May 22, 2025
Sandy Kaye: A Story of Life and Music
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When I first spoke to our guest about todays episode I fully intended to talk to her about the hundreds of interviews she had with some of the world best musicians and bands.
But as it turned out her career was more like an episode of, This is your life.
It is a story of determination from a person who wanted to succeed
The lady I’m referring to is Sandy Kaye who is a freelance broadcaster, journalist, producer and podcaster who has spent more than 35 years on both sides of radio and television microphones.
So our chat is about both her life and her love of music of the 60’s 70’s 80’s
00:14 - Welcome to Why Is It So
21:59 - Music Memories and Iconic Interviews
28:31 - Behind the Scenes of A Breath of Fresh Air
30:18 - Wrapping Up and Future Insights
WEBVTT
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Welcome to Why Is It So? Your last defence for common sense,
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with your co-hosts Paul Zammett and Vince Locizzano.
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Welcome to Why Is It So. My name is Paul and when I first spoke to our guest
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for today's episode I fully intended to talk to her about the hundreds of interviews
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that she has had with some of the world's best musicians and bands.
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But as it turned out her career was more of an episode of this is your life.
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So today's chat is about both, her life and her love of music of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
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The lady I'm referring to is
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Sandy Kay, who has her own podcast which is called A Breath of Fresh Air.
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Sandy Kay, thank you for joining us today. Please tell us a little bit about
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yourself and where you got to where you are today.
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Well you better tell me what you want to No, I could talk all day about me.
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I'm my favourite subject.
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What do you want to know about me, Paul Zammis? No, just basically where you started.
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Well, I know through your book that you're a journo and a newsreader and all that sort of stuff.
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Let me take you right back. I grew up in Melbourne and I lived in the suburb
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of Carnegie next door to a friend of mine whose mother taught creative dance.
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And we used to, as kids, her son and I used to attend her creative dance classes
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all the time in the studio.
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And as part of that, do you remember the For Schools program that we all used
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to have to watch when we were in primary school?
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Yeah. So the lady was called Hannie Exner and she had a creative dance show
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that was part of the For Schools program.
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And Jamie, her son and I, had to go and dance on this For Schools program once
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a week to the ABC in Ripon Lee.
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And at state school, at primary school, the limousine used to come to pick me
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up, him too I guess, although I don't remember him, but the limousine driver would come,
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I think I was in about grade three, pick us up, take us to Ripon Lee,
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we'd go through our dancing to record the show,
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come back to school and the next day the whole school had to gather in the theatreette
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to watch the For Schools program and see us dancing.
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So I was already a bit of a hit in grade three, and I fell in love with the
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smell of film and the studio and the lights and the whole thing.
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I thought, this is what I want to do.
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At the same time, my parents would go out on a Sunday afternoon and leave me
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at home to babysit for my younger brother.
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And I was probably nine, 10 years old maximum. I would assemble the couches
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in such a way, and I would put all my imaginary guests on the couches.
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My mother had this single glass rose vase and that was my microphone and I used
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to talk to Elvis and to the Beatles and to the monkeys a little bit and anyone
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and I would just chat to them because I used to watch the show,
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the Dinah Shaw show on television.
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Yeah. And I thought she's got the best job in the world to be sitting on the
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couch interviewing all these famous people was just it. So Sunday afternoons, that's what I did.
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I played host and talked to all my imaginary guests.
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And then during the week, we would go and dance in the television studio.
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And I think it was kind of then that I knew that's what I wanted to do.
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When I went to university, I studied arts law and I absolutely detested it.
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And much to my father's disgust, I left after second year and went to pursue
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a job in the media. I went to the Gold Coast and took this beautiful friend
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of mine with me. She was thin with long blonde hair.
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And I made friends with the program director at a radio station then.
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And I was the mouthpiece. She was the beauty.
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And I said to him, have you got a job for us? And he said, well,
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actually, I've got a job for one of you.
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I need promotions girls for the radio station. You probably recall in those
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days they had the bikini-clad.
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Sash-wearing promotions girls running around on the beaches of the Gold Coast
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picking up rubbish or giving away prizes and we did all sorts of things.
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Feeding the meters. Exactly. Feeding the meters, yep.
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I was such an idiot. I said, okay, we'll take it.
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We'll share the job. Well, I didn't quite realize at the tender age of 17 that
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sharing a job meant also sharing a wage.
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And we had a lot of fun, but we were stone broke. We couldn't afford food.
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We were selling clothing. We were trying to turn anything we could into cash.
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That lasted about a year. I remember that in those days, as you would well remember,
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it was so expensive to make a phone call interstate that my mother couldn't
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even afford to call me, let alone come and visit me using an aeroplane.
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So on my 18th birthday, she sent me a chocolate cake in the mail and I cried
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and cried and cried and cried.
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But I lasted there for maybe a year, year and a half, came home.
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So I'd already had my first taste of the media and I really loved it and I wanted to stay there.
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And I was also very determined to prove to my father that I wasn't the black
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sheep of the family that I could make some sort of success of myself despite
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him saying I'll never be any good now that I've left university.
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So I started ringing around and there was a news director at Radio 3 MP,
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which was then out in Frankston.
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And I rang this poor guy every single day. I'm not sure why he took my calls every day, but he did.
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And I would go, hi, Barry Owen, it's me, Sandy. Can I come and work for you now?
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And he said, Sandy, you haven't got any experience. You can't.
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Yeah, I've got experience. I worked at 4GG.
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He said, look, we don't have anything for you. I said, I'll call you tomorrow.
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I called this poor man every single day for three months until finally he said
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to me, you know what? My traffic girl's gone off sick today.
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Why don't you bring yourself to Frankston and you can do the traffic report?
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I thought, yeah, I'm going to Frankston. I'm.
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So I did. I went there and I started doing traffic reports and I had no idea what I was doing.
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This was long before the internet or mobile phones or anything else.
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In those days, you had to just call the local garages around the place,
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service stations, and ask them what they could see, what the traffic was like around there.
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And I compiled the report, but I also told people to clear off the Nepean Highway
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because that's the way I wanted to come home. So I redirected them elsewhere.
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And I just played with it and had a lot of fun. And Barry liked the kind of fun approach.
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One day, a few weeks later, he said to me, would you like to read the news?
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I said, yeah, I'd love to. Thanks.
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So I jumped into the news editor's chair and I started to read the news.
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Again, I had no idea of what I was doing. I just played with it and I would read the news.
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Anyway, this was long before female newsreaders were a thing.
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There was an all-male newsroom that was filled with people like Edwin Marr and
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Keith McGowan and all sorts of, you know, radio stalwarts, male radio stalwarts.
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And they all objected and said to Barry Owen, who is this young upstart of a girl?
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Who does she think she is able to read the news at the age of 18 without any formal training?
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He said, you let her go or we'll all quit.
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And Barry Owen unfortunately said to me that day, I'm sorry,
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I'm going to have to let you go, Sandy.
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I drove home on the Nepean Highway that day, bawling my eyes out because my
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first real job, I had lost quite soon into it.
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That was in the days of listener in TV and the sacking made the news.
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And when I started to ring around again, there was a young journalist who'd
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just come out of New Zealand who was making himself well-known at Radio 3XY at the time.
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His name was Darren Hinch. And when I rang around and spoke to 3XY,
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Darren Hinch said, oh, I've read about you.
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You're the sort of girl I'd like to have come work with me.
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And he picked me up and I went to work with him for the better part of a couple of years.
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And I was starting to become established in the industry.
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And in that industry, one job leads to the next.
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I got a call from a news director in Sydney at a radio station,
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a brand new radio station called 2WS that said, we want you to lead our news
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team to become Sydney's first female newsreader.
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So I said, see you, Darren, and off I went to do that.
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I'm now 150 jobs more probably down the line because each one you have leads
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to the next, leads to the next.
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And that was certainly my start in journalism.
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Is that about the time you sort of decided that you like music, obviously.
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I've read that on your by, but your music is your life.
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Yeah, well, you know what, Paul? The people that I went to school with accused
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me of never having grown up since I was about 15 or 16, not emotionally and
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certainly not in my tastes in music.
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So the music of the late 60s, 70s, perhaps not so much the 80s,
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was absolutely the soundtrack of my life.
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We lived and breathed music in those days at school, you know,
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with the transistor radio and you'd get under the covers in bed with your transistor
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and when your parents would say you have to go to sleep, you'd just keep listening to the music.
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So, you know, I've done a lot of jobs in media between then and now,
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news, current affairs, entertainment.
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And just before COVID, I was doing entertainment reports for a bunch of different
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radio stations, predominantly for the lifestyle. So I could get tickets to movies
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and live theater shows and the like, and I'd just tell them what I thought of
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them. And it's pretty easy.
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When COVID hit, those radio stations were having a great deal of trouble getting
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their announcers to come in and fill shifts.
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So some of those stations said to me, do you think you could blow out your 20
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or 30-minute segment that you do for us every week?
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Could you make it an hour's program for us?
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Yeah, okay, I can do that. So I sat down on my laptop, and I've been a radio producer.
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I've had my own radio show before, and I knew that a radio show needs,
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you know four segments an hour sometimes six segments
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an hour so I started to build this radio show for them
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that had a lot of different segments in it well
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that's all fine and well except a I wasn't getting paid for
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it and b it was taking me you know seven days a
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week to do it and I was just getting burnt out I had no time to do anything
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else and my partner at the time said to me you know what you're enjoying doing
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the interviews why don't you just pull it down and make it one interview per
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week for them and let the interview breathe and pop music through it as well.
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So I thought, yeah, that's a great idea.
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So I'm reaching out at the time to people, to some of my favorite artists.
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I reached out to Alice Cooper, to John Oates, to Peter Frampton,
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to, you know, whoever I could think of.
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And lo and behold, because it was COVID and they're all stuck at home too,
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they picked up the phone and go, yeah, okay, we'll have a chat with you, no problem.
