[00:00:00] Welcome to Trevor McCormack Music Podcast. I'm Chrissie 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 listeners, today it's time to get back together with Trev. He's been working hard. How you doing Trev? Hello, how are you? I'm going well. How are you?
[00:01:02] Well, I've been very busy. As everybody around here knows, the receivers got in and shut down our Colaroy. I think I might have told you that last week. Yeah. So, I've had to look for somewhere else to put on my shows. I'm still fighting, mind you. I am still fighting for the Colaroy. So, I haven't given up. There's still hope, but slim. But we'll keep at it. It's an iconic theatre and we do not want to lose it.
[00:01:27] So, I had to have a look around for a new venue or new venues for my shows. Yes. And I talked to our Manly Leagues Club, the home of our Manly Seagulls and they've welcomed me with open arms. So, I'm going to be working with them to put on shows at the Manly Leagues Club and thank you to Manly Leagues Club very much for your help in re-establishing our home. I've got somebody come down and play on stage down there. Good. Good.
[00:01:54] Yep, definitely. And we've got people coming in from all around the suburbs and actually the last show I had at the Colaroy, they were coming in from other suburbs outside the Northern Beaches, which was brilliant. Loving it. Good. Good. Now, oh, well, do they have a courtesy bus on that one? I have not checked. I will have to go and ask. We'll have to find out about that because people love to just go, right, there's a show on, jump on the bus, let's go. Yes, because you drive the courtesy bus up there for the RSL, don't you?
[00:02:22] Yep, that's what we do up here for our club. So, we pick all these people up and bring them in, get them all sourced up and fed and happy and singing along songs and we entertain them on the way home. Yes, because I remember you telling me you test some of your songs on them on the way home and on the way in. Yes, yes, and they love it. They're always, what have you got, what have you got, what's new? I'm like, well, hang on, one at a time. Other than that, we just play a bit of country or a bit of rock depending on the feel or the night they've had.
[00:02:52] So, if you've got like an 80s night, I'll find some 80s music and on the way home we blare and they're all singing and clapping and cheering. And it's hard to get them off the bus though. I don't know. Come on, out, out. I've got to deliver everybody else home. Oh dear, that's a lot of fun. All right, well, I will talk to them and ask them if they have a courtesy bus. I'll have to check that out.
[00:03:16] And if they haven't, maybe look into it because if you've got big shows coming in and you can run a couple of buses, you can actually bring in a lot of people. Yeah, and the retirement villages up here, because we've got quite a lot of retirement villages around us and they have buses but they never had them on Sundays. I'm not sure if they have them on Saturdays. But they did say if I let them know what's going reasonably early that they can organise their buses as well. Oh, to bring a group in, yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:41] So, once I set up and I get my dates sorted and because I'm bringing in the David Bowie show and because it's the 40th anniversary, everyone, of the David Bowie's movie Labyrinth, we're going to be presenting 50 minutes of David Bowie songs by the tribute band and then we're going to be playing the Labyrinth film itself after that. So, that's going to be a great night. Yay!
[00:04:07] And then we had recently, which everybody, we had so much fun that night, we had a Beatles sing-along by the album tribute band and they put the words up on the screen and the whole place was the show because everybody had to sing-along. It's not karaoke. It's just everybody sings the songs. And we had a ball and everybody had a ball.
[00:04:32] And so, I'm bringing back the album tribute band with the Eagles this time on, I think it's the, on the 28th of November and that'll be an afternoon show, 4pm to 6.30pm. So, we're doing that and then we're doing a fundraiser for, we've got a Northern Beaches music festival down here on the 7th and 8th of November, I think it is, and they need money. Everybody, as far as music is concerned, needs money.
[00:05:02] So, we're doing a special fundraising show for them on the 9th of October and we've got some fantastic bands there as well. So, we've actually got Lisa Olbach who's very famous down here. We've got Kevin Bennett and his band and we've got the Bill Gola Benders. Bill Gola Benders. Yeah, the Bill Gola Benders. So, yeah, we've got some really good bands for that one.
