Through The Creative Door

BSIDE Graphic Novel by The Reductors

Featured Artist: The Reductors
Featured Vinyl: Graphic Novel
 
Alexis’ Hot Pick 
Code Variant
Sam’s Hot Pick
Body Scan
Aus Music Alert! Support this artists by purchasing this record via Bandcamp:
https://thereductors.bandcamp.com/album/graphic-novel 
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for an artist's vinyl to listen to, have you got one in mind that we should check out? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
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CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Co-Host: Sam Timmerman
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Voiceover: Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
 
00:09 - Introduction (Announcement)
Welcome to B-Side, the mini-series from Through the Creative Door. Join Alexis and Sam as they dive into the timeless world of vinyl. For Alexis, vinyl was more than music. It was a Sunday ritual she shared with her dad, listening, talking and soaking in the stories behind each album and the artwork on every sleeve. Though her dad is no longer with us, she continues this tradition with her friend, Sam Timmerman. Join them as they share their passion for vinyl and the stories these records hold. 
 
00:45 - Alexis (Co-host)
Hello Sam. 
 
00:47 - Sam (Co-host)
Good afternoon evening. 
 
00:50 - Alexis (Co-host)
How are you brother? 
 
00:52 - Sam (Co-host)
Good, we are Surviving is the wrong word. We're thriving. 
 
00:58 - Alexis (Co-host)
Thriving. 
 
00:59 - Sam (Co-host)
How are you going? Anyone on the video can say you've got a haircut and it looks amazing. 
 
01:04 - Alexis (Co-host)
Yeah yeah it'll grow back. Hair grows back how's life? 
 
01:11 - Sam (Co-host)
I'll be well I'm good. 
 
01:12 - Alexis (Co-host)
I'm good, I'm excited for the offering you have for us today. 
 
01:19 - Sam (Co-host)
Oh yeah, this one was. I'm gonna show it straight away. 
 
01:22 - Alexis (Co-host)
Shall I start the 10-minute timer
 
01:27 - Sam (Co-host)
10 minutes. 
 
01:28 - Alexis (Co-host)
Go what you got?
 
01:31 - Sam (Co-host)
This is one by a Perth Bolly local band called the Reductors and it's called Graphic Novel and I've got some personal connections to it, which is how I came across this in the first place. But this has been an absolute adventure and it's been so fun and so interesting and just the art just grabs me straight away as well, by the way, which we'll talk about in a minute. But I think you have some personal connections and musical connections to these guys as well, which is super exciting. 
 
02:07 - Alexis (Co-host)
I didn't know that you told me about this record. It wasn't until I started listening to it and actually looked at some of the promo and I was like I know that guy. 
 
02:19 - Sam (Co-host)
You know these people. 
 
02:21 - Alexis (Co-host)
I know some of these people. Yeah, which was lovely, and yeah, so I didn't realize that this project of theirs, yeah, they'd release this stuff. 
 
02:31 - Sam (Co-host)
so, yeah, it was really lovely to have a listen recorded last year I believe, last year being 2024 at one of my favourite studio names ever at, at Poonshead Studio in Fremantle. It is Fremantle in Western Australia, so this is absolutely an Australian artist alert and we've just been starting a deep dive on the studio, which we'll also talk about in a sec. But do you have a hot pick in the album? 
 
03:04 - Alexis (Co-host)
Oh my goodness, I definitely have a hot pick. 
 
03:05
The album oh my goodness, I definitely have a hot pick my hot pick is um code variant fantastic I all of these tracks were such a vibe, but there was something about this sort of tension building in this song that really got me. So, um, listeners, you really need to listen to this track. It's very interesting, builds really well, but I quite enjoyed. It was almost this like speech singing, conversing sort of um, because the the imagery around this album is confronting themes of body image, disillusionment and the battle to preserve individuality. So that's weaved through all of the 10 songs. 
 
03:55 - Sam (Co-host)
We will say as well this is. Reductors are a post-punk band and this is my first foray into the punk world and it's been eye eye-opening. It's glorious it's the right way to describe it. 
 
04:08 - Alexis (Co-host)
By the way, yeah but, yes, the description of the album is perfect as well yeah, exactly, and I think this for the song that I is my hot pick, it really leans into that, because it's the imagery of the lyrics that are sort of spoken and sung and then the instrumentation really just brings that tension but holds space for those words to really, you know, they're really articulate and you can really, you know, have that land, and then suddenly vocals step aside and you've got this full band and this full energy, yeah, and it just sort of takes you through this journey and just as quick as it all comes together to the forefront, it's like right back down and then there's more, you know, vocals. So yeah, I don't know, I really enjoyed the journey of that song, really enjoyed the journey. But definitely, if I'm allowed to have a close second, I would say Implant was my close second, yeah, I really enjoyed it. There was Spoken Word, a female guest collaborator feature that was on there. 
 
05:14 - Sam (Co-host)
In that kind of military style almost, which was kind of fun. 
 
05:24 - Alexis (Co-host)
Really enjoyed that tapestry and that timbre. So yeah, I don't know a great vibey song, yeah. 
 
05:31 - Sam (Co-host)
I agree with that. I loved I was in full music brain for this one. I read the lyrics after listening to the entire record. Which was kind of a fun way to do it. 
 
05:44 - Alexis (Co-host)
Me too, and that's very rare for me. 
 
05:47 - Sam (Co-host)
Yeah, you're not wrong, you're a lyrics girl all the way. The amount of space that is given to the music to say something is very cool. A lot of the lyrics are written kind of not necessarily train of thought but kind of through composed kind of feel. It's not a lot of verse, chorus, structure going on, which is kind of fun, and they allow so much space around that particularly a bunch of these tracks are. They say their, their piece and then it's a minute and a half of music I really enjoy it. 
 
06:25
I really enjoy it and if you're, if you're a harmony brain and you want to go and analyze this stuff, there is some crazy stuff going on. It was a lot of fun to listen to um musically. My favourite was body scan. It had a um slightly different feels. The rest of them a tiny little bit more poppy, I thought um, but I had a lot of fun with that. So that, very quickly, was my hot pick, which I thought was cool. We've got to talk about this artwork, though.
 
06:54 - Alexis (Co-host)
Hot pick, though, like from the minute that you heard it, or was there something in the song? Yeah, okay, cool. 
 
07:01 - Sam (Co-host)
Absolutely, absolutely. I'm going to talk about this, the artwork which, if you're only listening, you're going to have to find it and find a photo, but I am holding it up right now, as we always do. What are these characters? 
 
07:18 - Alexis (Co-host)
Wait, these characters have their names on it and I can't remember what they were so to to put the picture, we've got two characters that are having a boxing match, and it's more in that sort of um cartoony, would you say, style yeah it, it's a little bit, I mean, hey, graphic novel. Yes. 
 
07:43 - Sam (Co-host)
Which is literally the style that we're talking about. It is leaning into that real graphic novel style. It's two kind of larger than life characters, but very, very different. Duking it out, Hard to describe. 
 
08:00 - Alexis (Co-host)
What's the name?  
 
08:01 - Sam (Co-host)
So you're're gonna have to find a photo of this thing, which are they? I can't remember because I can't see it, because I'm hiding it off the camera. Names are grin and scratchy love it, love it grin is a gray-skinned, purple haired, I'm guessing, six ish feet tall, probably 60 odd years old man with a mustache, getting his face absolutely punched in by one of the most powerful female figures I've ever seen in cartoon form, ever seen in cartoon form. Just yeah, right, jab straight to the face, that's all I can describe it 
 
08:44 - Alexis (Co-host)
Jab jab, uppercut that's it. 
 
08:51 - Sam (Co-host)
We are not fighters. I'm sorry, we do not have terms UFC fans. I'm so sorry. 
 
08:57 - Alexis (Co-host)
I had actually I think I looked up this artist that the cover art was done by 
 
09:05 - Sam (Co-host)
Tom Hoskisson. 
 
09:06 - Alexis (Co-host)
Yes, and I wrote you a note to say check him out on Instagram. It's up your alley, you will love him. 
 
09:22 - Sam (Co-host)
So Tom's work or his publicly published work is all reimagined superhero work and superhero and fantasy and that kind of again that graphic novel kind of style, super fun, really, really heavily characterized work where, like you've said, when it's coming right up my alley in that if you understand the context of these characters, you're looking at this stuff going, ah, I know what you're talking about. Super, super fun. A couple of really fun ones that I found from a couple of years ago when I did a full scrolly. 
 
09:55 - Alexis (Co-host)
Oh, so you did a full old scrolly. 
 
09:57 - Sam (Co-host)
I did a full the whole thing. I found some stuff from 2022 and it looks amazing. 
 
10:03 - Alexis (Co-host)
Amazing, so we're going to dive into the studio. 
 
10:09 - Sam (Co-host)
Oh, please, can we. Can we Just quickly? I don't know how much time we've got, but I reckon we've got a minute to go. Mr Rob Grant, who also did some backing vocals on Implant, by the way, was yeah, this studio Poons Head Studios in East Fremantle, western Australia is. I just want to go there. I just want to go there. 
 
10:35 - Alexis (Co-host)
For those listening, you need to jump on the website for this studio because there's actually fantastic photos of all of the equipment actually fantastic photos of all of the equipment. He's got a list and breaks down the consoles, the analogue, the digital, the recorders, like everything that you could ever possibly need in a studio. Plus, he's got photos of all of the excellent equipment, which is just like a kid in a candy store. I think I had a moment when I was looking through and I started with, obviously, some of the digital analogue stuff, but when I got through to a screen which it had like all of the keyboards and synths. 
 
11:22
I nearly weed my pants. 
 
11:29 - Sam (Co-host)
That's a timer, but very quickly, we'll try and link it in the show notes as well, if we can. That'd be fantastic. Go and check it out, rob and his studio. Looking at the client list that he has worked with as well. There are some names. There are some names which I will not read out because you've got to go to the website. 
 
11:51 - Alexis (Co-host)
That's a great segue. I love it. 
 
11:55 - Sam (Co-host)
But also, yes, graphic novel by the Reductors. 
 
12:01 - Alexis (Co-host)
Yeah, on. 
 
12:01 - Sam (Co-host)
Bandcamp, I believe. 
 
12:03 - Alexis (Co-host)
It is 100% on Bandcamp. So, like we say most times, support Australian artists, get on Bandcamp, buy all their things. 
 
12:14 - Sam (Co-host)
Buy all their things. 
 
12:15 - Alexis (Co-host)
All of their things. 
 
12:17 - Sam (Co-host)
Lovely to see you again, as always, my friend. 
 
12:24 - Alexis (Co-host)
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffee.com/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favourite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

8 | Do The Work with Gavin Bowles

Alexis sits down with the ever-charismatic Gavin Bowles – frontman of Sydney’s power-pop band Gavin Bowles and The Distractions. Gavin opens up about the rollercoaster ride of creating his latest album Phoning It In, navigating lockdowns, lineup changes, and personal challenges to craft a record that feels raw, real, and wholly his.
With cheeky lyrics, punchy hooks, and a catalogue rich in visual storytelling, Gavin’s music is a celebration of fun, freedom, and feeling everything in between. In this episode, he shares how vulnerability, humour, and creative persistence have shaped his work – and how he’s stayed true to his voice through it all. 
If you’d like to see more, you can follow Gavin on instagram; @ gavinbowlesmusic
 
This episode was recorded on 15th March 2025 on the lands of the Woiworung Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikToc: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
00:09 - Alexis (Host)
Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. Owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I'm delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door. 
Gavin Bowles is in the house. 
 
00:51 - Gavin (Guest)
Hello, thank you for having me. 
 
00:54 - Alexis (Host)
Welcome to Through the Creative Door. I am super chuffed to have you here. 
 
00:59 - Gavin (Guest)
I'm chuffed to be here. 
 
01:00 - Alexis (Host)
You're actually, we're not at your abode or studio or creative space. You've come into my abode and it's. 
 
01:09 - Gavin (Guest)
And it's lovely. I would. I would also love to invite you to my space, but it's, it's not in it's not in melbourne where we currently are. Yes, that's right, it's in sydney, so maybe another time, but this is lovely. Thank you for having me. 
 
01:21 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, it's so lovely to have you here. Oh, my goodness, your tracks, your music, because you're a singer-songwriter, you're a musician. You've been doing this for a very long time. You have played in lots of ensembles, but what you're doing at the moment is under your name and you have a band yeah, so it's Gavin Bowles and the distractions, and I was just about to say yes, yes, yes amazing um can I just say your music is very catchy oh, it's like super fun and I would assume that it's in that. 
 
01:56
What do you call like power, pop, power is like the best way to describe it that's fun yeah fun. The content is cheeky. 
 
02:03 - Gavin (Guest)
Yes. 
 
02:03 - Alexis (Host)
And I'll be honest the thing that I find super striking is like I vibe a music video, so like your catalogue of music videos. What a vibe. Yeah, they are amazing. They're so cool. 
 
02:18 - Gavin (Guest)
They're good fun. 
 
02:20 - Alexis (Host)
So much fun who have you directed all these music videos? 
 
02:24 - Gavin (Guest)
I'd say that I co-directed them all, so I've been lucky enough, or we've been lucky enough, to have a relationship with the director, Tom Roberts. Shout out to Tom. Yeah, I met Tom a little over a decade ago when he worked with my previous band, Picture Perfect, did a few videos for that band and then a few for myself solo, uh, and now, gosh, I think maybe we've done five as gavin bowles and the distractions with tom, uh, and he just has such. I give him these really crazy, sometimes bizarre, stupid ideas. 
 
03:05 - Alexis (Host)
No, they're fantastic. 
 
03:06 - Gavin (Guest)
For these videos and he always finds a way to bring it out, bring out a story or these visual cues, ideas, into a really fully thought out, engaging you know thing. 
 
03:19 - Alexis (Host)
See, I love this so cool. All right, are you ready to launch into these questions? 
 
03:25 - Gavin (Guest)
Yeah, please, please. 
 
03:28 - Alexis (Host)
Well, normally I'm at my guest's creative space, so normally I have a little bit of insight because I'm in it. 
 
03:35 - Gavin (Guest)
Yes. 
 
03:35 - Alexis (Host)
But what does a creative space mean to you, and why? 
 
03:41 - Gavin (Guest)
Yeah, I've had a few different creative spaces over the, I guess, like the past decade, where I've moved house, a lot. Moving house, yeah, yeah, as I'm sure a lot of creative people would understand the struggle of you've set up your creative space and then you know you, you need to move, you need to leave that place for some reason. Um, yeah, I think for me it's just about it's not necessarily about things being um in a specific place, like obviously functional, but I think it's just more about creating a relaxed environment in which you can sort of zone out everything else. And I have lived in some places where I've had a big half a house or I've had half of a spare bedroom. 
 
04:53
So it doesn't always require heaps of physical space, you just need to be able to have a designated space, a designated space and just you know, quite often it's just a little, it's the little things, maybe just a couple of kind of you know sort of knickknacks or picture frames or posters or something to just kind of remind me that I'm in my work space. 
 
05:22 - Alexis (Host)
Okay, what's in these picture frames that I'm in? 
 
05:25 - Gavin (Guest)
The main one that has been in pretty much all of my creative spaces is I did mention them before. So Green Day is my favourite band. Always has been. The first time I saw Green Day was on the American Idiot Tour, so that was, that was 2005. I saw them at one of the Sydney Superdome, which I think now has some silly name, that's. That's a computer company or something like they most of them do now and at the time there was a record store in Western Sydney, in Penrith, near where I lived I grew up in the Blue Mountains, so it was about 20 minutes away from home and at that point actually having a record store that sold vinyl records in 2005 was a pretty niche, especially for a place like Penrith where there wasn't really, you know, it was, I'm sure, like in, you know, in in Melbourne during that time there was probably a few, a few record stores, but it was pretty niche at the time. But I noticed one time when I walked in there that there was a lot of photos, photos on the wall and that they had the guy who ran the store. He had a mate who was a photographer and he went around and took photos at concerts, would make prints of them and they'd sell them at the shop. And I walked in maybe the week after I'd been to that green day show and there was a bunch of photos that his mate, his mate had taken. So I've got a few little sort of taken. 
 
07:07
So I've got a few little sort of smaller prints. But there's actually a really large front-on print of um, of billy joe performing with the big like american idiot logo behind him in like just bathed in blue light. It's just, it's a really, really magic photo. Um, yeah, and it's just, it's. It's been with. Funnily enough, it was always just like blue tacked on the wall. It's, you know, it's a glossy, you know, print of a photo. Until a few years ago my partner was like I think you should frame this and she framed it for me and I was like Bless her cotton socks. 
 
07:36
Yeah, and I just went, never thought of it. 
 
07:40
So helps to have a feminine touch sometimes, or just helps to have a feminine touch sometimes, or just somebody who thinks about maybe actually preserving the thing, so that one, that one always kind of is sort of there there with me. 
 
07:53
I feel like it just kind of whether it gives me inspiration, uh, directly or not, it's probably irrelevant, it's just always grounding. Yeah, yeah, and it kind of it reminds me of, you know, just like a, I think, a simpler time for me, maybe for everyone, just when I went to that show and I was just so enamored by seeing, like you know, one of my of my idols perform and buying the photo in the shop and that was also kind of like we were talking a lot about community off mic. That was another thing too that I'd bought the photo from a local photographer at a local store that I frequented, and, yeah, I think that's also maybe a part of it too. So, yeah, I think my creative space just has just things like that that just remind me who I am and where I come from. Maybe is probably the main dot point. 
 
09:03 - Alexis (Host)
Beautiful. Yeah, love that. Now, you have been doing this for a long time, being a creative bear. So this question it could be something from your back catalogue, it could be something that's more newish, but what's something that you're most proud of creating? 
 
09:25 - Gavin (Guest)
I actually would say, though, that it's probably the first, the last full record that I did, which is the first album under the name Gavin Bowles and the Distractions, because the first album that I fully self-produced was just under my name, which was five years ago. 
 
