Gigging With Dave (August)

 

Hey guys! I’m headlining a show this coming Sunday at the Empress Hotel. Come down and enjoy a night of fantastic live music! See you there!

Gigging With Dave (July)

The Ups and Downs of Gigging!

Melbourne has a diverse and immensely talented music culture. You walk down the streets of Melbourne and you will witness musicians and artists from all over the world, contributing to the already multi-cultural city that we live in. You can walk into a local hotel, a pub or a club and experience a range of different music genres that will suit your musical tastes.

Gigging in Melbourne is not always easy however. I have been gigging around Melbourne for a few years now and its been such a wonderful experience, but it has also been a challenging one. Upon speaking to many different artists, they too have experienced the difficulties of gigging. A lot of the times, artists who gig would rarely get paid, and even when they do get paid, it is not much. I think it would be fair to say however, that local musicians do not do it for the money. It is purely the passion and enjoyment that they have for music and performing that keeps them going. It is the crowd and the people you meet that has the most satisfying rewards.

I think what the real difficulty is (for me anyway), is to consistently get numbers. Some gigs you may have 20-30 people rock up to your show, and on other occasions… none. This makes it hard to keep venues happy and could affect how often you are asked to play. I do remember the time when I serenaded 6 dudes at the Empress Hotel. They were such a great audience and responded well to all my love songs. 🙂 When we do have those numbers, it makes for such a memorable experience.

If there is anything I want to highlight in this blog, it would be this. SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC. If you know of friends or friends of friends that are playing, go and support them. It would mean a lot to see familiar faces as well as strangers who come along to listen to our music. The more people there are, the more vibrant the atmosphere. I can guarantee you that you will witness some amazing talent that you would not find anywhere else in mainstream media. As musicians, there have been a lot of sacrifices that were made to get to where we are today. So I encourage everybody, find out what shows are happening around Melbourne, and keep Melbourne’s local music scene alive.

 

Gigging with Dave (June)

Dean Geyer – One Night Only!

OK let’s be honest, I wouldn’t go out of my way to go watch Dean Geyer perform, the former Australian Idol contestant and now Glee star. But with his striking good looks etc… I just couldn’t help myself. In fact, the reason why I was there, was to see my friend Alanna Deutrom support this fine looking young man.

The weather that night was cold and wet, and I’m glad my car was working perfectly fine too (Read previous blogs). It was nice to see a few of my mates from the David Jaanz School of Singing come to support Alanna as well., including the Voice contestant, Caterina Torres. It was fantastic to see Alanna hit the stage with such presence and even singing one of my favourite songs from Passenger, “Let Her Go”. We are so proud of you Alanna! It was also great to hear her original work, which in fact, have been picked up by a US reality TV show.

Then came Dean Geyer. This heartthrob definitely got the girls going, singing a combination of originals and covers. I haven’t really heard much of Dean’s music so it was nice to be introduced to some of his work. But I was really there for Alanna… good work! 🙂

Gigging With Dave! (June)

Playing at the Grumpy’s Green on the 6th of June! Come along and support local music. Playing alongside the amazing Bernie Carson and Joe Forrester. FREE ENTRY!!

Tegan And Sara Concert!!

Wow!!! What an eventful night! There always seems to be some sort of drama when I go to gigs and this one is no different. So a couple of mates of mine decided to rendevous at my place at around 5:30 to head off to the Tegan and Sara concert. However, my friend couldn’t tell her left from right and took the wrong turn and headed the complete opposite direction from where I live. So about half an hour later, we rushed off to the Palais Theatre where we picked up our tickets and had some dinner. Meeting up with a couple of friends afterwards, we headed in and listened to the support band, Clubfeet.

Tegan and Sara were absolutely amazing. These twin girls from Canada and their indie rock music brought the crowd to their feet playing songs of old and new. I’ll have to admit, I haven’t really listened to any of their music before, but after this concert, I’ll be buying their CD’s for sure! They have such funny personalities and part of their charm is definintely their interaction with the crowd.

