1.The First Song I Wrote
I used to write little plays and music all the time as a kid, but the first ‘song’ I can remember writing I was maybe about 11 or 12. It had some overly sentimental verses about how people treat animals, with a little piano riff between each one.
2.The Last Song I Released
‘This House Is Gonna Burn’ is my new single from my debut solo album Taasha Coates & Her Melancholy Sweethearts. Shane Nicholson produced the record and I’m really proud of it. This particular song is about domestic abuse, which is not particularly cheerful but it rocks out a little so is hopefully more empowering than depressing.
3.Songwriting Secrets
I have no songwriting secrets really – I actually wish I did, I could do with some myself. I do know that the more you do it the better you get at it, but I don’t really have a process. Sometimes ideas pop out when I’m in the middle of dinner or in a lift or on the loo. Sometimes I sit on my bed and agonise over them for hours or days. Sometimes I start them then walk away and finish them years later.
4.The Song That Makes Me Proud
‘Songbird’ from The Audreys’ second album I’m particularly proud of. I don’t think it was ever played on the radio, but I know it resonated with people because they come and tell me at shows. For the Adelaide Cabaret Festival this year we provided a live soundtrack to a show by Restless Dance Theatre, a fabulous Adelaide-based company made up of dancers with disabilities. We wrote a bunch of new material for the show, but also included some of our album tracks, including ‘Songbird’.
5.The Song That Changed My Life
The first time I heard ‘Wild Is The Wind’ by David Bowie it blew my teeny tiny mind. I was meant to have learnt it for a rehearsal that night but I was unprepared and running late, so I downloaded it onto my phone, ran out the door and put my headphones on. I was on and off a tram and then walking through the city in Melbourne with people bustling to and forth all around me doing the things that people do, and I had that incredible song playing over and over at full volume in my head. I felt like I was in slow motion but everyone else was on full speed, it was so surreal. I felt like Jesus! I’ve loved Bowie ever since, and think that song is without doubt his greatest vocal.
Taasha Coates & Her Melancholy Sweethearts isout now through ABC/Universal.Tasha Coates, along withPeasant Moon and De’May, appear at Newtown Social Club, Saturday October 29.
