stickylabel

WELCOME TO STICKYLABEL

2012-02-13T17:06:00.001-08:00

stickylabel produces and promotes the sound works of Geoffrey Datson; spoken word poetry, instrumental music and song.

Go to the works to hear MP3 samples of the tracks. If you do download tracks, please take the time to let us know your response to the music. Drop us an email and we'll post your review on the page.

We have also produced the work of Mohsen Soltany, Iranian poet and recording artist with whom we collaborated musically following his release from Australian Immigration detention.

You can purchase works over the web in the US though newartistSonline.com but if you don't like the idea of putting your credit card details on line, we are extremely happy to accept cash, moneyorder or cheques (and tender not involving financial institutuions is negotiable).

And now, since the studio has relocated to Queensland and is set up for professional recording, we are able to offer extremely reasonable session rates to musicians and artists whose needs extend outside the square of commercial studios.

Annette Hughes - producer

PROTEST SINGER

2012-02-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

PROTEST SINGER

by Geoffrey Datson.

Poetry, Memoir |ISBN: TBC | May 2012 | B format paperback

Signed Limited edition of 100

COMING SOON

In 2002, the political shit had hit the fan on all fronts; our government was clearly lying about so many things - refugees, WMDs - and America appeared hell bent on a decadent frenzy of warlust. At a time when millions who marched for peace were to be ignored, human rights were surreptitiously wound back as we entered the age of 'terror'.

Seemed like the times called for protest, so we released an album.

Now, one low, dishonest decade later, nothing has changed but the sheer scale of bastardry! Race and refugees are ramped up for every election; yet another middle eastern state is to be disembowelled in America's 'national interest' unless hyperinflation and the fall of Western capitalism sends troops home to quell a second American revolution; and banks are about to foreclose on several European nations.

Seems the right time to protest - again.

Geoffrey will Occupy the persona of Protest Singer to bring this work out and onto the streets.

THEN, AND THEN: A MEMOiR

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

Then, and Then: a memoir

by Geoffrey Datson.

Poetry, Memoir |ISBN: 9780975186206 | July 2010 | B format paperback + double CD set of recordings in limited edition of 100, signed and numbered boxed set

LIMITED EDITION SOLD OUT

'I started writing poetry at sixteen and a few years later, was given an Appalachian Mountain dulcimer. About this time my parents bought a farm, the intention being that I’d help my father run it. Punk rock appeared. I sold the dulcimer to buy an electric guitar, fled the farm and headed to Sydney.' says Datson.

After a couple of decades in bands including a stint in NY and the slow acquisition of a studio, Datson's solo voice emerged. He performed and recorded spoken word as 'Protest Singer' in the early 2000s but in 2006 'on the burnout tail of one too many parties', he realised he was needed to help out on that family farm. 'A quarter of a century later' he find's himself full circle, back wearing his late father's boots, back where it all began.

Then and Then traces the artist's journey home, both physically and musically, from the Dulcimer, through rock, electronica and now back to hand made instruments. This is a major work for Datson; a collection of spoken word poetry and song from the past ten years, all of it recorded and only available in this limited edition.

'The work is about a sense of place, belonging or not belonging. About loving where you are, or not. Without place these poems would be nowhere, they would have no place to be nor would they be needed.

REVIEWS:

"I was amazed at the recitation and songs and you and Annette playing your hand-made instruments: it had that sense of time stopping, or maybe of another place where time runs at a more stately pace: and the whole room becomes a sounding board, resonating with the word."

Dan McAloon ( Writer) 2011

"Reading this reminds me of walking into a sparsely furnished room. It's definitely not cluttered and consequently every piece of furniture is there for a reason. There is a lot of space in the poetry."

Sandy Herbert (Artist) 2011

"...your writing style is sometimes a series of haikus rather than linear storytelling."

Des Wade (Singer Songwriter, Adelaide) 2011

Then, and Then is like field recordings from The Twilight Zone. If Alan Lomax took his Nagra to Alpha Centuri and pointed it back this is what he would hear; snatches of electronica colliding with folk music, pop melodies and Celtic droning dulcimer crashing against lines tinkled on a Casio. Floating on top of this strange brew are snatches of poetry.

Geoffrey Datson has had a diverse recording career to this point from the straight up pop rock of the Surfside 6 to the post-punk of Belle du Soir who recorded for the legendary MSquared label. In the mid 1980s he formed Samurai Trash whose Afrobeatish sides released by Virgin were widely acclaimed. Since then he has toiled in the basement and traveled widely, recording an eclectic range of projects, most recently as producer and musician on a powerful CD of poetry from Moshen, an Iranian refugee interred in Villawood.

Then, and Then is a record of Datson’s peripatetic travels in time and space from adolescence on a farm in Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast to Sydney and then around the world back to Sydney and finally back to Cooroy. It’s an album that starts with teenage dreams of Patti Smith and the symbolist poets and Neil Young and winds up back on the land. As a teenager he’s full of ideas and adventures. By the end of the journey, he’s coming to understand the acceptance of country that his father had. “Homeland Borderland Wasteland” is the most obviously political, while “Pied Plucker of Cooroy” the most whimsical.

This is not a linear narrative by any means. There’s snatches of ideas, nightmares and reminiscences and quotation; dreams and events. The music also has its own narrative that signposts Datson’s journey; songs like “Woodcut” sound like the Velvet Underground jamming with the Incredible String Band. There are other familiar sounds here too; Suicide, early Human League, the Grateful Dead, Arabic drones and plainsong. Sometimes all in the same song.

The album comes with a beautifully packaged book of poetry. The words on the page are satisfying enough, unlike most rock lyrics, but benefit from accompaniment. Given the breadth and diversity on these tracks, it’s amazing that it holds together but it somehow does. The doom-laden clouds part into delicate pop melodies. Like any collection of poetry, you can dip in and out, but listening to the story unfold is the way to do it. This is definitely not, as they might say in Star Trek, rock & roll as we know it. It will adjust your set.

