Working With Mama Kin Spender
Claudia Allard (Jabberwocky Down), Brisbane (AUS)
October 2017
I Heart Songwriting Club has been such an amazing community to be a part of. It has opened my perspective on how to write music, helped me create lots of new songs, shown me how to connect with a large songwriting community from all over the world and given me some of the most exciting musical experiences yet, including singing with Mama Kin Spender.
Mid-2016, I started a band in Brisbane, Jabberwocky Down.
I’d written songs before but only for fun and to let out some emotions. Francesca was my singing teacher at the Qld Conservatorium of Music at the time, and I knew that she had started this awesome club, so I thought I’d give it a go. Sure enough, I became obsessed with songwriting. The themes given each week are fun, and I could connect with them through my writing.
I was fortunate enough to share 10-weeks of writing with WA songwriter Danielle Caruana (Mama Kin) and Tommy Spender (Vic) in my first term. Giving and receiving feedback with these incredibly talented musicians encouraged and inspired me to keep writing. More on Mama Kin and Spender late
I took a break from the club and started working on my songs in more depth with my bandmates. We pretty much used all the songs I had written in the club and started playing them at all the venues we were booked to play. One of the songs we recorded became our first single, “Attached”.
Back to Mama Kin and Spender.
After two terms, they joined forces using their collection of songs written in the club to record a new album under the band name of “Mama Kin Spender”. This album is due for release in Feb 2018. I know all this because I finally got to meet them.
Mama Kin Spender asked Francesca to create a choir for their BIGSOUND festival showcase. I was so fortunate to be invited to join the very first I Heart Songwriting Club choir, made up of members and friends from Brisbane. I was over the moon to meet Danielle and Tommy and have the opportunity to sing the songs that we had shared in our group and connect with even more members through the choir.
Moving forward, I re-subscribed to the club to write more songs. This time I was with a different group of songwriters. What a great place to go to make connections with new songwriters. I Heart Songwriting Club has opened up many doors for me this past 12 months. I’ve grown so much as a musician. My band is in the process of recording our first EP and music video, of course, with songs from the club. I can’t wait to share them with you all.
PS I’ll be playing some of these songs at Brisbane’s upcoming I Heart Songwriting Club Halloween House Concert.
