Episodes

My guest today is Stan Bicknell. Stan is a NZ born drummer who for the past 13 years has based himself out of Melbourne Australia. In this time he has toured and recorded with many artists locally and internationally including 48May, Miami Horror, Tonight Alive, Ecca Vandal, and Kimbra. During his time with Kimbra, Stan played on her acclaimed debut album ‘Vows’. His Motown grooves can be heard on the track ‘Cameo Lover’ which won both an Aria and APRA award, as well as playing on her now icon...

My guest today is James Morrison. James Morrison is, by anybody’s standard, a virtuoso in the true sense of the word. Besides the trumpet, this multi-instrumentalist also plays piano, all the brass, saxophones, and double bass. He's toured the world many times over, a true international jazz artist who's also played with some of the greatest jazz musicians to ever live, he's one countless awards, he's a Doctor of music, a professor of music, he has his own music academy, he flies planes, races ...

My guest today is Leo Sayer. Leo needs no introduction really, so i'm going to keep this intro brief so we can rip into the conversation. I’m mean, you know songs. "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", "When I Need You", "More Than I Can Say", "Thunder in My Heart", and the list goes on. You just gotta google him and you will find everything you need to know about his very impressive career. We are going to talk about the making of some of these songs, working with the best of the best LA studio musicians of the 70s and 80s as well as a bunch of other stuff. Ladies and gentleman, it’s with great honour that I bring to you this chat with the one, the only, Mr Leo Sayer. This conversation was recorded 15/01/2021. http://www.leosayer.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tune into Take One Eastside FM 89.7 every Friday from 3pm to hear The Gig Life Podcast. https://eastsidefm.org/takeone/ Click here t…

My guest today is Stephen Housden. Stephen is regarded as one of the finest guitarists in the world. Well known as guitarist with Little River Band for more that two decades, he has also played and recorded with such music legends as Warren Zevon, Glenn Frey (The Eagles), Dr. John, Christopher Cross, John Entwistle (The Who), Renee Geyer, P.F Sloan, Albert Lee, Steve Cropper, The Seekers, Noel Redding (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) Marcia Hines, John Farnham, The Bushwhackers and many, many othe...

Hey, welcome to The Gig Life Podcast. Im your host, Stevie Taylor. This is a short Year in Review episode of the podcast. My take on the year that was. Thank you for supporting The Gig Life Podcast in 2020. Stay safe, and i'll catch you in 2021. I think we're rolling... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tune into Take One Eastside FM 89.7 every Friday from 3pm to hear The Gig Life Podcast. https:/...

My guest today is Calvin Welch. Calvin is a drummer, percussionist, songwriter and performer. He started playing professionally as a 14 year old in his home state of Michigan USA, touring with the who's who of the jazz, funk and soul scene from the 1970s onwards. He moved to LA in the early 1980s where he continued his career as a soul/funk session drummer recording with some of the top producers of that era. Since moving to Australia in 1988, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with numerous local and international artists including Swoop, professor Groove, Kevin Borich, Michael Wheatley, Bek Jensen, Christine Anu, Carl Orr just to name a few. He also writes, records and tours with his own band, global groovers – Arabesk. Calvin is a great advocate for original Australian music and stays active promoting showcase nights and music sales through his company ihearmusic.com. Able to play almost any genre of music, it is this versatility that ensures Calvin is in demand for live per…

My guest today is Casey Burgess. Casey is a singer/songwriter, dancer, actor and presenter from Sydney. She’s easily recognisable as one of the previous member of internationally acclaimed children’s show, Hi-5 as well as co-presenter on Girl TV. Casey also starred in Annie the Musical alongside Anthony Warlow as well as TV roles on Home Away, White Collar Blue and RAKE as well as many others. You have more than likely seen Casey on a bunch TV commercials or presenting Australia’s largest sc...

My guests today is Australian drummer Greg Henson and his wife Fizz. Greg’s love of drums and “all things hittable” started at school and he has made his living playing drums and percussion ever since. His first musical was the drum chair in “Jesus Christ, Superstar” in 1972. He has played, amongst others, “Betty Blokkbuster Follies” with Reg Livermore, “Rocky Horror Show”,”Rasputin”,“Hair”, “Big River”, “Tom Waits for No Man” and in concert at the Sydney Opera House with The Beatles White Alb...

My guest today is bass player Harry Brus. Born in Austria, Harry and his family moved to Australia when he was 7 years old. Inspired by Hank B Marvin and The Beatles, Harry first picked up the guitar as a teenage. In '65 his band The Amazons scored a record deal with Festival Records and since then he has never stopped working as a professional musician. In '67 Harry jumped at the chance to play lead guitar for pop idol Johnny Young, and later joined Tony Gaha And The In People. A fortunate ...

