[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. 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.
[00:00:30] Whether you're a diehard music fan or just love discovering new sounds, this is the place where passion meets storytelling. 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, it's time again to talk to Trev. How you doing Trev?
[00:00:58] G'day everybody, I'm doing well. What are you up to this week? This week, sorting out how I can spend more time down in Byron Bay in the studios. I really loved it down there, had a good time. I'm just looking at all my work that I do and trying to just reorganise things again. Jamie, my son, he's just gone, I want you down here, I want you down here. He loves the songs. I've played a few songs for him and I took my new guitars down. He wants me to recall one in particular that he just loves. He just jumps out.
[00:01:28] He's around dances around when I play it. And you like it too. So that'll be the next one I record. But yeah, I'm just trying to work out how I'm going to do this. And it's got to be done. So it's a case of just thinning out some work, taking some long service and holidays and just making this happen now. It's time. Well, it's been a while since we've got there, but we are now there. So we're just going to keep working on it until we can release our first one.
[00:01:56] Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I've sent you those two scratch tracks and you've given me your feedback, which is spot on, by the way. Good. Good. It's spot on. It's exactly what I'm thinking. So yep, got to do this, got to do that, speed up. I want to speed up the intro of one song. And I'm yet to see whether I can find myself a nice backing singer, but we'll send some stuff down to you as well.
[00:02:23] So once it's done, without the backing tracks, and we'll just see who's interested and who sounds good with that sort of thing. Our Stacey's Got A Gun is looking forward to hearing them and they can do some backing. So they might do a demo for you as well. Yeah, yeah. So we'll just see what, it definitely needs a female in there. But as I said, the first song, we're going to make it a bit of a party live edition, I think.
[00:02:47] And the other one, we'll just piece that together nice and steady and get it right. Well, I've got some news for you. I was chosen as a presenter, a radio presenter, to select some country music artists, singer-songwriters, and send them up for judging. Oh, nice. So that was really nice. It was forwarded to me by another presenter, said, would you like to be involved?
[00:03:17] And I said, yes, I'd love to be involved. So I've just sent that off and they're really tickled pink with the list I sent them. So where did it go? This is the Tamworth Songwriters Association. Oh, nice. Yeah. Nice. That'll be fun. You'll enjoy that. I'm having fun. But what was even better was I was asked to be a judge. Oh, really? How about that?
[00:03:39] Yeah, I'm tickled pink. So I've sent up my list of who I thought were good selections for singer-songwriter judging. And some of them are quite new. I think there's a couple that have only got one song, but the rest have got two or three or a body of songs. So I'm looking forward to hearing what comes back and what we're going to judge. Apparently, there's quite a lot of songs to judge, I'm told.
[00:04:03] Yeah, you'll have your work cut out for me. There's a lot of singers and songwriters that put their songs in. So, yeah, you're in for a bit of work. I don't mind that, but you know what I'm like. I love to listen to music and pull out the really good stuff. So I'm kind of looking forward to that. It might be exhausting, but I'm really looking forward to that. Well, I think I can see you. I can picture you sitting there jumping around, dancing around, just going, oh, this is a cracker. Exactly. So I'm going to have a bit of fun with that.
[00:04:32] So I'm pleased that you think that I'm reasonably good at giving you feedback on your songs. Oh, yes, yes. No, that's an absolute yes. Because I sent it to you and then you sent me that email. I'm like, oh, this is a bit harsh. This is a bit hard. But you're spot on. Then I sat and listened to them again because that's what I do. I work on the bus at the night and drive around. And when I'm empty, I crank it up and I just, with everything, make it better. Well, I didn't mean to be harsh.
[00:05:02] I just knew that if we were going to do it and do it properly, we had to be very specific on what we need and what we want to do. That's right. And that's what you do in the studio. So the first start of the studio is, like these are brand new songs. Well, one is reasonably new and the other one's, well, still reasonably new. You're creating while you're recording as well. And I said to him, I said, look, you know, this one is, I haven't even finished writing the second verse.
[00:05:32] It's all in the head. I said, it's been there for a little while and we'll just see how it goes. And he loves it. He thought, oh, great. I said, mate, wait till we polish it. I said, this is just getting it together, which we did. When the sound technician likes what he's hearing, that's a good sign. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he knows his stuff. Like he was spot on with everything I said, what I liked and what I didn't like. Exactly. I said, just put it all on together. We listened to it.
[00:06:01] I said, mate, this is a bit louder, this is a bit softer. That's about right there. Put a little reverb on the voice. I said, right, let's just leave it at that. And we got our recording, rough recording to say, all right, go sit down and work out what you want to do. Yeah, well, it was good enough for us to do that. And we now sort of have a direction. So what do you think about making our first song? I had to do some la-la-las and da-da-das for the lead guitarist to get a feel of the leads.
[00:06:29] Just making that a live, like a live record and having, I might have the boys get in and sing a bit of that and just having a real fun, happy-go-lucky party song sort of thing. Yeah, you talked to us about that last week. I'd be interested to see how that works out. Yeah, so just give me your opinion as you think about it. Have another listen to it. Just go, well, yeah, that could be a, yeah. Well, it could easily be. Well, I listened to it. It could easily be made into a real party song.