Toby Creswell 2010

THE HINTERLAND HALL CRAWL PROJECT

2012-01-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

The hall in the title of the project refers to the beautiful, acoustically lovely School of Arts halls in all the little towns dotting the Sunshine Coast hinterland. I have a plan to tour these halls to coincide with the launch of our forthcoming CD, and the launch of Geoff's new book of poetry.

Literature is my profession – the thing I do for food and shelter - but music is my first true love. In this, I am an amateur (lover). For many people music is not passive. Rather, its enjoyment centres on the inexplicable, time-consuming desire to make that body-tingling noise - at first alone, then eventually in ensemble. I heard a statistic once that showed that on any afternoon, more Australian kids are practising music than sport.

As soon as I arrived to live here in 2004, that desire sent me out looking for music. I love to sing and found a community choir had just been formed to perform at the Pomona Cavalcade, a small and quite lovely community festival that I wish was still going – it was terrific to have been part of it. Best of all, the choir persists as the Pomona Choir with a hard core of original members. They are great amateur singers and in their performances you can hear the thousands of hours they've dedicated to their passion.

Another sound that can lure me out of my garden is Louise King's Cello Choir. You have no idea how extraordinary it is to play in an ensemble of 20+ cellos. To participate, I'd drive down to the cutest little hall of all at Eudlo to play in ensemble with her cello students.

The Hall Crawl is an opportunity for amateur performance to anyone who would like to join us. All you have to do is learn to learn a song/s or instrumental parts to a selection from our repertoire, and come on board.

At this stage, performance dates are yet to be arranged, but if you would like to be involved with this community arts project and be kept informed, contact Annette on (07) 5447 7063 or by email, or simply follow this blog to stay posted.

THEN, AND THEN - CD

2011-08-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

Then, and Then: a memoir

by Geoffrey Datson.

REVIEWS:

Dan McAloon ( Writer) 2011

Sandy Herbert (Artist) 2011

"...your writing style is sometimes a series of haikus rather than linear storytelling."

Des Wade (Singer Songwriter, Adelaide) 2011

Toby Creswell 2010

WELCOME TO STICKYLABEL

2010-11-04T22:42:00.001-07:00

stickylabel produces and promotes the sound works of Geoffrey Datson; spoken word poetry, instrumental music and song.

Go to the works to hear MP3 samples of the tracks. If you do download tracks, please take the time to let us know your response to the music.

We have also produced the work of Mohsen Soltany Zand, Iranian poet and recording artist with whom we collaborated musically following his release from Australian immigration detention.

You can purchase works over the web in the US though newartistSonline.com or by using your PAYPAL account. If you don't like the idea of putting your credit card details on line, we are extremely happy to accept cash, moneyorder or cheques (and tender not involving financial institutuions is negotiable).

Annette Hughes - producer

LIBRARIES TOUR

2010-11-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

The event is free, however, they would like you to book.

To make a booking, go to the library events page, find your library and date and book online or give them a call on the number below.

If this image is too small for your eyesight, click on the image to see it full size.

Fantastic gig so far - lovely audiences, intelligent questions and best of all, undivided attention.

There is no way you can get this kind of audience doing the pub circuit. Many thanks to the librarians who have gone to such trouble to set up the tour and get people along.

ART LIFE CHOOKS - The Soundtrack

2010-11-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

Promotional CD released to conincide with the launch of Annette Hughes's memoir.

Copies of this CD are only available with copies of the book. To find out where she is appearing next, go to Annette's BLOG where you can find all the details of forthcoming speaking gigs.

BUY THE BOOK
CD included with purchase

Art Life Chooks: Learning to leave the city and love the country

Published by Harper Collins (Fourth Estate) 1 JULY 2008

The songs on this CD either inspired or are the subject of the book. It is indeed a true soundtrack - 'diegetic' music from the story.

1. Blue Guitar is from Annette's first album, but is prophetic of the move from the city to the country.

2. Bucolica is from Geoffrey's soon to be released Homeland Boderland Wasteland, also prophetic, written a year or two before the move after a holiday to the farm.

3. What Thou Art, also from that album, a song about returning to the heartland of home. Snippets of this song are quoted in the book.

4. Ketaminefield, another from that album - a poem about his mother and memory. The poem is printed in full at the back of the book.

5. Edwardian Echoes is an early song written prior to the beginning of the Iraq war about not wishing to have to send our children into history.

6. Mincemeat is more recent, from the Great Leader album, where the epigraph in the book comes from: "Always work with animals and children, it's more beautiful that way".

7. Poor Time is one of the songs composed "For Her Birthday" which appears in chapter chapter 4.

8. Nocturne is an instrumental piece composed about the same time we went looking for Number One (a missing cow) in the moonlight.

9. Starlight is by both of us, and is described in chapter 5 of the book.

10. All Your Days is also described in the book, at the end of chapter 11, a song we both worked on about the physics of a kiss.

