Winter 2008

It might have been the coldest winter on recent record, but Stagedoor was sizzling inside with hot acts to warm any venue in Sydney! Check this out: Wendy Matthews, The Angels, Marcia Hines, Youth Off The Streets, Richard Clapton, Wolfmother, Guy Sebastian, Damien Leith, Leo Sayer, Human Nature, Sneaky Sound System, Brian McFadden, Jade McRae, Doug Parkinson, Graeme Connors and COG.
There were artists representing all decades from the 70s to the contemporary.

  Youth off the Streets and into the Studio.

On 18th June I took the students out of Chapel School, Youth Off The Streets, and let them loose at Stagedoor. The field visit to a rehearsal and recording studio formed part of their music assessment for year 9 and 10. 
The day began with students receiving a brief history of the studios, followed by a workshop on the ins and outs of rehearsal studios. They were then free to enter the studios in pairs, where they experimented with the sound desks and effects. 
Following a short lunch they moved into the recording studio, where Liam gave a rundown of the facilities, including the Pro Tools set-up. The students then helped construct a backing track and donned the headphones to lay down the vocal track. The song turned out to be Lean on Me. 
All in all, staff and students found the day very informative and some even expressed interest in working in the studio field at some stage in the future. Thanks to the Door for once again providing opportunities for our young people.

Shapeshifting to Sydney to Shake the Door.

Shapeshifter will shape up and ship out of New Zealand early in September to take up a three-day residency at Stagedoor.
As there bio says "Shapeshifter has been heralded as a musical phenomenon for their ground breaking live shows and unique blend of heavy soul/drum and bass. Their reputation as pioneers of modern music was built by a unique approach to electronic music which had previously been restricted to computer based studio musicians and has earned them widespread critical and commercial acclaim."
The band are here for a tour that takes in Sydney's Metro Theatre, along with shows in Byron Bay, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. If you can get along to the shows you'll be doing yourself justice. If you can't afford that, put a glass against the double doors of room 2 and listen hard, but move quickly when they want a toilet break or risk a permanent ring around your ear.

  Noiseworks a Lot Better than Retirement.

Welcome back To The World and Take Me Back to a time when you could reach out and Touch the music. That's right, No Lies whatsoever, Noiseworks are back and they're doing their thing in room 5 from 1st October. Jon Stevens, Steve Balbi, Justin Stanley, Stuart Fraser and Kevin Nicol are all keen as mustard and hot to trot. I remember the summer of 1986 from their rauchous solid rock and soaring vocals. Noiseworks hits became anthems for Australia! They have certainly not been idle in the interim though, with Stevens' stint at INXS, Stanley and Balbi's time with the Electric Hippies, Fraser's hand in John Farnham's band, and Nicol dabbling in art. Rest assured, these won't be one-off jam sessions; get ready to get involved and grab a ticket as soon as they are available!


So please email Stagedoor on music@stagedoor.com.au or email me direct on againstalldodds@hotmail.com  
See you next edition,
Grant Dodds (Doddsy)


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