09:47
It came out in the middle of COVID, which is a feat in itself but then, self-producing this record with the band it's called Phoning It In, because the album sort of almost didn't happen so many times, because when I was writing it, we went into the uh, we went into I think there were two, two lockdowns involved in it, um, and then I also had a lot of like personal afflictions happen within that time frame too. 
 
10:17
Um, and then we also had a band member leave just before we were gearing up to start the album, and then we had to get a new band member and sort of like reconfigure the band, which ended up being the best thing for the band in general, but for those songs and that record. And then it just so happened that when we actually got our act together to start recording it, and then it just so happened that, when we actually got our act together to start recording it, that I didn't actually have a creative space that was big enough to record things like drums on that guitar amp, because I was in a small apartment with a housemate with no soundproofing, all of those things Good old challenges. 
 
10:59
Yes. So what we did was I packed up my brother, who's the the drummer, simon um, he, he obviously being a drummer, one of the things about every time that he moves house same deal, moving all of his creative things is he always needs a space where he can set up his drum kit and make some noise. So at the time he was living in a house where he was able to do so. So what I did for every, every band's parts for that record was recorded by myself where I packed up my computer, microphones, interface, everything brought it to their house, set up. So I had to set like the amount of times that I packed up, you know, my all of my stuff, uh, brought it to their houses and then and the kind of thing that also ended up bringing that album home was that it was finished, a couple of little things recorded but sort of mixed and edited and properly finished, sent off to be mastered and everything. At my current place where I've been for a little over two years. That's where I was also to finalize because I basically, after everything was recorded, then I moved into this place where I had the space and it kind of felt like a the perfect way to finish up the album, because I was suddenly in this space where I could, you know, like have all my things set up and stretch my legs and uh and uh, it just kind of felt like the perfect place to finish up. And now it's the place where we're starting to record our new record. 
 
12:33
So the couple of songs we talked about before they, they're the first tracks to be recorded in my new space, my new house, my new home studio. So that record just had so many roadblocks but I just kind of never. I never wanted to not make it. I knew that it was a record that I always, once the songs were written, I kind of went I think this is actually the album that I've always wanted to write. So the album formed itself through a lot of hardship and then, like within the writing of it and then actually of the recording of it, so, um, I'm really proud of it because it's just, uh, it's such a, it's such a moment in such a moment in time and it all just kind of came together almost despite itself. Um, and we're super proud of it. We love playing those songs live. It's really connected with people, which is something that you, just you, you, you can never orchestrate those things like just you never know you never know, there's babies that we create yeah once they go out into the world, you just never know how they're gonna ricochet yeah 
 
13:36
affect people and you always and you always hope that they, that they land with people and people enjoy it. But some of of these songs just have really touched people and that's just been amazing and to see people singing them back at us and everything it's just been. 
 
13:50 - Alexis (Host)
On the flip side of things that we're proud of, that you're proud of, what is something that's happened in your life or, like circumstance whatever. What's something that has challenged your creativity? 
 
14:04 - Gavin (Guest)
It’s probably actually a lack of challenge I think, I think I think when the stars are aligned and when I'm doing really, really well, uh sort of mentally, emotionally, things are good with, you know, with All the other pillars of your life. Yeah, it's hard to sometimes get in a creative space to make something that's that truly represents me. 
 
14:45 - Alexis (Host)
Okay. 
 
14:47 - Gavin (Guest)
I think that's just because, as I've become like as I've gotten older, I want what I'm writing about to be really honest. That doesn't mean it has to be heartbreaking or it has to be about mental health struggles or something like that. It just means that it has to be really, really honest. Yeah, and when you're in a really good space, when, like I've, you know, I've been like, um, I'm going like family, things are well, me and my partner are really great, me and the band are really great, works great, you know. You know, I mean I've actually been going for a few runs or whatever it is. You know the stars are aligning. Sometimes it's hard to admit the things that are, because obviously we have hardships every day, but I normally find that I'm at my most honest when I'm having to face, when you have to ask yourself hard questions. That's when I'm at my most sort of honest and vulnerable and I kind of I'm not going to say force myself, but I sort of get myself in those spaces and times to create. 
 
15:59 - Alexis (Host)
Now we sort of covered a little bit about objects when we were talking about your creative space. But I'm curious do you have a particular object or thing that you can't live without when you're creating? 
 
16:15 - Gavin (Guest)
I'm not really. I'm not really sure otherwise I mean not that I can sort of think at this point you don't have to. 
 
16:21 - Alexis (Host)
I was just curious if you do yeah, I mean I do. 
 
16:28 - Gavin (Guest)
Uh, I was actually writing something. This morning I actually went out of my way to go and buy a pad of paper and a pen because I came up with an idea for something. Because I do make a lot of phone memos but it's kind of like when it gets serious when I said I go to those phone memos and turn into a fully like. When it gets serious when I said I go to those phone memos and turn into a fully fleshed song. I always do it with pen and paper because for some reason it's the physicality of writing something down yeah I can empathize with that one so that might be it, that could that. 
 
16:56
That could be it in terms of writing songs and doing doing certain, even like organizing things like a track list on a record or kind of things like that. It you can talk to anybody who's lived with me or near me that I'm a list person. Oh, you're my kind of guy, then you'll find there's lists on my phone, but there's written lists around if you head into my office, you'll see a multitude of lists on both sides of my yeah. So maybe it's lists, maybe the answer is lists. 
 
17:33 - Alexis (Host)
So uh, we are cut from the same cloth yes, my friend yes, if you could give one creative, one piece of advice, one nugget of gold, yeah, what would it be? 
 
17:46 - Gavin (Guest)
It’s really do the work yeah because there's so many other things that bombard us, not even necessarily just as creative people just as humans just as humans, we obviously get sucked into our phones, into social media, uh, into and this isn't a thing to do with being a creative person either. We're all self-branding constantly. Every time that you put up a picture or make a post or something like that, you're kind of doing something for your brand, whether you intend to or not. So we all get a little bit stuck in the story that we're telling about ourselves, um, but especially as um creative people who self promote. You know, we can get caught up in that kind of rat race and comparing ourselves to other people, to our contemporaries, to whoever it may be, and I struggle with this all the time. 
 
18:59
But the thing that always brings me back I've got a little sign in my studio that says do the work, because when you turn all that stuff off and you just focus on the thing that you still love and you tap into that place and that feeling that, for me, I've had since I was a kid, then all of that other stuff is gone, it just melts away. So, yeah, that's super important to me. Yeah, and there's gonna be hardships all the time. There's gonna be things to overcome. Time there's going to be. There's going to be things to overcome. There's going to be problems, um. Not everything's going to go your way, um, but you can always just rely on just doing the thing that you love. 
 
20:01 - Alexis (Host)
Well said, well bloody said. It's so true. If you could recommend any resources for someone to develop their creative process to do what you do, what would you recommend? 
 
20:18 - Gavin (Guest)
I mean, one of them is just get like a really basic recording program. There's a program called audacity, it's just a really simple, user-friendly recording program, but you can sort of learn how to multi-track and learn how to do this and do that easy way to yeah get you sink your teeth into it before you go into any crazy software yeah, because I because I just did it totally without any any previous knowledge or experience just got this program, started messing around with it, um, and I ended up, you know, using it for years and years and years and just kind of um, discovering how to, yeah, do a little. You know, like what happens if I put this guitar sound over this guitar sound, or what happens if I put this melody over this vocal bit. Because I was really just experimenting with being creative at itself, because it's one thing to sit down and write a song and write a part or write a lyric, but it's another thing to start layering. 
 
21:21 - Alexis (Host)
That's, I guess, the transition from, you know, singer-songwriter through to, like, producer, 
 
21:30 - Gavin (Guest)
Recording artist. Yeah, that's right. That's right and it's fun. It's really, really fun. You can really sink your teeth into it. So I think that because it will often just give you a little bit of like the spark of inspiration to just start messing around with things, and I mean, look, just if you've got a question, go to Reddit, and if you need a tutorial on how to use a piece of equipment, go to YouTube. And you know, if you need to learn how to clean the electronics in your guitar, there's, there's a youtube. Shout out to my mate, Dave Webb. He, he runs a youtube channel and one time I needed to figure out how to clean the um, the volume pots in my guitar because they were crackling, and the first thing that came up was perfect was dave. 
 
22:17
So you know, like there's just there's a wealth of information out there, so just. But it's also it's almost kind of the same thing, like just don't be afraid to ask for help, because you're sort of doing it yourself if you're doing it that way. But it's really no different. It's just that there's actually a community of people who have just answered your question before you asked it. But don't be afraid to ask for help. 
 
22:39 - Alexis (Host)
Well said Well yeah. Yeah, well said, well said. One last question. 
 
22:43 - Gavin (Guest)
All right. 
 
22:47 - Alexis (Host)
If you could hear another creative, come on this podcast and answer these questions, who would it be and why? 
 
22:51 - Gavin (Guest)
I've got to say Emily South, because Emily's great and I would be very interested to sort of know a little bit more about, yeah, her process and yeah, sort of her background and, yeah, just hear her answer those questions yeah, amazing, because she's great. 
 
23:12 - Alexis (Host)
Oh my goodness, Gavin, you have been an absolute delight. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. 
 
23:18 - Gavin (Guest)
Thank you for having me. This is great. I love this kind of stuff. 
 
23:26 - Alexis (Host)
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or buy the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

BSIDE Luxury by Emilee South

Featured Artist: Emilee South
Featured Vinyl: LUXURY
 
Alexis’ Hot Pick 
Weekend
Sam’s Hot Pick
Tower
Aus Music Alert! Support this artists by purchasing this record via Bandcamp:
https://emileesouth.bandcamp.com/album/luxury-2 
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for an artist's vinyl to listen to, have you got one in mind that we should check out? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
 
00:09 - Intro (Announcement)
Welcome to B-Side, the mini-series from Through the Creative Door. Join Alexis and Sam as they dive into the timeless world of vinyl. For Alexis, vinyl was more than music. It was a Sunday ritual she shared with her dad, listening, talking and soaking in the stories behind each album and the artwork on every sleeve. Though her dad is no longer with us, she continues this tradition with her friend, sam Timmerman. Join them as they share their passion for vinyl and the stories these records hold. 
 
00:44 - Alexis (Host)
Hello Sam. 
 
00:47 - Sam (Host)
Hello, hello, hello, hello, welcome back.
 
00:51 - Alexis (Host)
Happy, Next, another week of fun
 
00:55 - Sam (Host)
Episode what seven yeah seven seven, seven. I cannot count anymore. How are we. Are we well, I'm very well, good
 
01:05 - Alexis (Host)
Good Shall. I start the timer. 
 
01:10 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, start the timer, do it. What do you have for me after you start the timer? 
 
01:13 - Alexis (Host)
It's time to go. 
 
01:15 - Sam (Host)
What do you have? 
 
01:17 - Alexis (Host)
I am so excited for this one. This is very special. 
 
01:22 - Sam (Host)
This. It's so red. 
 
01:24 - Alexis (Host)
It's so red it's so red. It's beautiful. It is a beautiful red, black and white cover for Emiliee South, Luxury. 
 
01:39 - Sam (Host)
Yeah it's beautiful. 
 
01:41 - Alexis (Host)
And if we pop it out? Look at this glorious shiny. 
 
01:45 - Sam (Host)
That is wow. Okay, everyone who's listening. You've got to get on the video Because this is so glorious. That is some sheen on a record right there. Boop, boop, boop, boop. Amazing who's Emilee South? Where's she from? 
 
02:02 - Sam (Host)
So I saw an Australian Artist Alert right. 
 
02:04 - Alexis (Host)
Yep Australian artist alert. She is in Victoria. She's absolutely killing it. I may have met her at uni. 
 
02:17 - Sam (Host)
That's a weird noise. 
 
02:18 - Alexis (Host)
That is not why we're doing this. We're doing this because she has this absolute banger of a record and it deserves everyone talking about it and listening luxury luxury. 
 
02:29 - Sam (Host)
This is so much fun, by the way I, I'm. 
 
02:33 - Alexis (Host)
I so love that I get to, because this is not something, a genre that you would normally listen to. 
 
02:38 - Sam (Host)
So no, but then every now and again I really get into it like I'll just, I'll just sit there and just right, amazing. 
 
02:49 - Alexis (Host)
Well, segue into rocking it out. My hot pick is a track called weekend. One, because it is so upbeat and infectious and such driving guitar. It's absolutely powerful. But I love the premise of the lyrics and like she's hit it out of the park with the music video as well, it's absolutely amazing. But for Weekend it's essentially lyrics talking about, um, you know, working a nine to five, wasting your youth away, waiting for the weekend is like the nutshell there you go ah, the music video killer. The song's an absolute banger. It's an earworm. Get to me head,
 
03:41 - Sam (Host)
See that I didn't get to watch that music video because I was too busy watching the music video for Control. 
 
03:48 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, that's another banger of a song, yeah. 
 
03:51 - Sam (Host)
Great song, great tune, really cool video. 
 
03:55 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, how impressive Like rolling around with roller skates. 
 
04:00 - Sam (Host)
We'll clarify roller skates. She's not rolling around on the floor. She's on roller skates and it's yeah, it's super cool. It was a lot of fun, Did we? I don't know if we found out who directed that, or was it self-directed. 
 
04:20 - Alexis (Host)
Actually didn't go down that rabbit hole to see. 
 
04:22 - Sam (Host)
That can be another rabbit hole for next time, I think. 
 
04:25 - Alexis (Host)
I will take that off. But what was your hot pick? 
 
04:31 - Sam (Host)
Oh, my hot pick was Tower and with this record, I genuinely almost didn't hear the lyrics because I was too busy going nuts to the music. So, Emilee I apologise, I was too busy going nuts to the music. That was so much fun. I put it on while I was answering emails or something, and it helped me through the. I love my clients. 
 
04:59 - Alexis (Host)
Control yes. 
 
05:05 - Sam (Host)
It was beautiful. It was so much fun. Just am I allowed to say balls to the wall, balls to the wall, absolute energy, just in your face. I loved it. I don't have much else to say apart from yes, it was great yeah, so much um, and I got my own little rabbit hole looking at um Anna Laverty, the producer, because far out as she does some stuff very, very cool. 
 
05:32 - Alexis (Host)
I'm not going to go down the whole list, but I'm just about to say, like I prior to our chat off my I wasn't like. I recognized the name, but I didn't know just how much her work is like, spread far and wide and like how many. 
 
05:51 - Sam (Host)
Absolutely. Since doing this record, she's also done stuff with Jebediah and Missy Higgins, which is super fun, but she's worked with everyone from our own dear friends Stella Donnelly, meg Mac, tania Harper, all the way through to people like Missy and Jebediah, and also up to she was assistant engineer on Lady Gaga's record. She's done stuff. She is fantastic, and what a a sound, what an absolute sound. It's very very cool. Talk to me about the artwork. 
 
06:20 - Alexis (Host)
I just want to say Emilee’s not only just knocked it out of the park with, like, the sound and the team that she's had with her, because obviously her, um, her band is super solid. So her partner, matt, plays guitar with her in this ensemble, will, who plays bass she's known will since she went to uni and like they've they've done lots of different projects together and they're super tight and, um, dan barry's on drums. So like, yeah, what a solid basis. 
So, yeah, so the artwork. How amazing. We went down a little rabbit hole to work out where it had all come from. Who was responsible for this amazing work? 
 
07:56 - Sam (Host)
Whose fault was this? 
 
07:58 - Alexis (Host)
Whose fault was this? And we came across some information about, yeah, who the illustrations were done by, which is Celeste Mountjoy, which I didn't know who that was, and then did a bit of a rabbit hole and it was like aka filthy rat bag and I was like who is this? Oh my goodness and holy moly that lady. We could talk about her on a whole other podcast
 
08:30 - Sam (Host)
Is there such a thing as seaside where we can talk about. Actually, that's weird, that sounds weird. We're not talking about beaches here, um, but yeah anyway, talking about artwork, oh my goodness yeah. 
 
08:32 - Alexis (Host)
How amazing what a style everyone needs to go and check out her work as well, and what an amazing collaboration for emily to have for her artwork. And, um, obviously that was in alongside um sebi white, who helped design the artwork. So, yeah, I think on Emilee’s website, when she talks about the cover art, she, I think she says something like it's a work of art in itself, which is so true, which is so lovely that she got inspiration. 
 
09:10 - Sam (Host)
So but yeah, check out celeste at filthy rat bag on instagram and, I believe, on tiktok as well, possibly yes that's all I can say. Just style out the ears, that's great oh yeah so. 
 
09:30 - Alexis (Host)
But I don't know. There's just so much to talk about this record because obviously the body of work, the sound's amazing. The shoot-offs of the music videos for all these tracks are just stunning. Yeah, such bangers. 
 
09:44 - Sam (Host)
So much fun I have to bring it back to the control video for a second, because I believe I recognise that space. 
 
09:52 - Alexis (Host)
What do you mean? Because? 
 
09:55 - Sam (Host)
Someone that we know and love dearly recorded in that space as well, I believe. 
 
10:01 - Alexis (Host)
It is a popular room. Here in Melbourne. It is a popular space. 
 
10:05 - Sam (Host)
That's such a cop-out answer and I love it. 
 
10:10 - Alexis (Host)
It might look familiar to you, Sam, because I have possibly done. 
 
10:13 - Sam (Host)
Yes, there we go. 
 
10:15 - Alexis (Host)
I have done a music video in there. 
 
10:16 - Sam (Host)
We dug it out of her. 
 
10:20 - Alexis (Host)
But this podcast is not about me. 
 
10:23 - Sam (Host)
No, it's not until I make it about you. 
 
10:27 - Alexis (Host)
But you know I'm in good stead if I have picked a location for music videos in the same calibre. 
 
10:35 - Sam (Host)
It's very true. It is very true. 
 
10:37 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, but do you have any runner-ups of your special picks? 
 
