Musicadium Blog

Scott Spark

Scott Spark is one very talented musician and performer. Having been compared to Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright among others, he has taken the Australian music scene by storm over the last two years. His 2007 Ep Wet Behind The Ears saw him gain the honour of sharing the stage with Fergus Brown, An Horse and Last Dinosaurs. Between touring and completing a residency at The Empress in Melbourne, Scott has been busy working on his second Ep The Kathleen EP and his first full length album Fail Like You Mean It due out in June 2010. Scott protrays his versatile talent on both of these works, as he moves from the trombone to the bass to the toy piano to the wurlitzer as well as many other instruments while singing his heart out about everything from shift work to love and wanderlust at Christmas time. Other performers on the EP include: Megan Washington: backing vocals, Adele Pickvance: bass, Yeo Choong: beats, Roger González: cajón, shakers, Emerson Bavinton: guitar, claps, Sophie Weston: Flute. Recently Scott had a chat with Michelle from Musicadium and this is what he had to say.

1. You have an incredibly unique sound, what inspired you when you were creating your music?
Songs are like your mother - you love them more than life itself, but they have the uncanny habit of seeking you out, right when you’re in the middle of something (eg. getting crushed by rush-hour crowds at the train station, making out, throwing up, having a nap, remembering how to spell “accommodate”, flossing - all that). So, first it might be a lyric or a line of melody, but it really all starts coming together once I’m at the piano. As for genre and style, I’ll take a song wherever it wants to go - and that may also come down to whoever you’re mucking around with in the studio. In any case, how ever a song ends up in the studio, they’re pretty much all written at the piano. The instrument has an incredible way of carrying almost any song.

2. What was it like to work with such a versatile producer as Tucker Martine?
Tucker is a certified legend, and I’m entirely humbled and grateful for him stepping in at the very moment we’d given everything we had, and taking it that extra mile. He mixed 18 songs in total - Californian rock, late-night crestfallen strolls, 80s angst ballads, Glee-like showtunes, city folk, baroque pop - he took it all and not only made sense of it, but made it sing. Plus, he’s a super nice, genuinely awesome dude.

3. How did you come to be working with him?
He’d worked with a lot of artists I love - Laura Veirs, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, among others - and we got talking online. I sent him some earlish rough demos, and we took it from there.

4. You are doing a residency at The Empress Hotel in Melbourne at the moment, can you tell us a little about it and how you got into it?
I’ve been meaning to play Melbourne for quite some time now, so I really ought to get a kick up the arse. The Empress is an institution, and I didn’t want to simply come and go in the space of 24 hours, so I decided on a residency. The band won’t be with me for this stint; just keeping it intimate and minimalist, with supports from talented souls - Courtney Barnett (7th), James O’Brien (14th), Yeo (21st), D. Rogers (28th).

5. Amongst touring and releasing your debut album in June, which you are no doubt excited about, what else is happening in 2010 for you?
You always feel pretty alive playing solo - there’s nowhere to hide and no way of faking it - and that’s the way it’ll be for the Empress residency, but I’m also really enjoying transforming songs with Tim (bass) and Hik (drums). We’re playing a residency at the Brisbane Powerhouse Friday evenings throughout April. We’re shooting a couple of music videos soon. Sydney’s also on the cards. And, it looks as though songs from the album will end up being adapted into a theatre production, that’ll be staged next year. Apart from that, I’m pining for a mellotron. They’re making them again, right?

Visit Scott at his Myspace, Triple J Unearthed and Facebook for all the latest news and happenings and upcoming tours.

This week, the iTunes store is featuring a countdown to 10 Billion songs sold globally. What a phenomonal amount to have sold in the 9 years since it’s release in January 2001 (in the US).

I read an article at Digital Music News that also discusses this - apparently, the largest jump in volume purchased has been in the past 12 months or so, (doubling the previous year’s growth rate) from 6 Billion to 10 Billion. Which is amazing to see and shows a real shift in people’s perception and adoption of legal digital music downloading.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 most-downloaded songs - an interesting list to say the least.  It seems to say two things about the iTunes store:

1. Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling”
2. Lady GaGa, “Poker Face”
3. Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
4. Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours”
5. Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”
6. Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donis, “Just Dance”
7. Flo Rida, “Low feat. T-Pain”
8. Taylor Swift, “Love Story”
9. Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
10. Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”

It seems that 1) Major Label marketing dollars are still, for the moment, driving the superstars to the top of the charts, and 2) the market on iTunes seems to be a market of younger people, predominantly with a penchant for dance/hip hop/R&B made very recently.  Expand the list out the the top 25 and you could probably surmise that the only other type of music this market likes is soft rock/ballads ala The Fray.  It seems that this list, by the very nature of how long these tracks have been for sale, could be superceded very quickly by the “hottest new thing.” One wonders, does this reflect the rest of the industry?

