I knew that my songs were not right. I knew that “stuff” was missing. Hooks mainly. My melodies didn’t repeat, they didn’t lift or fall in the chorus and there was not much in the way of tension and release.
I worked really hard to “get it” and it did start to fall into place. After a few months I had another batch of new and improved tunes. The next questions in my mind was where to record them. After the last batch of tunes turned out so dated I did not want to use the same arranger and musos again.
Unfortunately this was before the days of sequencing technology so my arrangement ideas had to stay on the back burner for now.
Then two things happened at the same time to bring it all together. Firstly I found management. Two lawyers with connections in the music industry and a guy in Sydney who had his own recording studio and he could play all the instruments for the tunes as well. This was starting to feel very positive.
The lawyers were going to bankroll the demo. YIPPEE!! So I was off to Sydney to put down my new pop tunes. I can still remember sitting in a cheap Chinese restaurant, a few doors up from the guys studio, having a bite to eat before putting down final vocals. Psyching myself up for a good performance.
It went pretty well and while it wasn’t release quality, it was pretty good.
There was only one tiny issue however. I got back to Melbourne only to find my managers knew nothing about the recording, let alone paying for it.
OOPPPS!!
In the end we split the difference and went our ways without malice. I was still pretty young, maybe 20 years old and feeling like a bunny in the headlights.