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And again, one thing builds on another, so that once I started to have a little
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bit of a bank of talent, as we call it,
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the next bunch of people that I reached out to were happy to be in the company
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of those who I've already spoken to.
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So eventually I started letting these interviews breathe.
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The interviews became longer and longer and it developed into this show that
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I called A Breath of Fresh Air, which was really centred on.
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Allowing an artist to tell their own story in their own words, in their own voice.
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Yeah, some of the events that we've got there, I mean, there's hundreds of them
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on there, but you've got in excess Rolling Stone and Little River Band,
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the Delftones, Ice House, Cloal Chisel.
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I mean, yeah, in those days, they were big. In fact, some of them are still
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working now and doing well.
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Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I kind of only go for the big ones.
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The show goes internationally. It plays out on about 180 radio stations right
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around the world at the moment.
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I'm very chuffed with that. Some of them do pay for it. Some of them don't.
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And it's also as a podcast on all the major podcast platforms.
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And I put the interviews up onto YouTube too, which is really going gangbusters.
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So it has to be well-known people that audiences right around the world can relate to.
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And if they're not so well-known, you know, I mean, the Deltones,
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for example, you mentioned, were very well-known in Australia.
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In fact, before my time, I got to know them. I mean, I'm always being educated
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through the process of doing these interviews.
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But it will then be up to me to explain who they are and what sort of a mark
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they've made on that society.
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So I like to... Sorry. And I was just going to say, did you sort of do mostly
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on the phone like we're doing here or were you face-to-face with some of them?
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Did you sort of get to face-to-face?
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Well, there'd been a few but mainly the artists that I interview are international
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acts, so they're in the UK, they're in the US or...
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The Australian and the Canadian ones are obviously not here.
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The Australian ones, I could do face-to-face.
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But with this technology, being able to be face-to-face in an interview over
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Zoom, it's just so much easier. I can chat to them as long as it's face-to-face.
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Initially, it started off on the phone and the phone doesn't work half as well.
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You can't relate to the person you're speaking to as well. You keep cutting
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across each other on the line.
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It's hopeless. But face-to-face on Zoom works fabulously.
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It's almost as good as sitting in the room together, except that I don't need
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cameras and lights and everything else.
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I mean, some of them, yes, I have done face-to-face when time and budget allow for it.
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But I don't think it actually makes for a better interview, for sure not.
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I think people are really relaxed in their own environment and,
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you know, they know they're there for 30 minutes or 40 minutes or whatever it
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is, and it's a great vehicle, then I can just chop it up as I need to. Yeah, yeah, okay.
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So now I've mentioned half a dozen here.
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I've had a look at A Breath of Fresh Air, and there's heaps of them there.
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Which was your best interview, did you think?
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Well, best interview or favourite interview are probably two different questions.
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I'll tell you my favourite.
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Well, I'll tell you one story anyway. So I was always a really big fan of Gordon Lightfoot.
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I don't know why I liked him so much. I did love those big hits that he had,
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but I also liked the wild boy in him, the rebel that he was,
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the womanizer that he was.
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He was sort of, to me, like the James Dean of music.
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And I must have chased Gordon Lightfoot for about two years before his manager
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allowed me to have a chat with him. By the time I got to him,
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it actually wasn't too long before he passed away.
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And he wouldn't do a Zoom interview. He wouldn't show me his face.
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He would only do it on the phone, which, as I've explained, made it more difficult anyway.
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But what I discovered about Gordon Lightfoot was that it was like talking to
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your grandfather with his hearing aid out.
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And it was really, really difficult.
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I had to work so hard to make him understand my questions. Maybe it was the
00:16:10.101 --> 00:16:17.641
accent as well, but his hearing was so shot that it was so repetitive and he
00:16:17.641 --> 00:16:18.801
couldn't finish a sentence.
00:16:19.041 --> 00:16:25.041
I've never had to work so hard on editing the final product to make it coherent.
00:16:25.541 --> 00:16:30.241
Can I just ask there, who is Gordon Lightfoot? I'm sorry, but I don't know of him.
00:16:30.841 --> 00:16:38.581
No, I must admit, I am not a music aficiado.
00:16:39.301 --> 00:16:43.301
So Gordon Lightfoot is probably Canada's most famous musician.
00:16:43.461 --> 00:16:46.201
He did those songs, If You Could Read My Mind.
00:16:46.481 --> 00:16:50.581
If you could read my mind, love. I've heard that one.
00:16:51.321 --> 00:16:55.401
Absolutely. He's done, you'll have to go away from this interview and look him
00:16:55.401 --> 00:17:01.501
up because he was an absolutely super singer and a wild one.
00:17:01.641 --> 00:17:03.601
He's on a breath of fresh air, I take it.
00:17:03.821 --> 00:17:07.801
He's on a breath of fresh air and I was lucky to get him before he passed away.
00:17:07.801 --> 00:17:11.421
The outpouring since he passed has been huge.
00:17:11.741 --> 00:17:16.561
Another one of my favorites was, and you probably remember this guy more,
00:17:16.881 --> 00:17:21.741
I was a little bit too young for him, but I do remember that some of my friends
00:17:21.741 --> 00:17:28.041
who were older than me used to have posters all over their walls at the time, was Bobby Sherman.
00:17:28.261 --> 00:17:30.581
Do you remember Bobby Sherman? No, I can't say.
00:17:32.381 --> 00:17:38.221
He was an absolute pin-up idol. He was every teenage girl's superhero.
00:17:38.421 --> 00:17:44.041
He was a television star as well. He did a few guest stints on The Partridge
00:17:44.041 --> 00:17:49.321
Family with David Cassidy, but he came in before David Cassidy did.
00:17:49.561 --> 00:17:51.081
And he was American, I take it?
00:17:51.401 --> 00:17:58.081
American. He was huge, and still he remains the biggest hit on my website.
00:17:58.081 --> 00:18:02.421
The most listened to artist that I've spoken to is Bobby Sherman.
00:18:02.601 --> 00:18:07.801
He is now dying himself. And again, it took me a long, long time before I convinced
00:18:07.801 --> 00:18:09.941
his wife to let me speak to him.
00:18:10.121 --> 00:18:17.641
Unfortunately, she wouldn't let him be on camera with me. I think it was more about her than him.
00:18:17.961 --> 00:18:23.381
But he was sensational. He was really a lovely, lovely man with a great story
00:18:23.381 --> 00:18:25.861
to tell. Now, okay, I'll give you another one.
00:18:26.363 --> 00:18:31.783
I turned into a snivelling 14-year-old when I got the opportunity to talk to
00:18:31.783 --> 00:18:33.443
Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees.
00:18:33.543 --> 00:18:35.643
You've heard of them all. I've heard of Monkees, yes.
00:18:36.463 --> 00:18:37.943
Goodness, third time lucky.
00:18:39.543 --> 00:18:45.623
I was a huge Monkees fan in the day. They were right up in my era.
00:18:46.023 --> 00:18:50.523
And, you know, I was part of the throng of screaming girls when they came to
00:18:50.523 --> 00:18:54.083
Melbourne and stayed at the Southern Cross Hotel and all of that.
00:18:54.083 --> 00:18:58.803
So when I spoke to Mickey Donalds and I never get, what am I trying to say? Overwhelmed?
00:18:59.183 --> 00:19:05.983
Yeah, like that. I don't get shy or overwhelmed when I speak to these guests
00:19:05.983 --> 00:19:10.603
because what I've discovered about them all is that they're all just people.
00:19:11.043 --> 00:19:12.243
Human beings, that's right.
00:19:13.043 --> 00:19:18.443
And as a teenager, as a 20-something-year-old, whatever, these guys have made
00:19:18.443 --> 00:19:20.343
the soundtrack to our lives.
00:19:20.343 --> 00:19:26.523
If you grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, these were the songs you were hearing all
00:19:26.523 --> 00:19:29.823
over the radio and many of the songs you still hear on radio today.
00:19:30.263 --> 00:19:33.603
And I used to put all the artists on a pedestal.
00:19:33.743 --> 00:19:39.363
I mean, the days of Uptight and The Go Show and all of those shows in Melbourne,
00:19:39.583 --> 00:19:44.143
I remember Rosti Wiley used to the compere. Do you know who I'm talking about, Rosti?
00:19:44.263 --> 00:19:46.783
I've heard the name. I've heard the name.
00:19:49.283 --> 00:19:53.623
And I used to put them all on a pedestal I thought they were like super humans
00:19:53.623 --> 00:19:58.503
because they could make this music and they were on the radio and I could watch them on television,
00:19:59.383 --> 00:20:05.083
but uh you know I realized that they're all just ordinary people like you and
00:20:05.083 --> 00:20:09.923
me and most of them are really humble despite huge successes that that a lot
00:20:09.923 --> 00:20:14.643
of them have enjoyed so interviewing Now, who was I talking about there?
00:20:15.523 --> 00:20:21.463
Mickey Dolenz. That's right. So I kind of turned into a 14-year-old fan at the
00:20:21.463 --> 00:20:24.523
time and I couldn't, I was like shaking. Oh my God, oh my God,
00:20:24.563 --> 00:20:25.883
I'm talking to Mickey Dolenz.
00:20:26.003 --> 00:20:29.963
But he's probably the only one that I was affected by like that.
00:20:30.043 --> 00:20:32.923
The rest of them have been just wonderful to speak to.
00:20:33.063 --> 00:20:37.603
So people like Debbie Harry from Blondie. You've heard of Blondie? I've heard of her.
00:20:38.174 --> 00:20:41.614
She was just magnificent. She's 80-something years old now.
00:20:41.934 --> 00:20:45.814
And looking at her on the Zoom, I went, oh, my goodness, Debbie, you look sensational.
00:20:45.934 --> 00:20:52.254
What's your secret here to maintaining your youth after all those days of being
00:20:52.254 --> 00:20:57.694
a punk singer and all the drugs and alcohol and everything? How do you maintain it?
00:20:57.754 --> 00:21:01.314
And she sort of shared some of that with me, which was fabulous.
