Musicadium Blog

This week, it’s The Holy Rose’s Bats and Birds Cover Art that we love!

The Holy Rose is Gareth Edwards, Brisbane-based singer/songwriter and guitarist. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Gareth played guitar in art/pet food act Thou Gideon before forming hardcore/breakdance/thrash act Manic Pizza with Cameron Potts (Baseball) and Laura Macfarlane (ninetynine). He moved to Melbourne and formed Sandro (with Cameron and Nick Carroll) after Manic Pizza broke up. After recording a hand full of albums and EP’s, released through various labels and independently, playing around the east coast, doing a brief U.S. tour and swapping drummers (Michael Noga - now of The Drones - replaced Cameron in 2000), Sandro kicked the bucket.

Check out The Holy Rose on MySpace.  Leave a comment on our blog about The Holy Rose’s Cover art.

The Holy Rose is now live on

Hi Lee, you are currently living in LA! How is that going?

Things are going great in the states and in Europe. I have been working with Jeff Blue (Linkin Park, Macy Gray, Korn, Limp Bizkit, The Last Goodnight) and we have recently completed the mix for the songs we recorded at Universal. I feel very fortunate that, while I have made the decision to remain independent, I still have the opportunity to work with people like Jeff and other great musicians like Ely Rise from The Last Goodnight and Klaus Luchs, an amazing guitarist from Chicago Illinois. Ely played Keys on the tracks we recorded in LA with Jeff, and we are hoping to work on more projects in the not too distant future.
I’m steadily building a global fan base through myspace, facebook, and youtube. It’s a tough market and there are no short cuts. My music, which is best described as a Sarah McLachlan with a splash of Evanescence, is well suited to the American market and parts of Europe and Asia but as an independent artist there is no corners you can cut without a massive budget. I have a lot of encouragement from people in the states, Europe and back home so I’m more than happy to do the hard yards knowing that in time it’s going to pay off.

You were forbidden from playing music for cultural reasons – an issue that would be foreign to a lot of musicians. If you don’t mind, can you go into some more detail about this? Was it extremely difficult to sacrifice something that you loved? Do you think that this 12 year period where you didn’t play music has affected your music and the way that you song write? How did it feel to start playing again?
Like all parents my parents wanted what they thought was best for me and they believed that, for cultural reasons, a career as a musician was inappropriate. That was a seriously hard pill to swallow because while I was scared of the challenge of a career in music, it was still my dream and I believe that that’s why it’s come back to me. Thinking about it right now, it still blows me away that it’s happening.
The 12 years I was away from music I lived a life that many people would have loved, great job, great husband, a house, a car, lovely friends….all the boxes ticked and to be honest I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. It wasn’t until music came back into my life that I started to feel the devastation of it having not been there.
Before I left music my instrument was the saxophone. But when I music found me again ,I had words to write and melodies to play so I just went out and bought a keyboard and just decided that I would know how to play it. And play it I did. Day and night for months and months. I would go days on end with no sleep but felt move alive than I could ever imagine. Finally experiencing the full force of the what I had previously lost was beginning to liberate me from my past and lead to many significant life changing decisions.….slowly my world started falling apart while the artist in me began to breath again.
It has been some five years now since music found me again and it has been an intense road to say the least. My life is very different and I am very different. I have learned many things but the most important thing I’ve learned is the importance of my choices. Whatever happened in the past has happened, but I choose to do music as a career now. Because I understand what it is to not have my music I hold precious the opportunity to do my music in whatever the capacity- whether it be in Universal Studios in Hollywood, or standing at a coffee machine writing lyrics on a napkin in a café in Sydney. Music is my life and no-one can take it away anymore!

