Translator: Alicia Lee Reviewer: Ivana Korom
Not really used to talking
so I’m going to start with a song.
(Music: "Brother Sister")
(Singing)
Always been a drifter
Said brother to a sister
Never been a liar
That boy's afraid of fire
I'll stay in my home
I just wanna be alone
You said
Nothing much to see
Not many people I can be
out there
We got time
Let's go waste it on the other side
Oh yeah, now we got time
We'll waste it on the other side
When we run out of time
We'll lay here as we die
When we run out of time
We'll lay here as we die
Oh my little bird
He never sang it was absurd
Never tried to fly
Thought if he failed
he would die
I'll stay in my home
I just wanna be alone
You said
Nothing much to see
Not many people I can be
Out there
We got time
Let's go waste it on the other side
Oh yeah, now we got time
We'll waste it on the other side
When we run out of time
We'll lay here as we die
When we run out of time
We'll lay here as we die
(Singing)
We got time
We'll waste it on the other side
Oh yeah, now we got time
We'll waste it on the other side
When we run out of time
We'll lay here as we die
When we run out of time
We'll lay here as we die
(Music ends)
(Applause)
Thank you.
Chasing your dream can be challenging.
Deciding to follow your passion
when that involves pursuing a career
filled with uncertainty
as a professional musician
can be particularly challenging.
I speak from experience.
I was 11 years old when I made the decision
to become a musician.
To my parents' great credit
they taught me that if I had an idea in my head
that I wanted to turn into a reality
I just needed to do it.
And so I started working on it.
And it became pretty clear to me pretty quickly
that in addition to practising
my chosen instruments
piano and guitar
and honing my craft as a songwriter,
that live performance would be critical.
So I started gigging.
I gigged everywhere I could,
whenever I could.
And I didn't have a license
because I was underage,
but my mum would drive me around
almost every day to another bar somewhere
where I'd play for hours as a soloist
and get paid very little money.
But, I didn't care
because dreams only work if you do.
And I was seeing the bigger picture.
I didn't care about the fact
that I was playing in some bar somewhere to no one.
Then when I was 15 I moved
from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast by myself
with the support and blessing of my mother
in order to join a dedicated music school
where I would practise my craft even further.
This involved more and more gigging
in local venues all around Brisbane.
Sometimes I would get to play to a room of 50 people,
and sometimes there'd just be two,
and one of them would usually be my mum.
(Laughter)
And this is a challenge,
because as a musician and songwriter,
you pour your soul into your songs.
They become an extension of who you are,
you live for that moment
when you get to connect with people,
that moment when someone sees you up on stage
they give you this look
and a tweak of a smile
as they hear a lyric and go:
'I've been there.'
Or when the whole room goes completely silent
because something about your song or performance
has actually snapped them
all into that moment with you.
Then I know that I've shared myself with them
vulnerably and honestly.
I'm fortunate to be having
more and more of these moments.
But it was hard to get here.
I'm not even there yet, I mean
Sahara Beck is hardly a household name.
But I spent all of last year touring
with artists like the Beach Boys,
Ben Lee, Katie Noonan and Darren Middleton.
I spend about 90 percent of my time on my music.
But it was hard getting here.
Those nights of playing to a room of two
can be demoralising for musicians.
And it isn't great for music lovers either.
The fact is that venues only book the performers
who bring in crowds.
It's just good business sense.
Anyway, all this has got me thinking:
What if it didn't have to be like that?
And there was a simple idea that I thought we could try.
What if we all committed to going out
to see one live act a month, just for a year.
Here's what I think will happen:
I think young musicians like myself
and young musicians like I was 4 years ago
will have more people coming out to support them
at their live shows.
This will help sustain them
as they're working towards making their dream a reality.
I think it will help stimulate the local economy
I think it will give live venues a lot more supprt
that we're giving them at the moment
because we really need to do that.
I also think that by doing this
we'll be sending a very clear message to venues
about what kind of music we'd like to hear
when we go out,
because if you want to hear the style of music
that you like to be live when you come out
then you actually need to be the one
who goes to that show and supports them.
I've known so many people
who have been as popular as anything
but people just stopped coming out
to see their live shows
so they weren't able to continue.
The power to keep this alive
is truly in everyone's hands.
And the good thing about this
is that it's not a painstaking task
that requires a large amount of money or time.
Music is often free.
Shows only last an hour or two.
And you get to see your friends and family.
With each one of you that passes through that door,
the spirits of the musicians on stage
will shine a little bit brighter
as they dare to believe
that their dream could become a reality.
Thank you.
(Applause)
Now this next song
is called "Oh Little Boy"
and it's about this boy who I used to think
I thought he was the smartest person in the world
I thought he was beautiful, charming
and then one day I realised he was an idiot.
(Laughter)
Then I wrote this song about him.
(Laughter)
I hope you're watching.
(Laughter)
(Music: "Oh Little Boy")
(Singing)
Oh little boy
so lonely in the morning
don't sleep through the darkness of the day
Oh little boy
don't know his time is rolling
I never tried so nothing came his way
Oh little boy
a girl would make you happy
but little boys they always stay the same.
Oh
Don't you try to stop me
I got nothing left to lose
Don't you call me nothing
I got everything on you.
Oh little boy
don't cry because I'm leaving
smile because you'll never be the same
Oh little boy
your smile can be deceiving
but love is just another silly game
Oh little boy
a girl would make you happy
but little boys they always stay the same
Oh
Don't you try to stop me
I got nothing left to lose
Don't you call me nothing
I got everything on you
Don't you try to stop me
I got nothing left to lose
Don't you call me nothing
I got everything
on
on you
(scat singing)
Don't you try to stop me
I got nothing left to lose
And don't you call me nothing
I got everything on you
And don't you try to stop me
I got nothing left to lose
And don't you call me nothing
I got everything
on
you
(Music ends)
(Applause)