GREAT LEADER

2010-11-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

ALBUM $20.00

LYRICS © Geoffrey Datson 2006
written & recorded at stickystudio, Queensland

REVIEWS OF DA DA DAVINCI

I think da da da vinci is a cracker and should be rushed into cinemas as the short to that interminable movie.
Mark Foster (ex Samurai Trash) Sydeny

It's a wee ripper - and such pretty pix - apocalypso!
Des Wade SA

Humorous yet bleak. I liked it a lot. 8.
marcus johnson creative director
ubu communications 253 hampton street, hampton VIC

That is the best thing. That is SO cool. better than cool in the tube. Killer clip.
Andrew Cuddihy Sydney

fucking great!!!! i just came back from the shop singing da da da da da davinci... ha ha ha love it!!!
Di Schaeffer, Brisbane

The song will surely offend at least half the population, so should do well (Dan Brown deliberately sought some controversy). As a film score enthusiast, however, I preferred the wonderfully propulsive music to the lyrics.
Anthony O'Neill, Author

Hey a, I REALLY REALLY like it
Toby Creswell, contemporary commentator & author SYDNEY

it has a good dirty pop feel with a hard hitting after taste
Lindie Matthews, SYDNEY

Wow! I love it! Can I get a DVD or VCD?
David Camacho, Sydney

1. Who's Sorry Now

2. Mr E

3. Great Leader

4. Hard Day for Night

5. Instumental

6. Da Da Da Vinci

7.Calendar

8. Clowns

9. Don't talk me over

10. Posse

11. mince meat

12. Lifeboat

13. Waltz
Instrumental

14. Despatch Cock

15. Come Gather Round

16. Pull Together

NEW DEPRESSION SONGS

2010-11-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Live from the school of arts hall: home made instruments, economical melodies and no budget production.

ALBUM $20.00

'Having spent a few decades listening to music, popular and otherwise, I know what sound I want to make and how to make it. There is much to be said for monody. An old punk at heart, these days I rage against the major scale and obvious harmonies and so, 2009 finds me knee deep in electrohillbilly.' Geoffrey Datson

'It's kind of country/folk, Guthrie/Dylan, with a bit of of Eno on the side, using handmade instruments and spare combinations of guitars, ukulele, cello, dulcimer, banjo, water whistle, recorder and some electronic augmentation; you know, electrohillbilly!' Annette Hughes

FIRST EDITION SOLD OUT
Limited edition of 50 COLLECTABLE

Tracklist

1. Tesseract Bird 3:54
2. 5 Notes From Beauty 3:03
3. Beautiful Daughter part 1 1:14
4. Inverse Sun 0:47
5. MNBVXC 1:53
6. The Pied Plucker of Cooroy 2:14
7. Zombot 1:21
8. Uptown Local 1:23
9. Conceit of Light 6:14
10. Terminal Hermit 2:21
11. Sweet Matilda Waltz 3:14
12. Eva Feral 2:40
13. Fluddites 2:31
14. String 3:27
15. DF Recorder 3:24
16. Cellofane 1:35

LINER NOTES

1. Tesseract Bird

Was reading an article by Robert Hunter (lyricist for the Grateful Dead) who suggested that they wrote music for "modes of the tesseract". A tesseract is a 4 dimensional projection of a cube. Imagine a cube where the bottom back edge is pulled up through it to become the top front edge, rather as if it's unfolding through itself. My mother had given me a toy, one of those cards with a bird on one side & a cage on the other, when you spin the card fast, the bird is in the cage, presto! The bird noise is a ceramic water whistle.

2. Five Notes From Beauty

Thought it was interesting how the economy went into a tail spin as they turned the Hadron Collider on. Perhaps it would be wiser not to mess with the fabric of time!

3. Beautiful Daughter Part 1

This is the intro to a song that ends with the lyric "at dawn there'll be smoke on the water and a deep purple gash in the beautiful daughter.

4. Inverse Sun

I used to frequent a club in NY (late 80's) called Save the Robots, with very post apocalyptic decor. There was sand on the floor & red gloss furniture from recollection. It used to open at 2am and run till about midday, always strange to emerge into the work-a-day sidewalk. It was there one might meet the envoy's son.

5. MNBVXC

Instrumental

6. The Pied Plucker of Cooroy

Winter 08 a plague of rats in the studio and I'm repairing an Eko six string banjo type instrument. Wrote the song to celebrate the departure of the rats & the repaired instrument. The Eko reminded me of Chickenfoot Crawp passing this way in 1976. He played with a plucking thrashing action. Chickenfoot, AKA William Crawford, is one of the best songwriters of his generation & is out there, somewhere.

7. Zombot

All that money in your account
by remote control they are taking it out.
(Zombie Netbots)

8. Unptown Local

'A' train to Harlem 1987, three am, a homeless woman & I were the only passengers in the carriage. She was saying "nothing but rain drops inside".

9. Conceit of Light

Brixton Skate Park 1989 was a location of very cutting edge street fashion. The Hotel in Pomona Queensland this winter had a few fashion statements too!

10. Terminal Hermit

11. Sweet Matilda Waltz

From the fabulous "drifter " sessions, with Dave Bonnifoy on electro kit.

12. Eva Feral

My sister has a rental property in Brisbane. It must be one of the last outposts of the independent music scene. Under the house a tangle of busted drum kits, mic stands, torn band posters and beautiful grungy paintings...

13. Fluddites

... and under that house took me back to the Brisbane floods of '74.

14. String

Instrumental. I'd love to do this with an orchestra some day.

15. DF Recorder

Instumental. That'll be D & F played on a recorder.

16. Cellofane

Instrumental. Yes it's a cello and many guitars!

PROTEST SINGER

2010-11-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

COMING SOON

ALBUM $20

PROTEST SINGER IS RECORDED LIVE IN THE FRONT ROOM - JUST TWO VOICES AND TWO INSTRUMENTS, SPARSE AND SPARE, APART FROM OUR LOCAL ORCHESTRA OF CRICKETS, CICADAS AND BIRDS. THE MUSIC IS MADE IN THEIR MIDST; THEY ARE PART OF ACT.

THE ALBUM CONTAINS REARRANGED ACOUSTIC VERSIONS OF SOME SONGS FROM THE 2002 PRODUCTION, AS WELL AS NEW MATERIAL RECORDED FOR THE FIRST TIME TO MARK THE PUBLICATION OF PROTEST SINGER, DATSON'S SECOND POETRY COLLECTION.

