Classically trained cellist, loves to jam.
I've just returned to Sydney from a year spent in Amsterdam, playing music and meeting wonderful people, and writing some...
In Holland I played and recorded with Merel Hutten; a pianist/singer/song-writer, "Babak-O-Doestan" ('Babak and Friends' in Persian) which is a 7 piece (now 6-piece?) 'Persian World Music' band; and The Practicles, a collective of singer/song-writers who learn and perform each others' songs. You can find all of them in my 'favourites'.
For about five years before that I played in bands in pubs and venues around Sydney. Before that I did a bachelor of music in Adelaide and came out the other side still loving music, or maybe I learned to re-love it after the fact...
I was in a folk duo "Naked Without My Cello" for a few years when I first moved to Sydney; studied cello performance at post-graduate level at the Australian Institute of Music; took some jazz workshops with Sandy Evans who opened up more possibilities of improvisation for me; played with singer/songwriters like Athron, who recently released his album "Taming Butterflies", Bridie O'Brien (with her album "Soft Side Of Dark"), Paul Greene, Tim Ireland, the band Peregrine; my alter-ego 'the Dishpig' played a strap-on-electric-cello in the stipped-back-punk-something band called The Waiter's Tantrum Fantasy, which is the warped brain-child of Paul Clissold (also known as "the Waiter"); and I workshopped and put on a show with Ben Fink and Dale Caldwell called Songs Of The Sea, all about the sea, mermaids and big old creaky ships, which was one of the most satisfying projects I've ever done. I got to tour the east coast of Australia with Bridie O'Brien and Tim Ireland, though not at the same time...
As for my own music, which is what you have a sample of here, I tend to write songs mostly on guitar, then work out ways to play them on cello and sing them at the same time. I have an album called Pottery Cemetery which is on it's way to iTunes, internet, world domination etc etc...
I just love to play...
Here's a video that was on dutch TV, made by Jan Monquil:
