[00:00:00] Welcome to Trevor McCormack Music Podcast. I'm Chrissy Mack from Radio Northern Beaches and I couldn't be more excited to kick off this musical journey with you. Joining me is my brother, the legendary Trevor McCormack, known as Mack, a true storyteller and music enthusiast.
[00:00:18] With each episode, we're peeling back the layers behind the hits, sharing untold stories from artists and exploring what sparks the creativity behind the music that moves us all. Whether you're a diehard music fan or just love discovering new sounds, this is the place where passion meets storytelling.
[00:00:38] So, hit the follow button, share this with your fellow music lovers and leave a review. Your support keeps the vibe alive. Turn up the volume and get ready to be inspired. And let's dive into the world of music together. Let's go. Alright, this is time for Trevor and Chrissy to get together again and oh my god, I forgot to ring you yesterday for your birthday. Happy birthday, Trev!
[00:01:03] Oh, I know. I don't know how to deal with this. What do I do? I'll forgive you, I suppose. Oh, thank you. I was working all day and I just, I didn't open my diary and I just totally forgot so much. I've got this big event on tomorrow night and the Songs of Dire Straits and I have that all in my brain and I totally forgot my little brother. I am so sorry. Well, I can't go crooked because I actually forgot it myself. Oh, did you?
[00:01:35] My friend rings me in the morning and says, happy birthday! And I went, oh, oh, it is, it is, oh, it is. I forgot all about it because I was working flat out. Yeah? So did you get lots of happy birthdays on Facebooks and things? Then I, yeah, then I picked up my phone and I got all these messages started coming through all day, right through to the night. So I couldn't have forgotten, you know, after too long anyway. So it was lovely.
[00:02:04] So, and I just had a chocolate cake today because I couldn't get to a friend of mine. She's, she's a lovely lady. She, she's, I've got a chocolate cake here for you. I said, I don't think I'm going to make it. And I check on her every couple of days. I pop in there and have a cup of tea and a bicky and make sure she's all good. She's on her own. Become a good friend. She's a customer. Become a really good friend of mine over the years. Oh, that's nice. I've got you a chocolate cake. You've got to come. I said, I just won't make it. She's all right. Tomorrow. Don't be late.
[00:02:35] So I had this beautiful mud cake. Oh, I just had another piece now. She gave me half of it to take home. Oh, that's great. I love mud cake. I absolutely love it. It's gorgeous. It was beautiful. So thank you, Miss Gail, if you're listening. It was lovely. So what else have you been up to? Well, you know, I went away. So I've come back from there and a lot of washing and cleaning up and de-dusting everything. My guitar case was like, that looked like it was the back of a ute that had been going down a dirt road.
[00:03:04] So I cleaned it all up and, yeah, settled in and back into work. So I'm back to work now with everything, running my own business still, because I took a month and a half off the RSL club that I work at. So I'm back there now, my first week back. So everything's back to normal. Next week, I've got the Giddy Up Festival in Sandgate. And that's on Saturday, all Saturday. So I rang Dave and said, all right, what time do you want me down there? He says, eight o'clock in the morning.
[00:03:34] He says, and don't expect to get home till late at night. No, okay. Oh, okay, big day. So I'll sleep well. I won't do anything Friday night. I'll pack a few things in the car and I'll get down there early. And we'll set up for all the students to play. I haven't been in this venue. It's brand new. Absolutely brand spanking new. So it's a wine bar. Yeah, you've been telling us about it. But what's the name of the wine bar? Well, I don't even know yet because I haven't been back there.
[00:04:05] Wine bar, it's up towards the end of Sandgate, which is towards the clock. So if you head up the street towards the clock, you'll pass our studio, Dave K, DKM. The studio's there. There's a beautiful clothes shop. And in between is the wine bar. And so what's the grand opening, is it? I suppose. I don't know if it's even open yet. But I haven't been there for two weeks or three weeks, I think. So they were still working on it.
[00:04:31] So I don't know if they're actually opening it for that day or they've already opened it. Just give it a trial run. But just a wine bar. I don't know what they do other than you go and have a wine. Well, you'll find out when you get there. It'll be exciting to go and say, well, all right, I have no idea. It's a surprise. And put some guitars around that I need and help all these guys, these students prepare themselves ready. And go from there.
[00:05:00] I actually haven't even heard these guys play, so I don't know what their levels are. Dave's going to have to fill me all in on the day. Well, that's a bit hectic. All in the day. Oh, that's fine. We do stuff like this all the time. And as long as they know what they're doing, we basically just have their back. And if they freeze or do anything wrong, we'll just give them the confidence and keep them going. So did you look up on the internet?