WORKS ON THIS ALBUM WERE WRITTEN, REHEARSED AND PERFORMED BY
DATSON+HUGHES
Geoffrey Datson Voice, guitar, banjolina, Redneck (banjo/guitar) ukelele, tenor dulcimer
Annette Hughes Voice, dulcimer, banjolina, ukelele, cello

HISTORY

In 2002, the political shit had hit the fan on all fronts; our government was clearly lying to us about so many things - refugees, WMDs - and America appeared hell bent on a decadent frenzy of warlust. At a time when millions who marched for peace were to be ignored, human rights were being wound back as we entered the age of 'terror'.

Seemed the right time to protest, so we released an album. It was well received at the time, and we hoped it would change the way people looked at things.

Now, one dishonest decade later, nothing has changed but the sheer scale of bastardry! The divisive issues of race and refugees are ramped up for every election; yet another middle eastern state is to be disembowelled in America's 'national interest' unless hyperinflation and the fall of Western capitalism calls troops home to quell a second American revolution; and banks are about to foreclose on several European nations.

Seems the right time to protest - again. Geoffrey will Occupy the persona of Protest Singer to bring this work into the light of day.

This first edition is no longer available.

LYRICS & MUSIC © Geoffrey Datson 2002

REVIEW JUICE July 2002

In a world where every corner has been explored, globalised and fucked up, , the internet remains the last wilderness, a wild place where the frontier is getting further away from us rather than closer. And its on the internet that today's folk scene is thriving. Not the "folk" of traditional instruments and styles, but instead in the sense of home-made, uncompromising and free from commercial ambition.

In this way, Geoffrey Datson is a folk singer. Datson has done his time in the conventional recording industry with the Surf Side 6 and Samurai Trash. He's now concentrating on music distributed via the web and his legendary warehouse parties.

After the industrial grooves of last year's Star of Heart, the more accoustic based Protest Singer is a departure; it's stripped down immediacy and socially concerned lyrics apparently a reaction to the Howard government's brutal treatment of refugees. The latter are not addressed directly, but form the inspiration behind songs like "Planet" and "Back up the Car".

While acoustic instruments are prominent, Datson is more than a singer-songwriter with a battered six-string. "Co-deependent Cowboy" makes constant and amusing use of samples which are almost as funny as the lyrics. "Ruin House" and "Spawn" are still raw, but musically closer to Brian Eno or Kraftwerk than Billy Brag. Pushing the envelope further, a mesmerising secret track is built around samples of Winston Churchill's war speeches, with telling implications for our times.

Datson makes music with all the rough edges left in, the emphasis on inspiration and to hell with the rules. In other words, music as music was originally dreamed of. David Messer rated 8

REVIEW HQ Magazine June 2002

"Playing with old styles is a self-titled album from Protest Singer (Stickylabel). Mostly just recorded with voice and guitar, the album in part harks back to something Alan Lomax might have captured and elsewhere toys with beats or recalls the deadpan experiments of the Velvet Underground. The lyrics generally protest the state of the world; "Y2K Buggin'" is a litany of global irritations from Milosevic to big hair. On "Ruin House" political theory crashes against the personal and the poetic. Throughout the eight tracks there's a harking back to Biblical language and the mythology of the ancient world juxtaposed with crappy cars and the detritus of the inner city life. Protest Singer doesn't have pat answers or prescriptions but draws connections through the ages to man's inhumanity." Toby Creswell

PROTEST SINGER LIVE PERFORMANCES

2002 Mayday, Album launch Stickylabel Warehouse

2002 September 11, Massive stocktake event Stickylable Warhouse

2003 March 8, NSW Autumn Writer's Festival

2003 March 11, interviewed on ABC Radio National's The Deep End Program

2003 March 19, Silicon Woman Art=Music=Arc=Atom, The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney

2003 April, Good Friday, The Truth is Not For Sale, Stickylabel Warehouse

2006 Random Acts of Peotry, Wordjammin @ The Brisbane Writers Festival

LINER NOTES

1. Planet
Originally written in NY 1987 has been through a few incarnations. This one is the 1992 version. My mother recently said she used to lullaby me with the League of Nations anthem which she learnt at The Friends School (Quaker) in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. I suspect the sentiment is not dissimilar.

2. Back up the car.
1999. Inspired by a film set in central Australia where a couple move in together, the girl backs her ute loaded with possessions across the compound at the start of a marriage which soon unravels. My parents lived at the end of a dirt track with no turning circle. Many unsuspecting sightseers did the long reverse. It's for everybody who's found things didn't turn out as expected and is dedicated to refugees in detention centres. I apologise for our governments' behaviour. It is not our will.

3. Shelf life.
Series of vignettes from out the warehouse eyes. It was a long still evening and these events passed by the street below. A flying wedge of Goths on the way to a nightclub. Then to an ex-prime minister's daughter at a schoolboy party.
The seeming indifference of our nation to the suffering of others.

4. Hittites.
Reprise to 1979 Boys & Girls in the Desert, which deals with the pleasures of youth.
This is more the adultery of our tabloid press. For Piers Ackerman and anybody who would fund and publish such arrant nonsense.

5. Co-deependent cowboy.
Slim Whitman meets dimestore cowboy novella in a self-help kinda way .
Dubya, you’re an idiot.

6. Y2Kbuggin'.
'Love, Monica, Kiss Kiss Kiss' inscription on the side of tomahawk missile 1998 Zhawar Kili camp Afghanistan (as recounted by Habib to Christopher Kremmer in Carpet Wars. Harper Collins 2002).

7. Ruin House.
1987. The extracts from The Demon Lover; On the Sexuality of Terrorism.
By Robin Morgan (Norton & Co 1989) were added in 1997.
A hymn for the absolution of humanity.

8. Spawn.
Watch out! The innocents live next door to you and they are the target.

And the hidden track speaks for itself.

THE DEVIL'S MUSIC/ FELLOWSHIP/RESPONSIBILITY

I think its about1970. We're saving the aluminium lids of milk bottles to replace the church roof. Already something doesn't add up for me.