My guest today is Virginia Lillye. Explosive and dynamic vocalist Virginia Lillye has wooed audiences across Australia and internationally. Having shared the stage with Gene Simmons, Gilby Clarke, Angry Anderson, Steve Balbi, John Butler, Dan Sultan, John Paul Young, Paul Grey, Jon English, Wendy Matthews, Grace Knight, Phil Emmanuel to name but a few…. she is a force to be reckoned with. Having also lived in Europe for 11 years, Virginia appeared in productions of the musicals ‘Cats’, ‘Grease’, ‘Hair’, ‘Fame’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘The Life’. Virginia’s original rock band, ‘Lillye’, signed with American record label, Eclipse Records and released their debut album worldwide in May 2018. The band have won several awards internationally and were nominated for ‘Best Rock Artist’ and ‘Best Hardcore/Metal Artist’ at the Australian Independent Music Awards. Virginia starred in the recent series of The Voice Australia by bringing her rock chick edge and grit to the show! This one has…

Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the most well-known and highly regarded studio drummers in the industry, recognised by his induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. Gadd's performances on Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and "Late in the Evening", Steely Dan's "Aja” , Chick Corea’s "Night Sprite" and Al Jarreau's "Spain" are legendary and are some examples of his style. One of the mos...

Today's episode is a little bit different. Back at TGLP episode 93, my guest was Rob Rhodes. Rob has a Facebook live video show called The Musicians Inn where he invites people on to talk with him about different topics relating to music, the music industry. Ive been very lucky to have been invited onto his show twice now. The first time was back in May 2020 and the topic was podcasting. That was fun. Recently, Rob asked me back to join the panel along with Bennet Livingston and Peter Hope, to talk about Music/Work balance. We discussed things like our day jobs, challenges involving working full time as well as juggling gigs, coping with long hours, favourite gigs, near misses and horror stories as well as a bunch of other stuff. We thought it a great idea to share that conversation with you today. I hope you take something away from it. It was informative, and a wee bit of fun too :) If you want to watch the video version of this, I have put a link in the show notes. Check that out, …

My guest today is percussionist, Tony Azzopardi. Tony grew up in Sydney, the youngest of 15 children with his mother and father coming from Malta. Music was always in the family with Tony’s first band being the family band called Africa, with his brother Marz, the drummer of the band, being particularly influential to Tony’s early development as a musician, and as a percussionist. These were the early to mid 70s. Tony has been a professional musician ever since, having played with live or recorded with the a lot of the best including Doug Parkinson, Marcia Hines, Roger Frampton, Jenny Morris, Mark Hunter , Andrew Oh, Richard Clapton, Gina Jeffries, Jeff Duff, Tina Arena, Ian Moss, Barry Leef and many others. Tony was also the house band percussionist for Australian Idol. In an effort to pull back a bit from constant touring and gigging, Tony and his friend created DRUMBEAT, an interactive drums and percussion show that would tour Australian schools. In 2011, Tony got very ill with can…

My guest today is bass player Joel Burton. Born in Sydney, raised in the far north coast of NSW, Joel’s first instrument was trumpet before moving to the bass guitar at the age of 14. After studying for a bachelor of music, Joel moved back down to Sydney. There he worked in music shops, managed a specialty bass store, gigged and gigged, turned pro and hasn’t looked back since. Joel plays in the Ray Mann Three, The Lachy Doley Group, plays tonnes of corporate and pub club gigs with different ...

My guest today Rob Rhodes. Rob is a singer, guitarist, entertainer, entertainment manager and band owner. Born and raised in Sydney, Rob relocated to the NSW far north coast in 2015. As well as the music stuff Rob has done, he’s also been a Hotel/Pub manger, restaurant manager and venue manager. When COVID 19 hit, Rob used that time to create a couple of Facebook live shows to keep himself busy and to stay in touch with his friends ands fans . One of those being The Musicians Inn. In this conversation today, Rob and I talk about his career to this point, the effects of COVID 19 on the music industry, a little on health and well being, some insights into performance, entertainment management and hotel management amongst other things. A very giving, selfless, hard working and insightful man, Rob Rhodes is the real deal. Hope you dig this conversation as much as I did. Ladies and gentleman, please give it up to Rob Rhodes. This conversation was recorded 11/08/2020. Intro Music: "Bloody M…

My guest today is Sydney keyboardist, songwriter and producer Daniel Pliner. From Darth Vegas to Veneno, Watussi, The Sticks, The Strides, Asthmatix, Dereb the Ambassador, The Nick Garbett Quintet, Barefoot Divas, Wallace, Oyobi, 3rdEyeLaserCat and many others, as well as his own project and alter ego PlaneFace, Daniel’s got his fingers in a hugely eclectic body of work. He’s a master keyboardist and sound designer and clearly versatile enough to play anything from metal to latin to classical to cinematic dub which makes him one of the most in demand cats around. He’s humble, eclectic, eccentric and he’s a genius. Ladies and gentleman, please give it up for the plinosaur, Mr Daniel Pliner. This conversation was record 15/07/2020. Intro Music: "Duke Fluken" - PlaneFace (Fishing From An Asteroid) Outro Music: "Asteroid Dust" - PlaneFace (Fishing From An Asteroid) For more info on Daniel: Facebook Instagram Bandcamp ------------------------------------------------------------------------…