Halfway through the show, I somehow managed to stab myself in the face and started bleeding pretty bad. So I rushed off to the bathroom and spent a good 10 minutes trying to stop the bleed. As I went back trying to look for my seat, I was blocked by a kissing……..errrr…….. maybe ask me about it and I’ll tell you the full story. Their set went for a good couple of hours and I would recommend you checking them out if you have not heard of them before. There were plenty of flashing lights which I thought was a bit of an overkill… and trust me… there was ALOT of flashing lights.

So after the show, we decided to go get some coffee and dessert simply because we paid for parking til midnight. As we headed to the car and started the ignition, the car would not start…… AGAIN!! I looked around and noticed that the light was on…. and that’s when my head turned slowly to my friend who had left the lights on after doing her makeup………………………………………………….

We tried asking a couple of taxis to help us but no luck. I ran to 7-11 and they had no jump leads. I asked another taxi driver who did happen to have jump leads but he refused to help us. By the end of it, a taxi stopped to help us but after 20 minutes, there was still no life in my car. So I called the RACV. Thinking that it would take them around 10-15 minutes to arrive, RACV took TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get to us. Seriously, there must’ve been only one dude working in all of Victoria. By the time my battery was changed in was 3am. Didn’t get home til 3:30am. Didn’t sleep til 4am. So to sum everything up, Tegan and Sara were incredible but I am NEVER EVER driving to a concert again!

End rant

DaylerTV is back for 2013!

DaylerTV is BACK! That’s right! DaylerTV is back for another year of awesome music and talent from the David Jaanz School of Singing. So you may be sitting there thinking, “What is this DaylerTV thing?”

About a year ago, Tyler Wilford and I thought it would be great to start a YouTube channel and interview students from the David Jaanz School of Singing. We kicked off our first episode at Jaanz camp “Explode”, where we interviewed Fatai from the Voice, Frank Dixon, Isabella Yoseski and other students from the school.

We believe this year will be the beginning of an amazing journey for many students from the school. Already we have 4 students on the voice (Kaity Dunstan, Harrison Craig, Maya Weiss and Caterina Torres). So to keep up to date with what’s happening, follow us on Facebook and subscribe to us on YouTube. Check out our videos from open mics, camps and other random adventures that we will have throughout the year.

Dream BIG!!

Gigging With Dave! (April)

Hey guys! I have another gig coming up on the 21st of April at the Empress Hotel. I have presale tickets for $10 otherwise you can get your tickets at the door for $12. I’ll be on around 8:20 but come early and check out the other performances. Hope to see you all there!

Dave.

Craig David Concert!

So a couple of nights ago I went to the Craig David concert at the Melbourne Exhibition Center. My friend and I had a lovely dinner and set ourselves up for a night of awesome old school R&B music. Even though my night was not as eventful as the Jason Mraz concert (i.e. my car didn’t break down) it was another amazing night of great music and company.

The night opened up with a duo playing some R&B covers followed by a couple of hip hop dancers. Then, we had Nathaniel and his band embrace us with some sweet music. I have met Nathaniel a couple of times as he is a vocal coach at the David Jaanz School of Singing. He opened his set with “The Scientist” followed with “I Gotta Feeling“, songs that he sang on the TV show X-Factor. It came to a surprise when he started singing “Gangnam Style“. After about half an hour, we waited for some time before Craig David came on stage.

 

Craig David definitely brought back some nostalgia of what R&B music used to be. Opening up with “What’s Your Flava” and singing classic hits like “Walking Away” and “Rise and Fall” brought the crowd to their feet. The band was incredible, in particular the guitarist, Kwame Yeboah. Half way through the concert, the band took a break and Craig David started to DJ for us on stage. Starting out as a DJ before his music career, Craig David still DJ’s at house parties back in Miami and thought he would give us a bit of a taste. I did overhear after the concert that many did not enjoy this particular part of the concert but I didn’t mind it at all. Finishing off the concert with “Fill Me In” and “Seven Days” was a very satisfying end to an awesome night and I would recommend you go checking him if he is ever in town.