After 3 years of saving, and our family are big dairy users, I reckon we haven't got more than enough for 6 square inches of roof. There are maybe 60 families (max) like ours in the local congregation. God is already retreating in our society. The builders are starting in only a few months. The church roof, hexagonal, looks like (1/2 base x height x8 = 9600 sqft X 144=1,034,000sq inches). Some of the families don't drink much milk. We'll never make it! I'm 16 years old and already panic has set in. Maybe there'll be a miracle! I certainly can't drink any more milk than I do.

I've met Johnny Rattler at the sailing club and he's in Christian fellowship. I kind of admire him because he's a few years older than me. Though in retrospect I should have been more careful. He's called 'Rattler' because somebody left the dustpan brush in the buoyancy tank of his boat after last winter's repairs. Still, compared to the rest, he's kinda cool. He wears country and western shirts, soon to be popularised by Gram Parsons, but I don't know about Gram yet. The others in the fellowship are variously referred to in the bible as the halt and the lame. There's a guy who had palsy or some kind of stroke and the loud-dressing pianist who I'll later come to realise was probably woven from the same threads as Jimmy Baker. There's girls large of chest and maybe lax of moral and Steve who later torched his stepfather. It took 10 years before I realised who stole my mothers' library cards. A chance newspaper story and it was only on the second reading that I connected: Steve, stepfather, mower-fuel, missing library card, books on guitar playing. Call me naive or trusting but it was unexpected. Still, he did show me Keef's (Richards) guitar tuning.

Johnny, who was at university, told me to read the Christian existentialists. I thought this might have been a contradiction but eventually tracked down Hiedegger via Kirkegaard, though I must say I can't really recall if Kirkegaard mentioned God and Martin skilfully avoided mentioning the National Socialists in his books from the 50s & 60s. I guess there's some club memberships you don't want to trumpet. Bit like Christian Fellowship really.

So there I am at the local library sixteen years old ploughing through Saussure, Hiedegger, Kirkegaard et al and really struggling. I had a bit of a stammer happening and sure, had a problem with language but nothing compared to these guys. I'd kind of decided not to go to university, feeling it was all really a bit of an excuse for laziness. Making up ideas to avoid physical exertion. Even then I knew it was doomed to failure.Anyway the Devil's music already had me. Or, as I then preferred to privately describe my vocation, 'Hymning the Bucolics', a phrase I'd found in some obscure text about Latin.

It's Anzac day thirty years later and I'm trying to write a press release for this, my second CD. I've gone to the bookshop to find out something about Derrida, the streets are full of wannabe soldiers with stupid Australian flags. The world is again rampant with jingoistic nationalism. France is lurching to the right out of apathy. Just down the road the local Masonic Temple, NSW HQ, has a café open to the public called…"Secrets".

Suddenly I get it! My mother always promised "The Penny Will Drop". Well it has. All those guys were traumatised by the war. Foucault was probably sodomised by the Nazis. Yeah, but "its not my fault" (Apple Talk, as my computer says. Try telling that to Eve). I'm not sure what Dubya's excuse is, but Derrida is going on about the phrase "too stupid for words''. The industrial revolution was the beginning of the death of God. We got off the land and out of belief. The (great?) War finished off our ability to deal with meaning, apparently.

Well sorry, but we are responsible and all the theory in the world won't excuse us.

So back to Gram Parsons. I'm performing as "protest singer" in a couple nights time,
and have decided to cover one of his songs, "Hickory Wind". Why? Today in the paper is a photo of our last surviving Anzac, Alec Campbell, perhaps the sole survivor of the Gallipoli campaign. He was a 16 yr old boy when he signed up.. The same age as me at the start of this story. I look at the photo and think 'suicide bomber'. Young Alec thought it would be a 'bit of an adventure' back in 1915. It's easy to slag off the Americans and their cry for ''Sovereign Rights''. But think of their baby soldiers nurtured only on the American Dream [sic.] and the line in the song:

It's a hard way to find out that trouble is real,
In a far away city with a far away feel.

It's also a song about home and belonging. Find me a refugee who wouldn't really rather be there.

I'd hoped my version would sound like Kraftwerk but I suspect it will be more like Suicide (the band) on the night. So here's to you Martin Rev and Alan Vega thanks for being Americans and acting responsible.

Geoffrey Datson (Anzac Day 2002)

THE TRUTH

2010-11-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

community announcement

by PROTEST SINGER

I am an Australian recording artist. I have something important to tell everyone.

THE TRUTH IS NOT FOR SALE

Unfortunately I don't have $30K to take out an ad in the Australian; there's no time to go through the normal channels with a record deal and popular air play - and let's face it, the advertisers and global music conglomerates aren't going to be encouraging what I have to say:

TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ: with free coke and fries? Yeah, right.

So I'm giving my work away - for no wages, or royalties, no money changing hands - so there's no GST either! The airwaves should be free to anyone with something important to say and what I have to say is serious. It is not for sale. This work belongs to the people as part of their culture. They have a right to hear it as music is meant to be - communally.

This is a community announcement. I am opposed to Australian involvement in the war in Iraq and I want to explain myself, to see if anyone else out there feels the same way. I am an independent voice. I am not funded by the Australia Council and therefore do not have to tow any government line, and I receive no corporate sponsorship. Nobody's on kick-backs or getting a cut. To do so would be profiteering.

So I'm sending my songs out on the community airwaves and making my music available as MP3 download. It is my contribution to the groundswell of opposition to the war, to shore up courage and resistance among my fellow citizens who abhor what is being done in our name.

Now more than ever we need a common thread to unite the hearts of good people - a soundtrack for the coming struggle to maintain our civil freedoms. Feel free to request download files from us and send them to your friends.

Pass it on. Evil prevails when good people do nothing.

