Screen Music Awards Nomination - Best Music for Childrens Television
Really great to be amongst some terrific fellow nominees for the Screen Music Guild / APRA awards for 2013, for my work on ABC for Kids’ “Gigglearium Special.”
This follows Giggle and Hoot’s ARIA nomination for last year’s album “Claw Tapping Tunes”. It's is my third nomination for this award, after winning it in 2009 – so fingers are crossed, though my fellow nominees, Henrique Dib and Christopher Elves have done some amazing work as well – it’s an honour to be along side them.
The Gigglearium Special tells the story of the arrival of a seemingly normal box of veges that arrives at the home of Jimmy Giggle and Hoot the Owl. When the magic button is pressed, it is transformed into a magical musical theatre, where Tommy Tomato, Bessie Broccoli and Cosmo Carrot perform amaaazing songs from all sorts of styles and genres.
The special includes 4 songs - Opera, Country, Mega-Rock Ballad, and a jazzy-dixie land song, as well as an orchestral underscore.
The whole Gigglearium series is a massive credit to Clare Gerber, Natalie Robinson-Hurst, Bryson Hall, Karin Fitzhardinge and Jan Stradling – the amazing Giggle and Hoot team. The Veges were performed by Naomi Young, Hamish Fletcher, and James Rees with Puppet Chorrie by Luke Joslin.
The Screen Music Awards will be announced on December 9 at the State Theatre Sydney.
King Kong
Theatre doesn’t get much bigger than this. I was thrilled to participate in the world premiere of Global Creature’s “King Kong” at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne.
The show drew in an incredible creative team from around the world, directed by Daniel Kramer, and with music by Marius DeVries. The Helpmann nominated score features songs by Massive Attack, Sarah McLachlan, The Avalanches and more, and was supervised by Max Lambert and Musically Directed by Daniel Edmonds. Having been a long time fan of Marius’s work on films like Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet, I was thrilled to be able to work as part of such an innovative music team on this production.
Let's Go Play! Songs For Happy Healthy Kids
"Think of it as a self help album for kids" - SMH
"Let's Go Play" (available on iTunes) is a collection of fifteen songs for pre-schoolers focussing on issues like Road Safety, Diet, Being Sunsafe, Anxiety, Bullying, Friendship, Cybersafety and a whole gamut of songs to entertain and educate your little person.
The songs were written in collaboration with a whole gamut of stakeholders from across the country including Brainstorm Productions, Kids and Traffic, ACMA's Cybersafety, Victoria Health, NSW FACS, and Victoria's Cancer Council. It was a privilege to work with so many passionate advocates of these important issues, and I’m really proud of the songs we made for this project.
Dame Julie Andrews
Yes. Julie Andrews. Yes, yes, yes. When I got the call to make a backing track for Dame Julie’s speaking tour, there was only ever going to be one answer. Yes.
It was an honour creating the music for the singalong finale of the show, with the usual help of Glen Hannah on guitar. It was a double thrill to meet Julie backstage and get a quick snap. Thanks to Peter Adams for asking, again, as well as Phil Bathos and Gordon Frost and all of the production team for this amazing show.
The Gigglearium!
When Jimmy Giggle and Hoot the Owl find a special magic ticket in the Surprise-a-lat-or, little do they know they’re soon going to receive the most magic fruit and vege box there ever was – The Gigglearium!
Home to Cosmo Carrot, Bessie Broccoli and Tommy Tomato, the three most singingest veges ever, the Gigglearium present awesome songs loud, slow, solo, country and opera while the veges dance up a storm.
If ever there was a gig I was born to do the Gigglearium is it. I know I always say I had a ball on all my gigs (and I do) but this was just so much fun to put together, with the amazing Giggle and Hoot team, and Clare Gerber in particular.
Slippy Slippy Slimy!
Now this was fun. When Kristie Phelan at Nickelodeon asked me to have a go at some music for their new image spot, I just fell in love with the piccys. Editor Andy Shaw had already done a cut that rocked and rolled, and demanded a really dynamic score, and it was my pleasure to grind out some thumping rock to match some sublime and slimy pictures. We went back and forth a couple of times and landed on something really aweosme.
The pictures really capture a primal messy joy more than anything, and it was aweosme to get out the guitar and drums and rock out for this one! Check out the clip over the break.
Pie Gotta Fly!
Was stoked to get the gig to write and compose a new song to celebrate the third birthday of ABC 3 and Studio 3. The brief was to create a song, for a film clip, about throwing pies, starring the ABC 3 Hosts including Prank Patrol's Scott Tweedie, Stay Tuned's Joel Phillips and Nicole Singh, Good Game's Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell and Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen, as well as the four amazing Studio 3 Hosts - Amberley Lobo, Olivia Phyland, James Elmer, and Kayne Tremills.