Hey there lovely Internet friends on the other end of the computer. I have been pondering as I'm currently on the other side of the world playing my own album shows, that Sydney has taken a lot of punches and in reaction been under much scrutiny from public and performers alike about the live scene, how hard it all is etc etc. SO she feels a bit bruised, and in need of a good cuddle, and a good looking after. And in going through a lot of these thoughts myself I think the solution is of course to get out and get excited about all the amazing S***T thats going on. Complaining will do nothing! Because to be frank, as we all should realise by now, Sydney, Australia and NZ host some of the most incredible musicians in the world and we have our own great scenes to nourish and champion. That's how it's done. It's exciting. We have a community full of bad asses. I am so lucky to call some of these amazing performers my friends. SO long rant short(ish), here's some current and up coming tours that will be INCREDIBLE and I will be there where I can and thought some of you might like to too.... And I'm sure there's stacks of other great things on too, I'll be keeping my eyes out when I'm back. Or post in the comments if there's something not to be missed??? Lots of love, SB xx ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS - When We Fall Tour AOELIT are incredible live, this is their album tour and not to be missed, it will be hilarious and heart breaking and if you haven't seen them live yet you will wonder why you hadn't. CLICK HERE FOR DATES AND TICKETS SARAH BLASKO - The Soloist Tour Ummm, so Blasko is out all soloing it up all over the country with her prophet, mellotron, guitar and a grand piano! This is seriously not to be missed. You get so close to an artist and their world when it is just them and simple instrumentation. It's a side I've been really lucky to see in her formation of of new songs and here's a chance for the public to see that side a bit too. Sydney City Recital Hall is a magical venue and is tonight JUNE 7 and I'm gutted to not be there, if you can, Goooooooooooooooo! CLICK HERE FOR DATES AND TICKETS MILES THOMAS - Tuesday June Residency At The Dock, Redfern with OLLIE THORPE FREEE! Miles Thomas is a brilliant drummer turned guitarist now singer too! Triple threat. He's just released his first single of his own songs as has Ollie Thorpe who is a brilliant singer and guitarist. The Dock is a great little bar in Redfern and it's free entry so there's not much excuse here. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS MERPIRE - Holding Breathe Single Launches New music alert...She has such a killer voice and beautiful style and her single 'Holding Breathe' (check it out!) was produced with the excellent Mr. Andy Bull. I'll be happily partaking in these shows from inside the band ha ha. Alongside my dear friend Neal Sutherland on bass (and everything) and amazing Luke from The Preatures playing drums, Melbourne and Sydney in July, come hang! CLICK HERE FOR DATES AND TICKETS SIMA - Winter Jazz Programme Sydney (and Australia) has some of the most epic forces to be reckoned with in Jazz and improvisational musicians and SIMA is a great organisation that puts together excellent programmes. My dear friend Zoe Hauptmann has curated this great collection of Winter shows, check it ouuuuutt.... CLICK HERE FOR PROGRAMME, DATES & TICKETS GEORGIA FIELDS & PHIA - Sea And Sky Tour
- SB supporting Sydney & Melbourne And lastly, I'm super excited to be main support for 2 of these shows, Sydney at OAF Gallery July 27 and Melbourne at The Toff Aug 3rd. Love it when artists team up for a good tour, and these two Melbourne lovelies are playing each others songs and bringing other acts on board to support. Will be really beautiful and I know I can't wait to come home and play in Australia. CLICK HERE FOR FULL TOUR TICKETS AND DATES I found my mind in the eye of a moan Floundering fish scales tipped heavy load No way to lighten except to unpack Each item a tiny universe to unwrap Each one I opened the chain lifted up an inch with each sip of scalding tea from the cup I learnt how it tasted, each mood and each lie Each dance in the sand and each camel tear cry Then melting wax wisdon dripped down arid land Into the deep cracking of effort strained hands I wiped it all off in a heart shaped towel And carried it lovingly into the next round Sarah Belkner Dec 2016 I always find the evolution of songs and ideas really fascinating. That what we hear as the ‘final’ result presented to us is often not entirely representative of the kernel where the creator started. It can often be the result of many sessions or brain time to get there. Even short turn over work has some evolution. And I always wonder what the nugget idea sounded or looked like? Sometimes even figuring out the process you need to use to keep uncovering the idea can take a bit. It is always really interesting to see where people end up and what got changed along the way and what was the same right from the start. I’m fascinated by that knowing feeling or decision that’s made when something is ‘done’. It’s literally sometimes like the toaster popping ‘I’m ready!’ or it can be a quite grey feeling that there’s nothing left that really bugs you about it so it must be done. On the flipside it’s also fascinating that subtle uncomfortable feeling when something's not quite right, or the very loud screaming ha ha! The idea can then take all sorts of twists and turns and processing to figure it out. But you know that it’s worth persevering somehow as there is a weird fondness for it still. And that generally is what led you to give it that attention in the first place and push it up the rank over other ideas. There’s a great story about a guard finding a caped man who had broken into the Louvre in Paris in the middle of the night. He was caught standing by a painting, ‘Hey!’ shouted the guard and approached him. The caped man was startled and turned around suddenly. The guard could see he was holding a wet dripping paint brush and was painting on the painting. He then realised it was Picasso himself, touching up his ‘finished’ work hanging on the public gallery wall. Now I don’t know if this is entirely true, but I can’t bring myself to google it as it’s such a great story. So don’t tell me if you do and it’s not! I guess you just know when you are finished or sometimes you have to decide. And sometimes you have to break into the art gallery in the middle of the night and fix the bloody thing because you can’t sleep until you do. I guess all in all this is what we refer to as instinct. ‘Cellophane’ my new single which is the second track to come from my album out in Feb was interesting for this. There were many versions and it was only the last one that felt right to me and now I don’t even think about it. I know it's finished because it just plays like it always existed fully formed with everything you hear in the final version. But it certainly didn't start that way. In my last mail out I said I’d dig out a demo so here it is.. THE EVOLUTION OF ‘CELLOPHANE’ Here’s a quick home zoom recorder demo (lyrics just appearing at this stage)... An initial studio demo with my band... And then the finished version here....
Love to know your thoughts? Some of you might even prefer the demo feel.
Anyway, whatever you are doing I hope you can find a little fascination in the flipping of the confusion and clarity coin that comes along with most things in life. Sarah Xx |
HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE,Welcome to a new place for us away from facebook and instagram. In the lead up to my album coming out (Feb 3rd) I thought I might start a space where I can share a few behind the scenes things, ideas, other work I love and stuff my friends and inspirers are making. ArchivesCategories |