Thank you very much.

20.03.2003

Protest Singer

It is not OK! Don't stay in your homes. Get in the way!

LINKS
Ruin House was published in Drunken Boat (Issue6)

Interview on 2SER Wordjammin, Sydney

The Last Night is dedicated to Iraqi girl blogger RIVERBEND
also check out Salam Pax who blogged throughout the war - the truth is out there.

Liner notes:

Recording engineered by Matt Redall at sticky studio,
composed by Geoffrey Datson, words by Datson
except for The Last Night (Hughes) and
Hafiz (Hughes and Soltany Zand, and Hafiz of course).

1. Free Radio Australia

Geoffrey Datson, Matt Reddall, Annette Hughes (vocals)

When you tune through the frequencies, you get the frequency squelch as well as the reality squelch happening. A harking back to propaganda broadcasts in wartime, but with a twist.

2. Bucefallus

Geoffrey Datson

Alexander the Great had a horse - and if he were Mr Ed, this is what he'd have to say to Alexander Downer. 200

3. One is the Sum

Geoffrey Datson, Annette Hughes (vocals).

A chant for the times, echoing the peace marches and the sentiments they embody. It's a mathematics of language.

4. Ruin House

Geoffrey Datson.

Written and recorded in 1996, and now suddenly pertinent, Ruin House quotes Robin Morgan's The Demon Lover, a book on terrorism from the seventies and the ancient Kabbala.

5. Freedom's not Free

Geoffrey Datson, Annette Hughes (vocals)

Written in March 2003 on the occasion of one week of war with Iraq. To quote Salam Pax, 'I won't be wearing an I heart Bush t-shirt!"

6. Hail Columbia

Geoffrey Datson.

In response to the omen of Columbia going down over a little town in Texas called Palestine, and a train crash in Sydney that killed seven the following day in 2003. Apparently, death is measured by the spectacle, and loss by the cost of conveyance.

7. The Last Night - dedicated to RIVERBEND

Annette Hughes.

Written in response to Anthony O'Neill's novel Sheherazade, and the lines from a poem by Mohsen Soltany Zand. Scheherazade is the framing story of the 1001 Arabian Nights. In order to placate a tyrant and save her life, she invented tales. Substitute the media for Sheherazade, and the meaning gets heavy. 2002

8. Hafiz, half mine

Mohsen Soltany Zand and Annette Hughes

The first thing Mohsen recorded since being released from 4 years detention in Villawood. He recites an ancient Persian Sufi, Hafiz, overlayed with an english version of the first verse. Recorded the day after the first bombs fell on Baghdad.

FRANCE IS BACON

2010-11-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
$20.00

LINKS

Music from this album appears on the soundtrack on Amerigo Imondi's documentary

WakingUp the Nation

This predominantly instrumental album draws on influences from folk music, classical masters and ethnic sources, and combining this with his love of rock and the irreverence of punk, he constructs sweeping aural landscapes. france is bacon could be an instrumental journey into soundscapes of ancient battle grounds, medieval courts and druidic rituals, or perhaps the result of taking childhood games as the knight in shining armour a little too seriously. Regardless, Datson’s is an original new voice among Australian composers.

Datson is also a fine lyricist with a poetic sensibility informed as much by contemporary culture as it is by the elysian myteries.

1 wimmerill

2 mode cerafin

3 infinity

4 the cape of good horn

5 softness

6 riverside

7 horn guitars

8 morning

9 labyrinth

10 gees you

11 victory fanfare

12 pump

13 opus in G4 #2

14 2kraftsonk

15 UU

AUSTRALIAN DREAM

2010-11-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

2 CD SPOKEN WORD ALBUM

$30.00

POETRY & MUSIC © Mohsen Soltany 2006

This poetry has since been published in book form by Kardoorair Press, entitled Inside Out

ISBN

Acknowledgements

Deepest thanks to all involved in this project for your generous donation of time, energy and expertise, and to everyone engaged in the vigilance and maintenance of human rights everywhere. Thanks also to Chilout, Refugee Action Coalition (NSW, VIC & QLD), and especially to citizens Mary E Nilon, Helen Lewers and Tahiti (aged 5), who have helped to underwrite the project.

Cover image: “Panic” by Ardishir Gholipour, oil on canvas 2004. 60x50cm (detail)

LINKS

listen to ABC Deepend interview with Mohsen following his release from Villawood in 2002

REVIEWS & PRESS

MARGARET THROSBY - ABC

LIFE MATTERS + ABC

SMH - "Another Country"

Australian Nightmare by Sarah Stephen

Cordite Poetry Review

President, Melbourne PEN
Message on the occasion of the launch of Mohsen Soltany Zand's
'Australian Dream' Spoken Word CD

On behalf of Melbourne PEN I congratulate Mohsen on the launch of his spoken word CD.

It is a wonderful achievement in so many ways. To emerge from 4 heart breaking years of detention with the creative spirit intact is an achievement in itself. To create such a powerful and moving work in English as an adopted language is extraordinary. Mohsen has assembled a wonderful group of committed activist and artists to perform his work.

The poetry covers a vast range of contemporary concerns. Mohsen's is an important voice that has much to say about who we are as a nation, and above all, the compassion and understanding we must develop if we are to progress and become a welcoming and inclusive society. I also congratulate Ardeshir Gholipour for his powerful work, 'Panic', which features as the cover of the CD. No other painting encapsulates so profoundly the horror of long term detention. This is the face of a man on the brink of utter despair. It is the face of innocence defiled.
It is the face of our national shame. It is a piercing cry for freedom and understanding. It is an image that haunts us, and poses many questions. How did we do this to people who only strove to do what our own forbears did: find a haven for their families, and a place to begin life anew.
This is an important CD, beautifully realised, and an extremely significant addition to a growing chorus of Australian voices proclaiming: We will not forget these gross violations of human rights, and cruel treatment of our brothers and sisters from across the seas. We welcome you, and salute your courage in making your perilous journeys to freedom.