[00:05:27] So, yeah, hoping everybody will support that and help us with music on the Northern Beaches. So, I've been working very hard and I've also been checking out different recording studios. So, we've got a couple that I've looked into. I mentioned last week, I think, that we had a couple of commercial ones on, which I haven't got to yet. But in the meantime, while I was looking, I found out that one of our band members had set up a studio
[00:05:54] and so I was talking to him about that last night because we did an event last night and our Monoval Music Shop apparently has one as well. So, I'm looking into all that. So, we're now on the Northern Beaches. We've got a fantastic group of upcoming musicians and bands. We've got a venue that they can play in. We've got a radio station they can come on and promote their music. The radio station also plays their music.
[00:06:23] We've got all the promotion we can possibly give them. So, we're starting to get a real tight-knit little unit on the Northern Beaches for our musicians. They need to record somewhere and get that recorded so you can play it and then they can show it off live. Yeah. Well, some of them are doing it at home. But beware when you do it at home. Some of the stuff that's going on to the AMRAP system is not well done. If you're going to do it at home, at least seek out someone who knows what they're doing
[00:06:51] and who can tell you how to record and how to record properly because some of them are a little harsh. Yep. Yep. They're just giving up their best. That's right. But they're getting out there and that's the good thing. So, you've been working on a cover and we found out who it was that sang that song. So, tell us about that again. I was just flicking through some music bits and pieces as I do, getting feels for different songs.
[00:07:19] And I come across one more. That's the name of the song. One more. And it's done by Jason Laster. And, oh my God, I sat there and I cried. It's one of those, it's just, it cuts deep. It's, well, you've got to listen to the song, but it's just, you know, if I had one more Sunrise, if I had one more song to sing to you, if I had one more day, you know, it's all about the loss of someone very close. And it just, it just made me cry.
[00:07:48] And I went, wow, like how hard this would have been to write. It obviously, it would have taken a while and he wouldn't have been able to sing it straight along, sure. I think I look back on the YouTube clip and he actually spoke about, that's right, he did speak about it. Before he sings the song, there's an intro and he talks about how he, you know, you feel how you feel when you miss someone or you've lost someone.
[00:08:15] And he wrote this song and it did take him so long or he couldn't sing it for so long. And now, you know, as time goes by, he can sing it now. But those songs and those guys who write like that, I take my head off to. That's, they're the hard things, the hard roads. And just the passion comes from so deep and the hurt and the love. Amazing. Yeah, amazing written song.
[00:08:42] Well, we looked that up and it's only been released recently, beginning of 2026. 26, so there you go. I've come across a brand newie and I would give that, if I met that guy somewhere, I would give him a big hug. Just go, mate, I don't know how you did it, but yeah, just amazing. Beautiful. And what was the actual name of the band? Because he was the person that wrote it and produced it. What was the name of the band that actually sings it? Country Line Globe. Yeah, that's right.
[00:09:12] Country Line Globe. I hadn't heard of them before. I'd have to go and look them up and find out what they're all about. Well, I thought that was a brand name. And then I was like, oh, that's the name of the band. Yeah. But there you go, something different again. Well, and so how have you been going with learning it and singing it? Well, it's basically pretty easy enough chords. G, it's got the B minor 7, the A minor 7 and E minor 7. So they're the three notes you've got to just remember when to throw them in.
[00:09:39] Otherwise, it's basically E minor, D, C, G, A minor. So it's just, it's hard to sing something when you understand the story. Yeah. It's so, like for me, I get emotional. I can picture or feel what this guy's going through to write this. And it just blows me away. So I had to learn it. And, yeah, the first couple of times I'm trying to sing it, it just, it made me cry. I was like, I don't know if I could do this.
[00:10:09] But I've got it down now. I can do it. I've just got to not think too deep into the story and just sing the song. It is a beautiful song. Yeah, but if you don't think a little bit deep into the story, you don't get the emotion out in the song. So, yeah, it's a catch-22 situation there, isn't it? Yeah, I can get the emotion a bit. If I go too deep, I just start crying. Oh, no, we can't have that. But, yeah. Well, that's good. I'm glad you're sort of throwing yourself into that one. And it'd be nice to be able to hear you play it live.
