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Musical Director's Diary: Saturday, 18 July, 2009

G'day folks, Simon here again. Just thought you'd like to see what some of our fine performers get up to in their spare time! Here's a little video of me and a couple of the boys, Tim and Andy on a recent fishing trip to the states. Enjoy!

As you can see ... we're an intrepid lot!

And here you can see an example of the wonderful talent pool that we draw our singers from. We have a rigourous audition process ... and two of our excellent singers, Rob and Paddy, have agreed to the filming of their auditions.

You've got to be quite fit to be in Men Wot Sing! Well done Rob and Paddy!

Next up we have three of our Men Wot Sing homies getting down and breaking it! These boys sure know how to move! In Men Wot Sing we expect nothing less than pure, drop dead choreographical brilliance from all members.

And finally we'll finish with a snapshot of a different side to our Breakdancers. Old baritone Terry takes hearty gander at Jonathon's tenor behind! When he's not breakdancing, Jonathon never needs much persuasion to get into a frock! He's a bit of a shocker like that! And whatever you do, don't ask him about goats!

OK folks ... we'll see you later.

Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary: Sunday, 05 July, 2009

Well hello again! We've been very busy these last few months - spreading the glorious word that another supergroup has arrived in Oz. Yes - it's Men Wot Sing and didn't we rock!

In June we did a number of shows including a lovely Lavender and Lace Garden Party for the Leukaemia Foundation at the Gold Coast Historical Society, Bundall. It was on june 7th and was a great day with a fantastic audience. Here's a quote from one of the audience members - the mother of a singer with the celebrated Gold Coast choral group, The Blenders:

"You guys were better than good! ... You were better than better!"

After the gig in Bundall we all jumped in our cars and hotfooted it down to Curumbin to participate in the Green Day Out. We were all pretty knackered but we jumped up on the back of the truck and gave it our all! The audience was incredibly tough, having just been warmed up by the talents of a number of pre-teen kiddies singing and telling jokes. But we got through most of our set and had a great time! Here's a couple of shots from that one:

Bogons Rule OK!

Running the Toyi Toyi

A couple of weekends after that we were back in action. On Saturday June 20th we performed at the Burleigh Solstice Festival, Burleigh Heads. We sang a few songs to the passers-by, and then jumped up on the back of another truck and sang our little hearts out. The sound was a bit wobbly at first, but then it got sorted and we launched into another great show. Our newest bass, Tyrone, saw us there and joined up on the spot! Well done, Tyrone! That was a decision that'll take you to the top!

The next day was Sunday, 21st of June. We headed up to Brizzie for our first ever incursion into the sunny city. We had a spot booked in the Queensland Art Gallery, as part of the internationally celebrated Fete de la Musique. We had a great crowd - maybe 150 people - and playing in that beautiful building was just awe-inspiring. It was a gig we won't be forgetting for a long time. Great sound, great audience, great everything else. Here's a few shots of this gig. (Thanks for the photos Jutta!)

 Dr Who?

I've got my furry dice - have you got yours?

 Ooh, they're a lovely audience, aren't they!

Our last show in June was in the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane, as part of the Big City Draw. Yes folks ... twice in the big smoke in 8 days. We knew we were cranking now! We did three half hour sets - 11am, 12pm and 1pm - and we must have sung to over 600 people all up. It was great! The audience loved us, and we loved them too! The sound was fantastic - a very big thank you to Dave and the sound crew, as well as to Carolyn McDowell and Caz Osborne, who did so much to create the opportunity for us. It was a treat! Plenty of photos from that show - too many to add here, so we'll stick them in their own page! OK ... that's it for me! Simon

Musical Director's Diary: Friday, 08 May, 2009

Well, what can I say? Monday night's Community Benefit Concert was a complete success. We had a full house including a number of high profile guests such as Jann Stuckey, State LNP Member for Currumbin, the entire orange-clad, local SES brigade and David's mum and dad.

The boys and I got right into the zone and we gave it our all, culminating in a ripper of a performance. The audience was warm and very appreciative and we raised over $1600 for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

Well done everyone, a great night's work!

Here's a few quotes from the night! 

"I came all the way from Sydney to see you guys!" David's mum.

"You guys aggravated my whiplash!" Jann Stuckey, LNP member for Currumbin

(Sorry Jann, our impressive blokey leaping about can get a bit intense

- especially for the front row!!)

"You guys are very professional and should be in high demand."

Marion and Roger, Tugan Fruit Mart

"I gave him my baby to kiss, and he bit it in the head."

Musical Director's Diary: Friday, 01 May, 2009

Well, here I am again. We're back in Oz and the school year has already reclaimed a sigificant chunk of my headspace. 

Men Wot Sing have managed brilliantly without me (gulp!) led by the outstanding talents of David Fennell - one of our excellent basses and a professional musician - and Tim Smythe - alto extraordinare ... They've both done a great job and, with the help of one or two other Men Wot Sing, have brought the overall performance level to "Ready to Rock and Roll!" I only had to tweak the sound a wee bit here and there to prepare us for our upcoming Community Benefit Concert:

Men Wot Sing

and the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Concert

To be held next Monday, May 4th at our usual rehearsal venue.

Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary: Thursday, 02 April, 2009

My family and I have been visiting Glastonbury in Somerset over the last two days. I lived in this beautiful town for almost six years in the 1990's and so it has been a real treat for me ... a trip down memory lane.

One of the highlights of my Glastonbury trip, apart from climbing Glastonbury Tor and catching up with some old friends, was a brief visit to my old choir, the Avalonian Freestate Choir. I sang tenor / baritone with this excellent group for over a year and I caught up with their musical director, Sally Pullinger and the rest of the choir as they were preparing to record in the Glastonbury Abbey Guesthouse.

There were a few familiar faces, as it had been twelve years since I had left the choir, and plenty of new ones. I told them all about Men Wot Sing, and continued to peddle my dream of taking the boys to the UK in 2010 on our first UK tour.

Here's a quick look at my favourite U.K. choir, The Avalonian Freestate Choir.

 Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary: Sunday, 29 March, 2009

In Scotland again! Shirley and I have had to bring the kids - Jessica (6) and Ewan (3) back over to Edinburgh so we can be with the family for Shirley' mother's funeral. So, the group is battling on in Oz without me for another few weeks.

Yesterday I took a train to Glasgow and headed up to Wellington Church to have a sing along with another 300 or so singers for a choral workshop run by the celebrated British composer, John Rutter. It was great fun! Pure sight singing all the way! Certainly a bit of a challenge, but I managed to hold my own in a church full of Scottish sight-singers! There were about 150 sopranos, 100 altos, 40 basses and only 10 tenors! Rare as hen's teeth!

Anyhow, I had a great chat with John Rutter and he was very interested and promised he'd waste no time in checking out our website! So ... hi John! Great to talk with you the other day, and thanks again for the big sing!

You can read a bit about him on this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rutter

Well, that's about it for now ... I'm still over here doing my best to promote Men Wot Sing in whatever way I can. Currently, I'm contemplating organising a tour to the UK for some time next year ... so watch this space, and we'll keep you posted!

Och aye the noo again, Simon

Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary:   Monday, 09 February, 2009

This year I travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland with my family and I decided to spend a little time searching through the city to see just how well known the name Men Wot Sing is known thoughout the land. Are the hardy Scots familiar with our fearsome reputation? Can we do anything more to increase our interantional profile? It was unlikely, but you never know!

Meanwhile, the boys started the year with a social evening at Rob's house where they ate, drank and be'd merry. During the meeting I called from Edinburgh, and we all had a good chat about what we want to do and where we want to go in 2009. The plan is to get out there and perform as often as we can, taking our wild show to the people ... and getting them to come back again and again! Oh ... and we plan to finish our upcoming CD!

Rehearsals kick off again on Monday 23rd, February!

So ... how did my search go? Check the photos below for a full pictorial rundown.           Och aye the noo, Simon

Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary: Monday 15 December, 2008

Last night we performed our last concert for the year as part of a combined choirs performance called "Club Cappella" at the Bangalow Catholic Hall, Bangalow in N.S.W. All the acts were excellent, and it was just so great to be on stage and showing off to our best ability.

The boys sang brilliantly, and three new songs went down very well. All in all it was a great night and every one of the boys felt the power of the stage and the magic in the Men Wot Sing.

We'll be taking a break during the Christmas period and will return sometime around the end of January. Check out our calendar of events to keep up to date with our movement.

 Have a great Christmas, 2008 and the very bestest of Happy New Years, from Men Wot Sing!

Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary:   Tuesday, 04 November, 2008

Melbourne Cup today! Being such a lucky bunch of blokes, someone must have won some money! I know I did! ... ish.

Australia's Got Talent! Yep ... that's the truth, and the producers of the show are coming to Byron Bay on December, 7th. So ... this is our opportunity to take our act and put in in front of a bunch of cameras ... and see if we can raise a smile or two.

We had a great rehearsal on Mondy night, most of the boys turned up and we worked our way through a new song, Dr Whom - a funky four-part arrangment of the famous Dr Who theme, lightly dusted with a handful of Men Wot Singyness. Should be good! We plan to perform it at Club Cappella, a charity concert in the Bangalow Catholic hall on December 14th, featuring a number of excellent local choirs. See us there!

 Simon

Men Wot Sing - Incredibly Well Sung!

Musical Director's Diary:  Monday, 20 October, 2008

Welcome to the frirst entry in the Men Wot Sing blog. This is the place to go when you want to read about the intricate goings on within the heart of this magnificent bunch of blokes.

The tour to New Zealand in May of this year was a fantastic experience for us. It was our first international tour and was considered by all to be a resounding success. We made fome great friends and had tremendous opportunities, such as performing for the Tuhoi in the deep heartland of their lands, and watching as 250 high school boys from Rathkeale College performed a haka for us. The power of this amazing thing nearly blew us clean off the stage!

Since then, we've settled back into life in Oz, and have had a couple of great gigs over the last month or so.

In September we performed for the 2008 Bangalow Fatherhood Festival at Byron Bay High School. This was a fun gig and was topped off with the opportunity for us to listen to the celebrated Australian author, Steve Biddulph, giving his inspirational talk on raising boys. This was highly informative and great fun ... he's a great talker ... and some of us learned a good few things about raising our boys!

Simon

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