10:47 - Sam (Host)
To be honest, I could pick four or five, so not really yeah, I spent the whole time on the, on this record again, bouncing up and down, just going. Yeah, control was a lot of fun. It was a little bit more um for me, I got to chill a little bit more to it, but again, just fun. I was looking at, actually just looking at a couple bits of info. Oh, that's time Looking at a bit of info about Emilee in general. 
 
11:26
Just in terms of where they've performed for the EPs before Luxury as well, Stuff like your Lily Palooza, Big Sound Americanas and Kilderfest in Brunswick. They're not small festivals either. We're talking about people who are releasing stuff after playing really solid shows, and I would love to see these guys live. Emilee, please just bring me to Melbourne or come to Perth Either way. 
 
12:00 - Alexis (Host)
Let's harass her. Make her do a tour over in. WA yeah, 
 
12:03 - Sam (Host)
Absolutely Jump in a van, go around the country. I love it, I love it. 
 
12:11 - Alexis (Host)
All right, all right, brother, that's it for this week. 
 
12:13 - Sam (Host)
Thank you very much for having me. As always, Emilee South Luxury, get your hands and your ears on it 
 
12:28 - Alexis (Host)
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door.  If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom. Forward slash through the creative door or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 
 

7 | Little by Little with Ida Sophia

In this episode, Alexis step’s into the deeply immersive world of South Australian-born, Berlin-based artist Ida Sophia. Known for her evocative performance art, as well as her work in media and sculpture, Ida shares the discipline and solitude that shape her creative process. From her durational performance Regret to the significance of journaling as a "moving studio," this conversation is a raw and inspiring exploration of what it means to create with intention.
More info: https://www.idasophia.art
If you’d like to see more, you can follow Ida on instagram; @ idasophia_art
 
This episode was recorded on 1st March 2025 on the lands of the Kaurna Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
Creative resources from Ida:
Book: Letters To A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
00:09 - Alexis (Host)
Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. Owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I'm delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door,
 
00:42
Ida. I am so chuffed. Thank you so much for coming through the creative door. I actually just have no words. I have, I mean, as I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I hadn't done a little stalky, stalk of you, but there's actually no words. Like, I've seen some of your beautiful performance art and it's so emotive and so thought-provoking. And I know that's not all that you do, because you also obviously do amazing sculptures which, for those listening, we're sitting in front of one of your artworks. What did you say? This one's called. 
 
01:31 - Ida (Guest)
This is called contact failure. 
 
01:34 - Alexis (Host)
Yes, I'm going to put a pin in that because I want to circle back, because I think that's super interesting, and I know that there's another component to this that's living in another room, so I want to unpack that a little bit. But yeah, I mean, it seems to me that the landscape of you as an artist is like so fluid and there's so many mediums that you sort of draw upon. Um, what does a creative space mean to you and why? 
 
02:01 - Ida (Guest)
yeah, I mean it needs to have a level of isolation for me. I need to be able to, you know, close the door and to to enter it, um, almost in a monastic sense. I have a very Um disciplined studio um practice. I like to be in the studio by 8am, even earlier, if I can be. I'm just obsessed. 
 
02:29
I at the moment, my studio is in a basement and I bound down the stairs so excited with my little thermos of coffee and my journal under my arm, ready to go into the studio and continue working from one whatever project or multiple projects that I'm working on right now. Um, but I'm actually in a residency and over the course of my practice, I've done multiple residencies and that has been so um, it's been so beautiful to be around other artists consistently whilst having this very isolated, monastic practice within a community. So I kind of need both. I need to be able to step into it, close the door, have that whole world and then be able to open the door, have lots of people come in, be connected to community, have a lot of experiences. Uh, wherever that residency is situated, um, right now it's in Berlin, which is what a city to do a residency in. There's like 300 plus galleries. 
 
03:34
It's uh, the studio is in the city is the city, I should say yeah, it's really taught me about going beyond those four walls of my studio and and recognizing that, uh, practice is is in the looking, the listening, the feeling, the, the seeking, uh out what a city can actually provide for you artistically on the pulse yeah yeah, yeah, totally. So I think energy in that way is important Energy, excited energy and then very concentrated energy, it's both. 
 
04:16 - Alexis (Host)
I love this question because in some ways, it doesn't matter what kind of baseline I think we're all sort of trying to find. It's like the yin and yang of creativity within a space and uh, yeah, what a beautiful answer. Beautiful answer, I mean. You have, your body of work is massive and your mediums are across the board. Is there a body of work or a piece of work that you're most proud of creating, and how did it come about? 
 
04:52 - Ida (Guest)
yeah, I think I'm most proud of creating Regret from 2021. This work is a 28 day dur performance, six hours a day. Every day, I sat in a chair and I watched this monumental installation of flowers decompose, and I did that because I regretted not spending the last month of my father's life by his side and I wanted to spend the time in the work that I wish I had spent with him, but not only that. Again, realizing that my story is a common story, you know, a regret is something that a lot of people feel. I had a participatory element where I cast these little plaster pieces that people could write their regrets on, and my, my um vow was to hold the literal and um metaphorical weight of that regret after they placed it on a hook on the garment that I was wearing a cloak thing that you're wearing. 
 
05:59
Yeah, yeah, and this work. The reason I'm so proud of it is that I was the first day I did it, for sitting there for six hours I thought, oh my God, what have I done? This is really hard, but I'd done the training, I'd done the endurance training, I'd done the mental training before, and when I got to the end of it, I felt like I could continue doing it for three months. You know, even though this thing on me had got to about 15 or 20 kilos, I felt so light. 
 
06:28
You know, I didn't realize, or I didn't know with empirical evidence, that durational time in performance could really be so effective on myself and the people that shared this work with me. You know, people showed me that they needed spaces to come and, um, be able to be with their stuff that are, you know, non-religious or you know. So I understood that, uh, through durational performance, there was some kind of gift there, given that people can come and have an experience, go away, think about it. The show is still going. I'm still there, I'm still holding the space, still holding their regret, and then they can come back in that revisited state where they've, where they've carried it as well, and it was a beautiful. It was a beautiful thing. It really taught me what I was capable of and um, what I needed to do with my practice, what my duty is as an artist to do with my practice. 
 
07:34 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, it's so. It's beautiful to hear you articulate what it was like in that space physically, because the photos of that time, of that that performance, like they're striking, they're really striking and so for someone who's paletting it, who wasn't in the room to feel that you know, wash over them, they're very emotionally triggering images, knowing the context. Yeah, and that, yeah, super powerful. 
 
08:08
Yeah, yeah, thank you yeah, thank you so much for being so gracious and sharing that. That's, yeah, it's a good question, beautiful. On the flip side of things that you're proud of, have you had an experience or a situation that's challenged your creativity? 
 
08:30 - Ida (Guest)
I've had a really blessed artistic life and I think my challenges are the source of the best parts of my practice, so maybe I don't see them as challenges so much. 
 
08:48
I think all of the things that I work through in my different works are based on the challenges of early childhood, as so many are like interpersonal, inter-familial things that that arose, and I think the challenge perhaps is being so candid and so vulnerable in order to revisit, feel it again, extract it out of you into your right hand, look at it, understand it, understand where you are now and you're not that child, and look at it from a different world view and from an art perspective and from a translation perspective and and from a a truth perspective. You know, can I actually do something with this or am I ready to? And then, of course, translating that into into a work, into materiality, um, so there are lots of things that I know are still locked up. Um, that will take time, I think. But yeah, I think the challenge is is is the really the, the going in and doing the revisitation of some of the things that you're like, oh, that one's painful, but it's, but that's, that's okay. Does that answer your question? 
 
10:30 - Alexis (Host)
it does, it does very much. So, okay, good, considering that you change workspaces, the studio space, I'm curious is there anything like an object or a thing that you can't live without when you're creating? Of course, of course. What is this thing? 
 
10:52 - Ida (Guest)
I'm a prolific journaler. Okay thing, I'm a prolific journaler, so it's a absolute essential for me and I don't feel complete if my journal is not with me at all times. I've journaled since maybe I was about six and I must have hundreds of A5 journals. There's mine just there, within, within the eyesight. 
 
11:14 - Alexis (Host)
I have to have it there is there a particular kind of like? 
 
11:18 - Ida (Guest)
blank paper, a5, that's okay. Okay, it changes, you know, over the years. But, um, the thing with the journal is that it is, it is the moving studio, because I'm, because I'm moving around all the time and I don't think that we we switch off being an artist when we're in the studio and when we're being out of the studio. It's just not, it's not a thing, it's not. It's not in our wheelhouse that we have a nine to five. I don't think that it ever fully goes away or that perhaps people don't understand that we stop being artists. We don't stop being artists, pardon me, at at any time. 
 
11:57
Um, we're experiencing the world as artists and gathering and collecting and, uh, the journal is this, uh, deeply supportive space that holds the constancy of artisthood throughout every minute of my day, even like just a few days ago, I finally had this huge realization about this theme of hope in my entire practice. 
 
12:22
It is the, it is this, this word that has driven everything we do in our life with this, this hope that we, we hope someone will do something, we hope that we'll get this, we hope that they'll love us, we hope that they'll forgive us. All of this has driven all of our behavior and all of my work, and you know this. This light comes on, it's an idle Tuesday afternoon at 2 45 in the afternoon and you're like, oh my god, I've got to write this down immediately and for me it's a. I think the second object that's very important to me is my lame pen that I write with, because writing my phone is just, it's not a thing, it's almost not fast enough. My hand is quicker and I need the connection between my, my brain and my arm and my hand to to, to think and deliver exactly what it is, um. So yeah, definitely recommend having a lemme pen for all of the all of the journaling I
 
13:29 - Alexis (Host)
I really agree with that as a lyricist and a songwriter. There's something about the notation and it's this um. So we spoke off mark about how I got diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome a couple of years ago and I talked to people about one of my major struggles around that was the physicality that I lacked and that was I couldn't. I had to learn how to write again. 
 
13:50
Yeah, I'm right-handed so I had to learn how to ride again. I couldn't play piano and it's like that, that physicality of letting it flow through my body to allow whatever was you know the synapsis in my brain to snap and go through. That was the struggle, that was so hard. So I yeah, it's, it's, yeah. You can be in another state of mind when you know your body can just flow, it can flow through to your hand]
 
14:19 - Ida (Guest)
 and the determination for you to go, this is absolutely essential for me and my expression, like handwriting, is such a it's such a thing that is only ours. Um, I can imagine that that is something that you were absolutely, uncompromisingly not going to let go stubborn, some would say good, good that's. I mean, that's the only way that you, that you get yeah through it, yeah, and you still are every day right yeah, it's a practice that's right for a reason. 
 
14:55 - Alexis (Host)
Now, if you could give one piece of gold, one nugget of advice to another creative or another human being, what would it be? 
 
15:04 - Ida (Guest)
oh, I think, always in the back of my head, and maybe because this is because I'm such a virgo the, the quote, or the, the um, what should I call it? The, the way of thinking through everything that I do is, little by little, a little becomes a lot. This, this compound gesture like why, why I work through with durational time, it's the compound of every single hour, every single minute, every single day that that makes the powerfulness of the piece. Or, you know, doing all of the, the admin, that we have to do as 21st century. 
 
15:40
It's ridiculous artists you know, little by little, little becomes a lot. It's it's when you have really ambitious projects, um, you know they just take they to hold them. You have to hold just a tiny bit at a time, and that it has been the the greatest lesson that I. I just have to take one little bite at a time. Well said, well even in, even in this, in the self-talk. You know, you get into the studio in the morning and sometimes you can feel like you really doubt everything that you've done. Maybe it should all just go in the bin. And it's like one little thought, that's like no, I know what I'm doing, I'm here, I've showed up for the studio, and then that thought becomes another good thought and it sort of builds up and then it just becomes total, uh, excitement to be there. One little thought rolling after the other. 
 
16:35
So, yeah, it's kind of um, essential, yeah, yeah yeah, and it's self-propelling too builds on each, precisely, precisely the momentum of that, like you can catch the wave and then all of a sudden you're doing this enormous thing and you're like, oh that that wasn't so hard. 
 
16:56 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, I love that feeling. 
 
16:58 - Ida (Guest)
Yeah, how good is it yeah. 
 
16:59 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, cool, yeah, yeah, I did that, I did that. 
 
17:02 - Ida (Guest)
I'm here. 
 
17:03 - Alexis (Host)
Ready to receive. 
 
17:04 - Ida (Guest)
Yeah, yes, yeah, totally, totally. 
 
17:08 - Alexis (Host)
I'm curious, if someone wanted to do what you do, would you have any advice or recommendations on courses or books or, I don't know, any sort of content that someone could palette in to sort of develop their creative process and even come close to what you do? 
 
17:35 - Ida (Guest)
well, I mean specifically for durational performance. I think that, um, figuring out, uh, uh, how to uh expand your endurance capacity physically and mentally is the first step. You know to take an eight hour walk, you know, and you know to sit and just listen for 30 minutes, you know, these little things can build up your endurance and are really it's really physical. So that's the practice total physical health and an alignment and building that up slowly, slowly, doing semi hard things for a long time. So that's very practical. But I think I I think the sort of philosophical or mental side of being an artist requires much more work and much more nourishment. 
 
18:45
And the greatest resource I think I could recommend is a book called Letters to a Young Poet, which you might know, by Rena Maria Rilke, who is a German poet. His poetry is extraordinary. However, this book is a one-sided correspondence, it's just the letters from Rilke to another poet, and it is essentially about solitude and how we must not fear it but know that it is the absolute, necessary aspect of unlocking that which is so deep within us as artistic people. And it is absolutely heart-wrenchingly open. And oh, he says things like if there are abysses, let them be our abysses. These, these sorts of lines that you just think, my god, I, I can understand why being alone is so important to um what I can do in the world with people. So read that and then read it again, read it every month. It's a constant next to me with my journal, I think yeah, yeah, yeah. 
 
20:08 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, my goodness, it's, I feel like, in regards to like, yeah, exactly what you were saying about, yeah, as an artist, it's like looking after ourselves as a whole human being to be able to serve as an artist, yeah, and like, yeah, taking in, yeah, all of these bits Absolutely To feed that. 
 
20:30 - Ida (Guest)
I'm really against any struggling or starving artist tropes, I think oh my goodness, me too I think it's an absolute um travesty that any of us should ever have to hear that will be placed in that category, um and what we can do within that. You know, I'm referencing rilke. He's he's reminding us that our, our struggle is is our actually our power? You know, making artistic work is a struggle, but it's the it's the struggle we choose. 
 
21:03 - Alexis (Host)
So, therefore, choose your hard right that's right, that's right. 
 
21:06 - Ida (Guest)
So it's, it's um, quite a, quite a privilege to be able to, to wrangle all of this out of, out of ourselves and um, and that requires living a very different lifestyle and life to many other careers and we choose it because we can't do anything else. You know, it is, we know, and yeah, and it's ups and downs, arounds, throughs and unders, and I choose it all, yeah. 
 
21:41 - Alexis (Host)
Wow, you're speaking my language, lady. You're speaking my language. I've tried to bow away from it before and I'm a lesser of a human because of it. 
 
21:48 - Ida (Guest)
Right. 
 
21:49 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah. 
 
21:50 - Ida (Guest)
Can't put you in a box. 
 
21:51 - Alexis (Host)
Nope, Nope. Shred doesn't work. You've broke it. I want to be on top of the box. 
 
21:56 - Ida (Guest)
I want to be around it, I'm gonna throw the bugs. Yeah, I'm gonna take it apart, I'm gonna make it a circle. Now I want to be different colors. Yes, yes, lighting, oh my god, but that's it. That's our life. 
 
22:12 - Alexis (Host)
It's quite special yeah, we're really lucky. My goodness, you are such a joy and thank you so much for being so gracious and sharing just a little piece of yourself in today's interview. 
 
22:27 - Ida (Guest)
I just yeah thank you, thanks for making the time for me. 
 
22:31 - Alexis (Host)
I do have one last question, mm-hmm. If you could hear another creative come onto this podcast and answer these questions, who would you throw under the bus? Who would you like to hear? 
 
22:43 - Ida (Guest)
It's a no-brainer for me. I would suggest Joseph James Francis, who is a sound artist and sculptor. Who is a sound artist and sculptor and he has an incredible approach to to what sound can be in in our lives and how it can change the experience of us walking through it. I think he's got some incredible research that is behind his practice and a really interesting history. Of course, I'm super biased. We collaborate all the time and he made the sound works for Witness. He did the sound work for Regret as well. He's an extraordinary creative and I think he has so much to contribute to our contemporary art dialogue. 
 
23:36 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, Wow, I will try and pin him down. Hopefully he's ready to receive me and I can bail him out with questions. Right, let's do it. I'll be like you can put a good word in for me, yeah yeah. Amazing. Oh my goodness, Ada, thank you so much for this beautiful chat. 
 
23:58
this has just filled my cup yeah, me too yay thanks for tuning in for another episode of through the creative door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffee.com/throughthecreativedoor or by the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community and we'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

BSIDE Sunshower by Couch

Featured Artist: Couch
Featured Vinyl: Sunshower
 
Alexis’ Hot Pick 
Jessie
Sam’s Hot Pick
L.A.
 
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for an artist's vinyl to listen to, have you got one in mind that we should check out? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Co-Host: Sam Timmerman
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Voiceover: Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
 
00:09 - Intro
Welcome to B-Side, the mini-series from Through the Creative Door. Join Alexis and Sam as they dive into the timeless world of vinyl. For Alexis, vinyl was more than music. It was a Sunday ritual she shared with her dad, listening, talking and soaking in the stories behind each album and the artwork on every sleeve. Though her dad is no longer with us, she continues this tradition with her friend, Sam Timmerman. Join them as they share their passion for vinyl and the stories these records hold. 
 
00:44 - Alexis (Host)
Hello brother. 
 
00:46 - Sam (Host)
Hello, hello. Look at you. It's good to see your face again. Other end of the country once more
 
00:49 - Alexis (Host)
And for the people listening, hearing your voice. 
 
00:57 - Sam (Host)
Exactly. 
 