00:21:01.314 --> 00:21:06.714
And as a result of speaking to her, Kim Carnes, who was also an 80s singer,
00:21:06.714 --> 00:21:10.614
said, oh, well, you've spoken to Debbie because the Debbie Harry interview still
00:21:10.614 --> 00:21:14.994
gets so many comments on YouTube. People are talking about her all the time.
00:21:15.174 --> 00:21:21.814
But back to getting closer to home and to the Australian, I would know most of those.
00:21:22.174 --> 00:21:24.394
Okay, that's good to hear, Paul. I'm glad.
00:21:25.174 --> 00:21:28.314
I don't know where you went to school or what you were doing growing up.
00:21:28.314 --> 00:21:31.134
You obviously weren't at the same concerts that I went to.
00:21:31.334 --> 00:21:36.674
What about Skyhooks? Were you a fan of Skyhooks? Yes, I remember Skyhooks. Oh, my goodness.
00:21:37.354 --> 00:21:41.874
But don't forget, when I was at that age, I don't think that motor cars had
00:21:41.874 --> 00:21:44.214
just come into my life, put it that way.
00:21:44.794 --> 00:21:51.154
So, yeah. But obviously, the ones I mentioned before, I've heard of them.
00:21:52.854 --> 00:21:59.094
Are you more of the Peter, Paul and Mary vintage? Yeah. Back in those days.
00:21:59.094 --> 00:22:00.754
I was supposed to say. Yeah. Right.
00:22:05.034 --> 00:22:09.834
Noel Paul Stuckey, there's a fabulous interview with him there. He was just wonderful.
00:22:10.014 --> 00:22:13.694
He was the Paul in the Peter, Paul and Mary, but his real name is Noel.
00:22:13.994 --> 00:22:21.554
He was a delightful person. And I would imagine that you remember Donovan, Donovan Leach too? No.
00:22:22.654 --> 00:22:25.754
Donovan, the hurdy-gurdy man. Of course you do.
00:22:26.014 --> 00:22:29.094
Donovan was huge in the UK. How could you not know Donovan? Oh,
00:22:29.114 --> 00:22:32.814
you'll have to look him up. Obviously, he's in the wrong part of my mind at this stage.
00:22:32.934 --> 00:22:35.134
Must be. Must be. Must be.
00:22:36.814 --> 00:22:42.374
No, but it's, you never got to, obviously, Jackson was gone by the time you
00:22:42.374 --> 00:22:44.454
were into this. Michael Jackson.
00:22:45.174 --> 00:22:49.094
Michael Jackson was gone, but there were, yeah, absolutely, but there have been
00:22:49.094 --> 00:22:51.134
people that talk about Michael Jackson.
00:22:51.314 --> 00:22:56.814
And I did speak to Michael Jackson's brother, Tito, before he passed away last year, I think.
00:22:57.014 --> 00:22:59.414
He was a fabulous guy, too.
00:23:00.174 --> 00:23:04.234
There's only one left, isn't there, of the death? No, I think there are more
00:23:04.234 --> 00:23:07.394
than that. I think there are a couple, and, of course, she's left too.
00:23:08.134 --> 00:23:13.054
There's Jermaine and there's another one because there were five of them, obviously.
00:23:13.854 --> 00:23:17.734
I'm not sure about that. But a few people have spoken about Michael Jackson,
00:23:17.754 --> 00:23:22.954
I remember, and talked about the legacy that he leaves and his music and his influences.
00:23:23.414 --> 00:23:27.634
Apparently, he was, as Prince was, heavily influenced by,
00:23:27.921 --> 00:23:31.721
by, now I can't remember even who it was. That's the problem with it.
00:23:31.781 --> 00:23:35.881
I talk to so many people that it's kind of in one ear and out the other.
00:23:36.041 --> 00:23:38.261
It's hard to remember what each one has had to say.
00:23:40.961 --> 00:23:44.221
What's his name from Rolling Stones? Yeah, Mick Jagger.
00:23:44.621 --> 00:23:51.001
I haven't managed to get him yet. You haven't? I thought you got him in your files.
00:23:51.541 --> 00:23:55.161
Haven't you got him on? There must be an article about him. I haven't managed
00:23:55.161 --> 00:23:59.461
to. Okay. I'm still trying. I'm still trying. him. Some of them are quite elusive.
00:24:01.721 --> 00:24:06.601
You have to understand that where they're willing to talk to me is either if
00:24:06.601 --> 00:24:13.861
they were huge back in the day and these days they're retired or chilling out with life, whatever,
00:24:14.041 --> 00:24:18.581
then they're happy to talk about the heady days that were and update fans about
00:24:18.581 --> 00:24:19.581
what they're doing today.
00:24:20.101 --> 00:24:24.081
Or the other cohort who are happy to talk to me are the ones who have got something
00:24:24.081 --> 00:24:29.021
to push today that I can actually help them publicise if they're releasing a
00:24:29.021 --> 00:24:31.201
book or a new album or a new single.
00:24:31.421 --> 00:24:33.361
So there are a lot of still making music.
00:24:33.601 --> 00:24:39.201
The ones that are still really on top today and were and have been for the last
00:24:39.201 --> 00:24:47.921
50 or more years are often surrounded by stronger gatekeepers who are very hard to penetrate.
00:24:48.241 --> 00:24:50.661
I mean, do you remember Janice Ian? Yeah.
00:24:51.321 --> 00:24:54.941
At 17. She wasn't on her own. She was.
00:24:55.041 --> 00:24:58.861
She was totally on her own and she did that song at 17 that,
00:24:59.061 --> 00:25:04.961
again, every girl sort of that nobody gave her valentines and she was the ugly one at school.
00:25:05.301 --> 00:25:10.281
Anyway, she's coming up for me again. I've spoken to her once before.
00:25:10.841 --> 00:25:15.061
Actually, she does fit the mould I was just talking about because she's got
00:25:15.061 --> 00:25:17.281
a new album out and she's got a book as well.
00:25:17.401 --> 00:25:20.061
So when they've got something to publicise, they're happy to.
00:25:20.061 --> 00:25:25.941
Gloria Gaynor hasn't released new music for the last 10 or so years,
00:25:25.941 --> 00:25:30.421
and I've been hassling her manager constantly, and she's been saying,
00:25:30.561 --> 00:25:31.741
well, she's got nothing to talk about.
00:25:31.801 --> 00:25:35.261
And I said, well, I want to talk about her backstory. It doesn't matter about now.
00:25:35.441 --> 00:25:38.701
But now she's released new music, so she'll be coming up.
00:25:39.381 --> 00:25:48.781
One of the people I did know or did speak to is a guy, Ivor Davis from Ice House. Ice House.
00:25:49.001 --> 00:25:52.341
I actually met him before he became big.
00:25:52.541 --> 00:25:56.901
We used to do a gig in Collingwood. I don't know if I'm right there.
00:25:56.981 --> 00:26:01.081
Is it Collingwood or Richmond or one of those sort of where they used to have
00:26:01.081 --> 00:26:05.781
like a few guys on stage having a sing and whatever have you and everyone was
00:26:05.781 --> 00:26:07.221
sort of going dancing and whatever.
00:26:07.521 --> 00:26:11.861
And he wasn't all that well-known, but I got to know him through a friend of mine who did know him.
00:26:12.541 --> 00:26:15.181
Okay. Yeah, and he's probably the â,
00:26:15.687 --> 00:26:20.907
Closest I've got to a band in those days. But that was it.
00:26:21.847 --> 00:26:24.887
I know what you're missing out on. You're going to have to get back into the
00:26:24.887 --> 00:26:29.307
scene and go and see some more live music. There's so much. Maybe in my next life.
00:26:30.467 --> 00:26:32.707
I think I'm a bit late for this one.
00:26:33.867 --> 00:26:38.027
I don't think you're ever too late at all. And you'd be really amazed because
00:26:38.027 --> 00:26:45.007
a lot of those heritage acts, as they're called, the crowds they attract are your age and my age.
00:26:45.007 --> 00:26:47.287
I mean, there are a lot of younger ones as well, but they're,
00:26:47.587 --> 00:26:50.447
you know, you don't have to stand on your feet all night. There are lots of
00:26:50.447 --> 00:26:51.647
them that perform shows.
00:26:51.807 --> 00:26:55.987
I mean, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap I saw not so long ago at Palms at Crown.
00:26:56.327 --> 00:27:00.627
And it's a very comfortable venue and the show is great. They put on a terrific
00:27:00.627 --> 00:27:03.007
floor show. He's 84 years old.
00:27:03.347 --> 00:27:07.207
They're still out performing. Absolutely. A lot of them are already in their
00:27:07.207 --> 00:27:09.187
80s, yeah, and still doing it.
00:27:09.447 --> 00:27:13.907
The latest one I've seen with my partner, we went and saw Lee Thurnehan.
00:27:13.907 --> 00:27:17.047
Do you know him or do you know him? I do. Of course I do.
00:27:17.407 --> 00:27:20.727
I like country music too, yeah. And he put on a terrific show,
00:27:21.167 --> 00:27:25.387
a fantastic show, two hours flat out, and he was just great.
00:27:25.447 --> 00:27:26.707
I think I've been before too.
00:27:27.107 --> 00:27:30.987
Yeah, I really like him. He's great. That was all my music, the country and
00:27:30.987 --> 00:27:35.827
western, and, you know, all that sort of stuff. Right, right, right.
00:27:36.527 --> 00:27:40.507
Do you like the American band the Oak Ridge Boys, if you like country?
00:27:40.847 --> 00:27:44.907
Oak Ridge Boys, I don't know. No. Don't know them? Haven't heard of them.
00:27:45.027 --> 00:27:46.287
And what about Tommy Emanuel?
00:27:46.867 --> 00:27:52.787
Yeah, what do you think? Well, he's this finger-picking guitarist who was born
00:27:52.787 --> 00:27:59.867
in Musselbrook in New South Wales who is huge on the international stage and
00:27:59.867 --> 00:28:03.667
named as one of the top guitarists in the world today.