[00:06:57] Well, we haven't done anything as a live recording with all the noise and atmosphere and that sort of thing around. So we might try that. Well, we'll give it a go. Yeah, something new. And look, if it doesn't work, you just take it out. That's right. That's just it. They're all separate tracks. So you can pull and push whatever you like. And which I'll bring that bass guitar in and, yeah, have it really stand out. Yeah, that should be pretty cool.
[00:07:24] With everything you've been doing and getting back into work and recording, has the music in your head stopped or are you still writing? No, actually, I was flicking through my iPhone. I record stuff all the time. And some days I'll just record all these different notes and tunes in different patterns. And I went through that the other day. I went, oh, my goodness. There's like probably 30 compositions I've got sitting in my phone.
[00:07:52] And I'm like, oh, I just, no, no, I've got to work on these ones. I've really got to work on these ones before I start anymore. But there is a few in the midst, just sitting there waiting. I said I'm working a bit at the moment trying to shuffle things around so I've got some more free time. So you're talking about working for two weeks, then going down to Byron Bay for two weeks, and then coming back for two weeks. How's that going to work? I'm going to start a week up here and a week down. One week or two weeks? I thought you said two weeks.
[00:08:22] Well, I've got my calendar in front of me right now. And I'm thinking, well, I could probably do a week's work up here and thin it out as well so I don't have to work so much. And then when I get in Byron Bay, I can work or not. It doesn't matter. I've got some work down there if I want to be busy. Or I can just go and busk in the streets of Byron. I can pick up some little gigs through the different restaurants and places and pubs.
[00:08:50] And that really gets you to know the locals and the local musicians will come up and say g'day. And I think that sort of might be the first plan. And then get back into the studio. Well, I'm there. See, I'm there. So if the studio's available, I'm just right. He's here every second week. Where can I squeeze in? So I'm already here. I'm sitting around waiting, ready to go. So it might be easier to do it that way for starters. My son would love me to just move down there.
[00:09:19] He's like, just do that for now. And then if you want to just pack up and come down here, this is where you stay. So I've just got to work out that as we go. All right. What about the studio? What's happening down at Dave's studio? At Sandgate? Yeah. Well, that's the other thing. I've got the job there as well. So we're going to do a once a month lessons for me for starters, just to get people sort of knowing who we are.
[00:09:46] I think I might do a workshop down there again. But I think I might do a free one just to get people in to see what, show them what I do. I think it's just a night. I'll say, come and have a jam, have a bit of a sing. We'll sing some songs, play some tunes. This is what I do as an introduction. Yeah. Good advertising too. So that really kicks it off, I suppose, because people go, it's not going to cost me anything. Let's go and see what he does. Exactly. I haven't spoken to Dave about this. I've just been thinking about this the last couple of nights.
[00:10:16] So, yeah, I'll have a chat with him and just say, well, maybe we do that. Just have a sort of a get together, get so many people in the studio, just have a bit of a sit and play. And this is what we're going to teach and mentor and go from there. Cool. So how does that sound? Like a good idea? That sounds like a good idea. Sounds like a fun idea. We'll have a bit of fun for a night. And, well, yeah, we normally, when we do the workshops, we, you know,
[00:10:41] we get pizzas and we get soft drinks and some garlic bread and serviettes and plates and just have a good night. So we'll probably do the same. They might just, we'll just put Chuck in for a dinner. And we'll all, yeah, have a good time. Well, I think everybody will enjoy that. Yeah. Well, they're all keen to know, you know, what I do and who I am. A lot of them already do down that way. We do have a couple of ladies that want to see about singing and we'll go from there.
[00:11:11] What about gigs down there? You were saying you were going to go down and do some gigs in some of them. Yeah. Yep. Well, every time we go down there, I seem to work too much. There's a couple of spots down there. Easy. Easy done. It's getting Dave free time. The days he's not working to get him to come with me and play a couple. But I'll get in the cardigan bar there. I really like that. It seems a really comfortable spot to just chest out my new songs. Yeah, you haven't done that yet. No, I keep saying.
[00:11:39] And he said to me the other night, he goes, well, when are you doing that? I said, mate, I've been here working, buddy. You got me working in here. Yeah. That's fine. And he went, oh, yeah, true. So, yeah, yeah. So now we've set it. We've got the room set. I think everything's good. There was a couple of pieces they were going to take away and I can start working. So that'll be in my week here. I'll do that when I'm in Bribie.
[00:12:08] I'll just zip down there and do the one a month and see how they go, which is probably good for the singers. And guitarists. They get a couple of weeks to just practice what I give them and work on their skills and come back and see how they've improved. And they're not spending a lot of money because they're only doing it every month, for starters. If they're really keen, then we'll go from there. All right.
[00:12:33] Well, I know you've only just come home and I'll let you have a shower and have something to eat before we talk. So I might play one of your songs for the listeners. I don't think I have played Hold Your Hand. Oh, well, that was one of the big ones in, I think, Canada. Got in the top charts, I think it was. Let's play that for the listeners today. Fantastic. All right. Well, I'll let you go and I'll catch up with you next Saturday.
[00:13:02] Lots of love. All right. Take care, everybody. Stay safe. Bye. Bye.
[00:17:09] 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. Bye.