00:58 - Alexis (Host)
All right, what do you got for me, brother? Wait, let me start the timer Ten minutes. Ten minutes All right, what have you got? 
 
01:04 - Sam (Host)
I have Sunshower by Couch. 
 
01:08 - Alexis (Host)
That is a perfect album title for something really gorgeous the abstract-y artwork on the front is really pretty. 
 
01:17 - Sam (Host)
Having not even thought of this until this exact moment. Sunshower is actually one of my favourite experiences just being in a sunshower. 
 
01:28 - Alexis (Host)
Oh really. 
 
01:28 - Sam (Host)
And it could sound super artsy and weird, but you know that's just me. And yeah, sunshowers are beautiful and I just thought that then. 
 
01:39 - Alexis (Host)
Now that you say that, that's actually probably pretty valid, because one I do like sunshine and I like the sound of rain. 
 
01:50 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, it's beautiful. This is going deeper than I thought we were going to go, so Do sun showers happen as much over there as over in the west, as we might say? 
 
02:05 - Alexis (Host)
I mean, I don't know percentages, but they happen sometimes. 
 
02:10 - Sam (Host)
That was my attempt at a segue to my hot take, hot pick of the album which is. Which was horrible, but we take it Again wasn't pre-planned. 
 
02:26 - Alexis (Host)
I apologise, but a hot pick for me is LA. Okay, talk me through this. 
 
02:33 - Sam (Host)
Partly because I mean what a sound We'll talk about the album sound in a minute, but what a sound that track has. It is massive. 
 
02:42 - Alexis (Host)
Absolutely huge. So for our listeners, I think we need to paint a little bit of a picture. 
 
02:47 - Sam (Host)
Yes. 
 
02:48 - Alexis (Host)
These guys are a seven-piece funk-pomp band out of the States. 
 
02:54 - Sam (Host)
Boston, massachusetts, boston, boston, how do you say it? Boston? I don't know. I don't know I think we should stop here. 
 
03:01 - Alexis (Host)
Don't come up, please don't cancel us. I don't know, I think we should stop. Don't come after us, please don't cancel us. But this particular record, like the best way to describe I think the sound, would be that it's like full, bright poppy lyrics, a lot of jazzy chords, because all of the players are like from lots of different influences and genres, um, really groovy and like funky drums. And obviously you know, for anyone who's in the know, drums and bass have, you know this marriage of solidness, so you know that funky groove is is with the bass as well. Um, and then they've also got some horns players in there? 
 
03:52 - Sam (Host)
Any fans of bands like Late Street Dive, lawrence, wolfpack? These are the. This is what we're talking about here. I came across these guys on a I think it was on a song radio from Lawrence and just blew me away. They've just returned from a. I think it was something like 30-something city tour with Corey Wong supporting Corey Wong, which is astronomical undertaking in itself, but 38 sounds right. Yeah, supporting the one and only Corey Wong sounds right. Yeah, supporting the one and only Corey Wong. And that is the sound that they create and they knock it out of the park and it is so much fun. 
 
04:34 - Alexis (Host)
Well, I didn't know who these guys were until I was with you, and either we were in the car or we were listening to something at your house. But I remember hearing it and being like oof, damn, what's this? 
 
04:50 - Sam (Host)
Oh, you said it was Jessie the track, Jessie, wasn't it? 
 
04:52 - Alexis (Host)
Yes, which is my hot pick. 
 
04:55 - Sam (Host)
There you go. 
 
04:56 - Alexis (Host)
It was just so funky and even before I got into the lyrics, just the melody lines and the hook, everything just got me straight away and I remember you being like oh yeah, I'll just send it to you. And I was like who are these guys? 
 
05:09 - Sam (Host)
What a bass line right what a bass line in that album. 
 
05:16 - Alexis (Host)
but then when I had a chance to dive in, not just listening, I mean I'm such a lyric person I froth at. I mean, look, a lot of lyrics are written about story, about relationship breakdowns. But I really enjoy when it's not a romantic relationship breakdown, when it's something else. And this song is about a friendship, about you know why are you not answering Like? You know, I've listened to your voicemail more than I've heard your own voice like and it's so relatable for anyone who's had a friendship breakdown as an adult. You know they're pretty painful, they're actually so much worse than romantic ones sometimes. 
 
06:03
But yeah, I just it was. Yeah, I was like yeah, damn great song. 
 
06:07 - Sam (Host)
For anyone who listens to the live in LA version of the record, they excuse me. They recorded the whole thing on tour in LA before they released. Beside of this record in particular is the live in LA show, and they introduced that song with this is for anyone who's been ghosted by a close friend yeah yeah, right, 
 
06:34 - Alexis (Host)
I mean yeah, I want to see more artists write songs like that. Totally, I, I've done it. It's true. 
 
06:50 - Sam (Host) 
I'm sorry if you guys are near, by the way. Yeah, but another example of really great groovy fun tunes written about painful subjects. 
 
06:59 - Alexis (Host)
Oh yeah, you need the vessel to be able to get in to have conversation and, why not, the layer of groovy, funky music. 
 
07:09 - Sam (Host)
So then, for people like me who like listening to the music, they can just go yeah, this is great. What are they talking about? I've listened to this album enough times to know most of the lyrics in other languages also. 
 
07:24 - Alexis (Host)
Really. 
 
07:24 - Sam (Host)
No, I'm exaggerating, but I've listened to this album a lot. But yeah, thinking of hot picks, I was thinking about what I was into at the moment and LA just came up. Just a it's a real feeling of being the other side of the country is okay. 
 
07:45 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, that's kind of how I took it yeah in a very, very small nutshell do you have a runner-up, a favorite? 
 
07:55 - Sam (Host)
yeah, um, I think I wrote down Someone With You because it just is so much fun. Um, yeah, lyrically and musically, it's just so much fun.
 
08:02 - Alexis (Host)
Well, true to my stylings, I love the sort of emotional power ballady kinds of vibes I really like. My runner-up is a song called All Right, which is the last one on the record. And it starts out real moody and then it like comes into itself a bit more. 
 
08:34 - Sam (Host)
But it's just like the chorus is epic. 
 
08:36 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, such an epic chorus. It's so glorious. Listeners, get onto this record. 
 
08:42 - Sam (Host)
Listen to it, because we're not going to play it for you. 
 
08:44 - Alexis (Host)
Go and listen to this record. 
 
08:46 - Sam (Host)
Buy this record, if you buy it. 
 
08:49 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, they're on. Bandcamp too, they're on. 
 
08:50 - Sam (Host)
Bandcamp If you buy it from oh, they're on Bandcamp too. They're on Bandcamp If you buy it from them. They will ship it to you, and I'm pretty sure they're still signing it. 
 
08:56 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, my goodness. So for those listening, sam's shoved into the camera part of the sleeve of the vinyl, which is a glorious picture of them holding umbrellas, which is one of their schticks that they do on stage and that is like part of their props, um, and they've signed it, which is beautiful find it hand signed, limited edition. 
 
09:20
And no joke, they sent this to me the day before they left on tour with Cory these guys are amazing didn't you say that, like the band members, one of them actually is like their manager, oh so they're all self-producing, self-managing. 
 
09:35 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, Zach, the guitarist is the band's manager. This record was majority produced by the band members. 
 
09:41 - Alexis (Host)
Except for one song which is All Right, yeah yeah. Speaking of, I was talking about the umbrellas and their stage and their shtick. 
 
09:51 - Sam (Host)
Oh, the couch. 
 
09:52 - Alexis (Host)
Can I just say, yeah, we, Sam and I had dived into this and found out about the fact that, yeah, they sort of have a different couch. That sort of is part of the aesthetic depending on the release, it's a different colour or a different, yeah, different, kind of couch which they absolutely love because they use it as a prop and have it on stage. But what did we read? Like an interview they did, and they were like, oh, it's so great, we love it. 
 
10:21 - Sam (Host)
They went away from the room and then came back and there was a cushion with Jeff Goldblum's face on it. 
 
10:26 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, my God true. Yes they did a show in Massachusetts and they'd just like gone oh my God, true, yes, I did a show in Massachusetts and they'd just like gone off to talk to people after the show and went back on stage to like load out and they found this really sparkly. I mean, what do they call those pillows? They're the pillows that have, like, the sequins on them. So when you push all the sequins one direction, oh yeah. 
 
10:50
And then when you push the sequins another way, it shows this picture face yeah of Geoff. 
 
10:58 - Sam (Host)
Of Geoff Geoff Ten minutes already. Ok, Sunshower by couch. 
 
11:06 - Alexis (Host)
You won't be disappointed. It is an earworm. Thanks, brother, that was a great one Signing off. 
 
11:11
That was fun all right signing off. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of through the creative door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favourite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

6 | There’s Always Another Shell When You Need It with Gerard Russo

In this episode of Through the Creative Door, Alexis sits down with Gerard, a talented creative known for his unique approach to art. Gerard’s signature style combines mark-making, painting, etching, and strategic backlighting to challenge the traditional boundaries between sculpture and painting. He shares insights into his creative process, how he navigates the hustle of being a working artist, and the rewards of commissioned projects. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of art, innovation, and perseverance, and get inspired by his journey as an artist pushing the limits of traditional mediums.
If you’d like to see more, you can follow Gerard on instagram; @ gerard.russo.art
 
This episode was recorded on 15 February 2025 on the lands of the Woiworung Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
…
Creative resources from Gerard:
Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday 
Mastery by Robert Greene
101 Things to Learn At Art School by Kit White 
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikToc: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
00:09 - Alexis (Host)
Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. Owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I'm delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door. 
Hello, you, amazing human being. Oh, my goodness, I am so chuffed to be having you on Through the Creative Door. 
 
01:01 - Gerard (Guest)
Thank you for having me, yeah, and for calling me an amazing human being. You're also. You're also an amazing human being. 
 
01:07 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, my goodness you are such a talented bear for those listening. I am in this beautiful space of yours looking at some of your stunning artwork that is um surrounding me. How would I describe your signature medium? there's so many, 
 
01:26 - Gerard (Guest)
Often the reaction I get. People will be like so what am I? What is that? What am I looking at? 
 
01:34 - Alexis (Host)
it's so beautiful. 
 
01:35 - Gerard (Guest)
I love working in a medium that does that to people. It just confuses people right away. It's a great, great tactic right Start off with confusion. 
 
01:45 - Alexis (Host)
Fantastic. Fantastic.
 
01:47 - Gerard (Guest)
I'd describe it as an interplay of emitted light and reflective light that I'm very attracted to. But yeah, so my process is a mark-making process combined with an etching process and a backlighting process. 
 
02:06 - Alexis (Host)
So yeah, it is a bit confusing. It's not confusing, it's just beautiful tapestry of creative ventures all in the one to create your work. It's, yeah, absolutely stunning. 
 
02:21 - Gerard (Guest)
Thank you. Thank you. I guess that's why I keep doing this, because that end result that I get it's It can be so varied and so wonderful. I really really love working in it, which is why I've worked in it for a while now. 
 
02:31 - Alexis (Host)
Well, I mean, gerard, you have like such a yeah, distinct signature? 
 
02:42 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, thank you. It's a nice medium because I can really open it up in the way I backlight it. I can express anything I want on top of it which will be backlit. But also there's the copper and how it can change, and how it can change in getting a different patina, effect or reflectivity. Yeah, it's just got lots of potential I can keep unpacking and keep challenging myself with, I suppose. Yeah. 
 
03:16 - Alexis (Host)
And that's half the fun of it, right. 
 
03:18 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, it's fun a lot of the time, but I'm sure, yeah, as you know, with processes come headaches. 
 
03:24 - Alexis (Host)
Trials and tribulations. 
 
03:25 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, yeah but I think, I think every or a lot of artists they, they need that to an extent, they need a challenge and it's definitely been that in many ways yeah, how beautiful. 
 
03:42 - Alexis (Host)
We are in your beautiful home. we are next to your gorgeous office. I have a sense that this is one of your many creative spaces. Yes, but I'm not going to lead you down the garden path. 
 
03:58 - Gerard (Guest)
No, that's okay, yeah, yeah. 
 
04:00 - Alexis (Host)
What does a creative space mean to you and why? 
 
04:04 - Gerard (Guest)
I think yeah is a dedicated space that is free from judgment from yourself and other people and one way you feel safe to create. Essentially and I'm lucky to have that as a dedicated art studio with my partner, elizabeth um- 
 
04:25 - Alexis (Host) 
Who for those listening we have had on the podcast she's the one that got me into she, she roped you in yeah, she
 
04:41 - Gerard (Guest) 
I'm very glad. Um, so we have a joint studio and, yeah, it's lovely and I'm lucky to have had a dedicated studio space for over 10 years, you know, in various houses. Yeah, I think it's really important just to have a nice lead space, if you can. I know so many people. It would be the kitchen table for a temporary time, but for that temporary time it's still a dedicated space and creating that is important. Um, so, yeah
 
05:14 - Alexis (Host)
Love it. Well, it's stunning, stunning. Can I just teleport here anytime that I want to? 
 
05:21 - Gerard (Guest)
I should also say, yeah, I'm sitting at my desk, which is what I use for the administrative part of my art practice, and I feel like that's really important, too, to have it separate from the creative space because, that's a pretty hard thing to separate sometimes, and I do have a workshop where I do a lot of my building and etching and things like that. 
 
05:44 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, beautiful. Now. You've been in this artist game for a long time, but could you um share with us a body of work or a piece of work or a project that you're most proud of creating, and how did it come about? 
 
06:13 - Gerard (Guest)
I don't have a specific body of work or even a single work that I'm most proud that I can think of, but, um, what I am really proud of is having it is being an artist that some people have come to and been commissioned for some extremely sentimental artworks, and just to be an artist that people think of for such a dedicated, sentimental gift or gift to themselves In particular. There was a few over the last two years, but there's one in particular that I actually I can't really talk about in honor of the client. But, yeah, that's probably what I'm most proud of is to be there. 
 
07:03 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, that's probably what I'm most proud of is to be there and in those instances, like, are people sourcing you out? And reaching out to you or have they, like, come across you for a word of mouth and seen? 
 
07:14 - Gerard (Guest)
your work. Yeah, it's often a combination, Like they might see me at Open Studios, which is actually coming up in March. Which is actually coming up in March. But yeah, that one in particular was word of mouth from another artist that actually recommended me to these people. 
 
07:32
So yeah you don't necessarily know where it's going to come from. You've just got to keep creating and putting yourself out there. I guess I think it's a good sign you're doing pretty good if stuff is coming to you, um, but it doesn't always happen like that, so you can't just expect that. You gotta, you gotta also push, push for it. Yeah, the hustle, the hustle. Yeah. Well, I think I think a big part of the hustle is just like being active in what you do, you know, yeah and being active in community too, letting people know what you're up to, what you're doing. 
 
08:05
And that was what really got my practice off the ground was starting to do open studios in the Darling Ranges here and, yeah, it made me commit to my practice more. It connected me with the community and other artists in that community. So it's just like, yeah, you just got to surround yourself with it, right, you just got to stand on a box. Even so, it's just like, yeah, just, you just got to surround yourself with it, right, you just got to put stand on a box. Even if it's uncomfortable, we've got to, you know. 
 
08:28 - Alexis (Host)
I'm here yeah, I'm here, hi, everyone look at this stuff I made. Look at this cool thing I did
 
08:32 - Gerard (Guest)
yeah yeah, it can be a weird, weird thing, but um, it's a really beautiful thing sometimes, yeah. 
 
08:43 - Alexis (Host)
On the flip side of things that you're proud of. Have you had something challenge your creativity?
 
08:53 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, my entire medium. What do you mean? Well, you know this isn't my primary medium for those listening. My primary medium for those listening is copper and acrylic sort of backing, so it's not a readily available material. I do work in charcoal and paper as well and dabbling in a bit of sculpture, and my works are primarily sculpture, but it's 2D wall art. But this material I couldn't access it in big quantities, large quantities at all. I had to have it actually manufactured just to be able to do it. 
 
09:37 - Alexis (Host)
Right yeah. 
 
09:38 - Gerard (Guest)
So yeah, I don't know if you imagine just not being able to go to the shops and buy a canvas kind of thing, that's like. Just to start with, that was a big challenge negotiating to get things manufactured and imported, and it was a real commitment to my art. It was a real decision my, my art. It's a real decision.
 
10:06 - Alexis (Host)
And how have you sort of like maneuvered through that with like negotiating and like.
 
10:08 - Gerard (Guest)
Uh well, I just had to keep, keep working it and keep talking to suppliers building those relationships and yeah, yeah, it was a little while back now and because I had to order a big quantity. So, yeah, yeah, it's a really fun medium to work in, but I'd say that was a big challenge and.
 
10:23 - Alexis (Host)
Did it make you think, perhaps, maybe that was there ever a crossroads for you of whether that was the medium that you wanted to continue working?
 
10:41 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, like a lot of artists, I had doubled around in a lot of different mediums. I've always drawn and that's always been a foundation for me, but I was doing animation and, yeah, filmmaking for a bit and jewelry making, which is kind of how I got into etching copper in the first place, as well as making electronics and all kinds of I'm a maker as well, you know so master of all the trades yeah, um, but yeah, like I said, it was definitely uh a decision to commit, but I think, uh, yeah, I saw the potential in the material and I wanted to work with it. 
 
11:20 - Alexis (Host)
And there's so much beauty in it. Thanks, so much beauty in it. I'm glad that you persevered. Now, do you have an object or a thing that you can't live without when you're creating? 
 
11:40 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, and you probably get this answer a lot. My headphones. 
 
11:44 - Alexis (Host)
Really? Why? 
 
11:48 - Gerard (Guest)
Well, in the workshop they protect my ears from loud noises, but also if I'm in the studio and I just need the music or I need an audiobook or something, it can really help my mind just focus on something while my hands do a lot of the work. Yeah, I've also got this sterling silver mechanical pencil that I picked up on a road trip and I like to start a sketch with that if I can. And I like to start a sketch with that if I can. It's like a cool art deco, one made in the 1950s. 
 
12:26 - Alexis (Host)
That's so cool. 
 
12:26 - Gerard (Guest)
It's like a beautiful object, and I've got a watch that I bought when I sold my first house, yeah, which is sentimental. It reminds me that time is limited to keep going,
 
12:42 - Alexis (Host)
And we spoke off mic about your watch being one of those self-winding. 
 
12:50 - Gerard (Guest)
It's a self-winding mechanism. It's so special I actually have to keep moving if I want to know what time it is. 
 
12:57 - Alexis (Host)
It's like what are you doing? 
 
12:58 - Gerard (Guest)
moving your hand around Trying to make my watch give you. Why are you still waving at me? Why are you doing moving your hand around trying to make my watch.  
 
13:05 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I do like beautiful objects like that. Um, I wouldn't say I collected lots of stuff, but yeah, those would probably be the big ones. But yeah, headphones definitely like you can isolate yourself with them, you can like. Sometimes I actually just put them in to make the world a bit quieter so I can focus and, yeah, very versatile good anchor yeah, the earbuds yeah yeah.
 
13:33 - Alexis (Host)
Amazing. Now, if you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold to another creative, what would it be? 
 
13:43 - Gerard (Guest)
We're talking about this off mic before a bit as well that's just so many rabbit holes um, I would really recommend approaching art from a place that's always coming from you and not be making art for someone else. I think there's a definite distinction there and you're going to make the. If you make work from you, you're making the best art possible because it's from your hands, it's from your heart, so you just have to keep trying to connect with that place. I see a lot of artists trying to chase the client by making what they think people want, but I genuinely believe that there is a market for what you make, naturally, so that's probably a good snippet of wisdom. Another one would probably be um, it's hard right, because we're talking about this too. 
 
14:48
We're talking about this the art thing, the hustle thing is really hard and, uh, one side effect of working from yourself is that it can really it can break you sometimes. It can really be a lot of hard work. You might end up questioning what it is that you're doing like, because it's very hard to be a creative in society, right, um, but all those broken feelings when you're at that point and it's just, it feels a bit like life or death, it feels fractured, it feels really broken, like it's just a shell. You just have to actually push through that, because there's a flood of creativity behind that and that's where the growth is in your practice as well. And there's always another shell for you when you need it. 
 
15:44 - Alexis (Host)
So true. 
 
15:47 - Gerard (Guest)
There's as many as you need. 
 
15:50 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, such wise words. Such wise words, my goodness. Now, if someone wanted to develop their creative process, if someone wanted to do what you do and I know that's multifaceted because you, you know, etch and draw and sculpt and whatever but are there any resources or guides or podcast courses, anything?
 
16:24 - Gerard (Guest)
Your postcast, oh, everybody should listen to this you're too kind I actually. 
 
16:31
I actually don't do that many podcasts. I do a lot of audiobooks. Um, yeah, I I do have some resources that I've been recently on that uh, neon that are quite good. Ryan Holiday's the Obstacle is the Way. I'm really loving it's taking examples from history and how facing the fight of the thing is actually the way through the thing. What was the other one? Yeah, Mastery by Robert Greene is a really, really good book. It does a similar thing. I haven't finished it, but I'm really loving it. Good insight into human behavior and even talks about the idea of apprenticeships and things like that and working under mentors and things like that. 
 
17:32 - Alexis (Host)
Have you ever had a mentor? 
 
17:34 - Gerard (Guest)
No, I had lecturers I looked up to a lot, but I like the idea of a mentor. I mean, I would have loved to have one for my practice, but it just wasn't there because there's no one really doing what I do. So not exactly, but uh, yeah, my work's a lot like um printmaking in many ways. You know, etching copper for that. Um, yeah, like direct examples of people that want to do what I do, I would say look at printmaking, or look at backlighting or lighting designers and things like that. 
 
18:07 - Alexis (Host)
Amazing. 
 
18:08 - Gerard (Guest)
But yeah, I got a book behind me, actually that I this book. By who is it? Kit White 101 Things to Learn at Art School. 
 
18:21 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, my goodness. 
 
18:23 - Gerard (Guest)
It's so good. It's just got nice little snippets. 
 
18:26 - Alexis (Host)
Oh wonderful, yeah, I'm going to have a look at that off camera, off mic. Yeah, it's very good. 
 
18:31 - Gerard (Guest)
I think it's more visual art focused, but it's really good. 
 
18:35 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, I love that. 
 
18:37 - Gerard (Guest)
I like the title as well. 
 
18:38 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, such a great title yeah. 
 
18:43 - Gerard (Guest)
It's very, very cheeky. I love it. 
 
18:48 - Alexis (Host)
Last question if you could have anyone come on this podcast and answer these questions, who would it be and why? 
 
18:56 - Gerard (Guest)
Can I? Can I offer two yes, please so, uh, the first one is my brother. He is a Luthier, he makes acoustic guitars and he's probably the most talented crafts person I know, so I feel like that would be a good one today. It's music and craft, so it might be a good fit. And the other is my friend, Sarah Caso. She's a jazz musician and very, very talented and such a lovely person. Oh, vibe, yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll love her. But yeah, those are two creatives in my life that have really helped me out. 
 
19:39 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah. 
 
19:40 - Gerard (Guest)
Yeah. 
 
19:41 - Alexis (Host)
Beautiful, oh my goodness. Thank you so much for being through the creative door and having us have this beautiful chat. Yeah, such a joy. 
 
19:53
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favourite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

BSIDE Water

Featured Artist: Kerryn Fields
Featured Vinyl: Water
 
Alexis’ Hot Pick 
Escape
Sam’s Hot Pick
Mamma
Aus Music Alert! Support this artists by purchasing this record via Bandcamp:
https://kerrynfields.bandcamp.com/album/water  
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for an artist's vinyl to listen to, have you got one in mind that we should check out? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
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CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Co-Host: Sam Timmerman
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Voiceover: Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
00:09 - Intro (Announcement)
Welcome to B-Side, the mini-series from Through the Creative Door. Join Alexis and Sam as they dive into the timeless world of vinyl. For Alexis, vinyl was more than music. It was a Sunday ritual she shared with her dad, listening, talking and soaking in the stories behind each album and the artwork on every sleeve. Though her dad is no longer with us, she continues this tradition with her friend, Sam Timmerman. Join them as they share their passion for vinyl and the stories these records hold. 
 
00:44 - Alexis (Host)
Hello brother. 
 
00:46 - Sam (Host)
Good afternoon. Is it afternoon over there? I think it is. 
 
00:52 - Alexis (Host)
Evening. We have a time difference between the west and the east coast. 
 
00:57 - Sam (Host)
I was about to do signs, and that's a really bad thing to do. West Coast. 
 
01:04 - Alexis (Host)
West Coast. Yeah, all right, what do we got? Got another week, another. Oh, it's my turn. 
 
01:14 - Alexis (Host)
Episode five, and I am sharing 10-minute timer 10-minute timer. Boom, all right. 
 
01:23 - Sam (Host)
You're sharing. What have we got? 
 
01:25 - Alexis (Host)
We got an album called Water. You know I like my elements.
 
01:30 - Sam (Host)
True, Kerryn Fields. This artwork is gorgeous, by the way. 
 
01:36 - Alexis (Host)
Yes, so we've got another Australian artist that we get to represent, get to talk about. It's so beautiful, so this album. She had a marriage breakdown and she went down the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and wrote this phenomenal album. The artwork is based off the beach and the ocean down that way and there's an artist who did the artwork and somewhere, I think on karen's socials you can see, like all of the behind the scenes photos and the art artist putting together that. 
 
02:25 - Sam (Host)
Those of you in that region or in Australia, or even if you're not, if you have not been to the Great Ocean Road change that. 
 
02:33 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, but the artist who painted the artwork? I believe her name is Louise Mitchell, but alongside with Karen Fields they designed the the record. 
 
02:46 - Sam (Host)
Did they design it off a photo. I think, or were they there? 
 
02:50 - Alexis (Host)
No, I think Louise based it off a photo, but I think she went to the beach and they like figured it out, yeah, and she painted, and then Kerryn put together this beautiful piece. 
 
03:07 - Sam (Host)
It's fantastic. They're pretty, very pretty pretty, and recorded in Colingwood I believe. 
 
03:11 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, yeah, because I think some of it was recorded in the actual house down the great ocean road wow yeah, so I believe that there was a house called the Water House, which is, I mean, makes sense when the album's called Water. And then, yes, I think Avery Studios in Collingwood was where the rest of it got recorded. 
 
03:36 - Sam (Host)
That's fantastic. Yeah, did they do the entire album as a single room single mic, or did they split, because I know some of the tracks were done single mic? 
 
03:45 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, so my understanding is that Karen performed, yeah, live, and they taped it. So, yeah, so it was vocals, guitar, drums, upright bass in one room, from memory, and then I think there might have been some features that were done later. 
 
04:12 - Sam (Host)
There are a few other records that have been done that style and they're some of my favourites. Shout out to the Seals, okay, yeah, vibe, they're some of my favourites. 
 
04:34 - Alexis (Host)
Shout out to the seals see, okay, yeah, bud um, charlie phil tom, love you all represent they're not playing together anymore, but that's okay. 
 
04:37 - Sam (Host)
I mean projects, so you might have to listen to that one sometime. 
 
04:39 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, this beautiful record I really liked inside. The artwork inside is really pretty and it has, like all of the little thank yous and all that kind of hoo-ha Love it. But one thing that I love the most is this little bit this album was independently crowdfunded with the support from 173 friends. 
 
05:07 - Sam (Host)
Oh, that's gorgeous. 
 
05:09 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, isn't that pretty, I love and thank you all. 
 
05:13 - Sam (Host)
Amazing. 
 
05:14 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, beautiful, huh, beautiful, all right. Well, on that note, what was your hot pick, Sam? 
 
05:22 - Sam (Host)
Mama, I got closely behind by On the Porch. Okay, I'm going to talk about On the Porch first, because that was just fun. It might have been. In whatever state of mind I was in first time listening through this record, it wasn't clicking for me for the first few tracks. And on the porch happened and I went oh, I'm home, here we go. That was fantastic. It's um such a fun little romping tune. I really liked that. But, mama, um more so. Let's keep saying it, more so lyrically than orally, musically. I was just listening to that going Mama's love's going to set you right. 
 
06:11
It doesn't matter what else, there's nothing else that's going to fix you. I think second verse they talk about their authorities are going to chase you and they're going to get you, but mum's love's going to fix you. And yeah, it just just has sat a little bit, sat really nicely. 
 
06:33 - Alexis (Host)
And I think it's that thing about exactly what you were saying, depending on what mood you come to music with the reasons for why an artist or someone, the vision of how and why they created it, it's almost null and void.
 
07:01 - Sam (Host)
I'm sorry, it just started cutting out again. Okay, I feel like it's only doing it when we're recording, which is weird because it's a connection issue. I'm very confused. 
Yeah, I think we are open to music how it comes to us. So, however, we're, you know, open to receive it at that time. I think this album obviously for myself and my own personal experiences. I really resonate with the fact that it's surrounding. You know the breakdown of a relationship. But, it doesn't need to mean that at all. 
 
08:09 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, it seems like a lot of powerful songs written about the breakdowns of relationships aren't necessarily written at the time of those breakdowns. Like a lot of amazing songs that have been written that are powerful like that. You read into it and you go. Well, this person didn't have any of that experience. 
 
It doesn't make the song any less powerful, but the identity of the song changes for the listener a little bit, whereas, like you're saying, you have a shared experience that allows you to come to that tune from that space 
 
9:00 - Alexis (Host) 
And I also think that part of losing a relationship, I mean there's grief that's connected in that and, and especially for you know this artist, she's originally from new zealand, so when you have something dissolved like that, it's also the homesickness and and community and everything around that, but like tapping into something else and creating something really beautiful from a not so great place yeah, absolutely. 
 
09:19 - Sam (Host)
There's a friend of mine who's I haven't had that experience per se myself. A friend of mine has had a very similar experience, though. Um, so I'm not going to name drop because that's not appropriate, but I might send them the album yeah, it's beautiful, really beautiful, really hits, hits a chord for me. 
 
09:38 - Alexis (Host)
The song that's my hot pick is um escape, um, and I think for everything that I've just sort of spoken about, it really sort of hits a chord with me, um, in a way that I probably can't really articulate, um, but I would say it's because it hits pretty close to home. So, yeah, yeah, but it's beautiful and it's. It's that heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, glorious beauty that comes in, you know, to art, where it's not shiny and beautiful, it's messy and all sorts and beautiful yeah, 
10:01 - Sam (Host) 
You can't grab it what onto something that doesn't have spikes or bumps, or if it's smooth and shiny, you can't latch on. 
 
10:24 - Alexis (Host)
Exactly, exactly and really anything to do with water. I'm such a beach baby and water baby so, like, everything about this album is just yeah. 
 
10:35 - Sam (Host)
I heard there's some sort of track about water in one of your new records coming up. 
 
10:39 - Intro (Announcement)
Oh yes. Well, yes, there's a bit of elements in my coming up. Oh yes, wow. 
 
10:42 - Alexis (Host)
Yes, there's a bit of elements in my new record. 
 
10:45 - Sam (Host)
There is a little bit in there that I've heard about, yeah, which will come up eventually, I'm sure. 
 
10:51 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll come back to that another day. 
 
10:54 - Sam (Host)
For those listening and watching, the little bits that I've heard have been spectacular. 
 
10:58 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, stop, stop, stop. That's not what this is for. 
 
11:01 - Sam (Host)
It's not. No, it's not, but we're allowed to. 
 
11:04 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, true, true. But for those listening, oh, my goodness, again we've got another Australian artist. Please support local music. Please have a look at them on Bandcamp. Support, buy, donate, do all of the wonderful things to help out, Go to shows. 
 
11:23 - Sam (Host)
Go to shows. If they're playing live, go and see them. Say hi to them. Yeah, yeah it makes a huge difference to someone. Someone buying a record is amazing. Someone giving up their time to see you perform a record is next level. 
 
11:37 - Alexis (Host)
And if you have no money, oh, there's our timer 10 minutes. Um, yes, for those listening, karen fields album name is water. You will not be disappointed. Jump on to band camp, support her, support this album. It's glorious. 
 
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

5 | Your Junk, My Art with David Cox

This episode features an engaging conversation with David Cox, an assemblage sculptor who repurposes piano keys and other materials into unique sculptures. He discusses the importance of having a dedicated creative space, the challenges of identifying himself as an artist, and the pride he feels in his work, particularly his “piano phoenix” sculpture, which helps people preserve sentimental items. David also shares insights into his creative process, his reliance on community support, and the value of organisation as an artist. The episode explores themes of transformation, creative evolution, and the power of community in the creative process.
 
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikToc: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
00:09 - Alexis (Host)
Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. Owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I'm delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door. 
Oh, my goodness, David Cox. Welcome to Through the Creative Door. 
 
00:56 - David (Guest)
Thank you for having me. I deny everything that has been said about me before, except the good stuff. 
 
01:04 - Alexis (Host)
All the good stuff, you come highly recommended oh gosh, that's worrying no, it's not somebody talking about. You are such a talented bear, my goodness um for those listening. We are sitting in your studio, it is absolutely glorious, with all these beautiful piano keys and trinkets and wood and, oh my goodness, so many things. 
 
01:34 - David (Guest) 
 You're sitting next to half a bag of concrete at the moment it's a variety
 
01:45 - Alexis (Host) 
It's a spice of life. 
 
01:48 - David (Guest)
Yeah, in here primarily piano keys. I think there's about 23 different pianos worth of piano keys in here at the moment, which seems to be my usual medium as an assemblage sculptor. 
 
02:00 - Alexis (Host)
I'm going to launch into the first question. 
 
02:02 - David (Guest)
Oh yeah, questions, Questions, shoot. 
 
02:08 - Alexis (Host)
What does a creative space mean to you? 
 
02:13 - David (Guest)
Well, you're sitting in it at the moment and it is assumed as much. A bit of a mess. I think there's two answers to that. For me, there's an element of practicality, so I'm currently surrounded by tools and sawdust and mess. So having a dedicated space to work on, particularly because I'm building large-ish sculptures like the size of a door, I can't do that on my kitchen bench, I can't do that on the coffee table or the bedroom floor or whatever. I think I'd be single very fast. 
02:52 - Alexis (Host) 
You don't think your wife would approve?
 
02:57 - David (Guest)
There's some patience there, but understandably that can only go so far. So, yeah, having a dedicated is is vital for my work. That's obviously going to vary for, uh, for perhaps for a watercolor painter, for example, you might be able to sit in that that sunny corner of the of the house and and paint, and that that would actually look really smart. But, uh, but I can't do that in the house. So there's definitely that practical element Noise as well. Actually I can't do that in the house. 
 
03:30
So the other half really is I don't like the phrase man cave. I think I started coining a phrase of like man cave, she shared they space. A phrase of like man cave, she shared they space. But anyway, I I think having a, a space for me to come to and change gears, like I used to commute in and out of the city every day. But now I walk out of my house and I turn left. My wife turns right, she goes and works from the tiny house in the driveway. I turn left and I walk into my studio and it's a gear changer, a chapter changer, a palate cleanser or whatever you see it as. So for me, I change clothes, I put on my my work gear and I come to work, even though I realize I piss fart around in a shed. So yeah, the practical side of not messing up my house or my relationship, uh and and having, uh, having that palate cleanser, I suppose.  
 
04:41 - Alexis (Host)
Beautiful, well said said. Now, as a creative being I mean you've mentioned you know how your sculptures have come to fruition, so this question could be about sculptures. But actually, as a creative being, you have lots of ventures, so could be anything what is something that you're most proud of creating and how did it come about? 
 