00:28:03.887 --> 00:28:06.007
And he's an Aussie. He's fabulous.
00:28:06.567 --> 00:28:10.367
And, I mean, there are so many Aussies doing so many great things.
00:28:10.367 --> 00:28:16.327
I had a chat with Big Bertels not so long ago. Of course, he was in Zoot originally
00:28:16.327 --> 00:28:18.107
and then in the Little River Band also.
00:28:18.247 --> 00:28:23.747
Glenn Shorrock I spoke to, who is also in his early 80s, who's not terribly
00:28:23.747 --> 00:28:26.647
well at the moment but still out there in concert.
00:28:26.867 --> 00:28:30.127
Brian Cadd, who I'm sure you've heard of also.
00:28:31.087 --> 00:28:36.427
He's a wonderful performer. Oh, Australia should be so proud of all the fabulous
00:28:36.427 --> 00:28:38.227
musicians. We have had some good bands.
00:28:38.747 --> 00:28:40.447
And NXS, of course, is worldwide.
00:28:41.087 --> 00:28:45.667
Absolutely. Yeah, they, I'm the man from down under.
00:28:45.867 --> 00:28:52.547
That was what got them on everybody's screen. That was men at work, Colin Hay.
00:28:52.927 --> 00:28:57.247
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They really put us on the map, didn't they,
00:28:57.347 --> 00:28:59.347
with Vegemite? They did, yeah, they did.
00:28:59.871 --> 00:29:04.531
And I'm learning, I'm learning. Every day I do one of these, I learn something.
00:29:04.991 --> 00:29:09.591
Yeah, well, that's the beauty of doing it, is that the more people you talk to, the more you learn.
00:29:09.611 --> 00:29:13.791
And what better a way to learn things than chatting to people and learning from them. I love that.
00:29:14.151 --> 00:29:19.651
Exactly, yes. You don't work on your own, though, do you? You have a guy who
00:29:19.651 --> 00:29:21.751
does the editing for you and all that sort of stuff.
00:29:22.611 --> 00:29:26.411
I pretty much do work on my own. I do do all of the editing,
00:29:26.731 --> 00:29:30.751
but I send the timeline, all of the files.
00:29:30.891 --> 00:29:35.391
So I pull all the music down and I insert and cut where I want it to be.
00:29:35.451 --> 00:29:39.791
And then I send that file to a sound engineer in Brazil.
00:29:41.411 --> 00:29:46.591
And he butt joins it all together and he fades in and out and works all the
00:29:46.591 --> 00:29:49.791
technical side of it because I can't do all of those levels.
00:29:49.791 --> 00:29:54.891
And he apparently puts this 70s sort of filter over the top of the show also
00:29:54.891 --> 00:29:57.851
to give it more of an authentic 70s feel.
00:29:58.151 --> 00:30:02.711
He's an amazing guy and I think I've been working with him now for five years.
00:30:03.251 --> 00:30:06.111
I've never heard the sound of his voice. It's so weird.
00:30:06.211 --> 00:30:12.071
We communicate over WhatsApp just in chat and his English seems really good
00:30:12.071 --> 00:30:16.771
but I've never, I said, I'll call you, Ricardo. No, no, no, chat, chat, chat.
00:30:18.631 --> 00:30:23.971
We don't have just to finish it off and and so i want to thank you again for
00:30:23.971 --> 00:30:30.411
taking your time to have a chat to us or to me my co-host that i normally have
00:30:30.411 --> 00:30:34.411
with me he's been in hospital for a while so hopefully he'll be back shortly
00:30:34.411 --> 00:30:37.291
but the moment i'm sort of running solo here so,
00:30:37.811 --> 00:30:41.811
thank you so much for having me i'm absolutely chuffed that you asked me to
00:30:41.811 --> 00:30:48.851
come on and I'm looking forward to listening to your podcast generally and this episode specifically.
00:30:49.191 --> 00:30:53.351
And I'm sure you'll tell everybody what my podcast is called so that they'll
00:30:53.351 --> 00:30:55.331
be able to check it out for themselves. Absolutely.
00:30:55.631 --> 00:31:02.911
So let me just tell everybody what your website is, which is a breath of fresh air.
00:31:03.265 --> 00:31:06.365
Dot com dot au and this
00:31:06.365 --> 00:31:09.205
is where you'll find everything you need to know
00:31:09.205 --> 00:31:12.485
and all of your interviews are at that address
00:31:12.485 --> 00:31:15.945
and of course all the other information is there for if anyone else wants to
00:31:15.945 --> 00:31:21.745
get in touch with you and as you said at the outset i've got probably 250 interviews
00:31:21.745 --> 00:31:27.685
so far with some of the most amazing musical artists from the 60s 70s and 80s
00:31:27.685 --> 00:31:32.285
and their stories will just blow your socks off. Thank you very much again.
00:31:32.685 --> 00:31:36.065
It's been great to talk to you. And I've learned something about music.
00:31:36.805 --> 00:31:39.405
Awesome. Keep learning, Paul. There's lots to learn about music.
00:31:39.825 --> 00:31:42.885
Thank you very, very much again. Bye, Dan. Have a great day.
00:31:43.065 --> 00:31:45.345
And thank you to our listeners today.
00:31:46.065 --> 00:31:51.865
I hope you enjoyed what we presented for you. And we'll talk to you again soon.
00:31:52.085 --> 00:31:56.685
Thank you for listening to Why Is It So? Make sure you tune in to our next episode.
00:31:56.685 --> 00:32:00.105
Remember, it's your last defense for common sense.
00:00:02.277 --> 00:00:06.557
Welcome to Why Is It So? Your last defence for common sense,
00:00:06.797 --> 00:00:10.277
with your co-hosts Paul Zammett and Vince Locizzano.
00:00:14.757 --> 00:00:21.357
Welcome to Why Is It So. My name is Paul and when I first spoke to our guest
00:00:21.357 --> 00:00:26.937
for today's episode I fully intended to talk to her about the hundreds of interviews
00:00:26.937 --> 00:00:31.417
that she has had with some of the world's best musicians and bands.
00:00:32.037 --> 00:00:36.557
But as it turned out her career was more of an episode of this is your life.
00:00:37.137 --> 00:00:43.937
So today's chat is about both, her life and her love of music of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
00:00:44.297 --> 00:00:46.397
The lady I'm referring to is
00:00:46.397 --> 00:00:51.717
Sandy Kay, who has her own podcast which is called A Breath of Fresh Air.
00:00:52.397 --> 00:00:56.737
Sandy Kay, thank you for joining us today. Please tell us a little bit about
00:00:56.737 --> 00:00:59.897
yourself and where you got to where you are today.
00:01:00.657 --> 00:01:04.237
Well you better tell me what you want to No, I could talk all day about me.
00:01:04.377 --> 00:01:05.437
I'm my favourite subject.
00:01:05.697 --> 00:01:11.117
What do you want to know about me, Paul Zammis? No, just basically where you started.
00:01:11.217 --> 00:01:16.657
Well, I know through your book that you're a journo and a newsreader and all that sort of stuff.
00:01:16.857 --> 00:01:21.637
Let me take you right back. I grew up in Melbourne and I lived in the suburb
00:01:21.637 --> 00:01:27.597
of Carnegie next door to a friend of mine whose mother taught creative dance.
00:01:28.081 --> 00:01:33.421
And we used to, as kids, her son and I used to attend her creative dance classes
00:01:33.421 --> 00:01:34.581
all the time in the studio.
00:01:34.901 --> 00:01:39.661
And as part of that, do you remember the For Schools program that we all used
00:01:39.661 --> 00:01:41.781
to have to watch when we were in primary school?
00:01:42.141 --> 00:01:46.841
Yeah. So the lady was called Hannie Exner and she had a creative dance show
00:01:46.841 --> 00:01:49.441
that was part of the For Schools program.
00:01:49.961 --> 00:01:54.681
And Jamie, her son and I, had to go and dance on this For Schools program once
00:01:54.681 --> 00:01:57.001
a week to the ABC in Ripon Lee.
00:01:57.461 --> 00:02:01.901
And at state school, at primary school, the limousine used to come to pick me
00:02:01.901 --> 00:02:07.261
up, him too I guess, although I don't remember him, but the limousine driver would come,
00:02:07.461 --> 00:02:10.941
I think I was in about grade three, pick us up, take us to Ripon Lee,
00:02:11.081 --> 00:02:14.061
we'd go through our dancing to record the show,
00:02:14.321 --> 00:02:18.281
come back to school and the next day the whole school had to gather in the theatreette
00:02:18.281 --> 00:02:21.481
to watch the For Schools program and see us dancing.
00:02:21.541 --> 00:02:26.141
So I was already a bit of a hit in grade three, and I fell in love with the
00:02:26.141 --> 00:02:32.061
smell of film and the studio and the lights and the whole thing.
00:02:32.061 --> 00:02:33.881
I thought, this is what I want to do.
00:02:34.401 --> 00:02:38.501
At the same time, my parents would go out on a Sunday afternoon and leave me
00:02:38.501 --> 00:02:40.361
at home to babysit for my younger brother.
00:02:40.701 --> 00:02:45.701
And I was probably nine, 10 years old maximum. I would assemble the couches
00:02:45.701 --> 00:02:50.661
in such a way, and I would put all my imaginary guests on the couches.
00:02:50.761 --> 00:02:56.981
My mother had this single glass rose vase and that was my microphone and I used
00:02:56.981 --> 00:03:02.241
to talk to Elvis and to the Beatles and to the monkeys a little bit and anyone
00:03:02.241 --> 00:03:05.581
and I would just chat to them because I used to watch the show,
00:03:05.741 --> 00:03:07.501
the Dinah Shaw show on television.
