth: 2016 Winner of the Youth Category Fifteen year-old Sophia Chesworth was the winner of the 2016 Youth Category, with her song, Homeless Bound. We took the opportunity to speak with Sophia prior to her presentation at the 2016 National Songwriting Awards. ASA: Your winning song is called Homeless Bound. How did you come to write that? Sophia: I’ve lived in Sydney for my whole life and for as long as I can remember, there’s a homeless lady that’s been there, and every time I’d walk to the bus stop to go to school, I’d see her, and I’d think to myself, is there anything I could do to help? I decided to write a song about her, hoping somehow to raise awareness for homelessness. ASA: And when did you write the song? Sophia: I wrote it last year, and then a month after I finished writing it, I went back and changed quite a bit of it, because I’d seen her more often, and I changed some of the things I’d written about, and to make it as truthful as possible. I feel it’s one of the best ways to get a message across and I’d like to somehow get involved with a charity and have the song help raise awareness of the issue. ASA: They’re lovely words. You wrote the melody as well. How did that come to you? After the words? Sophia: Well, whenever I’d see her, I’d write a few things down, and I’d play my guitar, and I just sang a lot of the words myself, and it just sort of came together. Then, I went back and tweaked all of my ideas, and formed it into a song. ASA: And what did your school friends think of this? Sophia: Yes, I’ve played it at school a few times. Some of my friends have actually seen this homeless lady as well, so they can relate to it as well, and they think it’s really good that I’m writing about homelessness. ASA: Have you written other songs as well? Sophia: Yes, I have. I’ve co- written some songs and written some on my own. I’m actually releasing a single at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January (2017), and I’m recording it in a week, and it’s called Shine On Me. It’s one of my originals. ASA: And you’re into country music? Sophia: Yes, with all of my songs, country pop, country folk vibes just naturally come across through the songs. It’s all I listen to pretty much, country music. ASA: And where will you be performing up in Tamworth? Sophia: I’m busking, I have a few gigs, I’m singing on the ABC stage and I’m opening for the Cassi (Hilbers) and Liam (Kennedy-Clark) album launch. I’m also singing at the TSA Awards, because I won the Youth section last year. I’m really excited about that. I’m singing the song that won, There For Me, and then my newer songs. ASA: It sounds like you have a great career coming up. Are you interested, when you leave school, in studying music, or becoming a performer or a professional musician? Sophia: Yeah, my dream is to become a successful country music artist, definitely in Australia, and overseas as well. One of my biggest dreams is to go to Nashville, and just co-write with a lot of people, perform and get out there. ASA: What has been the main influence on your performance? Sophia: From a young age, I guess, Taylor Swift got me into the whole country scene, and then I started listening to a lot of Australian country music artists, especially Amber Lawrence would be a big influence on me. ASA: She’s a bit more “rock-ie”, isn’t she? Sophia: Yes, I love a lot of the messages in her songs as well. They’re really inspirational. ASA: So, looking forward, to ten year’s time, where would you like to be in terms of your career? Sophia: Well, I’d love to be a successful country music artist. Go to Nashville, definitely. I’m going to keep going to country music festivals, like Tamworth, Gympie. I’d love to have an EP out and a few albums. That’s the big dream. ASA: All your own material? Sophia: Yes, definitely.