Arnold Zable
November 1, 2005

THE POETRY

CD I
1 Sunset
for you who would listen
spoken by Bryan Brown, Jason Whalley (backing vocals), Sandy Evans (soprano saxophone)

Bryan Brown is an actor;Jason Whalley is a member of Frenzal Rhomb and JJJ presenter; Sandy Evans is recognised as one of the leading saxophonists (tenor and soprano) and composers in contemporary jazz in Australia. She leads the Sandy Evans Trio.

2 Realpolitik
for you who see reality
spoken by Suzanne Tzannes, Linsey Pollak (Lyrebird WX5)Suzanne Tzannes is a psychotherapist and refugee activist (who worked on Mohsen's case which saw him finally released), Linsey Pollak is well known all around Australia as a musician, instrument maker, composer, musical director and community music facilitator.

3 False Prophets
for you who hear
spoken by Mohsen, Annette Hughes and Geoffrey Datson

Annette Hughes is a singer and producer of the album; Geoffrey Datson is a poet, musician and recording artist.

4 The Wall
for you who feel another's pain
Spoken by Tom Keneally, Kirsten Whalley (flute)

Tom Keneally is the author of The Tyrant's Novel (Random House) among many other works of fiction and is a tireless humanitarian; Kirsten Whalley is a musician.

5 The Pen
for you who are just
spoken by Ross Tzannes, Linsey Pollak (Lyrebird WX5);

Ross Tzannes is a solicitor.

6 I Wish I Was A Wind
for you who speak the truth
spoken by Tony Stephens, Sandy Evans (soprano saxophone)

Tony Stephens is a journalist who wrote one of the first stories about the reality of Villawood in the SMH;

7 NBP122
for myself, an irrational number
spoken by John Bell

John Bell is one of Australia's finest actors, no stranger to tragedy, and founder of the Bell Shakespeare Company

8 Drought
for you who heal the wound
spoken Zachary Steel, Bruno Brayovic (backing vocals), Lindsay McDougall (guitars)

Zachary Steel is a clinical psychologist who has exposed the psychological damage caused by indefinite incarceration;

Bruno Brayovic is a member of the band Peabody;

Lindsay McDougall is a member of Frenzal Rhomb and JJJ presenter.

9 Birthday

for you, Naomi, born in captivity on my birthday

spoken by Ian Suthlerland

Ian Sutherland is that extraordinary creature, an 'ordinary Australian';

10 Democracy
for you who are homeless
Sung by Linda Jansen, Sandy Evans (soprano saxophone)

Linda Janssen is of the Wicked Beat Sound System , and was born in the Villawood reception centre:

11 Siev-X
for you who are sleeping
Spoken by Tony Kevin and Kerry Nettle, Sandy Evans (tenor saxophone), Kirsten Whalley (flute and backing vocals) "twinkle twinkle" sung by Thomas (bubba - 5yrs old), Mohsen (Santor)

Writer Tony Kevin is the author of"A certain Maritime Incident";

Senator Kerry Nettle was among he first politicians to recognise the truth and act;

Tomas Riley Brown (bubba) is innocent - he came with his mother to visit detainees;

12 My Nights
for you who are fearful
spoken by Claudia Karvan and Ngarita Rossell, Lindsay McDougall (guitars)

Ngareta Rossell is a former journalist and indefatigable advocate for human rights;

Claudia Karvan is an actress and civil rights activist'

13 Australia
for you who are trusting
spoken by Johanne Gow, Linsey Pollak (Lyrebird WX5)

Johanne Gow is Thomas' mother.

14 Hear Ye
for you who are adrift
spoken by Mohsen, Annette Hughes, Geoffrey Datson.

15 Dreamland
for you who are ashamed
spoken by Robert Macaulay

Robert Macaulay is a lawyer.

CDII

16. Only Hope After God
for you who are left
spoken by Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins, Bruno Brayovic (backing vocals)

Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins is the rabbi at Temple Emanuel, Woollahra.

17. Child Born in Palestine
for you who are orphaned
spoken by Rosie Scott

Rosie Scott is an author and with Tom Kennealy, the driving force of PEN's Writers in Detention Committee.

18. Freedom
for you who are lovers
spoken by Mohsen, Angela Stretch, Linsey Pollak (Lyrebird WX5)

Angela Stretch is the producer of 2SER's Wordjammin Program.

19. Living is Pain
for you who are suffering
spoken by Carmen Lawrence and Tanya Mconvell (excerpt from her Sounds on the Line CD)

Hon Dr Carmen Lawrence is the federal member for Fremantle;

Tanya Mconvell is a broadcaster for Radio 2XXFM, and producer of "Voices on the Line" excerpted here.

20. Goodbye
for you who are on the road
spoken by Alexander Tzannes, Bruno Brayovic (backing vocals)

Dr Alexander Tzannes is a Medical doctor and surrogate brother to Mohsen.

21. Coffin
for you who dream the nightmare
spoken by Linda Cropper, Sarah Stephen (violin)Linda Cropper is an actress.

22. Surrounded by Fear
for you who are alone
spoken by Sarah Stephen reading Detention and Zal Shabazi (1717) reading Lonely, Mohsen (Santor)

Sarah Stephen is a journalist and refugee -rights activist;

Zal Shabazi is in limbo.

23. The Nights
for you who without belonging
spoken by Lucy Bell, Linsey Pollak (Lyrebird WX5)

Lucy Bell is an actress.

24. Despair
for you who are empty
spoken by Sen. Andrew Bartlett

Sen Andrew Bartlett was at the time a Queensland Democrat senator, but has since turned Green.

25. Ghost Gum
for you who sense destiny
sung by Annette Hughes.

26. My Eulogy
for you who have lost heart
spoken by John Highfield

John Highfield is an ABC journalist and broadcaster.