00:03:07.901 --> 00:03:11.941
Yeah. And I thought she's got the best job in the world to be sitting on the
00:03:11.941 --> 00:03:18.061
couch interviewing all these famous people was just it. So Sunday afternoons, that's what I did.
00:03:18.181 --> 00:03:21.561
I played host and talked to all my imaginary guests.
00:03:21.821 --> 00:03:25.921
And then during the week, we would go and dance in the television studio.
00:03:26.381 --> 00:03:30.781
And I think it was kind of then that I knew that's what I wanted to do.
00:03:31.121 --> 00:03:35.781
When I went to university, I studied arts law and I absolutely detested it.
00:03:35.921 --> 00:03:40.301
And much to my father's disgust, I left after second year and went to pursue
00:03:40.301 --> 00:03:45.621
a job in the media. I went to the Gold Coast and took this beautiful friend
00:03:45.621 --> 00:03:48.181
of mine with me. She was thin with long blonde hair.
00:03:48.721 --> 00:03:52.801
And I made friends with the program director at a radio station then.
00:03:53.241 --> 00:03:55.601
And I was the mouthpiece. She was the beauty.
00:03:56.081 --> 00:03:59.801
And I said to him, have you got a job for us? And he said, well,
00:03:59.941 --> 00:04:02.001
actually, I've got a job for one of you.
00:04:02.281 --> 00:04:06.721
I need promotions girls for the radio station. You probably recall in those
00:04:06.721 --> 00:04:08.381
days they had the bikini-clad.
00:04:09.061 --> 00:04:12.981
Sash-wearing promotions girls running around on the beaches of the Gold Coast
00:04:12.981 --> 00:04:17.561
picking up rubbish or giving away prizes and we did all sorts of things.
00:04:17.621 --> 00:04:20.241
Feeding the meters. Exactly. Feeding the meters, yep.
00:04:21.023 --> 00:04:23.743
I was such an idiot. I said, okay, we'll take it.
00:04:23.903 --> 00:04:28.523
We'll share the job. Well, I didn't quite realize at the tender age of 17 that
00:04:28.523 --> 00:04:31.123
sharing a job meant also sharing a wage.
00:04:31.403 --> 00:04:37.023
And we had a lot of fun, but we were stone broke. We couldn't afford food.
00:04:37.023 --> 00:04:42.123
We were selling clothing. We were trying to turn anything we could into cash.
00:04:42.523 --> 00:04:47.903
That lasted about a year. I remember that in those days, as you would well remember,
00:04:48.043 --> 00:04:52.103
it was so expensive to make a phone call interstate that my mother couldn't
00:04:52.103 --> 00:04:56.303
even afford to call me, let alone come and visit me using an aeroplane.
00:04:56.743 --> 00:05:02.583
So on my 18th birthday, she sent me a chocolate cake in the mail and I cried
00:05:02.583 --> 00:05:03.843
and cried and cried and cried.
00:05:04.023 --> 00:05:08.383
But I lasted there for maybe a year, year and a half, came home.
00:05:08.623 --> 00:05:13.543
So I'd already had my first taste of the media and I really loved it and I wanted to stay there.
00:05:13.743 --> 00:05:18.023
And I was also very determined to prove to my father that I wasn't the black
00:05:18.023 --> 00:05:22.123
sheep of the family that I could make some sort of success of myself despite
00:05:22.123 --> 00:05:25.143
him saying I'll never be any good now that I've left university.
00:05:25.803 --> 00:05:30.963
So I started ringing around and there was a news director at Radio 3 MP,
00:05:31.223 --> 00:05:33.263
which was then out in Frankston.
00:05:33.603 --> 00:05:39.103
And I rang this poor guy every single day. I'm not sure why he took my calls every day, but he did.
00:05:39.463 --> 00:05:44.503
And I would go, hi, Barry Owen, it's me, Sandy. Can I come and work for you now?
00:05:44.963 --> 00:05:47.863
And he said, Sandy, you haven't got any experience. You can't.
00:05:47.923 --> 00:05:50.103
Yeah, I've got experience. I worked at 4GG.
00:05:50.383 --> 00:05:53.643
He said, look, we don't have anything for you. I said, I'll call you tomorrow.
00:05:54.103 --> 00:05:59.843
I called this poor man every single day for three months until finally he said
00:05:59.843 --> 00:06:03.263
to me, you know what? My traffic girl's gone off sick today.
00:06:03.423 --> 00:06:07.223
Why don't you bring yourself to Frankston and you can do the traffic report?
00:06:07.423 --> 00:06:10.603
I thought, yeah, I'm going to Frankston. I'm.
00:06:12.624 --> 00:06:17.324
So I did. I went there and I started doing traffic reports and I had no idea what I was doing.
00:06:17.484 --> 00:06:21.344
This was long before the internet or mobile phones or anything else.
00:06:21.344 --> 00:06:26.264
In those days, you had to just call the local garages around the place,
00:06:26.424 --> 00:06:30.164
service stations, and ask them what they could see, what the traffic was like around there.
00:06:30.384 --> 00:06:35.244
And I compiled the report, but I also told people to clear off the Nepean Highway
00:06:35.244 --> 00:06:39.964
because that's the way I wanted to come home. So I redirected them elsewhere.
00:06:40.504 --> 00:06:45.324
And I just played with it and had a lot of fun. And Barry liked the kind of fun approach.
00:06:45.664 --> 00:06:48.864
One day, a few weeks later, he said to me, would you like to read the news?
00:06:49.064 --> 00:06:50.444
I said, yeah, I'd love to. Thanks.
00:06:51.204 --> 00:06:55.104
So I jumped into the news editor's chair and I started to read the news.
00:06:55.244 --> 00:06:59.164
Again, I had no idea of what I was doing. I just played with it and I would read the news.
00:06:59.624 --> 00:07:04.144
Anyway, this was long before female newsreaders were a thing.
00:07:04.384 --> 00:07:09.244
There was an all-male newsroom that was filled with people like Edwin Marr and
00:07:09.244 --> 00:07:16.084
Keith McGowan and all sorts of, you know, radio stalwarts, male radio stalwarts.
00:07:16.544 --> 00:07:22.024
And they all objected and said to Barry Owen, who is this young upstart of a girl?
00:07:22.124 --> 00:07:27.604
Who does she think she is able to read the news at the age of 18 without any formal training?
00:07:27.904 --> 00:07:30.564
He said, you let her go or we'll all quit.
00:07:30.944 --> 00:07:34.224
And Barry Owen unfortunately said to me that day, I'm sorry,
00:07:34.364 --> 00:07:35.824
I'm going to have to let you go, Sandy.
00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:40.790
I drove home on the Nepean Highway that day, bawling my eyes out because my
00:07:40.790 --> 00:07:44.090
first real job, I had lost quite soon into it.
00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:49.030
That was in the days of listener in TV and the sacking made the news.
00:07:49.350 --> 00:07:53.910
And when I started to ring around again, there was a young journalist who'd
00:07:53.910 --> 00:07:59.250
just come out of New Zealand who was making himself well-known at Radio 3XY at the time.
00:07:59.530 --> 00:08:04.170
His name was Darren Hinch. And when I rang around and spoke to 3XY,
00:08:04.310 --> 00:08:06.270
Darren Hinch said, oh, I've read about you.
00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:09.810
You're the sort of girl I'd like to have come work with me.
00:08:10.030 --> 00:08:15.730
And he picked me up and I went to work with him for the better part of a couple of years.
00:08:15.770 --> 00:08:19.390
And I was starting to become established in the industry.
00:08:19.710 --> 00:08:22.910
And in that industry, one job leads to the next.
00:08:23.070 --> 00:08:27.030
I got a call from a news director in Sydney at a radio station,
00:08:27.190 --> 00:08:32.010
a brand new radio station called 2WS that said, we want you to lead our news
00:08:32.010 --> 00:08:35.930
team to become Sydney's first female newsreader.
00:08:36.030 --> 00:08:39.990
So I said, see you, Darren, and off I went to do that.
00:08:41.190 --> 00:08:47.550
I'm now 150 jobs more probably down the line because each one you have leads
00:08:47.550 --> 00:08:49.070
to the next, leads to the next.
00:08:49.510 --> 00:08:52.950
And that was certainly my start in journalism.
00:08:53.490 --> 00:08:57.570
Is that about the time you sort of decided that you like music, obviously.
00:08:58.270 --> 00:09:02.930
I've read that on your by, but your music is your life.
00:09:03.610 --> 00:09:09.230
Yeah, well, you know what, Paul? The people that I went to school with accused
00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:15.210
me of never having grown up since I was about 15 or 16, not emotionally and
00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:18.330
certainly not in my tastes in music.
00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:25.130
So the music of the late 60s, 70s, perhaps not so much the 80s,
00:09:25.130 --> 00:09:27.670
was absolutely the soundtrack of my life.
00:09:27.890 --> 00:09:32.710
We lived and breathed music in those days at school, you know,
00:09:32.810 --> 00:09:36.910
with the transistor radio and you'd get under the covers in bed with your transistor
00:09:36.910 --> 00:09:40.850
and when your parents would say you have to go to sleep, you'd just keep listening to the music.
00:09:41.432 --> 00:09:46.772
So, you know, I've done a lot of jobs in media between then and now,
00:09:46.992 --> 00:09:49.392
news, current affairs, entertainment.
00:09:50.392 --> 00:09:56.012
And just before COVID, I was doing entertainment reports for a bunch of different
00:09:56.012 --> 00:10:00.092
radio stations, predominantly for the lifestyle. So I could get tickets to movies
00:10:00.092 --> 00:10:03.572
and live theater shows and the like, and I'd just tell them what I thought of
00:10:03.572 --> 00:10:05.192
them. And it's pretty easy.
00:10:05.712 --> 00:10:10.312
When COVID hit, those radio stations were having a great deal of trouble getting
00:10:10.312 --> 00:10:13.652
their announcers to come in and fill shifts.
00:10:14.032 --> 00:10:17.972
So some of those stations said to me, do you think you could blow out your 20
00:10:17.972 --> 00:10:20.332
or 30-minute segment that you do for us every week?