[00:05:27] Because I haven't had a chance to look up on the internet yet what the Giddy Up Festival is all about. It's just a country festival. They hold, I think it's a new thing, but they're in different suburbs. Not a lot, but a few suburbs just around that area. But they just decided, let's have a country festival. So no, I don't know exactly. But you can Google it and anyone who wants to have a look or anyone in the area, they must know about it. So come on down. It's on this, where are we, this Saturday.
[00:05:58] They've just got different venues. The Tardigan Bar, I think the little, I'm not sure if it's a, no, it's not an ARSL. There's a little club down the road that has a bit of music in there. And some of the cafes will probably do some music as well. So it's all council run. And I think it's the first time they've started this. So it's a new thing. And yeah, I'm glad to be a part of it.
[00:06:25] So I'll go down there and get all the students are all excited, I suppose. The owner of the wine bar, she's also one of the students. So she plays guitar and sings, lovely lady, and sings really well. So she'll kick off the show. And then we'll get all the guys and girls in and put them through the day. And I'll have a bit of a play here and there. And I don't even know if I'm going to play yet. I'll have to pull out a few songs and write up a bit of a song list of what I want to do.
[00:06:56] Yeah, you have to pick some of the more country ones. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's all about, through our students. So it's all about what you do, what you write, what you create. And then we'll just do a bit, I'll do a little bit of bluesy stuff, a bit of country stuff. And a few of my songs as well. And I'll just mix it all up. But I'll have to sit down and do a bit of a list of what style I'm going to do. Because Dave is actually teaching still through the day.
[00:07:21] And then when he comes down later in the afternoon, we'll wind it up a bit and have some fun. And hopefully there's a few people around having a few drinks and just relaxing, waiting for Dave and Trev to get in up there and make some noise. You put a lot of pressure on yourselves. Well, he's working all day as well. He should have taken the day off. Well, that's what I thought. But I don't know yet. I told him that.
[00:07:48] But he said, oh, I've got a few students I've got to get through on that day. Oh, my gosh. That's a lot of pressure. Oh, he works. He works day and night. That's all he does. So day and night on music, on a guitar. He has a guitar on his lap or in his hands all day, every day. He's definitely one of the best. Well, hence is why. He's so good because he's just. He's just constantly playing. He's just another hand. And he's just a very talented man. And that's his passion.
[00:08:17] He said it from a little child. He learned keyboard first. And then he said, I just picked up a guitar. And he said, I want to master this instrument. And I'm not going to stop until I do. At the moment, I'm tinkering on my grandson Max's keyboard, which can you tune those sort of keyboards? You know, it doesn't quite sound right. But anyway, I'm tinkering and I'm learning keys, et cetera. Sports. Yep. That's it.
[00:08:46] A friend of mine who plays a lot around here at the clubs, he came in and sat down one day and started to play a tune, which is when I noticed it wasn't quite right because it didn't sound very good. So can you tune these things or not? No. They're not like a piano. They're just because you've got a, it's just a keyboard, electronic keyboard. Yes? Yeah. It's just the cheapy one on a stand. No, that is what it is. Yeah.
[00:09:14] Well, it didn't sound very good when he played an actual tune or that. So I will have to just learn and put up with the fact that the tunes don't quite sound right. You're putting your keys in your fingers. And if you really enjoy it, you just go down. I mean, there's a lot of secondhand good keyboards that people just upgrade into a better one. You just want to pick up one of those middle range keyboard, electronic keyboard with a little stand, weighted keys if you can get them. You won't look back.
[00:09:44] So that's weighted keys? People buy good ones. You know, they might spend $1,000, $2,000, but you'll pick something middle range around your $500, $300 to $1,000. It's got weighted keys and perfect tune. Well, at the moment, I'm just learning the keys. So it'll do for a little while until I actually get the keys. And then when I try to play some decent music, then I might have a go at a sounding one.
[00:10:13] Rick, if you get onto your YouTube, you can actually learn to play the most beautiful songs with just simple chords. Yeah, I noticed. I've been doing that. And I've actually started doing my singing exercises again, but I think I'm a bit old for the actually blasting out the lungs like I used to. I start to get some volume and then all I do is cough. That's really annoying.