One would think that there would have been representation in the list from heritage acts or acts at least more than than 5 years old.  The only act with music released pre-2000 in the top 25 (never mind the top 10) is Journey.  Which is odd, looking at it without the benefit of knowing a little bit of pop culture - the Journey song in question has recently benefited from being covered by the cast of Glee, which firms up the young market discussed earlier.  Obviously, The Beatles aren’t on iTunes, so they were never going to win this race, but I really would have thought Michael Jackson if no-one else would have made this list.  Perhaps the King of Pop has not pervaded Gen Y, even despite amazing amounts of downloads after his death (R.I.P.).

It also shows a dominance of the U.S. Market on the rest of the world’s music market - only 1 artist, Coldplay, being from outside the U.S. territory.  No Australian artists made the cut (not even AC/DC!), one would have to surmise that this would be due to the fact that population-wise, Australian acts don’t quite have the mass audience of the U.S. or other territories - however, by that rationale, even with a Chinese iTunes store, and the largest population in the world, not 1 Chinese artist makes a dent or, it would seem, ever make it.

This week, the iTunes team are giving away $10,000 USD credit on the iTunes store for the person who makes the 10 Billionth download in their store.  It is currently at 9,910,346,099 - So keep an eye on that!

The Shiny brights are releasing their long awaited EP “Too Many Chiefs” this month! Here’s a great marketing strategy to initiate before a launch. Check it out below. Let us know of any other bands doing weird and wonderful things before a launch!

Check them out on:

MySpace

Twitter

Facebook

Last week, the Musicadium team were ecstatic to receive a phone call from Phil Buckle, member of Australian band from the 90’s, Southern Sons, who wanted to add Southern Sons’ catalogue to iTunes via Musicadium.  We thought that it would be interesting to get Phil’s perspective on the industry as it is right now. What we got was a fantastic interview with a great (and realistic) view on the industry with the benefit of hindsight. 

Tim Price interviews Phil Buckle:

Southern Sons experienced a great deal of exposure in the early 90’s and had a number of singles and albums that charted quite highly in the ARIA charts.  How do you believe that experience in that timeframe compares to today’s music industry?

I think the main difference is that it is no longer imperative to secure a recording deal with a major label. Although to achieve total world domination it probably still is. But if your aim is to make a living out of what you love doing then the internet has made it possible to do so……………but it’s still hard.

In those days the artist would leave it up to the Record Company to do all the “grunt” work. Publicity, liaising with the radio stations and keeping the members of the band financially solvent during that whole process. For this service they charged a premium…………and it was quite a premium. They got their pound of flesh. In the final analysis, when the math is done, our Record Company profited far in excess of what the band…..as a whole did. Far in excess.  And bear in mind that we had a very shrewd manager who cut us an exceptionally favorable deal with the record company. They made a lot of money on their investment. Don’t get me wrong, we were not ripped off at all in anyway but the deals are structured in such a way that the company will make millions while the artist will make thousands. In those days the artist would have to sell multi platinum and tour extensively to pay off their recording costs and advances. There are plenty of stories of well known bands who never recouped and worked themselves into the ground, eventually disbanding and still in debt.

So you don’t need to do that anymore. The downside being that you don’t have the weight of the company behind you so you miss out on the distribution networks and instant radio relations. The internet is not really going to replace those things. Why? Because EVERYONE has the same advantage. You are competing with everyone else who calls themselves an artist……..and their mums, brothers and sisters and pet dogs. Everyone is shouting for attention and all believe they are worthy of it.

There were benefits with the old system and there are benefits with the new system. Bottom line is that it’s still tough out there.

How do you think that the experience of releasing these albums independently now into the digital realm will differ from the first time round these albums were released, via a label?

The first time around we had the benefit of years of gigging and of course the power of a major label. Plus we were new. I’m not thinking of this as a “release” or even a “re release”. We are making the music available for those that never got to hear the whole albums and for the new generation who were too young to be interested. The real big difference is that the music is available internationally. We never had an international release even though we worked hard on it.

The band certainly contained some great names - Jack Jones, yourself and Virgil Donati.  You have all gone on to play in bands with and write songs with people like John Farnham, Rick Price, Gary Beers, Tina Arena and Steve Vai.   Are you still in contact with the rest of the band – are you all excited about getting your catalogue into iTunes?