00:10:20.392 --> 00:10:23.632
Could you make it an hour's program for us?
00:10:24.092 --> 00:10:30.612
Yeah, okay, I can do that. So I sat down on my laptop, and I've been a radio producer.
00:10:30.612 --> 00:10:34.432
I've had my own radio show before, and I knew that a radio show needs,
00:10:34.432 --> 00:10:37.392
you know four segments an hour sometimes six segments
00:10:37.392 --> 00:10:40.252
an hour so I started to build this radio show for them
00:10:40.252 --> 00:10:43.492
that had a lot of different segments in it well
00:10:43.492 --> 00:10:46.572
that's all fine and well except a I wasn't getting paid for
00:10:46.572 --> 00:10:49.352
it and b it was taking me you know seven days a
00:10:49.352 --> 00:10:53.392
week to do it and I was just getting burnt out I had no time to do anything
00:10:53.392 --> 00:10:58.632
else and my partner at the time said to me you know what you're enjoying doing
00:10:58.632 --> 00:11:02.732
the interviews why don't you just pull it down and make it one interview per
00:11:02.732 --> 00:11:07.652
week for them and let the interview breathe and pop music through it as well.
00:11:07.812 --> 00:11:09.212
So I thought, yeah, that's a great idea.
00:11:09.572 --> 00:11:14.572
So I'm reaching out at the time to people, to some of my favorite artists.
00:11:14.632 --> 00:11:19.292
I reached out to Alice Cooper, to John Oates, to Peter Frampton,
00:11:19.532 --> 00:11:21.292
to, you know, whoever I could think of.
00:11:21.472 --> 00:11:25.152
And lo and behold, because it was COVID and they're all stuck at home too,
00:11:25.392 --> 00:11:29.212
they picked up the phone and go, yeah, okay, we'll have a chat with you, no problem.
00:11:29.212 --> 00:11:34.932
And again, one thing builds on another, so that once I started to have a little
00:11:34.932 --> 00:11:37.572
bit of a bank of talent, as we call it,
00:11:37.892 --> 00:11:41.952
the next bunch of people that I reached out to were happy to be in the company
00:11:41.952 --> 00:11:45.572
of those who I've already spoken to.
00:11:45.572 --> 00:11:53.352
So eventually I started letting these interviews breathe.
00:11:53.352 --> 00:11:58.052
The interviews became longer and longer and it developed into this show that
00:11:58.052 --> 00:12:02.612
I called A Breath of Fresh Air, which was really centred on.
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.060
Allowing an artist to tell their own story in their own words, in their own voice.
00:12:09.300 --> 00:12:14.520
Yeah, some of the events that we've got there, I mean, there's hundreds of them
00:12:14.520 --> 00:12:18.080
on there, but you've got in excess Rolling Stone and Little River Band,
00:12:18.380 --> 00:12:21.260
the Delftones, Ice House, Cloal Chisel.
00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:27.540
I mean, yeah, in those days, they were big. In fact, some of them are still
00:12:27.540 --> 00:12:28.960
working now and doing well.
00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:33.220
Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I kind of only go for the big ones.
00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:38.800
The show goes internationally. It plays out on about 180 radio stations right
00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:39.960
around the world at the moment.
00:12:40.180 --> 00:12:43.560
I'm very chuffed with that. Some of them do pay for it. Some of them don't.
00:12:44.980 --> 00:12:49.440
And it's also as a podcast on all the major podcast platforms.
00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:54.480
And I put the interviews up onto YouTube too, which is really going gangbusters.
00:12:55.020 --> 00:13:01.560
So it has to be well-known people that audiences right around the world can relate to.
00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:05.100
And if they're not so well-known, you know, I mean, the Deltones,
00:13:05.300 --> 00:13:08.520
for example, you mentioned, were very well-known in Australia.
00:13:08.760 --> 00:13:13.540
In fact, before my time, I got to know them. I mean, I'm always being educated
00:13:13.540 --> 00:13:16.220
through the process of doing these interviews.
00:13:16.900 --> 00:13:22.360
But it will then be up to me to explain who they are and what sort of a mark
00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.720
they've made on that society.
00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:31.320
So I like to... Sorry. And I was just going to say, did you sort of do mostly
00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:36.600
on the phone like we're doing here or were you face-to-face with some of them?
00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:38.740
Did you sort of get to face-to-face?
00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:44.800
Well, there'd been a few but mainly the artists that I interview are international
00:13:44.800 --> 00:13:47.960
acts, so they're in the UK, they're in the US or...
00:13:48.490 --> 00:13:52.110
The Australian and the Canadian ones are obviously not here.
00:13:52.190 --> 00:13:53.950
The Australian ones, I could do face-to-face.
00:13:54.110 --> 00:13:58.250
But with this technology, being able to be face-to-face in an interview over
00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:03.570
Zoom, it's just so much easier. I can chat to them as long as it's face-to-face.
00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:08.810
Initially, it started off on the phone and the phone doesn't work half as well.
00:14:08.930 --> 00:14:12.190
You can't relate to the person you're speaking to as well. You keep cutting
00:14:12.190 --> 00:14:14.070
across each other on the line.
00:14:14.950 --> 00:14:18.710
It's hopeless. But face-to-face on Zoom works fabulously.
00:14:18.730 --> 00:14:22.590
It's almost as good as sitting in the room together, except that I don't need
00:14:22.590 --> 00:14:24.990
cameras and lights and everything else.
00:14:25.170 --> 00:14:31.390
I mean, some of them, yes, I have done face-to-face when time and budget allow for it.
00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:35.150
But I don't think it actually makes for a better interview, for sure not.
00:14:35.290 --> 00:14:39.130
I think people are really relaxed in their own environment and,
00:14:39.130 --> 00:14:42.630
you know, they know they're there for 30 minutes or 40 minutes or whatever it
00:14:42.630 --> 00:14:48.990
is, and it's a great vehicle, then I can just chop it up as I need to. Yeah, yeah, okay.
00:14:50.110 --> 00:14:53.830
So now I've mentioned half a dozen here.
00:14:55.050 --> 00:15:00.010
I've had a look at A Breath of Fresh Air, and there's heaps of them there.
00:15:00.470 --> 00:15:03.370
Which was your best interview, did you think?
00:15:03.990 --> 00:15:07.770
Well, best interview or favourite interview are probably two different questions.
00:15:07.770 --> 00:15:08.950
I'll tell you my favourite.
00:15:09.170 --> 00:15:14.150
Well, I'll tell you one story anyway. So I was always a really big fan of Gordon Lightfoot.
00:15:14.350 --> 00:15:19.110
I don't know why I liked him so much. I did love those big hits that he had,
00:15:19.230 --> 00:15:24.350
but I also liked the wild boy in him, the rebel that he was,
00:15:24.550 --> 00:15:26.070
the womanizer that he was.
00:15:26.670 --> 00:15:30.270
He was sort of, to me, like the James Dean of music.
00:15:30.750 --> 00:15:36.910
And I must have chased Gordon Lightfoot for about two years before his manager
00:15:36.910 --> 00:15:40.570
allowed me to have a chat with him. By the time I got to him,
00:15:40.650 --> 00:15:43.730
it actually wasn't too long before he passed away.
00:15:44.421 --> 00:15:48.621
And he wouldn't do a Zoom interview. He wouldn't show me his face.
00:15:48.621 --> 00:15:52.501
He would only do it on the phone, which, as I've explained, made it more difficult anyway.
00:15:52.821 --> 00:15:57.081
But what I discovered about Gordon Lightfoot was that it was like talking to
00:15:57.081 --> 00:16:00.321
your grandfather with his hearing aid out.
00:16:00.961 --> 00:16:04.121
And it was really, really difficult.
00:16:04.121 --> 00:16:10.101
I had to work so hard to make him understand my questions. Maybe it was the
00:16:10.101 --> 00:16:17.641
accent as well, but his hearing was so shot that it was so repetitive and he
00:16:17.641 --> 00:16:18.801
couldn't finish a sentence.
00:16:19.041 --> 00:16:25.041
I've never had to work so hard on editing the final product to make it coherent.
00:16:25.541 --> 00:16:30.241
Can I just ask there, who is Gordon Lightfoot? I'm sorry, but I don't know of him.
00:16:30.841 --> 00:16:38.581
No, I must admit, I am not a music aficiado.
00:16:39.301 --> 00:16:43.301
So Gordon Lightfoot is probably Canada's most famous musician.
00:16:43.461 --> 00:16:46.201
He did those songs, If You Could Read My Mind.
00:16:46.481 --> 00:16:50.581
If you could read my mind, love. I've heard that one.
00:16:51.321 --> 00:16:55.401
Absolutely. He's done, you'll have to go away from this interview and look him
00:16:55.401 --> 00:17:01.501
up because he was an absolutely super singer and a wild one.
00:17:01.641 --> 00:17:03.601
He's on a breath of fresh air, I take it.
00:17:03.821 --> 00:17:07.801
He's on a breath of fresh air and I was lucky to get him before he passed away.
00:17:07.801 --> 00:17:11.421
The outpouring since he passed has been huge.
00:17:11.741 --> 00:17:16.561
Another one of my favorites was, and you probably remember this guy more,
00:17:16.881 --> 00:17:21.741
I was a little bit too young for him, but I do remember that some of my friends
00:17:21.741 --> 00:17:28.041
who were older than me used to have posters all over their walls at the time, was Bobby Sherman.
00:17:28.261 --> 00:17:30.581
Do you remember Bobby Sherman? No, I can't say.
00:17:32.381 --> 00:17:38.221
He was an absolute pin-up idol. He was every teenage girl's superhero.
00:17:38.421 --> 00:17:44.041
He was a television star as well. He did a few guest stints on The Partridge
00:17:44.041 --> 00:17:49.321
Family with David Cassidy, but he came in before David Cassidy did.
00:17:49.561 --> 00:17:51.081
And he was American, I take it?