My guest today is Andro Martinez. Andro is an outstanding guitarist, audio engineer, producer and songwriter. Andro has worked and played with many of the best which includes Darryl Beaton and the D1 Cartel, Gang of Brothers (which includes Dauno, Banel, Fenix Martinez and Buddy Siolo), he’s recently engineered and mixed Carlos C Major’s upcoming album out of his recording studio Martinez Productions which he shares with his partner and artist Lily Guerrero, and he’s currently producing EPs and tracks for a whole bunch of artists out the studio. We talk about his early days in Chile, touring around with his Father, the great Victor Martinez, and watching his shows from side of stage. Moving with his family to Sydney, not speaking any English yet he and his family found their voice through their art, their music. We talk about musicians, gigs, the recording process, influences, inspirations, gear, friends and music. This one has been a long time in the making. Ladies and gentleman, ple…

My guest today is Tim Firth. Tim is one of Sydney’s most in-demand drummers. He has performed with some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians including Emma Pask, James Muller, Mike Nock, James Morrison and has toured extensively throughout Australia, Europe, Asia and Cuba. Tim completed two Bachelor of Music degrees at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and The University of New South Wales. Tim is known for his musical intuition and highly interactive style, priding himself on giving the mus...

Welcome to The Gig Life Podcast Focus Show. My guest today is Lusi Austin and she has a new EP out now called Walking Contradiction. We will focus on that. Walking Contradiction is Lusi’s first solo studio EP. The songs are a collection of stories based on universal experiences of our shared humanity: love, nostalgia, loneliness, letting go, overcoming and relinquishing control. Some of the songs are based on Lusi’s own experiences and some are from stories gathered from others around her. ...

My guest today is Phil Ceberano. Phil has performed, played guitar, recorded and written music with many of the finest musicians this country has to offer over the last 30 years. Phil spent many of his touring and recording years as co-songwriter collaborator and musical director/producer with his sister Kate Ceberano. Phil also runs a school holiday program - Rock Academy for young musicians and also continues to track guitar and create content in his studio ‘Aloha Studios’. On top of that, Phil is creative director at Flourish PR, a PR company operated by his wife, Angela. This conversation with Phil was a lot of fun. Many laughs, beer, nuggets of wisdom, impersonations, theories, mantras and stories. When I’m putting these podcasts together, I ask my guests to send me music which I can use for the intro. I chased Phil up a few times, and yesterday he just said stuff this, ill write and record a track especially for this episode. He’s called it Stevie Burps. You can hear the whole s…

My guest today is audio engineer, mixer and producer extraordinaire, Anna Laverty. Anna has engineered, recorded, mixed and or produced the likes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Paul Dempsey, Dallas Frasca, Meg Mac, Kaitlin Keegan, The Peep Tempel, Tina Arena, Lady Gaga, Go Get Mum and many many others. With a very impressive portfolio that speaks for itself, Anna has established a reputation within the production community for bringing out the absolute potential of recordings. She a staunch ...

My guest today is Peter Northcote. Pete’s done it all and played guitar for everyone from Dragon, Richard Clapton, Darryl Braithwaite, Glue, High 5, Jenny Morris, The Monkees, Simon Phillips and many others. He’s played on countless recordings, jingles, sound libraries making him one of the most recorded guitarists in Australian history. Throughout his career Pete has continually created his own situations be it bands, shows and he’s currently making the most of COVID 19 isolation by creating...

Garry Pinto is considered one of the greatest Soul and R&B Singers that Australia has produced. His musical background includes fronting the multi platinum selling band, CDB, widely regarded as pioneers of R&B music in Australia, and he has also written songs for a number of Australian artists including Jimmy Barnes, Guy Sebastian, Anthony Callea, Christine Anu, Mr Timothy and Jade Mcrae, He has mentored many of Australia's recording artists and worked as X Factor Australia's Vocal Director, and has also worked on many of Australia’s other music television shows, including, ‘The Voice’, and, ‘All Together Now.’ A well as charity work, being a father and being a husband, Gary is currently touring with, ‘The Songs and Times of Sam Cooke’, and is also part Tina Arena’s and Guy Sebastian’s touring bands. Truely one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, it was an honour to sit and chat with this incredible musician and human. Ladies and gentleman, please sit back and open your ears to some o…

Jackie Barnes. Born into Australian music royalty as the son of legendary rock singer Jimmy Barnes, it seems Jackie was always destined to be a part of the music industry. He discovered drums at age 5 through watching the great Tony Brock play drums with his father. After finishing high school studies in Sydney, Australia, Jackie began working in the local music scene and eventually auditioned successfully for the Jimmy Barnes band in 2005 and immediately began touring locally and globally. A...