[00:10:37] Yeah, no, I'll get this one down, Pat, and learn it off by heart. It'll be one of those ones in the memory bank in the back door there. You just go, right, ooh, let's play this. So, yeah, yeah, beautiful song, beautiful song. Just amazing. All right, so what's happening with your teaching? So we're going to do a workshop. I missed Dave and Shelly this Thursday. I was supposed to go down and they had some problems. So I said I'll get there next weekend or next Thursday night and we'll work on the actual session we're going to do and what songs we're going to put down.
[00:11:06] So it'll be basically Dave with the guitar and me and I think we'll probably look for about seven, eight people. We'll do the workshop on probably three or four songs and have some pizza and a few nibblies. Oh, yeah, that's cool. And just see who's interested in getting lessons and what they'd like to sing and their styles. We learn about how their pitches are and how in key they are with most things.
[00:11:33] I can jot all this down for each person and just, yeah, when we start the lessons they can start from there. We know what we're doing. I'll also go over to, I'm going to drop into the Cardigan bar and I might put my name down on their blackboard. They have an open mic nod on a Thursday night later on. Yeah, thinking about doing something like that. Yeah, it's fun. You can get some really good talent. And you just only give them a couple of songs each.
[00:12:02] If you've got someone up there wailing away like they're a karaoke out-of-key singer who just loves to sing, it'll probably drive a few people away. I think we might vet them a little bit before we put them up there. Yeah, well, some people, when they do the open mics, they sort of audition them a little or, you know, do one song and the next person's going to come on and he'll go, no, do another one, do another one. You know, have three up your sleeve. Yeah. Give you all three if you're pretty good.
[00:12:28] If you're not, I'll give you one or two and then get the next person up and then you come back again next time and improve. Because it's all about getting over nerves. And nerves can pull you out of key. Nerves can make you mess up your guitar work or keyboards or whatever they're playing. So it's great because it brings people in. It brings families together to watch their son or their daughter or their wife or husband, you know, have a go. It is a fun thing to do. But you've just got to make sure you turn over some people through that
[00:12:57] and make it entertaining as well, not just. Not karaoke type thing. Yeah, like he's done 10 songs, I'm going home. If he's really, really good and he's done 10 songs, not a problem. If he's not good, that's the problem. Probably people might think I'm a bit harsh. But, you know, it's about entertainment. It's about open mics are about finding talent and enjoying music. So if you're going to kill it, go home and practice.
[00:13:27] Come back and do it again. Sorry, guys. But we teach. We teach. We want you better. We want you the best you can be up there. Because you keep going. Once you get that far, you go, hang on, maybe I can do this. And, you know, they find someone else to play with or a band to hop on with and away they go. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. Otherwise, you go to karaoke and squeal your head off. Yeah, no, don't want to go there. Our business is good music. Inside that, there's some professional, I think they do it in the States.
[00:13:57] I don't know if they do it here, but they do professional karaoke. Wow. That's unreal. I haven't heard of that. Oh, they win competitions. They have competitions. They win money, big money. And they're brilliant. So it's basically a singer with backup music. And if you're really good, you pick your genres and who you can sound like and away you're going, you can win some prizes. Yeah, well, I haven't got that sort of money. So unless somebody wants to come up with some funding.
[00:14:27] Yeah. We had been looking at doing a Battle of the Bands and not just a local one, doing one from Wollongong to Newcastle. But we're in the wrong part of the year because we can't get a sponsor on board at this time. And so we've sort of postponed it for now until next year, letting us get established in our new home. And then we might look at that again as well. Yeah. I have them all over. I have them up here in Queensland too. Yeah, they do.
[00:14:55] Well, the whole concept was we thought what we'd do is we would have all the local, the community radio stations hold the competition for their local bands and select the best, put them in the finals. But the CBF have come up with what they call the community hub and they're giving out funding for the community stations to do certain projects where they run music and so forth. So that cut the stations out.
[00:15:23] So I thought, well, we'll establish ourselves with the League Club and we might look at if the clubs will run a Battle of the Bands and then have the finals up here and send the finalists up to Sydney for the final. But we're going to have to put that on hold for now until next year because I've got to re-establish myself over at the League Club now with my shows and then we'll look at doing that. And as I said, we're looking at doing, we do tribute shows. We want to put comedy in.