00:17:51.401 --> 00:17:58.081
American. He was huge, and still he remains the biggest hit on my website.
00:17:58.081 --> 00:18:02.421
The most listened to artist that I've spoken to is Bobby Sherman.
00:18:02.601 --> 00:18:07.801
He is now dying himself. And again, it took me a long, long time before I convinced
00:18:07.801 --> 00:18:09.941
his wife to let me speak to him.
00:18:10.121 --> 00:18:17.641
Unfortunately, she wouldn't let him be on camera with me. I think it was more about her than him.
00:18:17.961 --> 00:18:23.381
But he was sensational. He was really a lovely, lovely man with a great story
00:18:23.381 --> 00:18:25.861
to tell. Now, okay, I'll give you another one.
00:18:26.363 --> 00:18:31.783
I turned into a snivelling 14-year-old when I got the opportunity to talk to
00:18:31.783 --> 00:18:33.443
Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees.
00:18:33.543 --> 00:18:35.643
You've heard of them all. I've heard of Monkees, yes.
00:18:36.463 --> 00:18:37.943
Goodness, third time lucky.
00:18:39.543 --> 00:18:45.623
I was a huge Monkees fan in the day. They were right up in my era.
00:18:46.023 --> 00:18:50.523
And, you know, I was part of the throng of screaming girls when they came to
00:18:50.523 --> 00:18:54.083
Melbourne and stayed at the Southern Cross Hotel and all of that.
00:18:54.083 --> 00:18:58.803
So when I spoke to Mickey Donalds and I never get, what am I trying to say? Overwhelmed?
00:18:59.183 --> 00:19:05.983
Yeah, like that. I don't get shy or overwhelmed when I speak to these guests
00:19:05.983 --> 00:19:10.603
because what I've discovered about them all is that they're all just people.
00:19:11.043 --> 00:19:12.243
Human beings, that's right.
00:19:13.043 --> 00:19:18.443
And as a teenager, as a 20-something-year-old, whatever, these guys have made
00:19:18.443 --> 00:19:20.343
the soundtrack to our lives.
00:19:20.343 --> 00:19:26.523
If you grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, these were the songs you were hearing all
00:19:26.523 --> 00:19:29.823
over the radio and many of the songs you still hear on radio today.
00:19:30.263 --> 00:19:33.603
And I used to put all the artists on a pedestal.
00:19:33.743 --> 00:19:39.363
I mean, the days of Uptight and The Go Show and all of those shows in Melbourne,
00:19:39.583 --> 00:19:44.143
I remember Rosti Wiley used to the compere. Do you know who I'm talking about, Rosti?
00:19:44.263 --> 00:19:46.783
I've heard the name. I've heard the name.
00:19:49.283 --> 00:19:53.623
And I used to put them all on a pedestal I thought they were like super humans
00:19:53.623 --> 00:19:58.503
because they could make this music and they were on the radio and I could watch them on television,
00:19:59.383 --> 00:20:05.083
but uh you know I realized that they're all just ordinary people like you and
00:20:05.083 --> 00:20:09.923
me and most of them are really humble despite huge successes that that a lot
00:20:09.923 --> 00:20:14.643
of them have enjoyed so interviewing Now, who was I talking about there?
00:20:15.523 --> 00:20:21.463
Mickey Dolenz. That's right. So I kind of turned into a 14-year-old fan at the
00:20:21.463 --> 00:20:24.523
time and I couldn't, I was like shaking. Oh my God, oh my God,
00:20:24.563 --> 00:20:25.883
I'm talking to Mickey Dolenz.
00:20:26.003 --> 00:20:29.963
But he's probably the only one that I was affected by like that.
00:20:30.043 --> 00:20:32.923
The rest of them have been just wonderful to speak to.
00:20:33.063 --> 00:20:37.603
So people like Debbie Harry from Blondie. You've heard of Blondie? I've heard of her.
00:20:38.174 --> 00:20:41.614
She was just magnificent. She's 80-something years old now.
00:20:41.934 --> 00:20:45.814
And looking at her on the Zoom, I went, oh, my goodness, Debbie, you look sensational.
00:20:45.934 --> 00:20:52.254
What's your secret here to maintaining your youth after all those days of being
00:20:52.254 --> 00:20:57.694
a punk singer and all the drugs and alcohol and everything? How do you maintain it?
00:20:57.754 --> 00:21:01.314
And she sort of shared some of that with me, which was fabulous.
00:21:01.314 --> 00:21:06.714
And as a result of speaking to her, Kim Carnes, who was also an 80s singer,
00:21:06.714 --> 00:21:10.614
said, oh, well, you've spoken to Debbie because the Debbie Harry interview still
00:21:10.614 --> 00:21:14.994
gets so many comments on YouTube. People are talking about her all the time.
00:21:15.174 --> 00:21:21.814
But back to getting closer to home and to the Australian, I would know most of those.
00:21:22.174 --> 00:21:24.394
Okay, that's good to hear, Paul. I'm glad.
00:21:25.174 --> 00:21:28.314
I don't know where you went to school or what you were doing growing up.
00:21:28.314 --> 00:21:31.134
You obviously weren't at the same concerts that I went to.
00:21:31.334 --> 00:21:36.674
What about Skyhooks? Were you a fan of Skyhooks? Yes, I remember Skyhooks. Oh, my goodness.
00:21:37.354 --> 00:21:41.874
But don't forget, when I was at that age, I don't think that motor cars had
00:21:41.874 --> 00:21:44.214
just come into my life, put it that way.
00:21:44.794 --> 00:21:51.154
So, yeah. But obviously, the ones I mentioned before, I've heard of them.
00:21:52.854 --> 00:21:59.094
Are you more of the Peter, Paul and Mary vintage? Yeah. Back in those days.
00:21:59.094 --> 00:22:00.754
I was supposed to say. Yeah. Right.
00:22:05.034 --> 00:22:09.834
Noel Paul Stuckey, there's a fabulous interview with him there. He was just wonderful.
00:22:10.014 --> 00:22:13.694
He was the Paul in the Peter, Paul and Mary, but his real name is Noel.
00:22:13.994 --> 00:22:21.554
He was a delightful person. And I would imagine that you remember Donovan, Donovan Leach too? No.
00:22:22.654 --> 00:22:25.754
Donovan, the hurdy-gurdy man. Of course you do.
00:22:26.014 --> 00:22:29.094
Donovan was huge in the UK. How could you not know Donovan? Oh,
00:22:29.114 --> 00:22:32.814
you'll have to look him up. Obviously, he's in the wrong part of my mind at this stage.
00:22:32.934 --> 00:22:35.134
Must be. Must be. Must be.
00:22:36.814 --> 00:22:42.374
No, but it's, you never got to, obviously, Jackson was gone by the time you
00:22:42.374 --> 00:22:44.454
were into this. Michael Jackson.
00:22:45.174 --> 00:22:49.094
Michael Jackson was gone, but there were, yeah, absolutely, but there have been
00:22:49.094 --> 00:22:51.134
people that talk about Michael Jackson.
00:22:51.314 --> 00:22:56.814
And I did speak to Michael Jackson's brother, Tito, before he passed away last year, I think.
00:22:57.014 --> 00:22:59.414
He was a fabulous guy, too.
00:23:00.174 --> 00:23:04.234
There's only one left, isn't there, of the death? No, I think there are more
00:23:04.234 --> 00:23:07.394
than that. I think there are a couple, and, of course, she's left too.
00:23:08.134 --> 00:23:13.054
There's Jermaine and there's another one because there were five of them, obviously.
00:23:13.854 --> 00:23:17.734
I'm not sure about that. But a few people have spoken about Michael Jackson,
00:23:17.754 --> 00:23:22.954
I remember, and talked about the legacy that he leaves and his music and his influences.
00:23:23.414 --> 00:23:27.634
Apparently, he was, as Prince was, heavily influenced by,
00:23:27.921 --> 00:23:31.721
by, now I can't remember even who it was. That's the problem with it.
00:23:31.781 --> 00:23:35.881
I talk to so many people that it's kind of in one ear and out the other.
00:23:36.041 --> 00:23:38.261
It's hard to remember what each one has had to say.
00:23:40.961 --> 00:23:44.221
What's his name from Rolling Stones? Yeah, Mick Jagger.
00:23:44.621 --> 00:23:51.001
I haven't managed to get him yet. You haven't? I thought you got him in your files.
00:23:51.541 --> 00:23:55.161
Haven't you got him on? There must be an article about him. I haven't managed
00:23:55.161 --> 00:23:59.461
to. Okay. I'm still trying. I'm still trying. him. Some of them are quite elusive.
00:24:01.721 --> 00:24:06.601
You have to understand that where they're willing to talk to me is either if
00:24:06.601 --> 00:24:13.861
they were huge back in the day and these days they're retired or chilling out with life, whatever,
00:24:14.041 --> 00:24:18.581
then they're happy to talk about the heady days that were and update fans about
00:24:18.581 --> 00:24:19.581
what they're doing today.
00:24:20.101 --> 00:24:24.081
Or the other cohort who are happy to talk to me are the ones who have got something
00:24:24.081 --> 00:24:29.021
to push today that I can actually help them publicise if they're releasing a
00:24:29.021 --> 00:24:31.201
book or a new album or a new single.
00:24:31.421 --> 00:24:33.361
So there are a lot of still making music.
00:24:33.601 --> 00:24:39.201
The ones that are still really on top today and were and have been for the last
00:24:39.201 --> 00:24:47.921
50 or more years are often surrounded by stronger gatekeepers who are very hard to penetrate.
00:24:48.241 --> 00:24:50.661
I mean, do you remember Janice Ian? Yeah.
00:24:51.321 --> 00:24:54.941
At 17. She wasn't on her own. She was.
00:24:55.041 --> 00:24:58.861
She was totally on her own and she did that song at 17 that,
00:24:59.061 --> 00:25:04.961
again, every girl sort of that nobody gave her valentines and she was the ugly one at school.
