Music News - First Writer's Bloc In NZ A Success
11 May 2006 - 0 Comments
The first Writer’s Bloc song writing sessions to be held in New Zealand have proved a resounding success. Held in the first week of New Zealand’s music month May by the stunning panorama of Bethells Beach, the sessions saw 22 well known songwriters from Australia and New Zealand converge to do exactly what they do best – write songs.
Over the course of the week, 32 new songs were written and recorded, spanning genres from rock to hip hop. Writers attended the sessions for two to three days across a one week period. Temporary recording studios were set-up in cottages to help facilitate the writing process. A work experience MAINZ student engineered one studio supplied by Protel and Apple and the other was helmed by award winning engineer Luke Tomes.
The sessions were put together by Mushroom Music New Zealand’s Managing Director Jackie Dennis. “We achieved what we set out to do – to inspire our writers and give them the opportunity to create new working relationships and new opportunities.”
Staying a few nights at this west coast location meant creativity flowed; the writers didn’t have to think about everyday concerns. They were turning out more than one song a day which is the minimum hoped for and laptops and microphones were pulled out to catch the spontaneity of the moment when two or more writing duos converged at the end of the day.
Michael Gudinski, head of the Mushroom Group, whole-heartedly believes in the importance of the sessions. “One of the most important things we can do for our songwriters is to give them the opportunity to express themselves creatively. These sessions do just that. They’re brilliant.”
Writer’s sentiments similarly reflect the success of the event:
Whilst Robert Scott [The Bats] commented, ”I would just have to say that weekend is in my mind all the time, the inspiration was flowing you could feel it in the air. I had such a ball. And the contacts I made were cool. I will be using some of the songs I wrote.”
Adalita from Magic Dirt – “I had three fantastic writing days with three great talents: Greg Walker, Ashley Anderson and Robert Scott. I was blown away by how relaxed everyone was and how everyone created such a supportive and nurturing environment for us all to be able to sit down and write a song (sometimes 2, 3 or 4 songs!!!) a day. And I am thrilled to say that Greg, Ashley and Robert and myself, have all exchanged contact details and are continuing our work outside of the Bloc”.
Angie Hart: “I had such a monumental time at the writers bloc. It created a major shift for me, got me out of a rut and moving again. I had no idea how much I needed the experience I received at Bethels.
Paul Barrett: I had such a great time... as a matter of fact I'll be using "Falling Out with You" (which I wrote with Justyn Pilbrow) for my next album. I've also been talking to Luke about his engineering and mixing my album.
The first Mushroom Music Writers Bloc was held in 1994 at Mt Macedon in Victoria, Australia and was also run by Dennis and has been a regular event ever since. With Dennis opening a Mushroom office in Auckland last year, the time was right for New Zealand to host Writers Bloc.
The success of this year’s sessions has helped ensure their continued return for years to come.
Writers who attended in alphabetical order:
Writer’s name - Performing as - Record label - Publisher
- Ashley Anderson - Katalyst - Invada Records - Mushroom Music
- Paul Barrett - Mushroom Music
- Rueben Campbell - RuCL - Invada Records - Mushroom Music
- John Chong Nee - Chong Nee - Handmade Records - Handmade Music
- Annie Crummer - Warner Music - Mushroom Music
- Jamey Ferguson - Katchafire - Mai Music - Mai Music – admin Mushroom
- Flowz - Mushroom Music
- Renee Geyer - Mushroom Music
- Merenia Gillies - Casa Del Discos - ABC Music - admin Mushroom
- Anthony Gold - Mushroom Music
- Nathan Haines - Warner Music - Mushroom Music
- Angie Hart-Holidays on Ice and ex-Frente Inertia - Mushroom Music
- Andy Kelly - Andy Clockwise - Fly Music - ABC Music - admin Mushroom
- Chris Knox - Rhythm Method - Mushroom Music
- Justyn Pilbrow - Elemeno P - Universal - Mushroom Music
- James Reid - The Feelers - Warner Music - Mushroom Music
- Boh Runga - Stellar* - EPIC - Chrysalis USA - admin Mushroom
- Robert Scott - The Bats - Reverberation - Mushroom Music
- Adalita Srsen - Magic Dirt - Warner Music - Mushroom Music
- Bill Urale - King Kapisi - Warner Music - Mushroom Music
- Tama Waipara - Obliqsound (NY)
- Greg Walker - Machine Translation - Spunk - Mushroom Music
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