Tag Archive: musician

Dawn Barrington > musician

2022 Where did you go?

October 29, 2022 0 Comments

Recent Shenanigans in Melbourne

It’s coming up to that time of year again when we all start to get into a mad panic about the holiday season and the pending New Year and I haven’t event updated my blog on my month in Melbourne. Not through lack of trying though, I have just been busy as usual and feeling like I am not really getting much done. I had the best time in Melbourne back in August which started with a house concert at my very good friends home in Parkville. Cate Taylor joined me and we played solo sets to an incredibly appreciative audience. My friends Jo and Dave lavished us with the most delicious food and drinks too which was so generous. Just about one hour before the house concert Jon Von Goes from 3RRR fm Melbourne called me to talk about my Melbourne gigs and my latest release “Pledge my Soul” and he also wanted to know more about my involvement with the refugees that were sent to Manus and Nauru in 2013. We had a great chat and he also asked me about my amazing mentor Angie Hart. 

Me and Angie at Open Studio

A couple of days later I played at Open Studio in Northcote, it’s a beautiful intimate venue and some people who heard me on the radio came which was amazing. I played a solo gig for two full sets which was actually quite confronting, it’s been a while since I played for that long to an attentive audience. But I had the most beautiful surprise when Angie Hart and her sister Rebecca Hart showed up to watch me play. I actually even felt a bit nervous and found myself working hard to maintain my cool…..oh the life of overthinking and worrying about what others may think. I knew all along that Angie would never in anyway judge and would be sending nothing but good vibes my way. It was an amazing night and so nice to catch up with friends who came too. 

A few days later I went onto 3CR Community Radio to talk to Aine McAllister about about a few things music and issues that inspire my songwriting like, Ned Kelly who is an Iranian refugee still locked up in Perth Immigration Detention Centre and about other refugees still waiting for a permanent pathway. I also played a song live in the studio.

My last gig was at The Lomond Hotel where I played as part of the Writers Block evening. Three artists get up on stage and play a song each and so we go round again three times. It’s a very special evening organised by Barb Waters. Barb mentioned that there would be a Viola player there and that I should ask him to play with me. So I asked him if he was interested and he was. It was quite scary though because I had never met him before and I was playing original songs that he had never heard before. It takes an  extremely skilled musician to be able to accompany someone that they have never heard before. Anyway I took the plunge and wow he was amazing, he played beautifully and came in on each song and just played perfectly with me. I found out after that he was Jason Bunn who is an amazing viola player that plays for Orchestra Victoria which was a total OMG moment!!! On my arrival back from Melbourne the months of Sept and Oct have been quiet but a few weeks ago I was invited to play at the Garden Party for St Paul’s Beaconsfield which was a lovely last gig in WA for a while.

What’s Next?

I am at a turning point and since covid started I haven’t not gone back to my usual format of the previous 8 yrs. I  had quite a system going where I would write songs, record and release them and then tour those songs. It has been so much more difficult to plan in the past few years and much of the music industry has taken a hit for the worst. But there are signs of life again and I am seeking out new options. So I am going to Melbourne for an extended period, I am not sure for how long yet. I want to play music and I am hoping to make some music connections and maybe be inspired to write some new material, but who knows what is going to happen. I have not made any plans except that my flight is tomorrow and my car is already on a truck going across the Nullabor. So watch this space folks. I am going to leave you with a pic of me and my son that I took yesterday when I left.

 

Activism, Airplay, Gigs, House Concderts, Melbourne, Photos, Refugees, Touring

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Melbourne Awaits!

July 18, 2022 0 Comments

I hope you are all well and thriving or at the very least surviving the current ever changing times that we are in. Yeah I know it really is challenging but I guess we have to find ways to see what we DO have. For example I have a roof over my head, running clean water, power, food and am safe and I can still afford wine and chocolate on a Friday night which puts me in the top 5% on the planet, so in that context I am thriving :O).  However, if I jump into the context of not being able to travel as easily and the difficulty booking gigs, the decimation of the live music industry, well that’s a whole different story…..it’s not quite the end of the world but it’s getting close 😁. Yeah ok that was a bit dramatic but some days it feels like that so that is when I have to go back to my lucky to be in the top 5% posi. 

