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lead vocalist, horn player, song writer

i was born in great yarmouth england, and came out to australia with my family.
my mother was born in australia and wanted to bring her family home.

i must have been about 7 or 8 when i thought i was able to write songs. i remember bringing in a song to show my mother, and asking her what she thought, and wondering why she wasn't completely overjoyed at my creative brilliance. i thought it was really clever joining an elvis song and an abba song together and calling it my own. i remember that feeling of music just filling a space within me, i felt connected with music like it was a friend.

INSPIRATION
my father was a massive influence on the way i see the world and
when i finally made it to high school i met the most amazing teacher that absolutely changed my life. her name is heather mcdonald and with her support and guidance she made me realise that i could be a musician. she was so important to me at that time because she made me feel like i had something that was good and she was very real and honest and those quality's just made me want to do my best for her.

and also another teacher came along his name was david jacquier and between them both i really had no choice. these two made me feel like it was my destiny to do this.

WHY HORNS
well my first instrument was cello and i started playing it in grade four but my tutor wanted me to join a string ensemble and i was to shy to play it in-front of people, so i stopped and later picked up the trumpet, it felt good to play something that could be really loud and i remember every ones faces lighting up when i blew it for the first time at school.......and i think by then i really craved some attention,

TOURING
my reality about touring is a lot more dynamic than anything i ever dreamt. it is more amazing and so much harder than i could have ever dreamt. to be a touring musician i think that it's probably about 5 % playing and 95 % other stuff in preparation to play but it is the most amazing way to experience the world and i love it with every fibre of my being.

HIGHLIGHTS SO FAR
looking across the front at sam and susie while singing and knowing what it has taken to get here and thinking that i wouldn't wanna be anywhere else.

going back stage after supporting renee geyer and her telling me that she thought i was really good. those words coming from her is huge in my books.

doing a live broadcast to the bbc in the uk in august 1998 after my dad passing away in april of that year and feeling how proud he would have been.

finding fresh food on the long highways throughout america......i never sound more girly than when i see a fresh food outlet....''oooooooh loook guys there's a fruit and veg stall, pleeeese can we stop....please, please please........." or "oh my...........sushi.........i juyast diyad and weyant to heyavan"
my attempt at doing a southern accent.......................
my first gig outside of school stuff was at the seacliff hotel with my first band. i was sixteen, and we made $26.60 each

i felt nervous and excited and remember this woman coming up to me and saying that she thought i had something special, i must admit i did have a very fine jacket on that night............

SCARY GIG
I’ve had a couple of scary gigs in my time but nothing that I wasn't able to overcome.
I think it was Miles Davis that said this quote and I try to keep it in mind when I’m in the middle of a brand new musical experience that has my heart racing
and my blood heating up:

"It’s not about the mistake you make, it is how you get out of it that
matters"

That's helped me through a lot of scary moments.
I’ll always try and land like a cat, feet to the ground with a milky
grin.

if i wasn't a musician i would maybe study religion, or science, be a philosopher and a mum.

i suppose i can do all of those things and be a musician. cool!!

when i'm 70 i hope i still want to live each day well, and i hope i can still eat apples, and i hope i still want to try new things, and i hope that i have no regrets about my life and that i still have all of my own teeth, and that i'm not sick of taking showers or baths by then..........think about it 70 times by 365 is 25550 now that's a lot of bathing.

my dad used to say if you can leave the world in better shape than what it was when you came your doing ok.