[00:15:53] We want to put plays in. We want to do the, we're looking at doing the open mics. You know, there's so much that we'd like to do there. And we're in discussions with what we're allowed to do and what we're not allowed to do there. So, yeah, it's quite exciting actually. Good. So you're back in, you're just back on the saddle, that's it. Yep. And funny enough, flat out, we're booking in things that are front and centre. Of course, Christmas is coming up and I've got to start looking at Christmas Carol Night, you know, Christmas events
[00:16:22] and maybe Christmas, some of the old Christmas movies, you know, the retro Christmas movies that we can show. People love those sorts of things. We're in September coming up, surely. I know, Christmas is coming so fast. Wow. That's, yeah, wow. Yeah. And I've got to think about it now, not later. If I don't think about it now, I can't organise it. Four months away. Yep. So where did that year go? Yeah, exactly.
[00:16:52] Fine flies when you have fun, they say. Yeah. But our Northern Beaches Entertainment following is growing rapidly and we're really pleased that they're supporting us. And thank you to everybody out there that is supporting Northern Beaches Entertainment because it's building the Northern Beaches community. And, of course, we've got, you know, arms into the fig, the shack and a lot of local groups. So, you know, whenever you support us, you're supporting all the people,
[00:17:21] all the music on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, not Queensland. Yeah, in the cold weather. Yeah. So anyway, so that's what I've been up to. Very good. Well, yeah, I'm back in the saddle with all the work I've got to do and the music, I'll be actually doing some music tonight with a friend of mine. I'm going to zip over there and go through a few things with him. He helps me out with all my computer side of things,
[00:17:47] just getting things into my tabs and music in the right places over all my lyrics. And he's helping me clean up all my originals and get them all together because everyone says, how do you know what you're playing when you're playing your original songs? There's just words. There's no music. I said, oh, the music's inside. Yeah, the music's in your head. You can feel it then, can't you? Which reminds me, a call out to the listeners. If anyone would like to volunteer to help Trev, because as you know, he has dyslexia and doesn't write music.
[00:18:16] If anybody out there would like to help us write the music for some of our songs, especially Velvet Howe, because we'd love to have an orchestra behind that one, but that might be a bit too much to ask. But if someone would actually like to write the sheet music, a volunteer to write the sheet music, we'd love to hear from you. Please let us know. Yeah, for Velvet Howe, I'd say that's where I'd start. Yeah, that's the one we should have accompanied behind us, something really big. This has to be a big song. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:18:46] It would be great to be able to, because we have the orchestra down here, we just don't have the sheet music to give them to be able to play it. Yeah. That's right. And the little shit there's scratch and there, you go, what do you want me to do? Yeah, exactly. Because it's a full orchestra. So, you know, you've got sax, you've got trumpets, you've got all the usual orchestral violins, you know, you name it, we've got it. We're only missing the writing of the music. And please don't say to me, AI does that. It does not.
[00:19:17] We want people who want to get involved. Yeah. But the thing with AI is, AI is very clever. It is a tool. It should not be used as anything other than a tool. But to get into something as complex as that, AI cannot do it. It can't do it. Okay. I believe you. So we need a human person. So everybody that thinks that AI can do everything and anything wrong, it's a tool. You want to write it for an orchestra to be able to play it, conduct to the key. Yeah.
[00:19:47] And you've got to have the emotional effect in it. And an AI doesn't have emotion. So they can't build that emotion in the written music. Yeah. It's got a beautiful feel to it. And I've been playing that lately. So I just, yeah, I'm really attached to that song. Yeah, I love that song. I absolutely love that song. You did such a good job of that song. You can wait to hear me play it now because, you know, you rehearse it. You go over and over and over it. Just little things. So you just slide a little word in late or, you know,
[00:20:17] the guitar comes in a bit after you say this. So I've fine-tuned it. Oh, excellent. Well, I can't wait to hear it live again. Yeah. And an extra key on the end of the song just to finish it off. Okay. Just a kick there. Good. Which people go, oh, that's right. It gets that feel. That feel of, wow. Well, see, this is what I'm talking about. This is what AI cannot do. Yeah. I have to come down there again soon. Yeah.