Me getting the admin done

After a 6 mths break from doing gigs I have now started booking again. I am keen to get out there playing again, although I say this as the latest reports are showing surges in COVID cases across the country.  Gigs don’t just pop up out of the blue, there is a lot of work to do behind the scenes, unless you are well known of course. For the sea of singer songwriters out there such as myself, there is a lot of chasing up to do and more…… It’s a very competitive area to work and even more so if you are female but I am not going to go there today, because if I use that as my excuse I will never get things happening. I won’t deny that being a woman in this industry has it set backs but I am changing tact today. I am going to look for the benefits and forge my way forwards. It’s important because there aren’t many of us and I have an opportunity to offer something to the up and coming young female musicians. They CAN NOT BE what they CAN NOT SEE.❤️

There is a huge amount that goes on behind the scenes for musicians and artists and the picture above is to show you that I do spend a lot of time on my laptop. Yeah OK it’s not that bad but I was short of photos for this blog post so I felt an up and close of me doing the not so glamorous work would fit the bill 😁.  It’s Monday lunchtime and I am still in my PJs getting all those emails and promo’s done.😁

So what is it that we have to do?

Phone venues to ask for gigs (it’s so hard!), then write emails with our bio, attach links to our work. You have to have examples of live performance to share and your social media pages. We have to keep our social media pages active and updated all the time. I have recently been calling venues in Melbourne to play a few gigs there so I need to make sure that they can see that I do have “something to offer”. It’s not easy to promote yourself and your creative work, most artists are not comfortable with this aspect of life as a creative but we have to do it. I then make contact with radio shows that play my genre of music and send them my latest releases and sometimes I get an interview or get asked to go into the studio to play a few tunes.

I have a long bio and a short bio that I send depending on what’s needed. Just one bio isn’t enough though because there are always variations depending on the venue. Recently I have been applying for Festivals which need to be done at least 6 to 10 months in advance. You have to put your expected fees which could be the make or break of getting the gig. Many musicians who really want to play may undercut themselves which undervalues the work of all musicians. However, I am not going to be too critical of this because I really don’t know what the answer is. Many people will say we love what we do and don’t mind playing for free which is not true of course, yes we love what we do but it doesn’t mean we can afford to not get paid or to be grossly underpaid. The arts is undervalued across the board and the whole culture of this country and of how important art is viewed and received needs to to change.

Anyway how did I get here?

I am supposed to be telling you about my upcoming gigs in Melbourne but first I want to thank Michael Crichton from 94.1 fm 3WBC radio Melbourne for playing my recent releases “Pledge my Soul” and “He’s My Brother” on two of his shows this week. I say recent releases because in these COVID times it has been much more difficult to release tracks due to the lack of opportunities to perform so I am going keep these as “recent” to make up for the lost time. 😁

Upcoming gigs

As stated in the heading of this post I am heading to Melbourne again, just for a couple of weeks but I do have some gigs booked in. The first one is a House Concert on Sunday August 7th. I will be sharing the evening with the lovely Cate Taylor who is an Indi folk singer songwriter, we are going to be doing an intimate concert at a friends house,  Jo & Dave’s, who are wonderful hosts living in Parkville. There are very limited seats s if you would like to join us please email me dawnbarringtonmusic@gmail.com. The tickets are $20 (supper and drinks are provided).

Tuesday 9th I will be playing at Open Studio for a dinner and music evening from 6.30pm – 8.30pm. It is going to be a bonus Tuesday free event, get your tickets from Eventbright to book a spot at this dedicated music venue in Northcote. Here is the facebook event.

Then on Thursday 18th August I will be playing for the Writers Block at the The Lomond Hotel which I am also really looking forward too.

If you would like to purchase any of my tracks please download them from Bandcamp and please also subscribe to my Youtube page where you can be updated on any new videos or play the ones already uploaded. Last but not least you can also follow my music page on Facebook where I will always keep you updated where I am playing or you can go to “Upcoming gigs” on this site.❤️

Airplay, Gigs, House Concderts, Melbourne, Photos, Song writing, Touring

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Tour done and dusted (checkout videos below folks)

April 22, 2017 0 Comments

I’m home and dry now but it wasn’t that way on the East Coast a few weeks ago.  I arrived in Sydney on the receiving end of cyclone Debbie that hit the northern NSW coast and there was plenty of rain to make Newcastle, Sydney and beyond very wet and a bit on the chilly side at times.   Weather aside it didn’t dampen my spirits and once I arrived at the airport and picked up the hire car I was on my way.  I headed straight over to Drummoyne where I stayed with some very good friends for a couple of nights before I headed up to Newcastle with the help of the very lovely lady behind the voice of google maps.  We became good friends and she took me everywhere I needed to go as well as a few places that I didn’t need to go too.  I started my tour at the Sunset Studio where Gleny Rae was there to greet me for my performance.  I had trouble finding the venue because my friend at google maps didn’t know where it was and I guess I could understand her making that mistake when I eventually got there with only 1 hour to spare.  The studio was behind a little coffee shop and one person pizza bar in the most unassuming of places, however, it was a lovely room with beautiful wooden floorboards and a grand piano and curtains all round.  Gleny is one of the movers and shakers of all things musical in Newcastle and she teaches piano at the studio and holds intimate concerts.  A bunch of lovely people showed up and I had a great first gig and I even had a local guitarist come and join me on a song and everyone had a bit of fun singing along too. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get any photos and the very next morning after leaving my air BnB I headed off down the coast to Shell Harbour where I had organised to stay with Mairi Peterson again for my Illawarra Folk Club gig. Mairi is the wonderful lady that I talked about last time and she’s a delight to stay with and very interesting to chat to so it was really good to catch up with her again and talk about all things political and not so political. I got caught up in a huge rain storm on my way to Shell Harbour and I had to pull over for some time to let it pass with a lot of other cars, it was quite dangerous and I didn’t want to take the risk.  Once I got close the Wollongong the sun was shining and I could see the countryside again and I was familiar with the territory.

