Go Behind The Scenes Of APRA's Regional Songwriting Camp With Woodes

I arrived at the camp and we did some introductory meet and greet things that morning. I’ve always wanted to visit Red Moon Studios (Previously ‘The Stables’). It’s about a 50 min drive from Melbourne. The studio is made from an old horse stable on a giant property.

The way SongHubs works is that the curator pairs together a room, usually with a producer, top-line/writer and an artist. The roles are all set but the room has the ability to shift over if the song feels like it fits another artist in the room better. The ultimate goal is that, by the end of the day, you will have at least one finished demo song. The set roles really help move the day along.

The programming of this camp was neat in that over 50% of the guests were women and most of the guests had multiple strengths as producer-artist-writer-multi-instrumentalists.

On day one I was writing over in the cottage by the fire place with Lucian Blomcamp and Tommy Brown. Tommy was one of the international guests, flown over from LA. Tommy does a lot of vocal/tracks with Ariana Grande and his vocal chain of effects he put on my voice was crazy. Felt like I couldn’t hit a bad note! That night we all had dinner and drinks in the main common room before going down to our beautiful accom in the middle of Macedon.

Day two I was writing with Warren Campbell, another international guest and Demi Louise. We were in the main live room surrounded by organs, an upright Yamaha piano and electric guitars. Warryn can play any instrument - he jumped around the room recording little snippets. I like to start the day of any writing session with getting to know one another and finding middle ground. Demi and I had been wanting to write together for a while. We ended up writing a really beautiful song about how no one is alone.

We wrote two songs on day two, the first was for my project and then the second one happened at around 4pm when we had done enough work on the initial idea. Warren decided Demi and I should do a speed round for song number two. For this we made a beat then had to come up with catchy melodies with a club/party in mind. Every time we’d go too complicated Warren would say, 'No - don’t make them think! Everyone’s having a good time! Give them something to sing!!' It seems like a funny way to write, but it was really great writing task. Out of it, we made this great dance song that’s hooks all the way through. It was almost like playing a sport, having this writing coach keep guiding you back. I love that about collaborating with new people - finding new ways to think about writing/conceptualising things.

Day three I was in this room with Sammi Constantine and Ryan Riback. We wrote two songs on this day too. I was a top-liner/writer and Sammi was the artist. Above the desk was a beautiful view to the garden.

When I work as a writer for someone else usually I make sure we have a shared Google document and the conversation is really open until the artist locks onto a concept they are passionate about. There’s no use making a song that everyone feels so-so about… really it’s about working towards the artist's vision. Sammi has a strong aesthetic as an artist. To write for her project we had had conversations, listened to existing demos and I would add words or phrases into the communal document for her to read or move around. A lot of that role can be helping shape concepts or lyrics into the strongest form they can be.

On day four I was working with Jan (The SongHubs curator for this camp) in the control room with Demi. This song was one of my favourites of the week and came together really quickly. I always find this happens by the end of a week. You’ve let everything simmer and you know everyone that little bit better. The cat came in and hung out with us for the day. The song ended up being about Lions.

That evening everyone gathered again for a big communal meal after the sessions. Every night there was a fireplace out on the deck.

On day five I was working with Danny (The Kite String Tangle) and Sammi Constantine. We had a shorter day to write but the song ended up tumbling out. Danny and I have wanted to write together for a while. We’ve done a couple little things over the last couple years but this one felt like a really unified collection of influences and sounds. Instead of overthinking things I trusted my first instinct for material, with the lyrics emerging from the conversations Sammi and I had from the start of the session. We turned it up really loud at one point and all stood there with goosebumps. That evening I drove back to Melbourne quickly to do a performance and then drove back out to the camp for the listening party.

On the final day, every producer selects a bunch of songs and we play them in the main control room. It’s always my favourite part of any writing camp… at the start you have this electric energy and no songs… and at the end, fully fleshed out new material that everyone is proud of. I can’t wait to hear the songs start to come out.