What has been your most memorable gig to date and why?
I would have to say that my most memorable gig was also the most unusual and unsuspecting gig I could have ever imagined I’d play.
It was about 4 months ago now in mid September ’08 and I had only just arrived in LA after a month of preproduction in Chicago. It was my first Saturday night and my roommate invited me out to a Jam night that he said was ‘unusual’. Immediately my mind went to a million different places trying to think what ‘unusual’ could possibly mean in Hollywood- the place where anything goes- particularly when it comes to music. He later explained that this Jam night was held in after an AA meeting to give the people that attended the meeting somewhere to do or watch music on a Saturday night without the alcohol. I was immediately intrigued. I had no intention of singing but an AA meeting in Hollywood doesn’t have your average Joe at the meeting if you know what I mean. A lot of the best session musicians in the world are in Hollywood, and well music and alcohol seem to go hand in hand.
So we went along and the meeting was about 15 minutes from wrapping up. As someone who doesn’t drink alcohol because of a hypersensitivity to it’s effects, I have to say I learned a lot about some of the stories that I heard in just that 15 minutes and the conversations that I has afterwards. But once the meeting was over and I got chatting with some of the uber musicians there I started to realise how hard this was going to be for some of them. I hadn’t realised that most of these uber super cool musicians hadn’t ever played gig’s sober before and used alcohol as a vice to calm their nerves before getting on stage. Doing a few songs, without a drink, in a room filled with 50 people was amongst the hardest of gigs some of these guys has played and I was honoured to be there to witness them. I was even more honoured when I was invited to get up and sing with them. It’s a night I will never forget- a little Aussie chick from Sydney who doesn’t drink alcohol, singing with super cool musicians at a Jam night after an AA in Hollywood….who would’ve thought it!!!!

Who are your idols in the music world and why?
I don’t really have Idols. There are artists that I admire though but mostly for their approach to their musical careers rather than the music itself. One such artist is Alanis Morissette. She is bold and doesn’t censor herself to fit the mould.
Are there any songs that you feel completely changed your life?
Saxophone was my first instrument and is still an instrument I love very much. In the early 90’s a song called ‘Lily Was Here’ played by Candy Dulfer and Dave. A Steward made it to number one on the charts. It was a sax and guitar duet. This song was the first song I played with a band and the last song I played with a band when I was 17 before music left my life for 12 years. The world stands still whenever I hear that song to this day…

What are your plans for 2009?
The main focus for 2009 is gig’s. 2008 was year of recording and building business relationships both in Australia and overseas. 2009 will be focused on gigging all over Australia in preparation for a European Tour that is planned for early 2010 and an American Tour planned for the second half of 2010.
Also in early 2009 I will be launching my second EP- ‘Take Me Away’, which was recorded in LA with producer Jeff Blue (Linkin Park, Macy Gray, Matchbox 20, Korn, The Last Goodnight). I’m extremely excited about the release of this EP and particularly about touring this EP. The songs on this EP have a greater variety of emotions and tones. They are more commercial and will be so much fun to gig along with the songs from the debut EP ‘Who I’ve Become’ that was released 6 months ago.
2009 also see’s the newest member on my team, my European publicist- Stuart Henshall director of D’vyne PR UK. Stu took me to see the twilight movie while I was in London in January. After seeing the movie he contacted the twilight bloggers and vloggers for their opinion on having my music included in the next movie in the series ‘New Moon’. Well they love it and raving particularly about the song ‘I’m Here’. Filming for the movie starts in March and there is a good chance that we’ll get the song included on the soundtrack.

All in all it’s going to be a seriously busy 2009 but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you like Lee’s Music, be sure to check it out on or go to her MySpace account at - http://www.myspace.com/leesafar.

This week, it’s CC the Cat who has put her film clip for ‘Nicotine’ up for us to check out!

CC the Cat and her rockin reggae funk trio are a party-shakin’ conscious groove machine pumping out deep dark thumping acoustic rock tunes, uplifting reggae anthems and pop-catchy funk/soul journeys, featuring the astounding vocals of dub diva CC the Cat.

Since its release in late July last year, ‘Nicotine’ has already had weekly rotation on Triple J’s Roots & All, hit number 6 on Brisbane’s 4ZzZfm playlist, reached numbers 2,3 and 5 on Triple J Unearthed’s Roots Charts, and been was one of Musicadium’s feature albums!

With roots in Brisbane, Melbourne and London, and now based on the Gold Coast QLD and Lennox Head NSW (just south of Byron Bay), CC the Cat trio have 35 years of touring experience between them and members have shared stages with the likes of The Cat Empire, Blue King Brown, The Grates, Fat Boy Slim, Lionel Ritchie and R.E.M.

If you like CC’s music, check it out on

Here at Musicadium, we have a wealth of performers and we believe that Geraldine is an absolute treasure.  Geraldine is a comedian, musician and celebrity speaker.  We love you, Geraldine!