05:04 - David (Guest)
I know you were leading there with. I've certainly played music in the past and recorded music and toured and that's all been fun, but that's always been collaborative, whereas I think for the sculpture I was referring to earlier, which I I now, I now know as a phoenix, which I think is apt for a piano coming back to life or or whatever you want to call it, uh, I, I, I feel quite proud of that, I think because of that moment that I mentioned earlier, where I could have just done this the way that I'd planned on it, but instead there was that something happened, something mystical and wonderful. 
 
05:57 - Alexis (Host)
The stars aligned. 
 
06:07 - David (Guest)
I feel, because it's a, when I go and hang it on a customer's wall and they bawl their eyes out usually because they're happy not from what I've done to their grandmother's piano there's a real feeling of I've done something important here, I've been able to help them avoid having to take that to the tip and but we can keep it and it's important to us, but we can't have it anymore. So in terms of pride, yeah, I feel that that design has been able to help me de-stress some people in some way. So, yes, I'd say my piano phoenix design. 
 
06:55 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, how wonderful, what a privilege to be able to give that gift. 
 
07:01 - David (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, seems strange, but I'm happy with that one Love it. 
 
07:07 - Alexis (Host)
On the flip side of things that you're proud of, is there something that's challenged your creativity over the years and, if so, how do you think you've mitigated that? 
 
07:25 - David (Guest)
I don't think I've ever considered myself an artist. 
 
07:29 - Alexis (Host)
What. 
 
07:29 - David (Guest)
I know that. So so I've. This is all quite new to me. It's been the last couple of years. Uh, you probably speak to a lot of people who have had a change in life during, during COVID um, me commuting in and out of the city and then all of a sudden, I'm stranded in the Dandenong Ranges, poor me, surrounded by rusty gold. It gave me that opportunity to try something new, but I'd never considered myself an artist. I guess I've always seen an artist as someone who sits down at an easel and paints, or now I fall into the category of an assemblage sculptor. But what is a sculptor? I see a sculptor as someone who's dedicated their life learning how to carve marble or throw pottery or do sculpting stuff. Me, I take old junk and glue it together in a shape that is enjoyable. 
 
08:38
So I think I've always struggled with that idea of being an artist and doing it full-time, I might add as well. That's that. That's a strange, a strange situation to find myself in, having come from your normal nine-to-five office job to now, yeah, being an artist. It just it's. It seems weird. So I think I've struggled with that and in terms of mitigating it, I so I've. I think I've struggled with that and in terms of mitigating it, uh, I think I've. In recent years, I've tried to surround myself with, um, supportive, constructive, uh creatives as well. Um, yeah, yeah, I think having having the right people around you can change your mindset significantly. So I still struggle with that, but it's a long and winding road. 
 
09:33 - Alexis (Host)
I think the beautiful thing about creative souls is being able to have an idea out of nothing and then being able to facilitate it. So, however you, whatever medium, however you can do that, there's a gift in that that is a true artist of having an idea from nothing and following it through. 
 
09:59 - David (Guest)
Yeah, yeah. And now for me, I get asked semi-regularly so what's next? What are you going to do? I think I've done 60 of these now, so for 60 customers in a few different countries as well, but that's been my bread and butter, I guess, over the last couple of years. So what's next couple of years? So what's next? So, uh, I'm currently working on trying to bring them, bring my sculptures, down off the wall and and turn them into a, into a 3d sculpture rather than 2d. So, uh, so yeah, there's some, some works in progress going on there. 
 
10:38
it's all a bit uh, all a bit new, but it's nice to step into to a new space anyway, into a proper, instead of moving from, I guess, a decor sculpture to a middle of the room with water, fountain-y things and lights and lasers. 
 
11:05 - Alexis (Host)
I love it. Now it'll be interesting whether. I'm very curious to see where you go with this answer. But do you have an object or a thing that you can't live without when you're creating, and it could be like something sentimental or something super practical? 
 
11:30 - David (Guest)
Yeah, I don't think I've got an awesome answer for this. I don't have magical socks or superstitious underwear or the likes. I have surrounded myself, as I say, with my trinkets and rusty gold, which so a lot of people might, a lot of artists might, have a picture in their head and I really want to do this, and then they'll figure out how to do it For me. I've tried to surround myself with the elements that I usually include in my work, and then I'll try this and I'll try that, and I'll throw a bunch of different things at a piece until something fits the way that I want it to. So I've certainly surrounded myself with that magic, but that's not my answer. Uh, I, I love my calendar, uh, so as in a physical calendar. 
 
12:32
so I, I, I don't need a um, I don't use an existing. I take a piece of paper and I, I draw it all up, um, and then I organize everything, uh, so that that I'm sure you probably speak to artists all the time and if you ever talk to them about deadlines, particularly for exhibitions or for client submissions or commissions or whatnot, the last minute rush is a big thing for people and I despise feeling that people and I despise feeling that. So for me, I like to be well ahead and well organized so that things happen well and I feel like I'm presenting myself in a more professional manner. So for me, I would have to say it's my calendar. I feel comfort looking at it and adjusting it. Uh, that's like a really weird thing to say fantastic. 
 
13:27 - Alexis (Host)
And so when you say that you draw, it is it like one big month at a time, or is it weekly, or is it like no, normally monthly, but at the moment we're coming into silly season for exhibitions, so over easter, uh, etc. 
 
13:43 - David (Guest)
Um, there there's a lot happening. I think I'm in four or five exhibitions over the Easter period, so everything needs, I need places. I've got places to be. I need to deliver then and pick up there and have that there, but I want it for another exhibition later on, so I can't have that there and this there. Anyway, it's a jumble of strings and lines and whatnot. 
 
14:04 - Alexis (Host)
I love it and and like, how big is this calendar? 
 
14:07 - David (Guest)
not very. I'll try and keep it a3 or smaller I'll see. 
 
14:11 - Alexis (Host)
I image in my mind is like the size of like a door. I was like I'm up here for it. I love it. 
 
14:16 - David (Guest)
If I join them all up over the year, then yeah, I guess it would be so. Yeah, but I'm being organized now. No, no lucky socks for me, but, um, being organized and however that needs to, needs to look I love it 
 
14:40 - Alexis (Host)
If you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold to another creative, what would it be? 
 
14:41 - David (Guest)
community is going to be going to be vital for anyone who's wanting to well, getting second opinions, getting connected through not even galleries, like exhibiting work, is nice, but I think at the initial stages it's really just having someone around you who's going to be supportive, who can share ideas I mean, friends nearby don't work in the same medium as me, but we're always able to bounce ideas off each other and, yeah, having constructive people around you. There's always going to be dickheads, but that's just our species. But I think if you can find the good souls, then yeah, keep them close. Community is vital. 
 
15:35 - Alexis (Host)
Well said, well said. Yeah, none of us find our way on our own. Yeah, it's totally with others. Yeah yeah, own, yeah, it's totally with others. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Extra question if someone wanted to develop their creative process and sort of do what you do, would you have any advice on any resources, um anything that you'd recommend they read or watch or listen to or do? 
 
16:06 - David (Guest)
So for me and this might vary depending on your medium, but maybe the location would vary For me I like to walk the aisles of my local hardware store We'll say the big green hardware store. Because I, yes, I've been renovating a house myself, with no skills but learning how to do things. 
 
16:35
I find my comfort space is walking the aisles, finding a new material that I didn't know about, and then learning how to utilize that material, whether it be glues, adhesives, fillers, paints, all sorts of bits and bobs. So in terms of a resource, maybe if you're a painter, you might find that it's your local art supply store or whatnot, but for me, as an assemblage sculptor, I need to figure out how to make things connect. So I guess the internet works in a similar sort of way. You can go digging around. I guess the internet works in a similar sort of way. You can go digging around, but for me, yeah, walking the aisles at my hardware store and learning about new materials. Learning about new, yeah, ways that are going to make my life easier, and learning the things I never knew were out there. 
 
17:48 - Alexis (Host)
So yeah, in the last six to twelve months has there been like a little like aha moment that you've had with like a problem or like an attachment, or
 
17:57 - David (Guest)
Yeah. So, uh, I, as I mentioned, I'm working on, uh, bringing my sculptures down off the wall. So everyone keeps telling me I need to go and learn how to do welding so that I can then build from, I guess, all the framework of that sculpture and then attach to it. I haven't got that far yet, but what I have been able to do was go okay, well, how can I build an internal structure for a sculpture that I'll then build around, and what can I build that out of? So I've found myself digging around through the, the plumbing section, and then, okay, well, I can screw that together and screw that together, and and then, all of a sudden, I have what I need to to then attach or be in the middle of to be able to attach things to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, plumbing. 
 
19:00 - Alexis (Host)
However, which way we come to it. 
 
19:02 - David (Guest)
Well, indeed right. So yes, I need to. You know, my next challenge is welding. I'll get onto that one next, but for now I've been solving my problems because I've got a warehouse of equipment that I can go and play with and buy what I need. 
 
19:21 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, don't you just love, I love that the journey as a creative is forever evolving. Yeah, like our world is all about labels and we have a particular label, but within that we're constantly pushing if we choose to step into that, to be constantly skilling up leveling up being pushed, I get bored. Well, that's what I'm yeah, me too, me too. It's it's like okay, how do I do this next project, but how do I push myself more than I did last time? Suckersuckers for punishment, I think. 
 
19:59 - David (Guest)
I think you're probably right. Yeah, there's certainly that feeling of success does help drive the next step into the unknown. So I think, yeah, with the new works that I'm working on, I think hopefully they're well received and if they are, then you go yay, success, or this is what success feels like. So what's next? 
 
20:28 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, it's always the what next. 
 
20:30 - David (Guest)
Yeah, it's probably slightly addictive, that moment, addictive, that, um, that, that moment. You you certainly find this with songwriting or or with any creative endeavor, or even then non-creative, but uh, that moment, that aha moment, or uh, that feeling. I've been struggling with this and trying to wrangle it into whatever shape that looks like it could be a project manager, it's probably the same feeling. And then the moment happens where, if that goes there and that goes there, I've got it. That feeling is fantastic. Big fan of that. What was the question? 
 
21:13 - Alexis (Host)
Well, we're talking about resources, but then we deviated from the question. 
 
21:19 - David (Guest)
It's so fun I've wandered way off track. 
 
21:22 - Alexis (Host)
I think it's my fault, it's fine. One last question. If you could have anyone come on this podcast and answer these questions, who would it be and why? 
 
21:36 - David (Guest)
Hmm, and answer these questions who would it be and why? Hmm, I mentioned earlier about my friend who is the singer who built the recording studio. So his name's Chris Blaine and he's been an a cappella singer quite successful massive in Asia, not so much here and he seems to be connected with all sorts of wonderful individuals in the Australian music industry. But he's been working a lot recently with indigenous communities getting them involved in the powers of music. He's about to take a bunch of old boys over to England to do a tour. Over there they do very, very cheeky, cheeky, cheeky acapella songs. They're a bit of a hoot Men in Suits, I think they're called. But I think I'd like to hear about his challenges with the music industry and then how to impart that knowledge into the next generation and really how you keep your spirits up in an industry that's changed so much. You keep your spirits up in an industry that's changed so much. I can get on the, on the Bjork bandwagon and and slam Spotify and all of that, but everything's changed now. 
 
23:08
So yeah yeah, I'd like to hear his his creative, creative elements in his life in that creative space. Chris Blaine is my answer. 
 
23:20 - Alexis (Host)
Beautiful, I'll write that down. David Cox, thank you so much, my pleasure. For being with us on Through the Creative Door. This has been such a joy and has filled my cup so much. You are a bloody legend. 
 
23:39 - David (Guest)
Thanks for sitting in this dusty space. 
 
23:41 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, my goodness, it is glorious. 
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. Little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community and we'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

BSIDE Rubber Soul

Featured Artist: The Beatles
Featured Vinyl: Rubber Soul
 
Alexis’ Hot Pick 
You Won’t See Me
Sam’s Hot Pick
If I Needed Someone
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for an artist's vinyl to listen to, have you got one in mind that we should check out? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Co-Host: Sam Timmerman
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Voiceover: Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
—---------------------
Notes for Sam & Alexis:
Artist
The Beatles
Record Title
Rubber Soul
Vinyl Artwork
“The album cover is another example of our branching out: the stretched photo,” McCartney acknowledged in Anthology. “That was actually one of those little exciting random things that happen. The photographer Robert Freeman had taken some pictures round at John’s house in Weybridge. We had our new gear on – the polo necks – and we were doing straight mug shots; the four of us all posing.”
McCartney added: “Back in London, Robert was showing us the slides; he had a piece of cardboard that was the album-cover size and he was projecting the photographs exactly onto it so we could see how it would look as an album cover. We had just chosen the photograph when the card that the picture was projected onto fell backwards a little, elongating the photograph. It was stretched and we went, ‘That’s it, Rubber So-o-oul, hey hey! Can you do it like that?’ And he said, ‘well, yeah. I can print it that way.’ And that was it.”
Furthermore, George Harrison noted in the same documentary: “I liked the way we got our faces to be longer on the album cover. We lost the ‘little innocents’ tag, the naivety, and Rubber Soul was the first one where we were fully-fledged potheads.”
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/cover-uncovered-the-beatles-pot-album-rubber-soul/ 
Alexis’ Hot Pick 
You Won’t See Me - just love the call & response & harmonies! And the meaning… 
Written by McCartney, "You Won't See Me" reflects the difficulties he was experiencing in his relationship with actress Jane Asher due to her refusal to put her acting career second to his needs
Sam’s Hot Pick
If I needed someone - fun thematic premise that can allow a million interpretations :) 
(From Beatles Bible)
If I Needed Someone
Written by: Harrison
Recorded: 16, 18 October 1965
Released: 3 December 1965 (UK), 15 June 1966 (US)
Inspired by Roger McGuinn’s guitar work for The Byrds, ‘If I Needed Someone’ was written by George Harrison and first appeared in the UK on the Rubber Soul album.
‘If I Needed Someone’ is like a million other songs written around a D chord. If you move your finger about you get various little melodies. That guitar line, or variations on it, is found in many a song, and it amazes me that people still find new permutations of the same notes.
George Harrison, 1980
‘If I Needed Someone’ was the only one of Harrison’s songs to have become a part of The Beatles’ live repertoire. It is believed to have been performed at every Beatles concert in 1966, and was played at their final show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park on 29 August 1966.
Studio/Producer
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Recording Artists
 
Collabs/Features
 
Fun facts
 
Other Info
00:09 - Intro (Announcement)
Welcome to B-Side, the mini-series from Through the Creative Door. Join Alexis and Sam as they dive into the timeless world of vinyl. For Alexis, vinyl was more than music. It was a Sunday ritual she shared with her dad, listening, talking and soaking in the stories behind each album and the artwork on every sleeve. Though her dad is no longer with us, she continues this tradition with her friend, Sam Timmerman. Join them as they share their passion for vinyl and the stories these records hold. 
 
00:44 - Alexis (Host)
Hello brother, hey, hey, hey how we doing good, how are you? 
 
00:51 - Sam (Host)
I'm good, it's hot today. 
 
00:54 - Alexis (Host)
I've got it's windy and hot here I've got this. I have one of those, but it's sitting somewhere else, it's not on my desk there you go? 
 
01:06 - Sam (Host)
No, it's a bit warm. The blinds are closed, the fan's on, but we're okay. 
 
01:12 - Alexis (Host)
I love it. 
 
01:12 - Sam (Host)
You're going well. You said it's windy over there. 
 
01:14 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, bloody Melbourne, four seasons one day. Just wait long enough. 
 
01:19 - Sam (Host)
Do people listening know that we're on opposite sides of the country? 
 
01:21 - Alexis (Host)
because that's super cool oh yeah, that's, that's true. That's true. 
 
01:26 - Sam (Host)
You're on the western coast, stairs and I'm on the east coast, east Perth western australia oh, my other home. I adore it over there indeed, and we adore you being here as well no stop what are we up to? 
 
01:44 - Alexis (Host)
we are episode four, four, four. All right, that's it. We're gonna do the 10 minute timer so that we don't ramble off and bore everyone listening silly. All right, ready and go. What do you got for me, brother? It go. What do you got for me, brother? Are you ready? 
 
02:09 - Sam (Host)
yeah, I'm ready, ready to receive. Oh yes, rubber soul are these four fantastic? Bowl haircuts oh the one, and only beetles. So good reason why I don't remember. Don't know if you remember. 
 
02:25 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, go. 
 
02:26 - Sam (Host)
Why I chose this? Because I had, like we found out in episode two with the Rolling Stones, I had never listened to a Beatles album top to bottom. 
 
02:35 - Alexis (Host)
Seriously, don't tell me, except for Beatles. 
 
02:40 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, beatles One we had at home when I was growing up. So, all the greatest, the number of times I've performed Beatles tunes, the number of times I've listened to that record, that Beatles 1, I've never listened to an entire album. I know a few musicians locally who will probably bash down the door and throw things at me because of that, but, I'm sorry I love it. 
 
03:09 - Alexis (Host)
That's all right, as long as you know that that is the judgment that you're going to receive. 
 
03:12 - Sam (Host)
That is fun this is the judgment I've been receiving for a long time um, but yes, that vinyl the cover artwork. 
 
03:24 - Alexis (Host)
It's not anyone's eyes. That's a little warped the photo. 
 
03:30 - Sam (Host)
Yes, I heard about that, and I don't remember why. 
 
03:34 - Alexis (Host)
From memory the stretched photo. It was just like a random thing that happened with the photographer that they had when they were taking photos at john's house and I think they just sort of liked how it was the question is did they see the photo and went we've got to call the album rub or something, or yeah? I don't know. Hang on, let me, let me google it,
 
04:02 - Sam (Host)
 let me see what they say the amount of time I spent on beetlesbiblecom. 
Google it, let me see what they say the amount of time I spent on Beatlesbiblecom and I didn't find it but recorded, if I remember correctly, in 1965. 
 
04:13 - Alexis (Host)
Mm-hmm, oh here we go Projecting the photographs exactly onto it to see how it looked on the album cover. We just had chosen the photograph when the card that the picture was projected on fell backwards a little, and that's how it's like. 
 