From time to time we bump into each other. Sometimes I see Virgil if I’m in LA and I’ve met Jack at a couple of gigs. I haven’t seen Geoff in a very long time as he moved to Spain and only recently returned. We all came from very different musical backgrounds and we all dived in different directions when the band split. These albums have not been available for the last 10 years so I’m excited to get them out there again. We had to wait until all contracts had lapsed and the master recordings had returned to our company.

What were highlights of your years in Southern Sons?

Truly the whole thing was a highlight. I mean that sounds like a sucky answer but you have to understand how many years the band worked to achieve what it did and the musical climate of the times. We just didn’t fit in and everyone was telling us just that. I came from a background of  Dylan and Joni Mitchell and then years of Jazz guitar, Mahavishnu and Alan Holdsworth. Virgil came from Buddy Rich to Toto and Jack from Van Halen to Hendrix………in the alternative Australian culture we were seriously “not cool”. We defined “not cool”. We were not part of the street culture, we were practiced musicians.

Look at it this way……..at that time some popular bands were Hunters and Collecters, Spiderbait, The Screaming Jets, You Am I…………..all great bands in their own styles but here WE were singing “Heart In Danger” and “Hold Me In Your Arms” and Virgil was doing 10 minute drum solos that defied description.  I mean WE were the alternative band!!

So to have such success after the years of slogging and lineup changes and record company rejection etc etc was just very, very sweet.

Are you (Phil) playing live music at the moment?

Funnily enough I’m rehearsing at the moment for a show in Sydney in March. Some folks have talked me into performing a sort of “songwriter plays his stuff and has a chat” sort of night. I’ve got some guest vocalists singing and a little band as well. Apart from that I haven’t had time to play……or the inclination really. I still practice Jazz guitar a LOT!!! Mainly I write and produce and I do this 7 days a week.

You co-wrote a personal music favorite of ours in the office (and ARIA song of the year in 1990), Burn for You, with John Farnham.  How did that come about and was it a difficult song to get out?

That song was originally for the State (my band before the Southern Sons)……….well at least the part I had already written was. It was an idea I was working on for about 6 months. I had the guitar part and the “Burn For You” title and chorus melody. The problem was that I couldn’t sing it. It was way beyond my capabilities as a singer. So I kept putting it off and every now and then I’d come back to it and try again. Every time I sang the chorus I would get emotional…….I would actually well up with tears…….so I knew I was onto something and that there was a little bit of magic in that fragment. So then one day I get a call from John’s producer Ross Fraser (an old school friend of mine) and he asked me to go over and do some writing with John and him. I couldn’t believe it. Ross had just signed my band (The State) and had liked the songs so he was going to give me a go. This was truly a lucky break for me and I stayed up most of the night trying to come up with ideas. Around lunchtime on the first day of writing John asked me if I had any ballads I was working on. Remember that I was keeping this little idea for my own band,so I played him another idea that I had. It was a song with a girls name in the chorus so he wasn’t too keen on it. (it was called Analise) “What else have you got” he asked. So of course out came my very shaky chorus of Burn For You and John and Ross and I finished it off in the next couple of hours. We wrote the verses and bridge and recorded it then and there. John had the idea of writing about being away from Jill when he was touring. I learned a lot about song arrangement from those guys.  I wish I had that version we recorded that day. It was my first experience of working with a gifted singer and as part of a writing team. It was a great day and marked a turning point in my career. Not only had I been initiated in the art of co writing but I had heard how a good idea could be transformed by a great singer into something really special. How would my other songs sound, I thought, with a really good vocalist? I was about to find out. The next day I called my manager and we decided to fire me as the singer in the band. We were now looking for a good vocalist……and we were in the middle of recording an album!

Reunions are all the rage. ACDC, Guns and Roses, Cold Chisel.  Chances of a reunion?

If there was a compelling reason then perhaps. I can’t speak for the other members but I just couldn’t stop everything I’m doing and commit to it.

I truly miss the musicianship of that band though. It really was a bunch of shred heads disguised as a pop band and when that band cranked up it was a joy to be on stage.

But we had that time and it was great and it ran its course……………next.

Once again speaking for myself only, I’m addicted to making new music. I don’t feel any real desire to go back and visit the past.

What do you think of the new generation of Australian Rock? Any favourites?

