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March 23, 2014 | Nick Payne

I wasn’t expecting this to be the case, but it is.

Musicians have always played music because they have to. There’s something addictive when a song moves you in a way you didn’t expect, or when the individual sounds of a band click together to create a whole greater than the parts. Sure there have always been those enamoured by fame more than the music itself (maybe even more so in these days of reality TV), but there’s always the true and passionate musicians that can’t help but make music.

Music in Australia is not sustainable as a career. Those who’ve found themselves a victim to this addiction face a real conundrum - how do I invest time in my passion and make ends meet? The choices are few. You either hop a plane to the US and carve out a career there or you spend time doing in music in ways that aren’t at the centre of what you wish to do - playing covers gigs, teaching, etc,. The realistic option for most of us is mixing full time employment with playing music in our spare time. For those of us with family it gets a little more complicated again. If you’ve been struggling with your work/life balance, try struggling with work/life/music balance (I’m lucky enough to make music with my partner Lyn, which simplifies thing a little).

It’s in this context that Lyn and I made the decision that I would record a solo album.

We’ve been aiming for a long time to record a new Dear Orphans album, but life keeps getting in the way. Lyn’s focus right now is on some great music photography and video projects (check some of her work out at www.lyntaylor.com). Trying to get these done and record a Dear Orphans album just wasn’t working. So we decided, that whilst she’s focussed on her own projects, that I would take the opportunity to record something a step away from our normal thing. I’m pleased to say - I’m really looking forward to it!

So what does this all mean?

Firstly, we’ll be laying a little low on the gig front for a while. Not entirely, but not as much as normal (although expect a visit to Melbourne in June).

Secondly, I’ll be looking for help to get this thing done. This is normally the point where you hear the crowd funding pitch. Well, there’s more to making an album great than money. I’m going to be looking for a much broader variety of help. Things like, ideas, feedback, skills, loans of equipment, effort, etc,. I’m committed to making this thing great and I know that the more perspectives I get on it, the better it will be.

Thirdly, it’s likely that part of this album will be recorded at a location in Parramatta and will be open to folk to come along and experience the recording process. A great record only comes from great performances and I believe that opening the sessions up will help push us to play our best.

So that’s it folks. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for regular updates. I’ll be blogging regularly here about the process. And I’ll be publishing the Lend a Hand list in a little while so you can see how you might be able to help me out.

Many thanks in advance.

Nick

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