[00:20:44] We'll have to get together and I can run through the ones we've been working on quietly. Yeah. That works. You might write a song five years ago and you might not do anything with it or be just tinkering away with it. I found now I've gone back through all my original songs. There's a couple there which I'll have to go back again. And yeah, I've just put a real good twist in a couple of them. They'll just go, oh, yeah, give this a kick. Won't really give it a whack. Here you go. In just little pieces, in parts.
[00:21:13] It's very hard to explain when you hear it. Or you'll know because you know the original that we started with. It's a lot then I do now. Yeah, well, that comes with growth and, you know, experience. Songs just grow and grow and little things happen and you just go, oh, hang on. We're going to give that extra vocal challenge right here in this piece. And it works really well. So always learning, always changing things, always making it better. That's the beauty of music.
[00:21:42] You can play with it all the time. Just grow and grow. And I love doing that with you. I really enjoy doing that with you. Well, the next step is now, as you said, my challenge now is to just record. More than play on stages. Record one song at a time and then take them out. Yeah, people can say, oh, I've heard this on the radio. I've heard this now. I've got the CD. I've got that downloaded. It's on Spotify. Yeah, that's my challenge now is to just one at a time, get them recorded, get them out.
[00:22:11] And then when people see who, like wherever I go, they'll go, oh, I've heard of this guy. Oh, I love this song. So that's my challenge. Yeah, well, I'm working on it. It's just such a shame that when you went down to Byron Bay that the technician was sick because you would have had one done by now. Yeah, well, there's still other doors and there's still that one there. Yeah, but you've got to travel. Yeah, well, you seem to have to travel to either Byron Bay or to Sydney to be able to get what you need. It's a shame you can't get what you need up there.
[00:22:41] Oh, well, I'm working on that too. There's another avenue. But that's just time. Time will tell. Why is it so difficult? Why is it so difficult? Probably more so difficult, Christy, because I work around the clock. The time I have spare isn't very much. And yeah, that's probably the biggest part. Yeah, and we don't have a kit to record it ourselves. But I really, I'm steering you away and I'm steering away from that because I feel that
[00:23:08] if we're going to do it, we need to do it professionally and well. And because your songs deserve that. Absolutely. I agree. I've said I've got a pile of songs there. We just need the right person to say, well, righto, come and play them for me. What do you got? And they actually hear them raw, live. Feel the passion, the sound. And they can hear the music around it like I can. Someone who believes in it and just goes, well, okay. All right, let's start with this one and away we go.
[00:23:37] And those guys that record, they've got the ear, they've got the knowledge and the experience and they help you record it really well. Rory did my first album and I'd like to catch up with him, but he's the same. He works around the clock, he's so busy. But I still will contact him and see how he's going soon because we haven't spoken for a little while. But he was fantastic. He could hear. He knew what I wanted. He could feel what I wanted. Well, he also helps you with his guitar work. Of course, he's an amazing guitarist.
[00:24:07] He just went, oh, mate, I'll beat this up. So him being the producer and the musician and the studio guy, he's all wrapped up in one. And that's what I'm looking for. We need someone who can go, well, oh, I could put this with that and I could put that with that. Let's make this a real country feel. Let's make this a real bluesy, jazzy feel. Let's make this, you know, just a happy-go-lucky rock song. He had all that feel. He could do all that himself as well.
[00:24:35] So it's finding the right person that knows my own. Or tying down Rory, finally. Yeah, handcuff him to him. Yeah, my house. And get it started. Yeah. Well, we'll see. As I said, it's time. Everything takes time. And I've got the patience, but I don't know. I haven't. I want to hear your songs. I want them recorded. I want them out there because everybody that hears them loves them.
[00:25:03] And we need them recorded and out there. And I think the listeners are like me. We're getting frustrated. We need them out there. Yeah. All the new ones. Yeah, all the new ones. That's right. All right. Well, let's leave it there for today. And I'll go do some more homework and recording studios and whatever. And you keep practicing. And we'll catch up with you next week. All right. Love, everybody. See you later. See you later. Take care.
[00:25:29] Now, don't forget to check out Trevor McCormack's YouTube. 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.