[00:10:41] Yeah, no, just use your belly. Oh, my gosh. So, yeah, the belly and the chest exercises are fun. But, yeah, I thought maybe I could get my voice back to a bit of a pitch. But anyway. You just train it slowly without pushing it. You're just singing key. Listen to you. Because you've got the perfect thing is your keyboard. So you play your note. You hit your harmony note or your vocal note and away you go. Yeah.
[00:11:07] But if you're ever unsure, then just record yourself and then listen to it back. Yeah, I've done that. I've done that. You can pick yourself the piece and get on. Yeah, it's funny because I record it and I leave the cough on the end and then I play it back and I can hear myself coughing. But anyway, it's fun. So, yeah, I've been dabbling in that. I've been flat out, so I haven't had a lot of time to spend. But it's fun just dabbling and playing with it again and exercising the voice. How's your friend going?
[00:11:37] She has the big bands behind her and sings and does big shows. I'm Maggie Scott. Maggie Scott. The comedian Maggie Scott. Now, a lot of young people that are listening will have no idea who Maggie Scott is. She was always called the Australian maid and it's M-A-I-D because she's a famous comedian and she has the most voluminous voice. It's an incredible voice. She's been writing a cabaret.
[00:12:06] Oh, nice. Yeah, and I'm really waiting for her to get it done. She's got a bit of flamenco in it because she's learning flamenco dancing. Oh, okay. So, it's sounding quite interesting and I said to her, we've got to blood it at the collaroy. First test is at the collaroy. I was really interested when she said she's been doing the flamenco dance. But, oh, she's such a lot of fun and she hasn't slowed down.
[00:12:34] She's amazing and still the most funniest comedian there is. Does she tour up to Queensland? At the moment, she's been doing some – she was with the Mamas and the Papas for a little while which was getting out for shows for the kids. At the moment, she's at home. But I don't think she's been to Queensland for a little while. All right. Well, she ever comes up this way or tours up this way with anything. And he should let me know and I'll – Put her in the RSL. They'll love her.
[00:13:04] Yeah, yeah. We'll leave in that. They'll absolutely love her. But anyway, yeah. Yeah, she is so much fun, our Maggie Scott. She is such a lot of fun. Actually, she came down the other day and stayed with me for a weekend. Oh, very good. Which was great. And we love to play Rummy Cub. Oh, I haven't played that yet. Yes, okay. It is so much fun. And we often play it. I've got another girlfriend. The three of us often get together. We get together and we're up all night.
[00:13:33] We just love to play this game. And, yeah, it's friends sort of having a go at each other and a bit of challenging going on and a bit of rivalry and a bit of fun. Yeah, we have a lot of fun together with it. But my other friend couldn't come over that weekend. It was just her and I. And, yeah, we sat there when we weren't out doing whatever and played our Rummy Cub. Very good.
[00:14:02] It's little tiles with numbers on them that you play like cards. Yep. It's quite skilled. When I come down the nets, we'll have to have a go. It's not a hard game to play, but you've got to really think about what you're doing because there's all sort of little tactics you can use to win. Oh, right. Okay. So, yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:28] It's a very mentally taxing game because you've got to really concentrate on the numbers and what you can switch out, what you can switch in. It's fun. Well, that's when I found out something about Dave, actually. He doesn't like to lose. We played Uno. We had a quick game of Uno. Oh, I haven't played Uno for ages. I was down there last time and he's in the middle between – there was three of us playing and it kept going back to and from and he just kept collecting
[00:14:58] cards and he got the cranks and went, I'm not playing this game anymore. He was like mum and dad when they played cards. I was like, no, the truth is about the dummy. Yeah, dad was a bit like that. But they used to play 500. Yeah, I just laughed. I said, you remind me of my mum and dad when they played cards. Yeah, dad used to get so cross with mum when she'd win. And she'd win it often. But anyway, that's it. So, there you go.
[00:15:26] When I come down next, I'll definitely – I'll teach you. Yes, I'll teach you how to play it because it is such a lot of fun. All right. So, you're off to the giddy up this weekend. So, we'll sign off now and we'll come back to you after you've been to the event. All right. Or I might even give you a call while I'm down there. Oh, okay. I'll also tell you about the night we had with the Dire Straits. Okay. Well, I'll take some pics and send you a few photos of the place, the new place, and we'll go from there. Awesome.
[00:15:56] All right. I'll love you and leave you. Bye. Bye. Now, don't forget to check out Trevor McCormack's YouTube for Trevor's latest music video, which is going off. So, don't forget to have a listen. And you can also go to Trevor McCormack music for any podcasts that you might have missed. So, don't forget to follow and share. Bye.