04:34 - Sam (Host)
Oh, so it's got that bottom-up angle. 
 
04:37 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, and then so they went, it was stretched and we went that's it, rubber soul, hey, hey it actually did. 
 
04:46 - Sam (Host)
I had the album title hmm, there you go on. Artistic people amazing. 
 
04:56 - Alexis (Host)
I love it. I mean, wasn't there a bit of thought that they were a little bit of like fully fledged potheads at that point anyway? So it sort of worked. 
 
05:06 - Sam (Announcement)
I wish. 
 
05:07 - Sam (Host)
I don't know. That would explain a lot, and I love it. 
 
05:13 - Alexis (Host)
Well, I mean, don't throw me under the bus. I might totally have made that up, but I thought at that point that was sort of you. 
 
05:19 - Sam (Host)
You know word on the street again beatlesbiblecom, and let's see what it says eventually but that's okay it's true I had to say I loved listening through this because, even outside of the kind of name tracks you drive my car, norwegian Wood, michelle as well the whole of this album was exactly the sound that I was expecting it to be. Out of all the Beatles tunes that I knew already, it was just this quintessential mid-60s sound. It was just spectacular. And Michelle came up, and the first version of Michelle I'd ever heard was not this one. Oh, I believe it was a Sarah Vaughan version, which was really cool okay, do you have a preference? 
 
06:11
a few years back now. Um, I like this one in. It's a bit more raw, a little bit. A little bit rough around the edges, don't get me wrong. Sarah Vaughan's incredible and you can quote me on that, but I loved this version. It wasn't my hot pick, though. Hot pick was actually If I Needed Someone, which I thought was really cool. 
 
06:37 - Alexis (Host)
Really that's your hot pick yeah. Oh, I love that song. 
06:43 - Sam (Host)
This is, and we keep talking about the fact that I don't listen to lyrics, but it's the third one in a row. 
 
06:50 - Alexis (Host)
See, you just needed some, you know motivation to get all lyric-y. Yes, sir, I love this. Come to the dark side, come to the dark side, come to my side and we may, 
 
07:12 - Sam (Host)
if I can find a way of doing it. I found the original lyric scribble. 
Yeah, the original scribble that George wrote the lyrics with. 
 
07:18 - Alexis (Host)
I'll have to put that on the photo when we post. 
 
07:21 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, we'll see if we can post it, because it's very it's. It just has a little bit of an extra bit of feeling to it, but but if I needed someone to love, you're the one I'd be thinking of. Which is, as a as a theme, as a concept, I think is really way more interesting than it needs to be. If you want to overthink it. I'm like I don't need someone, but if I did, I'm going to be here.
 
07:46 - Alexis (Host)
Well, none of us need someone we don't actually like. Some people don't like too. 
 
07:58 - Sam (Host)
This is turning very quickly into a different conversation. 
 
08:01 - Alexis (Host)
Therapy Wait, wait, how does? 
 
08:05 - Sam (Host)
this make you feel as I put a pen in your mouth. 
 
08:07 - Alexis (Host)
Stop, stop. Don't put glasses on and look down your nose at me. 
 
08:12 - Sam (Host)
I don't have glasses, so I can't do that. That's okay. Did you have a hot pick of your own? 
 
08:17 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, I did, and it would have to be. You Won't See Me, I just froth at that call and response and harmonies in that track. Oh, they just sing.
 
08:35 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, they are amazing. So do you have a hot pick of your own? 
 
10:03 - Alexis (Host)
I do have a hot pick. It is you Won't See Me, and I truly just love the call and response and the harmonies. They just pun, not intended, but sing at me, not not intended, but still yeah, but as a true lyricist, I just also dive into the meaning and you know, concept. So my understanding is that McCartney wrote it as a bit of a reflection, because he was having difficulties with a relationship at the time. 
 
And my understanding is that the relationship was with an actor. I'm not sure I know too much about her. I think she an actress named Jane Asher. 
 
11:02 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, but my understanding is that her refusal to put her acting career second to his needs was like a true you know, pull, push, pull right. Which is where this sort of which is why I think the call and response thing sort of works, when you think that someone's more demanding and wants more and wants you to give up something for yourself. 
 
11:25 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, Well, I mean with a quick Google. The relationship must have started working again a little bit, because they were together for three years after this album was released. 
 
11:35 - Alexis (Host)
Oh really. 
 
11:36 - Sam (Host)
Yeah, 1963 to 1968., Thank you, Wikipedia and Google once again, Make sure you donate to Wikipedia. I've said that before.
 
11:45 - Alexis (Host)
Not sponsored. 
 
11:47 - Sam (Host)
Not sponsored. Hashtag not sponsored. She was in death at a funeral, apparently. 
 
11:53 - Alexis (Host)
Okay, I am really bad with movies and. 
 
11:57 - Sam (Host)
Me too. That's why I use Google. 
 
12:00 - Alexis (Host)
I meant more that, like, I very rarely have time to watch that kind of stuff but when I do, I like get really into it. 
 
12:06
But yeah, not, I'm not fully familiar with her work but um, but I can appreciate and I think you know the artist way is that it's really difficult yes, people who really understand the push-pull of this creative life that we have, and you would think that you would find an ally in someone else who is an actor versus a musician, or actress and musician. But clearly there's still tension, something there yeah, tension, it's fun. 
 
12:41 - Sam (Host)
You talked about the vocal harmonies, though, because, listening through the record, I had the beautiful little happy moment of won't see me and nowhere man. Back to back, back to back the backing vocals are both the same. 
 
12:56 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, yeah. 
 
12:58 - Sam (Host)
Ooh, la, la, la. La, la, la, yeah la la, la, la, la, la, la la. And I was just like, yes, we're in the 60s, let's go. 
 
13:06 - Alexis (Host)
But part of that is the fact that your ears already know, like I would suggest, that most people, the kids coming up, you know they wouldn't even need to have known all of these songs, and your brain knows where to go, knows where those harmonies, where those call and responses are. 
 
13:27 - Sam (Host)
Yeah. 
 
13:28 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah. I love it, Love it. 
 
13:29 - Sam (Host)
I also found, you know. The last thing that I wrote down because I found it interesting was that Going Back to Needed Someone is the only one of George Harrison's songs that became part of their live rep. 
 
13:52 - Alexis (Host)
Oh really. 
 
13:53 - Sam (Host)
Only song that George wrote. That was in their live rep Okay, and it was played at Candlestick on 1966, august. It was believed to have been performed at every Beatles concert in 66 and was played at their final show. 
 
14:12 - Sam (Host)
It's the only one that George wrote that ever went into the live show. 
 
14:16 - Alexis (Host)
Wow. 
 
14:18 - Sam (Host)
And it's one that I had not heard before. I listened to this record
 
14:20 - Alexis (Host)
See, this is why this game is fun. 
 
14:25 - Sam (Host)
We do this. 
 
14:26 - Alexis (Host)
This is why we talk to people and talk to each other. 
 
14:31 - Alexis (Host)
That's time, timer, time time we're done we're done, thank you for getting my butt into gear about records, because I'm not again. First time I'd listened to a beatles record top to bottom and that was great wow, look, that's what a sister's here for it's true, very true all, right 
15:00 - Alexis (Host)
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community and we'll catch you on your favorite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye. 

4 | Just Keep Creating with Hannah Crofts aka Baby Velvet

In this episode, we sit down with Hannah Crofts, best known as a member of the acclaimed Australian folk group All Our Exes Live in Texas and for her captivating solo project, Baby Velvet. Beyond the harmonies and stage lights, Hannah offers a raw and insightful look into the realities of life as an artist—the creative highs, the crushing self-doubt, and the ever-present pressure to turn passion into profit. We dive into her journey through the music industry, the moments that tested her resilience, and the lessons that keep her grounded. From embracing uncertainty to finding joy in the process, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone navigating the fine line between creativity and sustainability. 
If you’d like to see more, you can follow Hannah Crofts on instagram; @ babyvelvetmusic
 
This episode was recorded on 12 January 2025 on the lands of the Woiworung Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
 
…
Creative resources: A Swim In A Pond In The Rain - George Saunders 
Adrienne Linker's School of Song 
Let’s get social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 
TikToc: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast
 
CREDITS
Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
 
00:09 - Alexis (Host)
Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. Owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I'm delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door. 
Oh, my goodness, Hannah, I'm so excited to be chatting with you. Thank you for coming on Through the Creative Door. 
 
00:57 - Hannah (Guest) 
Thank you so much for having me. 
 
00:59 - Alexis (Host) 
I know I'm so chuffed. So nice Fangirling right over here. This is so cute, cute, yes, um, before we get in and launch into all these lovely doubly questions um, you are such a talented bear, you are such a such a glorious performer and you really have such a beautiful stage presence. 
 
01:21
Um, I really love your latest single, which I got to see that live, actually with you singing with a choir that you put together, which was glorious. 
 
01:34 - Hannah (Guest)
I'm so lucky that you came. Thank you for coming. 
 
01:37 - Alexis (Host)
Oh, it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful. It's such a beautiful energy in the room which you have cultivated. 
 
01:40 - Hannah (Guest)
That was very special, that show. It was very special, it was real nice. 
 
01:53 - Alexis (Host)
But apart from you being a very talented musician, you also do amazing collage um mural and yeah, that kind of work, yeah, which I'm fascinated to pick your brain about. Like how does one get into that? Like how did that spark I? 
 
02:01 - Hannah (Guest)
That one's a bit strange. I was thinking about this the other day and I'm a musician, but then I also just spend so much time drawing and then that kind of turned from there, just got interested in collage. And then do you know Emily Lubitz, who's in Tin Pan Orange and she's also a performer in her own right. She's a beautiful musician, she lives up in Byron, um, and she asked me to make a video clip for her, maybe like three years ago, and I never thought about doing it. But she was like I love your drawings, like maybe you could just make me something cool, and so I spent maybe two months like learning how to use some software and I made like a very beautiful video clip for her. That's very. 
 
02:43
I just feel like if someone who knew how to use the software would be like oh, that'd take me 15 minutes, but it took me two months of being like stop frame animation kind of thing. And then emily's partner is Harry from the cat empire, and the cat empire's management bought a warehouse in collingwood and made a giant exhibition about love and sex cool, and they had these three phone booths and they asked Emily who they should get to deck, like just to do smart in the phone booth, so Emily recommended me. There's a long way of saying that I've got into. There's an exhibition that I just completed, in December, and that was through Emily recommended me through making her the video clip. 
 
03:19 - Alexis (Host)
That's sick and that's through. Is it Museum of? I don't know why I said pleasure, it was something like that. I remember Museum of it's called Museum of Desire. Oh Desire. I don't know why I said pleasure, I thought it was something like that. I remember seeing. 
03:29 - Hannah (Guest) 
Yeah, there's a lot about pleasure in Desire. 
But there's like 25 artists, I think, and so you walk around. It takes like an hour and you do all the different exhibitions. 
 
03:39 - Alexis (Host) 
Oh my goodness, I need to go. It's very fun. It very fun. It's very nude. You say a lot of nudity.
 
03:45 - Alexis (Host)
I love nudity, then you'll love the exhibition. Excellent, alexa I. I just think that the body, it's such a beautiful shape yeah, yeah, especially women's bodies. 
 
03:52 - Hannah (Guest)
Women's bodies, right stunning. 
 
03:55 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, so we are in your beautiful space, so I'm curious whether your answer will be this space or a different space, or a frame of mind. But what does a creative space mean to you and why? 
 
04:09 - Hannah (Guest)
um, creative space means so much to me, as you can say by how I've decorated my room, but, um, my, I was on tour with my band for 10 years. So I play in a band called all our exes live in Texas, and we were on tour from for, yeah, for most of my 20s, and so I didn't have a home for that time. We were just away and I lived out of a suitcase for a lot of it and I just like, once we stopped touring, it just became so important to me to have like a sacred space that was just mine especially. I know that you've toured before like just how much. You never have any alone time. You never have anything that's yours. 
 
04:47
I'm from a family of three, I'm one of four girls um, that that makes me sound a bit crazy, but I just love having a space that is just mine and that is very special, and so, um, I do all of my work in this room and I spend so much time just like curating it and thinking about it and making just a space where you can actually think and create art. 
 
05:10 - Alexis (Host)
And there's something about like that calm. Yeah, that just lets you drop in. I'm projecting a little bit here but I can. I can drop in to that creative when everything else is calm yeah, 
 
05:16 - Hannah (Guest)
Which I always think if I ever had a partner, we have to have separate bedrooms because they cannot put their stuff in this room. I like my stuff too much and I like the layout too much that I'd be like no, like what if they brought an ugly lamp? I wouldn't know how to. Maybe this is why I don't have a partner, because I'm like your stuff's ugly, you can't bring it in 
 
05:40 - Alexis (Host)
But there's the schools for thought about people who have like separate bedrooms. I think, yeah, I think that's a vibe? 
 
05:41 - Hannah (Guest)
I think, think so too. I just think I have to meet someone who's got lots of money so we can have a glorious big house where we can have lots of our own spaces. 
 
05:47 - Alexis (Host)
Studio yes, exactly. Drawing room yeah, extra bedrooms Amazing. Now, if we talk about your stuff, is there a body of work or a project that you're the most proud of creating, of creating and like how did that come about? 
 
06:10 - Hannah (Guest)
um, I think I'm most proud of Virtuous, which I just put out, which I know is just one song on its own. But, um, so I was in X's for 10 years and then COVID happened and we decided to go forth and do our solo projects and I recorded a record and at the time, I was supposed to go to LA and record it. Um, with the producer that I worked with called Kevin, and maybe like March of 2020, I moved into my sister's bungalow because I was like, I'm gonna save my money, I'm gonna go overseas, I'll go to LA, I'll record this record. And then COVID happened. And so my poor sister. I was like, can I stay for two weeks before I go to to LA? I'll record this record. And then COVID happened. And so my poor sister. I was like, can I stay for two weeks before I go to America? And I was like, can I stay for a year? And I just never moved out of her bungalow for one year, um, and never made it to America. 
 
06:54
But so Kevin and I made the record over Zoom in the end, so we decided to do it anyway and we did a whole. 
 
07:01
So, yeah, I've made one solo record, and it was just all over the internet, which was amazing in that we could still create something, and we created something we both loved. I would never do that again in like, uh, you know, one of the most beautiful things about making a record is well, for me, anyway, is the community and like having people there and getting to create something together. And while Kevin was there over the internet, if I made a record again, I would love to have a producer in the room with me, being like, why don't we try this? Maybe try that again, which, in the case of my record, I just recorded. I learned how to record and I recorded all my parts myself, and then I would send him like 20 takes and he would comp something together, or like so yeah, like, I just did a lot of that, which just also drives you insane, because you're in alone in your bedroom singing the same line over and over again, being like, was that good, was that better? Like, is this bit? 
 
07:50 - Alexis (Host)
yeah, there's something nice about having that immediate feedback of like, okay, great, but like, maybe, like, um, work on this part of your diction, on this part. Or like, yeah, just be maybe not as harsh on this bit. Or yeah, you get that and you can start to adjust it. As opposed to, yeah, doing 20 takes and then a couple of days later, getting am I okay, this is fine, I'm actually really bad at this. 
 
08:13 - Hannah (Guest)
Like what am I like you inspire really quickly, versus having someone be like no, you're fine, just keep going, like don't worry about it. Yeah, um
 
08:18 - Alexis (Host)
I think you're just gonna keep running it a few more times, you're fine. 
 
08:21 - Hannah (Guest)
You're fine. So I made that and I am really proud of that and I love that record. But I think you know it wasn't the dream process to make it. It was like a learning curve and I learned a lot. And then, when I made Virtuous, I did the Adrienne Linker songwriting course last year for School of Songs. She did a one-month course on the internet and I wrote that song as part of that course and I just really loved the song and I felt really proud of it. 
 
08:46
And then, um, I recorded it myself, which also I've never I've never released anything that I've recorded just on my own, which was a big thing in my mind of like a barrier for music for me is money. I mean, like, how do I keep releasing music and how do I keep making art and how do I keep funneling all my money into it, and you know, and so it was cool to be like, oh, you can just create stuff yourself and put it out. And then I got my friends to come and sing on that. So all the backing vocals are a bunch of mates. And then my housemate is a videographer, so he came down to from his bedroom to my bedroom and we filmed a clip and then I put on a show which felt like in for me it felt like a community event of all my friends coming together and celebrating. So I felt really proud of that of like. 
 
09:28
How do you move forward in the music industry and keep creating and being happy without burning out and without making like? I don't know, it's just such a strange industry of like. How can I make sure that I'm one being creative but two, fulfilling that part of you that wants to release music and like have people hear it. 
 
09:44 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, and also not letting go of the fact that we still are human and, yeah, you know someone's friend, someone's sister still wanting to go on holidays and have a weekend away oh my gosh, exactly like have a life, yes, yeah, yes. 
 
09:58 - Hannah (Guest)
And I just like being like I only have you know x amount of money in a year. I would like to. I've spent the last 10 years just putting that into music and then just being like, oh, but like it would be really nice to go on a holiday, like it would be nice to go overseas or whatever it is, and be like, yeah, prioritizing different things, I don't know, but then still getting to do that creative things that you want to do, yeah, yeah. So I think Virtuous is what I'm most proud of. 
 
10:22 - Alexis (Host)
Well, it's a banger. A banger on the flip side of things that you're proud of. What, if you have one, or maybe you have a few is there something that's challenged your creativity, and what do you think the major lesson of that has been? 
 
10:42 - Hannah (Guest)
I think, uh, probably just my self-esteem has challenged my creativity. You know, like self-doubt and like, um self-sabotage. I think, um, yeah, I think that'll always be the hardest thing for me and as I've gotten older, being like don't worry so much, I actually think sorry. My best piece of advice is that everything is a stepping stone to the next thing. So I think with music and records and songs, you can get really bogged down and being like it has to be perfect, this I'm putting all my eggs in this basket of making this one beautiful record and it's going to represent me and it's everyone's going to judge me based on it. 
 