At the moment I’m enjoying The Temper Trap and Empire Of The Sun and Lisa Mitchell. I’m also interested to see how Adelaide guitarist Orianthi does in the US as we did a lot of work together and well…….I do have a track on that album!

I’m also an admirer of Daniel Johns and look forward to anything he does.

I like bands that aren’t scared to nay say the mainstream……..and these days the mainstream is as much alternative as it is commercial. Originality is truly a scarce occurrence in the music world and just being different doesn’t equate to originality. In fact being different is the easy part. Being good…..however you care to interpret that……….is the hard part.

How do you purchase your music?

I buy everything……and I buy a lot of music…………..on iTunes.  Except for the rare guitar things like Wayne Krantz in which case I’ll buy from the artist’s web site.

Southern Sons’ catalogue of Zone, Nothing but the Truth and Self-Titled will be live on iTunes very soon.  In the meantime, read up about the band at Wikipedia or watch the filmclip for Hold me in your arms on YouTube.

Remember the so called ‘good old days’, when bands just made money from CD sales, touring and merchandise? ‘Selling out’ or making money from a corporate tie in, or through having a song featured in  a mainstream movie was deemed a pretty negative thing. Things have since  changed, and with the decrease in record sales and the recent havoc within the music industry, artists are looking for new and interesting ways  to get their music heard.

One way of doing this is by selling their music to be synchronized with commercials and hit television programs. Synchronization gives artists the  opportunity to have their music played during a commercial or a television series. This not only creates a hefty wad of cash, but generates a huge amount of exposure and awareness.

On a local scale, take the Mitsubishi Lancer ad with Polka, by Yves Klein Blue playing. You know the one - the couple are throwing stuff into the back of their car, and the song makes the ad great. Or if you want to look at it from a bigger scale, there are television shows, Gossip Girl or Entourage to name a few, who only want the latest and greatest music featured, Entourage has featured music from Cold War Kids, Phoenix and even our very own Empire of The Sun.

The exposure and recognition that is gained from your song is uncharted as it could be played across all television stations on     
free-to-air, dozens of stations on Foxtel and Austar, at prime time to millions of people. Even if it is only a snippet of a song, it is helping to reach an audience outside your target market that you wouldn’t have thought of before. Having a song synced with a commercial could help to also generate numerous purchases. With the use of iPhone apps such as Shazam, a consumer can hear the song on an ad, Shazam it, and have the opportunity to purchase it via iTunes immediately.

The new hit show Glee is a great example of synchronization at its best. Glee has sold over 2 million tracks on iTunes, and its success doesn’t look like it is going to slow down. The cast also cover popular songs, and this is helping to boost sales by artists who manage to get selected for the show – an example of this being Rihanna’s “Take A Bow” increasing a massive 189% since it was covered on Glee. The royalties that they are generating for older artists is also incredible, the Glee Cast covered Journeys “Don’t Stop Believin” and it was certified Gold in December selling 500,000 copies. See the article here.

In theory, sync is great but is anybody really paying that much attention?  Sure you hear a great song in a movie, you might go buy the soundtrack, or find it through other sources via the Internet once you’ve identified it on Shazam. One good song on Gossip Girl may give you a kick start, but the rest, a great live show, other great tracks, still needs to be present in order be successful. Otherwise an artist may fall into the abyss of songs that are only associated with the ads they were on, and become known as “Oh yeah, the song off that dog food ad” forever.

With not a whole lot of ads being created, and so many artists trying to get heard, the chance of ending up on an ad are slim, to none. But still, if this could be harnessed, and Australian commercials used music by Australian bands, then the world would be better place.

Take from this blog what you will. At the end of the day what works for some people won’t always work for others. The old model of selling albums to make money is changing along with culture. Artists need new ways to get their music heard, and if that means writing a song for a vampire soundtrack, is that still selling out, or simply surviving?

Attribution for photographs

Budding musicians and bands in Brisbane will soon get an opportunity to develop the skills vital for making it big in the industry.

Local digital distribution company Musicadium, in conjunction with the Edge, are presenting White Noise- the first of its kind and set to hit Brisbane on the 15th-20th of March this year.

White Noise consists of a series of free workshops for up and coming artists to be held at the Edge, a brand new state-of-the-art creative facility in South Bank.

The week-long event, now looking for applicants, will include workshops and seminars on songwriting, recording, distribution, management, marketing and promotions.

Local and national music industry professionals will host each seminar or workshop, passing on invaluable insight and information to the young artists.

The sessions will culminate in a showcase held in the Edge auditorium, which will provide an opportunity for the public to see the progress made by the artists over the course of the program.

