Music matters Blog

Ahh, Record Store Day is here again (and for the rest of this monologue-I hate the word blog-let's just refer to it as RSD okay?) It's been an interesting ride so far. Different levels of passion shown by the retailers, the record companies....the public themselves..... no surprises there. Until last year that is. Last year was different: there was real traction for the first time. People were coming in to Songland saying (very genuinely) "Happy RSD!" This happened in all the other stores I spoke to and it may be a watershed moment for this great concept.

The hardest part of creating music is needing to meet a creative deadline and not being able to switch on the creativity at all! It can be quite frustrating. I sit there and will it to happen! So I then go back to the drawing board, which usually has nothing on it at all! If I end up with a verse and a chorus I’m happy, but it’s the finishing of the song that stumps me the most. Sometimes I’ll wake from slumber and jot down songs in a flash, but it’s the somewhat forced creativity that I find a little intimidating.

Music to us is more than a song, deeper than a melody, tastier than any chord or groove.. it's a gift.
We're grateful to be given Music to Help, Encourage, Heal & to tell our stories thus far. The world without music would be a world without Life. Everybody has a bit of music in them whether they know it or not.

"To me, music has been the shaping force in my life for better or worse. I'm so deep I can't get out. Buying records and singing songs. It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. These things called songs that, echo our world, shape our understanding and signpost our experience are so powerful. They carry so much weight yet are weightless on the air. I write songs for a living but still can't tell you where they come from. They drop into the world as they're needed, hoping and ready. They matter and the folks that hear them or need them matter also.

Why is music important?

Adam: Music inspires people, it inspires me
Louis: It is a natural means for my creative output
Levi: It helps create experiences for me

How does music affect you and the world around you?

Louis: Music is pretty much all I do. I actually see the world in terms of music.
Levi: It gives me opportunities to meet new and interesting people and have a lot of fun

What is your first memory of music?

Adam: Dad I guess – he was the guitarist in Nairobi Trio
Louis: Dad playing David Gray.
Levi: My dad playing various artists.

Music transports us, relocates us and has the ability to redefine us.

As a teenager, I remember music doing that to me significantly-

I remember stealing a Nirvana tape, putting on my walkman, riding my BMX around and being alerted to the idea that music could let you feel a wide range of emotions. I was now self-aware.

I remember discovering punk music through a friend’s dad that had been a part of the Australian movement in the 70's. I was suddenly allowed to see the faults in authority and I was allowed to be angry and I wanted, somehow, to be a part of making change.

Taylor Hanson is a singer, song writer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and co-owner of 3CG Records. His band Hanson celebrates their 20 year anniversary this year. We spoke to Taylor to find out what music means to him.

Q: This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hanson. There have been some well-documented high points and low points throughout the past two decades for the band, but what are you looking forward to in the year ahead?

I was driving along in my car today. With music blaring, I found myself away from everywhere I didn't wish to be. Moments went by and before I could really appreciate where the song had taken me, I found myself in the middle of an intersection with cars tooting their horns in an effort to remind me of my careless driving. I had run a red light. Was it my fault? Yes. Did I care? No.

I never knew that being a four year old put in a recorder class music would be the start of such a wonderful/tough/fun/interesting journey!

From around the age of eight or nine I realised that every sound around me was literally a musical note to me, from people talking to phones ringing to hearing songs on the radio, I couldn't (and still can't) help but think that 'that's an F sharp, or thats a B'.

Music is important because like all the arts, it evokes emotion within us. Whether it’s the power of Rage Against the Machine making adrenaline surge through you, or the theme to the Exorcist making you feel on edge. It becomes the soundtrack to people’s lives and the theme playing under their memories.

It facilitates communication and expression. It helps develop empathy through other peoples stories and thoughts, and in turn it inspires thought, which produces growth within the individual and humanity as a whole. And of course it’s a source of entertainment and enjoyment.