11:17
And I have to put, and I and I do think you should create the best thing you can create, but you should think about it like I'm creating the best thing I can create in this moment and it doesn't summarize me forever. 
 
11:27
It's not the only thing that'll ever happen in my life. It doesn't. It just summarizes who I am in this moment, um, and so don't feel so stressed to put things out and don't feel so like I just feel like we all get bogged down in this idea that sometimes it takes years to put things out and I can overthink things and I can rework them and just like, actually don't worry about it, just put it out. If you're happy with it, obviously, and you love it, just put it out and know that it's not the only thing you're going to do. That's a step, yeah, everything is a stepping stone to the next thing you're going to create Adrienne, like it was really great in her course where she was like we're all just writing the same song over and over and over again to try and get the perfect song oh, I like that well. 
 
12:06
I feel that's so true. I do think I just write the same song over and over and over again and you are just trying to like work on your chip away and work on your craft and until you write a song and maybe you'll never think you've written the perfect song. But other people will, you know? I think Adrienne Link has written, you know, 2000 perfect songs. Yeah, but I guess that's yeah, striving to keep being better. 
 
12:21 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, and I also think we're always trying to find a way to process the things happening around us and, yeah, that vessel of creating art is how we have digested it and putting it back into the world. 
 
12:40 - Hannah (Guest)
Right, totally yeah therapy, oh my god how great is art for therapy. Every time I go through a breakup it's so cliched but I'm like at least I got a couple good songs out of that, yeah, you know right that man wasn't very nice, but whatever, got some good songs 
 
12:56 - Alexis (Host) 
I swear I've done that with so much dating. 
I was like, yeah, I got, I got some, got some content, yeah, yeah we did it for the plot, for the plot story 
 
13:01 - Hannah (Guest) 
Because I also think, like two years later you can't remember the man that you went on that two months date with, but you have the song still yeah, you know, and it's disassociated from that man, but you still have the art yeah, it's great. 
 
13:12 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure. It's like oh honey, it might have started because of you, but it's not about you it's not about you. 
 
13:19 - Hannah (Guest)
I don't remember you are. 
 
13:26 - Alexis (Host)
You have such beautiful things in this room. I wonder do you have any object or thing or belonging that you can't live without when you create? 
 
13:39 - Hannah (Guest)
When I make things? I have a little morning ritual, which I started last year and again it was like the thought process of like what kind of artist am I going to be and how can I be happy is a bigger thought of artist am I going to be and who, how can I be happy, is a bigger sort. 
 
13:58
And so every morning I have one hour before I leave the house or do something where I have to be creative, and that to me is like gardening or watering the garden or reading a book or. But, yeah, I feel like it's um, yeah, very, I don't know, it's probably cringy to some people, but like I burn my sage, I light a little candle, I have beautiful notebooks, I have beautiful pens and I just sit down and try and journal, um, and just try and start my day with a moment of being creative. Um, so the things I can't live without, it's just like a pen and paper or a book or a. You know I can live without sage and candle, but I think it is, I think the ritual of getting into a habit of doing it every day and reminding yourself of it every day 
14:39 - Alexis (Host) 
And do you think that that ritual, it also just sits you in that intention like a headspace a frame of mind? 
 
14:46 - Hannah (Guest) 
just a reminder as well. I did another School of Song with Dr Dog, with Scott McKinnon Mick Mckinnon, who is one of my favourite songwriters and he, you know, we all know this and it's so true. But being like, if you want to be creative, there's only very few moments in your life that you feel inspired. You know that you come home and you're like I actually really feel like creating art and if you want to be creative, you know you can look at it like a job. Job makes it not sound very romantic. But being like I'm just going to be something I'm going to do every day and I'm going to commit to doing it every day, um, even if I don't really feel like it, cause I'm really not going to feel inspiration that often or all the time. 
 
15:25 - Alexis (Host)
Well, a lot can be said for just having the structure. Yeah, because then when you quote unquote, don't feel as inspired, you still have that structure of like okay, well, I'm gonna sit in this space and I'm doing this for an hour and yeah, so you help supporting that even for the times where you don't have those. I mean, I always find it funny that, like we all know of artists, where you know they're like oh, I sat down and wrote this song in five minutes, it just came to me, which we all know. 
 
15:53 - Hannah (Guest)
Dolly Parton, I will always love you. 
 
15:54 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, like there are, there are times when you get that beautiful, you know being struck by lightning, yeah, but more often than not it's like um, his name, um, ed sheeran he talks about, like you, running the, the tap. Like, yeah, you just constantly just keep writing, keep doing, keep creating, um, because you sort of almost have to, yeah, get all the crap out before you'll get to the good stuff. 
 
16:20 - Hannah (Guest)
Absolutely. I always know that I'll write two crap songs, maybe five, maybe ten crap songs to one song that I actually like, and so you have to sit through all the crap songs to get to the one that you're like, all right, this is fine. 
 
16:28 - Alexis (Host)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly if you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold, to another creative. Actually, it was interesting. The people that I've interviewed just recently, they actually, instead of it just being to another creative, they're like what would I say to myself? But uh, yeah, what advice or nugget of gold would you give, and what would, yeah, and what would it be?
 
16:57 - Hannah (Guest)
 I think it'd be. This is like very specific to me at the moment, but I've become addicted to that song, the Sunscreen song, which is a Baz Luhrmann song. It was famous in like 19, I think it's 1997. 
 
17:09 - Alexis (Host) 
Is it the one that they speak the lyrics? 
 
17:12 - Hannah (Guest) 
And it's like to the class of like 1997 or like whatever. Maybe it's 1999. 
 
17:15 - Alexis (Host)
And it's like to the class of like 1997 or like whatever. Maybe it's 1999, but one of the bits of advice wear sunscreen. Yes, um, yeah, yeah, and it goes through, like all these different situations about yeah, yeah 
 
17:21 - Hannah (Guest) 
And it's beautiful and it gives some beautiful advice in that, and like, one thing that I would say to my younger self and to myself now, which I try and do is, um, like, just never compare yourself to others or their art journey like their, their creative journey. 
 
17:33 - Alexis (Host)
Which is really hard to do with social media the way that it is. 
 
17:36 - Hannah (Guest)
It's so revolting and so hard and it's just like social media is so fake and I just I have people in my you know wider life where you're like your social media is going off and you look like you're doing all the best things in the world and then personally you're having a really terrible time. And you know vice versa, like people can be having the best time of their life and not putting it on social media, but it makes everyone feel bad about themselves and their careers all the time. Um, so I guess, yeah, just like the knock comparison is the thief of thief of joy. Is that the saying yes? 
I think that's a big thing to try and learn, that. I still try and learn every day of been like so much of the music industry and music careers are beyond your control. It's not about your talent, it is a wide variety of other things, and just enjoy the journey. Yeah, that you're on. I know that sounds so corny. 
 
18:27 - Alexis (Host)
No, but it's yeah it is true, and I also think you know all of us want to be here for a long time, not for, you know, we don't want to burn ourselves out and yeah, we've got to be able to find and I think we're all trying to actually get that out but find a way to sustain it. yeah, for like the long term, not just for now. 
 
18:44 - Hannah (Guest)
I think a really big lesson that I learned from being in a band for so long um, which, I think about, is a big. I loved being in that band and it's you know, we did so many amazing things. The mentality that I had was always about the bigger picture, like I always like we're striving towards these massive goals all the time and I think having massive goals is amazing and we should all have have them. But it also really taught me that for me, the most important thing is to have a good day, like to wake up and be like how can I make my day really good and if I'm going to bed at night and I've had a really nice day, then I've won. 
 
19:21
Yeah, versus being like I might have 20 crappy days in a row, but they're all working towards this bigger picture thing. That doesn't matter. Yeah, because if you haven't crap day, what's the point? I don't know that. That took me to live it, to learn it. Yeah, so my days are really gorgeous. I make good days. Yeah, and I have bigger picture goals that you that I'm still working towards, but like it's less. It's less driven by that, I guess yeah. 
 
19:46 - Alexis (Host)
You've mentioned a few sort of resources or um courses and and things just in our chat already. But apart from obviously you're an advocate for doing songwriting retreats and songwriting courses and stuff, but would you recommend any other resources? Um, if someone wanted to develop their creative process and do what you do? 
 
20:14 - Hannah (Guest)
There is a book that I read last year called swim in a pond in the rain. Um, I have to look up what the man's name is, like Gregory something, but that was a beautiful book, um, that I would recommend reading if you want to do songwriting, specifically lyrical songwriting. But, um, it was a book where it breaks down five like old russian stories, and the writer talks. He doesn't have complicated language, so he is a philosopher and a phd major in english and he just basically breaks down the stories and tells you why sentences work and what they make the reader feel. And then, um, yeah, I guess like how you can shape a story to make people feel different things and but, yeah, again, talks to you in layman's terms so you don't feel like it's too complicated or don't understand or um, and it's a beautiful book for songwriting. 
 
21:06
I just did lots of last year, lots of trying to read it and then put it into songwritings where you have verses where you try and match it. I've been like, okay, he's talking about, if you do, sentences like structural sentences like this, or this story made me feel this way like how do you, if you only have six verses, like, how do I structure it so I can make it feel the same. So I found that really useful to try and think about. Not that I've achieved it, but it was beautiful um. 
 
21:27 - Alexis (Host)
well, it's nice when you read things where it gets you to just think about your process of writing a little differently. 
 
21:37 - Hannah (Guest)
Yes, yeah. And then I got this book, which is a complete rhyming dictionary which I use all the time Because, again, I write the same song over and over and over. So this was a good book to buy and be like, start changing. You use these words all the time, so what's other words for those words? You know, I think I need that. I just I do fall on the same catalogue of like words. So this was, this was good, um. 
 
22:03
Other resources, school, yeah, as I said, school of songs, really amazing, um, there's a artist called lord cowboy who she did that picture on that wall, um, and she's on instagram and she just is like a. I find her very inspiring. She on that wall, um, and she's on instagram and she just is like a. I find her very inspiring. She makes art every day and she puts it up. She's not a songwriter, she's a visual artist, but at the moment she's like running a retreat online to get off social media and you meet up with her on zoom once a week and talk about not being online, like unplugging, and the relationship, yeah, of being an artist on social media but also just being an artist in the world. Um, yeah, I reckon those are my main ones. 
 
22:41 - Alexis (Host)
Amazing, I think, this last one that you're mentioning. I mean, it's so true, I think we get so caught up with the deliverables um of, yeah, result driven, yeah, case in point posting or showing art or whatever on social media. So, yeah, it's like you're still an artist, even if no one can see the process and what you're up to at that point. 
 
23:00 - Hannah (Guest)
Well, it is an interesting thought of like what age was I told that if I like art, I should monetize it. You know, and being like I've lived that way for so long, I've been like everything I do should have value into my career, uh, and eventually, yeah, my income. And they've been like I can just create art because I want to create art, not because I want to make money off it. Obviously would love to make money off art, but at the same time, it's so nice being able to create art, not with that intention yeah, yeah. 
 
23:25 - Alexis (Host)
And what's that? Um, you know when they talk about, you know intentions and it's like, whether it's like um working on your like career moving forward, or if it like fills your cup, or it's like the financial, it's like you're never going to have all three. Yeah, like overlay, it's like, but at least if you've got one or two of them, then you're doing pretty well then, you're doing okay. 
 
23:48 - Hannah (Guest)
it's good. I like that. Yeah, this year was my. My new year's resolution this year is to make no adult decisions. Oh, I like that. All I did last year was be an adult, and that's great. You need to be an adult sometimes. I ticked a bunch of stuff off. I got out of debt, I like got a car, I did things, and this year, none of it. I'm not making any adult decisions. 
 
24:06 - Alexis (Host)
I love this so much. I'm curious of like how did that sort of philosophy come about? 
 
24:13 - Hannah (Guest)
I just in my mind was like you know what do one year on, one year off? Like just be an adult. One year don't be an adult. The next year don't worry about it, it's fine. So I just want to spend all my money this year going overseas and holidays, and I think part of it is that thought of being a grown-up. When you go to the pub and you're like, no, I should go home. But, this year I want to do more like no, no, I'm going to stay out. Let's just see what happens. 
 
24:39 - Alexis (Host)
Yeah, what do they say? Nothing good happens after 12 o'clock. It's like to hell it is. I'm staying out all night. 
 
24:43 -  Hannah (Guest)
Just with the riffraff floating around. 
 
24:48 - Alexis (Host) 
I love it. We'll just like not see on social media you overseas, because you'll be offline.
 
24:52 - Hannah (Guest)
Exactly, living my life. It's not showing everyone. 
 
24:55 - Alexis (Host)
I love it. If you could hear another creative on this podcast and answer these questions. Who would it be and why? 
 
25:06 - Hannah (Guest)
I know I've already talked about him. I'll talk about two. One is Amy Sedaris, who's American, and she isn't a songwriter, but she's a creative. She makes lots of stuff. She makes similarly sorry, like I make songs, but then I also make visual art. I, um, I feel like Amy is the same in that she just does a whole variety of different things and her mind is so crazy and so wonderful and so funny. 
 
25:33 - Alexis (Host)
Isn't it glorious when you watch people like that, like who are you? 
 
25:34 - Hannah (Guest)
no, I mean, that was another part of my thoughts going into this year was like sometimes those people like, do you know, cola scoza? Like I'm like you're so weird and funny and wonderful and there would have been a long period of time that you were just cringy, like you wouldn't have been good at your craft yet and people around you would have been like, oh, I don't know, that was like a bit strange. But then you come out the other side and you're phenomenal at the thing you do and I feel like amy's the same, where they're just like absolutely amazing at the thing they do. And if you ever want to be that amazing, just don't just be cringe, be weird, like just go delve into it. But I love any time I hear Amy talk like I'm obsessed with everything she says. 
 
26:12
And Scott Mick McKinnon, who's in Dr Dog. I love hearing him talk about music, I love hearing his writing process. I think it is because one of the reasons is because I don't think of music as a solo practice. I think about it as a community thing, like I only like making music to play it with my friends. I hate playing solo shows. I don't like doing it by myself.
 
26:34 - Alexis (Host)
Interesting. The reason why I say interesting is because I feel exactly the same way and I was in a band for a really long time and really loved it, and that was my family, my community, and then those boys all decided to, their paths were different and so that you know, changed everything and for a long time I just wanted the same thing again and I was at a precipice at one point where I had to let go Okay, well, what can I control? Well, I can't necessarily control the people. That if it will work in another project like that, yeah, I can control just doing stuff on my own, but yeah. 
 
27:13 - Hannah (Guest)
But do I want to? 
 
27:15 - Alexis (Host)
It was a struggle for a really long time to find some kind of peace and enjoyment of it. Yeah, being on a stage, a big stage on my own, yeah, yeah, nowadays I can hold space for it and enjoy it for what it is. But yeah, I really hear you when you say like it's about the people you get to share it with. 
 
27:34 - Hannah (Guest)
Yeah, because, yeah, I do play solo and it's like the same thing, like I've done it enough now that I can like go. Like same thing, like I've done it enough now that I can like go and have a good time and I know what I'm doing, but just feel like I write songs in my mind with being like, but I want to play them with other people, I want to sing with other people, I want this. And Scott McKinnon is in Dr Dog, which is a large band, and just like all their live shows, like 10 people on stage and they're obviously best friends. They've been best friends forever. They're all interacting with each other and like that is actually the philosophy of music that I this is why I do it, this is what I love watching, and so I love hearing him talk about how he creates those spaces and, you know, plays with his friends and, yeah, it's beautiful. I don't do anything by myself yeah.  
 
28:12 - Alexis (Host)
Well, it's just, yeah, part of it's the journey, right, yeah, it's, it's all part of it. 
 
28:19 - Hannah (Guest)
I just also. I just don't have. I guess I have a bit because I, you know, I clearly love to be in front of people and like, love people to love me. But I don't have it fully inbuilt in me that I want to be the star like I'd love, rather like, like exes was. I'd rather be the star with a group of people you know still want to be a star, happy to share the spotlight yes, yeah, 
 
28:44 - Alexis (Host)
well, I alsp, I don't know if you're the same, but I'm not a true extrovert. So, having that community on stage to share the load, absolutely that energy out, yeah, and to bring that, so when I'm a bit depleted, you have those other people to help you and then, like, restore it. That's because, yeah, yeah, I mean I can turn it on when I need to, but there are times where it's hard going 
 
29:10 - Hannah (Guest)
And it's so nice, like on X’s shows. We did so many shows for so long and there'd be nights like you get broken up with just before you walk on stage and you could be like cheeky babies, I'm not really feeling this tonight, and they'll be like no worries, and then they'll take the leads on stuff and you could just, but when you're doing it on your own you're like, okay, dig, dig, you got to be, you got to put on the show. Showbiz baby. 
 
29:25 - Alexis (Host)
It's so true, so true, oh, my goodness. Oh, I'm just it's making me think of um. I did a concept album, um, which was about my uh, big relationship breakdown and I just remember that was such heavy content and big relationship breakdown, and I just remember that was such heavy content. And, yeah, there were just times where, like you had to really that psyching in to tour that. Oh, sometimes it was just like so unbearably heavy. 
 
29:51 - Hannah (Guest)
I know that's the thing about writing songs about your heartbreak. Yeah. All right, I guess I'll rehash this tonight, cool. 
 
29:59 - Alexis (Host)
Cool, cool, cool, cool. And we're going back in there. 
 
30:01 - Hannah (Guest)
No, worries, no big deal, it's totally fine. 
 
30:05 - Alexis (Host)
Oh my goodness, Hannah, this has been such a beautiful chat. Thank you so much for coming. 
 
30:10 - Hannah (Guest)
You're so wonderful at this
 
30:12 - Alexis (Host)
oh stop.  I just love a chat. I love a chat. You're very good at chatting. Thank you for coming through the creative door.
30:18 - Hannah (Guest) 
Thank you for having me
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