00:25:05.301 --> 00:25:10.281
Anyway, she's coming up for me again. I've spoken to her once before.
00:25:10.841 --> 00:25:15.061
Actually, she does fit the mould I was just talking about because she's got
00:25:15.061 --> 00:25:17.281
a new album out and she's got a book as well.
00:25:17.401 --> 00:25:20.061
So when they've got something to publicise, they're happy to.
00:25:20.061 --> 00:25:25.941
Gloria Gaynor hasn't released new music for the last 10 or so years,
00:25:25.941 --> 00:25:30.421
and I've been hassling her manager constantly, and she's been saying,
00:25:30.561 --> 00:25:31.741
well, she's got nothing to talk about.
00:25:31.801 --> 00:25:35.261
And I said, well, I want to talk about her backstory. It doesn't matter about now.
00:25:35.441 --> 00:25:38.701
But now she's released new music, so she'll be coming up.
00:25:39.381 --> 00:25:48.781
One of the people I did know or did speak to is a guy, Ivor Davis from Ice House. Ice House.
00:25:49.001 --> 00:25:52.341
I actually met him before he became big.
00:25:52.541 --> 00:25:56.901
We used to do a gig in Collingwood. I don't know if I'm right there.
00:25:56.981 --> 00:26:01.081
Is it Collingwood or Richmond or one of those sort of where they used to have
00:26:01.081 --> 00:26:05.781
like a few guys on stage having a sing and whatever have you and everyone was
00:26:05.781 --> 00:26:07.221
sort of going dancing and whatever.
00:26:07.521 --> 00:26:11.861
And he wasn't all that well-known, but I got to know him through a friend of mine who did know him.
00:26:12.541 --> 00:26:15.181
Okay. Yeah, and he's probably the â,
00:26:15.687 --> 00:26:20.907
Closest I've got to a band in those days. But that was it.
00:26:21.847 --> 00:26:24.887
I know what you're missing out on. You're going to have to get back into the
00:26:24.887 --> 00:26:29.307
scene and go and see some more live music. There's so much. Maybe in my next life.
00:26:30.467 --> 00:26:32.707
I think I'm a bit late for this one.
00:26:33.867 --> 00:26:38.027
I don't think you're ever too late at all. And you'd be really amazed because
00:26:38.027 --> 00:26:45.007
a lot of those heritage acts, as they're called, the crowds they attract are your age and my age.
00:26:45.007 --> 00:26:47.287
I mean, there are a lot of younger ones as well, but they're,
00:26:47.587 --> 00:26:50.447
you know, you don't have to stand on your feet all night. There are lots of
00:26:50.447 --> 00:26:51.647
them that perform shows.
00:26:51.807 --> 00:26:55.987
I mean, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap I saw not so long ago at Palms at Crown.
00:26:56.327 --> 00:27:00.627
And it's a very comfortable venue and the show is great. They put on a terrific
00:27:00.627 --> 00:27:03.007
floor show. He's 84 years old.
00:27:03.347 --> 00:27:07.207
They're still out performing. Absolutely. A lot of them are already in their
00:27:07.207 --> 00:27:09.187
80s, yeah, and still doing it.
00:27:09.447 --> 00:27:13.907
The latest one I've seen with my partner, we went and saw Lee Thurnehan.
00:27:13.907 --> 00:27:17.047
Do you know him or do you know him? I do. Of course I do.
00:27:17.407 --> 00:27:20.727
I like country music too, yeah. And he put on a terrific show,
00:27:21.167 --> 00:27:25.387
a fantastic show, two hours flat out, and he was just great.
00:27:25.447 --> 00:27:26.707
I think I've been before too.
00:27:27.107 --> 00:27:30.987
Yeah, I really like him. He's great. That was all my music, the country and
00:27:30.987 --> 00:27:35.827
western, and, you know, all that sort of stuff. Right, right, right.
00:27:36.527 --> 00:27:40.507
Do you like the American band the Oak Ridge Boys, if you like country?
00:27:40.847 --> 00:27:44.907
Oak Ridge Boys, I don't know. No. Don't know them? Haven't heard of them.
00:27:45.027 --> 00:27:46.287
And what about Tommy Emanuel?
00:27:46.867 --> 00:27:52.787
Yeah, what do you think? Well, he's this finger-picking guitarist who was born
00:27:52.787 --> 00:27:59.867
in Musselbrook in New South Wales who is huge on the international stage and
00:27:59.867 --> 00:28:03.667
named as one of the top guitarists in the world today.
00:28:03.887 --> 00:28:06.007
And he's an Aussie. He's fabulous.
00:28:06.567 --> 00:28:10.367
And, I mean, there are so many Aussies doing so many great things.
00:28:10.367 --> 00:28:16.327
I had a chat with Big Bertels not so long ago. Of course, he was in Zoot originally
00:28:16.327 --> 00:28:18.107
and then in the Little River Band also.
00:28:18.247 --> 00:28:23.747
Glenn Shorrock I spoke to, who is also in his early 80s, who's not terribly
00:28:23.747 --> 00:28:26.647
well at the moment but still out there in concert.
00:28:26.867 --> 00:28:30.127
Brian Cadd, who I'm sure you've heard of also.
00:28:31.087 --> 00:28:36.427
He's a wonderful performer. Oh, Australia should be so proud of all the fabulous
00:28:36.427 --> 00:28:38.227
musicians. We have had some good bands.
00:28:38.747 --> 00:28:40.447
And NXS, of course, is worldwide.
00:28:41.087 --> 00:28:45.667
Absolutely. Yeah, they, I'm the man from down under.
00:28:45.867 --> 00:28:52.547
That was what got them on everybody's screen. That was men at work, Colin Hay.
00:28:52.927 --> 00:28:57.247
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They really put us on the map, didn't they,
00:28:57.347 --> 00:28:59.347
with Vegemite? They did, yeah, they did.
00:28:59.871 --> 00:29:04.531
And I'm learning, I'm learning. Every day I do one of these, I learn something.
00:29:04.991 --> 00:29:09.591
Yeah, well, that's the beauty of doing it, is that the more people you talk to, the more you learn.
00:29:09.611 --> 00:29:13.791
And what better a way to learn things than chatting to people and learning from them. I love that.
00:29:14.151 --> 00:29:19.651
Exactly, yes. You don't work on your own, though, do you? You have a guy who
00:29:19.651 --> 00:29:21.751
does the editing for you and all that sort of stuff.
00:29:22.611 --> 00:29:26.411
I pretty much do work on my own. I do do all of the editing,
00:29:26.731 --> 00:29:30.751
but I send the timeline, all of the files.
00:29:30.891 --> 00:29:35.391
So I pull all the music down and I insert and cut where I want it to be.
00:29:35.451 --> 00:29:39.791
And then I send that file to a sound engineer in Brazil.
00:29:41.411 --> 00:29:46.591
And he butt joins it all together and he fades in and out and works all the
00:29:46.591 --> 00:29:49.791
technical side of it because I can't do all of those levels.
00:29:49.791 --> 00:29:54.891
And he apparently puts this 70s sort of filter over the top of the show also
00:29:54.891 --> 00:29:57.851
to give it more of an authentic 70s feel.
00:29:58.151 --> 00:30:02.711
He's an amazing guy and I think I've been working with him now for five years.
00:30:03.251 --> 00:30:06.111
I've never heard the sound of his voice. It's so weird.
00:30:06.211 --> 00:30:12.071
We communicate over WhatsApp just in chat and his English seems really good
00:30:12.071 --> 00:30:16.771
but I've never, I said, I'll call you, Ricardo. No, no, no, chat, chat, chat.
00:30:18.631 --> 00:30:23.971
We don't have just to finish it off and and so i want to thank you again for
00:30:23.971 --> 00:30:30.411
taking your time to have a chat to us or to me my co-host that i normally have
00:30:30.411 --> 00:30:34.411
with me he's been in hospital for a while so hopefully he'll be back shortly
00:30:34.411 --> 00:30:37.291
but the moment i'm sort of running solo here so,
00:30:37.811 --> 00:30:41.811
thank you so much for having me i'm absolutely chuffed that you asked me to
00:30:41.811 --> 00:30:48.851
come on and I'm looking forward to listening to your podcast generally and this episode specifically.
00:30:49.191 --> 00:30:53.351
And I'm sure you'll tell everybody what my podcast is called so that they'll
00:30:53.351 --> 00:30:55.331
be able to check it out for themselves. Absolutely.
00:30:55.631 --> 00:31:02.911
So let me just tell everybody what your website is, which is a breath of fresh air.
00:31:03.265 --> 00:31:06.365
Dot com dot au and this
00:31:06.365 --> 00:31:09.205
is where you'll find everything you need to know
00:31:09.205 --> 00:31:12.485
and all of your interviews are at that address
00:31:12.485 --> 00:31:15.945
and of course all the other information is there for if anyone else wants to
00:31:15.945 --> 00:31:21.745
get in touch with you and as you said at the outset i've got probably 250 interviews
00:31:21.745 --> 00:31:27.685
so far with some of the most amazing musical artists from the 60s 70s and 80s
00:31:27.685 --> 00:31:32.285
and their stories will just blow your socks off. Thank you very much again.
00:31:32.685 --> 00:31:36.065
It's been great to talk to you. And I've learned something about music.
00:31:36.805 --> 00:31:39.405
Awesome. Keep learning, Paul. There's lots to learn about music.
00:31:39.825 --> 00:31:42.885
Thank you very, very much again. Bye, Dan. Have a great day.
00:31:43.065 --> 00:31:45.345
And thank you to our listeners today.
00:31:46.065 --> 00:31:51.865
I hope you enjoyed what we presented for you. And we'll talk to you again soon.
00:31:52.085 --> 00:31:56.685
Thank you for listening to Why Is It So? Make sure you tune in to our next episode.
00:31:56.685 --> 00:32:00.105
Remember, it's your last defense for common sense.