Musicadium Promotions and Development Manager Tim Price said the program could lead artists to the big break they’re looking for.

“The music industry is at a real tipping point at the moment. With the information they are given, these artists will get the chance to be at the forefront of the industry as we head into a new decade.”

The Edge, a new initiative by the State Library of Queensland, is a brand new creative space nestled amongst the cultural precinct in Brisbane’s South Bank. Equipped with the latest technology, The Edge is one of the first dedicated creative spaces in Australia.

White Noise will be making full use of the space during the event, which boasts recording studios, rehearsal rooms, Apple Mac labs and a large auditorium.

Applications for artists can be downloaded from www.musicadium.com/whitenoise, and must be emailed to whitenoise@musicadium.com by the 28th of February. There are only 20 spots available for each 3-day program. Artists with varying levels of ability from a variety of genres are encouraged to apply.

For more information about White Noise, please contact Julia Bridger on (07) 3252 9962 or at julia@musicadium.com.

FROM STEPHEN BARTLETT PRODUCTIONS

No one can deny that the industry is changing. As a young artist, there are more opportunities available to you now than ever before– but more competition and obstacles as well! Getting time off work and paying for recording can be hard, and sometimes a new idea you have AFTER recording can be your best….. and its another year or more before you can save up to lay down the idea!

Some artists benefit from recording a track at a time and releasing it to their fans (including Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins!). Of course we still love EPs and Albums and think they are essential in an artist’s career, but maybe your fan base are demanding single tracks or you come up with that perfect radio song that just needs to be recorded. If that path sounds like you, Stephen Bartlett Productions has the perfect solution.

If you’re recording one track at a time with us in 2010, we give you the opportunity to save by recording your forth song absolutely free. That’s right, record three tracks with us at different times over the course of the year, and we’ll do the forth at no charge.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
-Free studio time! Your forth track free represents a massive 25% discount on your studio booking. You don’t need to book a full album to work with one of Brisbane’s most respected producers.
-Not only do you save on recording costs, but recording your work spread out over the year gives you the opportunity to develop as a band. It allows you to create and innovate from song to song, giving you a better, fresher product as you release songs into the marketplace. It also gives you a greater chance at standing out from the pack, all the while building a catalogue that can be used for single sales, packaged together as collection or used as the perfect lead-in to an album or EP release.
-No more stress when you write your best song as soon as you finished recording!
-It spreads the cost and time out, making it easier for artists who still work or study, rather than demanding a few weeks straight focused on the recording.
-It also allows you to spend your entire time in the studio focused on the song at hand rather than diverting the energy between songs, ensuring the best outcome and least stress.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?

The Track 4 Free program allows us to work with you over a longer period of time. Your recordings will improve as your act is working longer and we have the opportunity to assist in that growth rather than simply working with you for a few weeks and waving goodbye. Our discount reflects the respect we have for working with quality artists over the long term.

So please feel free to contact us with any questions or to book in with your choice of producers, Stephen Bartlett or Michael Hardgrave.
Bookings- Stephen Green bookings@stephenbartlettproduction.com +61 (0) 412 321 368
www.stephenbartlettproduction.com

- Track 4 Free is only available on single track sessions booked after January 1, 2010
- You must register with SBP that you wish your session to be tallied for Track4Free when you book your session
- Your free track must be booked subject to studio availability
- Your free track session must not be longer than the average time taken on each of your first three track sessions
- Track 4 Free is only available on full priced sessions. Discounted sessions will not count towards your tally of sessions.
- Track 4 Free is only available on sessions produced by Stephen Bartlett or Michael Hardgrave

Peer Group and General Pants to launch ‘Major Label’

Peer Group Media, Australia’s leading brand entertainment agency, today announce their appointment with General Pants Co. The partnership will give birth to Major Label, a pioneering ’singles only’ record label wholly owned by General Pants Co. where the artist maintains ownership of copyright, has full creative control and receives 100% of the royalties through the sales of music through digital retail stores.

The concept behind Major Label is for the 700 strong General Pants Co. staff to act as talent scouts and publicists for the label. The staff will seek out the next hot Australian acts and submit them to the music blog housed on the General Pants Co. website. Jethro Lyons, brand manager, General Pants Co. said: “Major Label is about discovering up and coming hot new Australian acts and throwing them a lifeline.”

Each month three acts will be chosen and their single released through Major Label. The singles will be available for streaming on the General Pants Co. website and available to purchase through selected online retailers.