Geraldine Doyle has had an extraordinary career in the performing arts including several US tours, radio and television work in both Ireland and Australia and even a 24 episode series with The Irish Rovers for Canadian TV. Geraldine has released three albums that are being distributed by Musicadium entitled, ‘A Drop of the Funny Stuff’ (comedy CD recorded in Arizona USA), ‘Stand On Your Man’ (a collection of comedic country music songs) and a CD recorded with her brother Danny Doyle and produced by Bill Whelan, composer of the hit stage show ‘Riverdance’.

Tell us about your first stand up gig. Was it a pleasurable experience or utterly terrifying?
Well actually I didn’t go straight into stand up I started out as a folk singer in Ireland. The comedy just crept in. I would introduce songs in a funny way or would talk about something funny that had happened to me or stuff that was in the news or my mad family. So the introductions just kept getting longer and longer so there was less time to sing and eventually the comedy took over. I didn’t really realise I was doing comedy. At the time I thought comedians were people who told long jokes and I didn’t do that. What I was actually doing almost unknown to myself were routines.  But doing standup can be traumatic at times. Sometimes it’s a bit like walking up a gangplank with no ship at the other end. Kinda like a nervous breakdown with a paycheck at the end. It’s a strange thing when you want to do comedy — it’s a bit like being a cleptomaniac people will try and talk you out of it but you’re still going to do it. It’s a compulsion.

Female comedians are often stereotyped as only being able to speak about standard women’s issues. Do you feel that you have had to fight harder to forge a career path as a female comedian or do you feel that it was easier in some ways as there was a gap in the market?
Hell no it definitely wasn’t easier. There’s a song on the Stand on your Man album called  “You’ve got to Twice as Good to if ye wanna get Half as Far” and that about summed it up when I was started to do comedy. For instance when a male comedian walks onstage people presume he’s going to be funny when a female walks on they think she better be funny.  That’s the way it was when I started. I think things have changed now because people are more used to female comedians. And although the prejudice was there I never used it as an excuse for not succeeding. I think that’s why I did succeed.  And ye know what the Aussies say “Never let the bastards get ye down”.

Does your family have a strong musical background? Were there sing-a-longs in Irish fields (or down at the pub)?
Yes we have a very strong musical background my brother Danny is a wonderful singer I made Emigrant Eyes with him. He was very well known in Ireland had his own tv show and countless hit records. My Grandmother on my Mother’s side was a great singer I believe and won lots of singing competitions. Unfortunately I never got to hear her. My Mother is a wonderful singer. She knows hundreds of songs. She was always singing when we were children so we learnt from birth. Sometimes she would sing in hotels for her senior citizens group holidays and people would think she was a professional. She’s still singing like a lark at 87 – she’s remarkable. She should have been a professional but she had eight kids so that’ll put a stop to your gallop.

What has been your most memorable gig and most memorable heckling experience?
Well I did a gig when I went to Australia first in a club and there was a magician on in front of me and he’d left the stage looking like a rubbish heap. I had to come on after him. So I bounce onstage and went head over heels. Well I’ve never got such applause or laughs on an entrance from that day to this. I was wearing a black top with little straps and a chiffon black blouse over it (I was thin at the time) So I painfully picked myself up and started into my act. I was getting huge laughs but they were all in the wrong places. Then a woman in the front started to point at my top. So I look down and see that the straps on my top had broken and had fallen down so all I had on was the see through chiffon top. I was mortified. So with great fusterin” and fusterin’ I  managed to tie the straps of the top around my neck. I said “Ladies and gentlemen I am so sorry” and a laconic Aussie in the front says “Aw don’t worry love we just thought two flies had landed on your chest”.
As far as the hecklin’ goes strangely I virtually never get them anymore. I did get them when I was starting out in comedy – they can smell fear. But I learned how to handle them. One night I had a guy at an all male function who just kept heckling me I did some soft heckler lines on him but he wouldn’t shut up. So then I said ‘Is there an engineer in the house and guy put up his hand and I said “ Well if you’re ever thinking of building a dickhead, there’s a blueprint sitting right over there. And that was the end of him.

Your husband Paddy or ‘horizontal’ often joins you on stage and takes a good-natured ribbing. Can you explain to us the nickname? Does he have one in return for you?
Yeah he’s got a great sense of humour and he’s very confident about himself as a man, so it doesn’t bother him. Anyway he gets his own back on me behind the scenes all the time. I just adlibbed the name Horizontal one night because at the time the only time he was vertical was when he was propping up a bar. And yes he does have a nickname for me he calls me “His little money maker” Or sometimes The War Department or My Present Wife. See what I mean about getting his own back. But I don’t think our marriage would have lasted as long as it has without us both having a sense of humour.

