Everyone’s Doing It Friday, May 23 2008

The Surry Hills Festival on the 12th April drew a crowd of 90, 000 in Prince Alfred Park, proving the DJ-ing scene is more prominent and accessible than ever in Australian culture.

“Everyone’s got the equipment now… When we first started out it cost for a basic DJ set, over $10, 000. That’s like saving up for a car. So the fact that they can pick up a set now for under $1,000, and with music being so accessible via downloading it illegally to muck around at home, there’s nothing stopping them” says Anothony Sanisslippo, a 22 year old local DJ/MC from Miranda.

But despite this new accessibility, Sanisslippo doesn’t see very many females making their way into the DJ scene in nightclubs in the Sutherland Shire (like Fusions, Carmens and Hunters) or in the city (Dragonfly, Tank and Phoenix).

“They’re very good DJ’S, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not taken seriously unless they’re producing or performing, like the lead singer from Sneaky Sound System, not actually DJ-ing.”

The DJ industry also appears to be looking at problems from the point of view that clubs are ripping the artists off in a lot of instances.

“It’s a very hard industry to play in, cause you can’t guarantee that your going to get paid. We usually just ask for it up front now… because the bar manager has to worry about the whole club, hasn’t got the time to think about it”  

Whilst there are problems such as these, more and more youth are getting into expressing themselves through DJ-ing. Recently in April the World Music Conference, or Miami Winter Music Conference 2008, was held for DJ’s all over the world. It saw some of the most professional DJ’s in the industry, names such as Axwell and Deep Dish stand out, converse about issues such as these. Anthony Sanisslippo also attended this conference.

 

 

 

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Station Street Sessions: Youth Music in Engadine Monday, May 19 2008

The Station Street Sessions at Eddy’s in Engadine drew in a small crowd of committed followers to its relaxed hall last Friday the 16^th of May.

The sessions are a music event held each month in Station Street, Engadine. They give youth an opportunity to perform their music in a safe environment, being a youth venue free from alcohol and open to hearing new performers.  

Last Friday saw the likes of Relapse Cure, Keiran Delahub, Claudia, and Kim Morindeeney perform. Although there was only a small crowd, it was a relaxed environment with a range of artists performing from 7.30 pm onwards.

Eddy’s is a non profit youth centre, funded entirely through government grants. This means the total earned from the cover charge is split between the artists at the end of the night.

“The last session wasn’t so good for money. The artists usually make $100 each, but last week they only got about $25, just because it was a small crowd” says Luke Caruana, an events organiser/sub-contractor for Eddy’s.   

With most of the advertising for the Station Street Sessions through word-of-mouth, a MySpace page which is currently being set up says Caruana, will add awareness to the possibilities for youth to perform.

“I don’t think there’s enough performance opportunities, especially for youth. When I started out I played at Northies, which wasn’t that good. But I’m trying to develop a vibe in Engadine District Youth Centre. Which is just a youth centre, but where people can go, they’re safe to play, there’s not going to be any pub people stirring them up and getting boozey, no one trying to make money off them. They just go there to play and get an even cut from the door, everyone gets the same no matter you are… It hasn’t got an awesome vibe yet, but it’s developing. And it’s something that’s not getting done in the shire, except for the Brass Monkey. But that’s a licensed venue” says Caruana.

 

The next Session will be held on the 27^th of June 2008

 

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Musicians of the Future Monday, May 19 2008

A survey of Sutherland Shire schools reveals that not many students are studying music as a subject in school, perhaps because it scales so low.

 

The ’Bored of Studies’ Scaling system places music at 22.4 in their most recent evaluation of scaling. To give you an idea of what this figure looks like in comparison to the scaling of other subjects, the highest scaling subject is 45.9 (Latvian Continuers). Most languages, sciences, mathematic and English subjects fall into this 30-45 scaling region.

 

This scaling system undoubtedly has some effect on the choices that students make when considering taking Music as a subject.

 

“Yeah, for sure I considered it. I know music doesn’t scale very well, like most of the arts subjects like Textiles and Design, Drama, Art, even Food Tech. But they’re the subjects I’m good at, and they’re the ones I love. In the end I guess music is my passion and hopefully doing well in it will pull my marks up. Hopefully” says Kristen Patchet, a year 12 music student at De La Salle College Cronulla.

 

The Music 1 course aims to give students grounding in performance, with 50% of the exam based on performance, as well as a brush over the areas of viva voce, composition and aural skills.

 

“We have a fair few students in our class for a music class I think, even though it’s still pretty small. Last year the class was made up of about 10 guys who just went crazy making so much noise on the drums and guitars and there were only about two girls, but yeah this year it’s pretty much the same. Actually a few more girls, mainly singers” says Nikki Prince, a year 12 music student at De La Salle College Cronulla.

 

 

 

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Kicking Back with ‘Carra’ Monday, May 12 2008

  

With his third album GAIA set to launch this Saturday, Luke Caruana, the 23 year old artist from Sutherland, is surprisingly relaxed. His bluesy, roots style music reflects the down-to-earth character who feels most comfortable when he has a guitar in his hands, and his feet kicked up on the deck.

 

As an artist Luke Caruana prefers to go by the name Carra, because “no one can pronounce ‘Cah-roo-wah-nah’ and Carra means ‘friend’ in Irish. In Arabic it means ‘camel piss’… (Laughs) Nah I dunno’ if it does”. 

 

After finishing school Carra went on to do a plumbing apprenticeship “but I felt like I’d sold myself to the devil” he says. “So I began playing Open Mic, quit my job – I didn’t have a job for 3 months! And no one had faith in me except myself, I knew I’d get out of where I was and do what I’m doing now. I just didn’t think it would come together so well and so fast”.

 

As a songwriter Carra has an extremely intuitive writing process “it just comes together… sometimes I write the lyrics first, sometimes the music…. There’s no formula”. When I asked him what inspires him to write, he spoke about a dream he’d had recently “I guess a lot of it comes from buried emotions that I don’t really accept”.    

 

Carra’s music has been described as blues and rock. I asked him how he would describe his style – “I honestly don’t know, one day I’ll wake up and go ‘oh I’m a blues and roots artist, the next I’ll be reggae, then alternative rock”.

 

His style is also influenced by world music. In 2006 Carra returned to his roots in Malta where he worked on the end of his second album, Be Yourself. The first song on the album, fittingly titled ‘Be Yourself’, was written as he was flying over to Malta.

 

“I was on the plane and it just started coming in my head like, ‘Doo do deh-ne’. Then I got there, dead set – pulled out my guitar, I was jet lagged, and just started playing it! I woke up the next day and had the song down”.

 

Upon his return from Malta, Carra went to work recording his album in Heartbeat Studios (Peakhurst Heights). “I went through a lot of quality control, as I like to call it… you might write five songs that all sound the same, but you pick one and go – that’s the one that represents what I’m trying to do”.

 

Carra’s love of music was best conveyed when he explained the exhilaration of playing live “you feel the energy in the room. Sometimes there can be a hundred people and you feel really alone if no one’s connecting with your music. But if people connect, it just takes it to a higher level and it’s addictive”. On top of his work as an artist, Carra makes his presence felt in the Shire through his work co-ordinating music events at Engadine Youth Centre.

 

 

    

 

 

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