In my first Oz blog about Peats Ridge, I mentioned the awesome group of people that I shared the festival experience with. What I didn’t mention is that around the campsite and even going back to the first hang we had last April, the jams were something special.

So special, in fact, that I decided to take advantage of a few unexpected days of down time in my schedule and go into a studio with my good friends from the crew, Shannon Nunn and Matt Marks. Both stellar guitar players with great feel, lots of vibe and a seemingly endless store of creative energy, the connection with these guys was instant. I was lucky enough to be around in the early days of their jamming together and have seized every opportunity since to get in on the action and contribute melodies and lyrics to their often, groove-oriented musical ideas.
The recording situation was unlike any other I’ve ever done in that we were admittedly unprepared and we went into the studio with songs that weren’t even complete. With that in mind, we decided to approach the sessions as a chance to write, flesh out the songs and do some solid pre-production.

Even with that as the context, the pressure was still on to deliver the creative goods in a short time and lay down something that we could all walk away being happy with. For me, this meant using every last minute, writing lyrical and melodic ideas in bed, in the car on the way to the studio, during any breaks from the sessions, and making small tweaks right up until it was time to jump in the vocal booth to record. It also meant completely embracing the spirit of collaboration, getting everyone’s input on all aspects of the song, including our friends who were there when the songs were born and all our peeps who were hanging around during the sessions. Despite the inevitable moments of doubt and frustration, the magic came and after a 48-hour roller coaster ride that marked the beginning of a beautiful musical bond, we emerged inspired, closer from the experience and with two songs that we were all very proud of. Here were are hangin’ at the studio. Here we are from left to right: me, Matt “laid-back” Marks, Shannon “no-shirt” Nun, Josh Butson aka. Uncle J (Aussie tour manager and legendary mate).

The best part is that I had my last two shows of the tour in Sydney later that week and we would take advantage of the chance to test out the songs in a live setting. The final show was at Raval, a beautiful and intimate venue in Surry Hills that was the perfect spot for a farewell show and a night of celebration. The crowd brought a warmth and attentiveness that made this my favourite Sydney show yet. Here is our performance of “Don’t Believe A Word” from that night.

Video courtesy of my good friend Morgan Touvron at Free Spirit Films.