Finally, if you could collaborate with any musician (living or dead) and any comedian who would they be?
Oh my God the list would be endless I’d love Tom Lehrer to write some comedy songs for me.  But I don’t think that’s going to happen. And I’d love to do another album with my brother Danny and use the musicians we used on Emigrant eyes cause they’re the best, I feel privileged to have worked with them at all. There are so many wonderful musicians in Ireland I’d be happy to work with any of them.

Check out Geraldine’s great work on

Yes and No.

It really depends on (and this goes for general users too, people who don’t have bands) what you want out of Twitter.

According to James R. Dickey and his 10 commandments of Twitter, the number 1 Commandment is decide what your goal is with using Twitter.

Before we get into the thick of what you can do with Twitter, here is a run-down of what Twitter is, from Wikipeda.org:

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or through applications such as TwitterMobile, Tweetie, Twinkle, Twitterrific, Feedalizr, Facebook, and Twidget, a widget application. Four gateway numbers are currently available for SMS: short codes for the United States, Canada, and India, and a United Kingdom-based number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email. Twitter had by one measure over 3 million accounts and, by another, well over 5 million visitors in September 2008, a fivefold increase in a month.

Twitter is a great networking tool, provided you know exactly what you want to get out of it.  Are you doing it to make fans or talk to fans, learn more about the industry/make contacts, establish your band as someone who helps other bands/knows a lot about the industry or is it just to post pictures from backstage so fans can see what you got up before and after the show?

One band who does it (tweets) well is The Grates (@thegrates).  They always post interesting content - now, this could be because they have an interesting tour schedule, always playing shows at larger festivals, but they also post interesting content (using twitpic) in their downtime of things they observe when living their daily (read: not music-related) lives.  It also appeals because it comes from THE BAND themselves, not someone else.  The fans get a peek behind the curtain, if you will.

Twitter is not the same as having a MySpace or a Facebook account in that the amount of “friends” or followers, as they are called in the twitterverse, you have.  In fact, if you had a lot of followers, you are more disadvantaged.  Your feed of posts would be far too hard to trawl through and find quality content to read.  In fact, the optimum goal of Twitter is to have a manageable (read: small) amount of quality followers and people you are following. This way, you know that the sources you are getting links and content from are trusted and are of a certain quality.

If you are unfamiliar with the etiquette of Twitter, basically, you have 140 characters or less with which to play.  When you see another tweeter’s post that you would like to reply to, you start your post with @username, which the user can then see in their @replies section in their profile.  If you want to see the rest of the commands to be used in Twitter, check out this list here.

Comment here if you have a twitter account with your account name (@username).  Has it been worthwhile for you?  Are you making great connections?  Has it been a waste of time?

If you would like to follow Musicadium, check us out @musicadium.

As part of National Youth Week, Visible Ink and Library Services are putting on a youth arts showcase and enterprise market day on Saturday 4 April 2009 11-5pm. There will be three venues - the Brisbane Square Library, Reddacliffe Place, and the Queen St Mall.

If people have questions you can contact Gerard Dowling or James Douglas (34030136) who will be filling in for me over the next two weeks.

Unfortunately there is no budget to pay performers, but it is a fantastic opportunity to get yourself in front of a large audience!

Check out the application form here!  National Youth Week Performer EOI

Mr Monkeybum, one of Musicadium’s Children’s music artists, has decided to donate all of his royalties earned up until June 2009 to worldwide Children’s fund, UNICEF.

Mr Monkeybum is a 35 year old guy from Sydney, currently living in Melbourne. He played bass guitar in a couple of bands back in the early-mid 90’s called Clover and Deluxe. In 2003, he went traveling and ended up living and studying in Belfast for 4 years. During his pre-exam break, when he was supposed to be studying for exams, he decided to write a song about Poo - purely for fun. He sent it to a couple of friends with kids - who liked it!

“I decided to release it (with Musicadium’s help) on iTunes and donate all the money I make during the 1st financial year to UNICEF. I am currently working on both another Monkeybum album and a non-childrens release. It’s all done on Garageband and would love ideas and feedback from people on how I can improve my amateur sound.”

If you haven’t heard of Mr Monkeybum before, check out his Facebook Fan Page here.

To buy Mr Monkeybum’s album, Songs about Poo and Stuff, check it out here at