Well the year is just rocketing along now isn’t it? Feels like just yesterday we were packing down our Christmas trees!
We’ve been super busy these last few months (reasons why below) which has meant I’ve been a little quiet on the blog side of things letting you all know what’s going on. I know you’ve all been holding you breath since the last update, so let’s just get on with it…..
We are building a recording studio!!!!
I am soooooo very excited about this. All of last term I was busy up the back building a recording studio!
I can already hear you asking ‘Really Sam? Do you even know how to build a recording studio?!’
Well guess what smarty pants, turns out I do! The whole thing has been an awesome learning experience as I’ve literally done everything myself (built a room inside a room, which means a floor, 4 walls & ceiling, sound proofed the room which includes insulation, 2 layers of 16mm gyprock, this weird soundproof glue that never fully drys & a layer of plywood, wired the electricity & lights & even made the acoustic panels & studio desk!)
Doing it all Hans Solo has meant it took a little longer than anticipated, but it’s pretty much all done now so watch this space for an official opening & opportunities to record in a (if I don’t say so myself) state of the art freaking awesome recording studio!
The Reynolds & Co Not Quite End Of Year Gig!
Holy cheeseballs Batman, this gig is only a couple of days away! All our gig performers have been hand picked & busy learning their songs over the last couple of months, we had our two rehearsals over the last two weekends & this beast is really starting to take shape.
What makes the gig even more special is our teachers are hardly playing in any songs this time round! There’s massive collaborations going on all fronts with our students playing on each others songs which means the teachers can pretty much just kick back & enjoy the show!
Date: Sunday 13th November
Venue: Lizottes
Time: Doors open 12pm, show kicks off at 1pm
So, why is it called the ‘not quite end of year gig’?
Well, it is our big spectacular end of year show that takes months of epic preparation & blood, sweat & tears, however due to everyone being so busy during the Christmas lead up we decided to be proactive & do our huge gig just a bit before the end of the year. Our marketing team (me) came up with the really catchy & original title ‘not quite end of year gig’ because it’s our end of year gig, but not quite at the end of the year…. So there you go, pretty self explanatory really.
Have you bought your tickets yet? Click on the Lizotte’s logo just up there to book yours, or give them a call on 02 4957 6099. You better act quick, we sold this puppy out last time…
Not sure what to expect? Click on the video just below to see a sample of last years gig. I think you’ll agree with my completely unbiased opinion that we have the bestest, most talented students goin’ round!
Gigs, Gigs, Gigs!!!
We’ve also now started monthly gigs for our more experienced students at The Impossible Market @ The Edwards as well as Thursday night acoustic shows at The Northern Star Hotel. Just before the start of term we had Cielle, Alicia, Cassie & Ayla create some chilled out vibes on a Sunday evening at The Impossible Market & last week Cassie & Cielle acoustified The Northern Star with a mixture of covers & awesome original songs!
We are doing these gigs every month, give us a holler if you want to get involved. Just be aware we are after students that can play a minimum of 30mins & are gig ready. If you aren’t quite there yet, let’s make it a goal to get enough material ready & get out there gigging. You will learn so much more playing live, there are some aspects of music that can’t be covered in a lesson & playing live to an audience is one of them!
Hamilton Public School Band
This is really cool… I got approached by the school late last year to start up a band. I told them my vision of a massive contemporary band with heaps of guitars, keyboards, drums, percussion, ukuleles & singers that learns contemporary songs that the kids will enjoy & they were all for it!
I’ve completely thrown the rule book out when it comes to school bands here, there are no other primary schools around the area (or even the state that I am aware of) that has a band like this.
Every musician I spoke to about it said I was crazy & it wouldn’t work, but I knew if I transcribed & arranged the songs specifically for the band, I could get them sounding pretty good.
We finally got the band up & running during last term & last week was their very first performance!
I have been so impressed with how quickly they learnt their first song! These kids are so keen to be in the band & all come to school an hour early, every one helps set up & pack up & there’s always smiles on their faces when they are performing, they also regularly tell me that band practise is their favourite time at school. Last Friday these kids absolutely blew the school community away with their debut performance & even brought their principal to tears!
Check out the snippet below of them performing ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy, I think you’ll agree we have got something special going on here!
Oh, yes they are wearing pyjamas, it was pyjama day at school…. however maybe we should make it their thing & get them performing in pyjamas every time!
Shameless Self Promotion
I thought I should let you know, not only do I talk the talk, I also walk the walk!
Besides running this music school, organising gigs, running a school band & building recording studios, I also write music for T.V shows! I have written music for shows such as The Voice, The X Factor, The Grammys, The Peoples Choice Awards, American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Dr Oz, Nitro Circus & Ridiculousness plus many other random reality shows.
My music airs multiple times every day around the world. My main clients are in America but I also have shows here in Australia feature my music as well as TV shows in UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore, Czech Republic, Brazil, Romania, France, Mexico, Latvia, Hungry, Netherlands, Japan….you get the picture, heaps of countries.
Anyway, check out the short vid below of a rock instrumental I wrote that found it’s way onto a live broadcast of WWE Raw. It’s a bit of an older clip, about a year or so ago I think. Hope you enjoy!
Till next time,
Sam.
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