Adam Zammit, CEO of Peer Group Media said: “Major Label is the first of its kind in Australia and Peer Group Media are delighted to be involved in the creation and delivery of the campaign. Our proven expertise in creating engaging projects within the entertainment industry makes us a perfect fit for this campaign and we are looking forward to delivering really strong results.”

Peer Group Media will be responsible for managing the overall campaign, creative, PR and artist liaison. The initiative launches on 1st March 2010.

Musicadium is proud to be associated with Major Label and Peer Group Media and General Pants in distributing the artists discovered to digital outlets the world over.

Yesterday, Hundreds of Thousands of Australians tuned into Triple J to count down the Hottest 100 tracks of 2009.

news.com.au dissected the countdown and come up with the following interesting facts:

• 50 of the Hottest 100 artists were from indie labels, 44 from major record labels and 6 were unsigned.
• Only 27 of the Hottest 100 songs featured in the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart
• 36 of the songs were from Australian artists, 29 from the UK, 23 from the United States.
• Mumford & Sons Hottest 100 #1 song, Little Lion Man, featured at just #87 on the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart
• Not one of the Top 40 songs on the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart featured on Triple J’s list.
• The first to make the cut was Hilltop Hoods Chase That Feeling, at #3 on the Hottest 100, #42 on the 2009 ARIA Top 100 singles chart
• Florence and the Machine and Muse charted the most number of times in Triple J’s Hottest 100, with 4 each, Temper Trap and Flight of The Conchords notched up 3
• Lisa Mitchell was the first Idol artist to ever feature in the Hottest 100 annual poll, charting at #7 with Coin Laundry

Some fun Musicadium-related Facts about the Hottest 100

• One of the 6 unsigned acts, Musicadium Artist Seth Sentry was one of them!
• 12 of the tracks in the 100 were by Artists who Musicadium has distributed (though not necessarily the tracks featured in the hottest 100) - Lisa Mitchell, The Temper Trap, Seth Sentry, Sarah Blasko, The Hilltop Hoods, Philadelphia Grand Jury, The Middle East and Washington.
• Flying in the face of the Hottest 100 of all Time poll, half of those 12 tracks were by female artists or contained female artists on vocals.
• Seth Sentry was one of a number of artists in the 100 who were Unearthed artists

Musicadium recently caught up with Husky Gawenda, lead singer and guitarist for Melbourne based band Husky. Mixing folk, blues, classical, pop and great melodies, this four-piece band are one to watch. Check them out at www.huskysongs.com.

1. You released your debut album “Quiet Little Rage” in September 2008, what have you been up to since then?

Since the release we’ve been playing in Melbourne and throughout Victoria and up and down the East Coast. I spent a lot of 2009 writing, at home in Melbourne and in various places by the sea, in the country, in the mountains - anywhere I could find to refresh the senses and get the imagination flowing. We have spent the last few months recording our new album, and released the first single, Dark Sea, with some shows up the East Coast towards the end of 2009. We are currently holed up in the studio finishing the record.

2. If you could play with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

It’s a difficult one to answer. I’m bad at making decisions at the best of times. I would probably have to say Leonard Cohen, because he’s been my biggest inspiration. I put him up there with the best song writers and the best poets of all time. Playing a gig with Ludwig Van Beethoven would be pretty interesting though!

3. You and fellow band member Gideon are cousins, what are the positives and negatives of working with a family member?

Well the obvious advantage is that there’s a love and trust between you, that is very hard to find, but so important in making music and working together so closely. We also have a lot in common, which is not necessarily the case with family members but is true in our case. The negatives haven’t really come up so far. So I’m not going to mention them for now and hope that we remain a rare case of perfect harmony!

4. You guys have scored a spot on the Laneway Festival Sideshow, what can audiences expect to see when you take the stage?

Yeah, we’re really looking forward to that one. We’re also doing the Queen Vic Night Market in February - it’s nice to have a couple of out door shows over summer. We work hard to really bring our songs to life on stage. Playing live is the essence of what we do and love. You can expect to see four guys digging deep and playing like there’s no tomorrow.

5. With your album release just around the corner, what can we expect from Husky in 2010?

We’ll finish recording the new album over the next couple of months. We’ll be releasing it mid year. Dark Sea is the first of a couple of singles we’re releasing. Then we’ll be spending a lot of time on the road, playing shows. I think that’s the plan for 2010 - Play lots of music!

Quiet Little Rage and Dark Sea are now available to purchase on . You can also find Husky on Myspace and Facebook.