I had a fantastic night at the Illawarra Folk Club and I got to catch up with some folks that were there last September and a lot of new folks too.  I was the support act for a fantastic Canadian folk band called Les Poules a Colin.  I actually managed to get a photo just to prove that I was there and once again the audience were awesome!  It was lovely to see Russell Hannah again and catch a bit of his wit on stage. The next morning Mairi and I went for coffee in Shell Harbour and Russell and his wife were there with a couple of friends too so we had a chinwag about all of our favourite things political and musical and the like.

Then I headed up the Thirroul to Kathryn White’s home where she very kindly allowed me to stay in her lovely Self Contained cabin in their garden and the next day I got myself organised for a house concert in the main room of the cottage which was lovely.  Once again it was a very intimate all acoustic concert with family and a few friends of Kathryn and Andrew. Thirroul is a lovely spot and I would definitely recommend a drive along that coastline there’s so many lovely spots to check out.  But I had no time for that because I had to get back to Sydney to get myself organised for the next gig which wasn’t until Wednesday but I just wanted to get back to my friends so that I could have a few days rest. It was lovely to see Scott and Nicole again and have a few laughs and tell them about my travels and about the funny and not so funny things that happened especially when the google lady took me to a steel recycling centre in the middle of an industrial estate 1 hour before my gig.  There was another surprise when I got to Sydney and that was that I got to meet my 2nd cousin for the first time since we were kids and I had no idea he had been living in Australia for the past 17 years.  So it was lovely to catch up with him and his partner Anne and they both came to my gig at Sappho Books, Cafe & Bar.  That was a really lovely spot to play, it’s a beautiful bookshop/bar in Glebe and I had very appreciative audience. Paul is a great photographer and he also has a really good camera that could do video’s so he took some videos of me playing which you can see on his youtube page.

Humph Hall was one of the highlights of the tour.  The venue is owned by Wayne and Gial Richmond and it’s an old church that they bought to create a music venue.  Wayne had a dream to do it many years before and when the place became available he went ahead and it is now a music venue and their home.  The church hall is where the music happens and it’s a fully professional set up where Wayne has stage lights, condenser mics (to record the performance) and video cameras set up throughout the performance.  I played a set of songs and a lovely couple by the names of Greg and Lesley played a set and we then did an encore together where we got the whole audience to join in. It was a magic evening and I met a lot of lovely people.  I forgot to mention the most important part of it was that I showed up a whole day early and didn’t realise that the concert was on Saturday night and Wayne was totally ok with me staying 2 nights after much laughter about me showing up early.  I felt that I did my best performance at Humph Hall and to my surprise I have found that I perform at my best to a fully attentive listening audience which I never expected.  I thought I would be more nervous but I find that the pressure makes me concentrate more and I can be really focused and I can really engage with the listeners.

Here’s some of the video’s that Wayne took: Women of War:

Perfect Haze

It was you

Then on Sunday I had to get my act together pretty quick to get to the Petersham Bowling Club for my next gig at 4pm. I was really excited about playing here because I was in the same lineup as Moondog and Monuelle Monuelle who are Eamon Dilworth and Henry Manuel.  Moondog is my favourite man of blues and I just love what he does and I was so excited when he said he would come from Canberra to play at the Petersham.  Eamon is a lovely young man I met early this year when some friends came to stay and he was in town too.  He’s a fantastic trumpet player and he plays for an awesome band by the name of Tijuana Cartel.  It was a great night and some friends from Sydney showed up which made it even more special.  All in all I had a fantastic time and lots of adventures and I learnt heaps about how I would do it next time.  I know I said that there were highlight gigs but they all were very special in their very own way and trying to pick a favourite is like trying to choose your favourite kid…impossible….well not for me because I only have one son but I kinda think I know what it would feel like.  On the subject of family it was so lovely to get back home a couple of days later after a flight, air bnb in Perth and then a long coach trip back down to Denmark to be greeted by my husband, Warren and well my son found a bit of time to greet me between games.

Gigs, Photos, Sydney, Videos

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