Parts 6 to 10

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 6

People were mulling around the grassy upper slopes of the natural amphitheatre. Directly in front of the stage, about 200 people sat picnic style on blankets. Up on stage, Sax man was in full flight. Ba Da dada Daaaa da da da “Tequila!” we all shouted as the song ended.

The Maldon Folk Festival was the site of our first and last gig. We had been together for about 2 years and this was the culmination of all those nights jammin’ around the open fire.

As I came off stage, a young woman came rushing up to me and half shouted. “I’m sitting with some guys and they just wanted to say they’ve never seen a girl play bass, let alone like your playing it.” She said the guys were too embarrassed to come to me directly (me being a girl and all). She was very enthusiastic and it was my first encounter with that sort of feed back and it acted like a drug rush.

I had been receiving compliments from the guys in the band, who were very supportive of my playing, but I thought they were just being, well, supportive. The truth of the matter was that I was working my way all about the fretboard but I had developed my own little system and I didn’t actually know what I was doing.

I don’t know why that was our last (and only) gig. I think it was because after this, my brother went off to uni which was miles away and therefore I was without wheels and left to complete high school in the musical wilderness.

Anyway, this had been my first official band with a beginning, a middle, one gig and an end! I could now talk about the old times.

It’s all rock & roll to me - Part 7

There’s nothing like owning your first car. Living in central Victoria meant open roads and speed limits of up to 100kmph. Accelerator goes full on, accelerator goes full off, accelerator goes full on, accelerator goes full off.

I had taken to improving my stature around school by driving myself in.

I remember the morning of my last exam for HSC (pre VCE). In those days your academic future rested 100% on the end of year exams and some young minds literally blew circuits because of it. In fact two of my friends had nervous breakdowns in that year.

So I’m speeding along the Calder Hwy on the way to my last exam (maths). I was literally wired on adrenaline. I swerved out to overtake a semi-trailer on the double lane when there was a huge bang.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

I pulled over. Accelerator says no. Bugger.

I didn’t know it at the time but I had blown a piston. Boy, THAT was loud. I can’t remember how I got to the next town but I have a vivid memory of running through the streets to the exam. Fade to black.

The next memory is vividly etched in my mind. I’m standing on the corner of the main street, waiting for my ride, out front of the Safeway supermarket. The Highway swings around 90 degrees right in front of here, so that I am looking right down the barrel of a never ending road.

I was so pumped with excitement. My life was finally starting and the road was ahead of me – literally. I had endured school for 12 long boring years. I had secretly made a decision at the age of 14, to have a life in music and now I was finally free to start. The moment was so full of meaning. I was having my own little inner ritual right here on the pavement. The past was over, turn the page…

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 8

I had just moved from central Victoria to Melbourne and I had no idea where to start. You might as well have put me in a barrel and thrown me over Niagara falls. So I began auditioning for cover bands and I had also landed my first day job. A clerk at an electronics company. As if that was not enough, I had just finished a summer romance which had left me a little dazed and confused.

Hi, my name is Nightingale.” She said with a big smile full of even white teeth. Her name was not Nightingale but she had this bent of giving everyone, including herself, animal names. She would get to know you for a while and then you would be christened with your new name. I was to become the Chameleon. A big frill necked lizard with iridescent colors that changed and flowed…whatever.

The year was 1981 and we met at the ‘Academy of Entertainers’. A dubious institution which was really just a front for a bunch of second rate music teachers. Nightingale and I had rocked up for a course in sight singing. It soon became clear that we weren’t going to learn much, as by the third lesson, we were still on ‘what is the major scale’ and so we nicked off. But a seminal friendship in my life was born.

So Nightingale was my first anchor. She lived in a funky part of the inner city called Windsor. This was an interesting place for a country girl to visit. It was a hangout ‘hood for wannabe actors, lost souls and screaming queens. With my typical easy going attitude I took it all in stride. So began my life long love of larger than life characters.

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 9

Nightingale had moved from Adelaide to Melbourne not long before I had arrived in town. She had a difficult upbringing, with a wicked witch alcoholic step mother and a father who had all but abandoned her to the world. She was a couple of years older than me and she was a good singer. She had done a bit of acting work and seemed very worldly to me. She knew all these session singers, who did all the ad work on telly and I was very impressed.

Nightingale was a survivor. She was doing the night shift at the local 7/11, as well as the odd gig and hawking around town for acting work. I was so lucky in comparison. I had family support, a job and I was resourceful.

My first gig came about as a result of the Entertainment section at the back of ‘The Age’ newspaper. This 20cm column was the repository of hopes and dreams for musicians all over Melbourne. Every Saturday cover bands and original bands seeking singers, drummers, bass players etc.. would post an ad. The ones to look out for had ‘work waiting’.

The music scene was healthy, with gigs for up to three or four nights a week not uncommon, six or seven nights a week if you were really in demand. There were about 40 singers turning up for lead vocalist auditions for cover bands, usually in someones garage or in a grungy rehearsal shed where you’d inevitably end up playing next to some heavy metal wannabes in the next tiny cubical. The PAs were small and crappy, the Marshall stacks were huge and the drummers only played at 11. It was a nightmare for a singer. In these early days I often got the gig. I didn’t think twice about it. For me, being in a cover band was just experience, it was never the end goal.

So soon after moving to the big smoke, I got my first official gig in a cover band. Woo Hoo! I remember rehearsing with them for a couple of months and then it all fell apart. I can’t remember why. It gave me valuable experience with a full professional band. Learn your songs, turn up for rehearsals, negotiate relationships – all good.

The day that first professional band fell apart, I remember receiving a letter from my summer romance saying that he had moved to the USA and was getting married. So this is life huh?

It’s all rock and roll to me – Part 10

My first ‘Everest’ was to learn to write good songs. I had started writing songs at age 13 but they were the typical floaty folk songs that showed promise but were not going to cut it in the grown up world.

By this time I had quit my full time job in favor of part time so I could have time to write, learn about singing and learn about the industry. There was so much I wanted to learn.

I wrestled with songwriting structure, pulling apart pop songs like a child with an old watch. I would look at how all the parts work and then try to put in all back together again.

At the same time I found my first singing teacher. She was the local teacher to the stars and I had six lessons with her. She said that there wasn’t much more she could teach me. I had been singing for about 5 years at this point and I was starting to get pretty good but I knew there were holes in my technique. I was a bit of a belter (still am) and I really don’t think she knew what to do with me.

I then found a classical teacher. This was a bit of a mistake but in hind site but there was no other option. We have great modern singing techniques now but they just didn’t exist back then. God I made some awful sounds with her. One day, she stopped me in mid squawk and said. “Look I don’t know what you’re trying to do. Can you just sing?” So I did and it was good. I had some weird idea of what she wanted and it was just over the top.

I was 18 months with this teacher and she straightened me out a bit. But the times were a changing. There were these new fangled drum machines and guitars were on the outer and keyboards were King. The 1980′s were starting to kick.

Tweet This Post

Riley Jordan Song Girl