27. Freedom's Champion
for you who live in hope
spoken by Moshen, Geoffrey Datson (electric guitar), Annette Hughes (backing vocals)

MOHSEN

2010-11-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

ALBUM $20.00

LYRICS © Mohsen Soltany MUSIC © Geoffrey Datson 2001

REVIEWS

The Wall
Artist: Mohsen with vocals by Annette Hughes
Album: demo

Mohsen Soltanyzand is a refugee from Iran who endured 4 years ddetention in Australia. Mohsen is also a poet who writes about his experiences with a stark reality. Sydney musicians Annette Hughes and Geoffrey Datson have been visiting Mohsen for about a year, and have set some of his lyrics to music. This is a sample of the collaboration - a sparse tune driven by middle eastern sounds and basic percussion, showcasing the husky vocals of Annette who almost chants the lyrics. Lovely production and an important message that needs to be heard.

Dan Buhagiar - Wobbly Radio

PRESS

HQ #95 p 22

MOHSEN has dedicated this album to the children in detention.

All proceeds from the sale of this album go to chilout.

ARTIST STATEMENTS

GEOFFREY DATSON

I began visiting Villawood merely to see for myself what was really going on. We were introduced to Mohsen on the first day, and triedto visit as often as possible. Much of the afternoon on these days was spent copying out his handwritten poems, going over them with him, as he refered constantly to an Arabic pocket translator.

We'd take the words back to the studio and try to come up with beats and sounds that worked with his words. The vocal track on Sunset, the first one recorded, like many of the songs on the album was recorded in one take. I asked the vocalists to get a feel for the music first, and then get them to do one pass without stopping. Invariably, that first take was the most tentative and the most expressive. All credit for the melodies goes to the girls who found them and plucked them out of the ether. Having no idea how the melody will go until you are doing it in the booth puts you in a kind of 'nowhere land'; not knowing what will come next, always dependent on the previous note for a clue to the next one. There is no time but the present in this situation, much like where Mohsen had been for the past four years - in limbo.

As a result of our collaboration, I have come to experience his poetry mouth to ear - the way it is meant to be, and he has introduced me to the archaic beauty of Arabic musical forms. Meeting Mohsen has reinforced the music I have always heard. It is like a circle that has been completed creatively, as my first instrument was an Appalachian Dulcimer, which originated in that region.

To my mind, since being here, he has become an Australian poet. He is writing in Australia about Australia for Australians, so by definition is now part of our 'cultural product' that we hope will find its audience.

Mohsen's love and longing for beauty and justice corresponds to mine. I have listened to his heart and can find no hatred there, although his life behind razor wire held little promise. I am inspired by his positivism and humour in spite of his interminable incarceration.

Since having had the opportunity to know Mohsen and many other detainees, it has become increasingly difficult to tolerate the constant and systematic denigration of these people, or understand how our Government can treat them with such disdain, and downright callousness.

Happily, Mohsen was finally lreleased in January 2003. He is free on a full visa and welcome in my home.

ANNETTE HUGHES
On her first visit to Villawood she was sickened by the sight of the razor wire, and then appalled by the stories she was told by detainees, especially the youths - the same age as her own son - who are being forced to spend their innocent adolescent lives in prison. She sings three of the songs and has produced the album in the hope that music will in some way counter the process of demonisation that has already begun.

YVETTE DUNCAN
Actress (Praise and Garage Days soon to be released) and presenter on MTV, Yvette has added her voice to the album because of her concern about the issue of youth suicide. She is deeply involved with the Reachout program, and sees the correlation between youth suicide rates in the community and the attempts by youths in detention on their own lives.

JANE CAMACHO
Jane is a young film maker and singer. She made her first visit to Villawood to meet Mohsen after she had recorded her song, and began to think seriously about the issue. There she met detainees and heard their stories, and, as with most first time visitors, spent the trip back to the city in a state of shock.

MATT REDALL
Matt is a sound engineer and musician who has donated hours of spare time to getting the album sounding right. Much of the recording was done in less than perfect circumstances, and were it not for his calm pragmatism, and hundreds of hours of time, the album would still not be ready.

THE WORKS

1. when it rains (DOWNLOAD ONLY)

lyrics Soltany Zand, female vocals Jane Camaho

Mohsen gave us this poem on our third visit as a reminder that we had befriended him - he ad no choice in the relationship, but he ironically suggests at the end that we'd be lost without him. And he is right.

2. sunset
lyrics Soltany Zand, vocals Annette Hughes, Jane Camaho, music Matt Redall

In Port Headland the sun sets over the Indian Ocean and desert, lighting up blood red skies above an immense ancient landscape. It's not quite so picture postcard from behind razor wire.

3. you
lyrics Soltany Zand, vocals Yvette Duncan

4. the wall
lyrics Soltany Zand, vocals Annette Hughes,
Music traditional arrangement by Geoffrey Datson
The most extraordinary thing about the detention centre visiting yard is the mix of people from all over the world who in their own countries are forced to kill each other, but here, have become friends, forced as they are to co-exist. Safe behind the cemetery wall we are all share our common humanity.

5. Suicide
lyrics Soltany Zand, vocals Geoffrey Datson
When the only control you have over your life is to take it, it is not surprising that so many youths in detention have attempted suicide. Perhaps this is a clue to the cause of the growing rate of youth suicide in Australia.

6. Advance Asylum fair
lyrics/vocals Geoffrey Datson [for Mohsen]

7. if one person dies
lyrics Soltany Zand, female vocals Annette Hughs

Published in Heather Tyler's Asylum (Lothian Press, 2003)

This poem was read to thousands at Refugee day rallies across Australia. An expression of thanks on behalf of the people in detention to those who continue to campaign for justice and human rights.

8. Mother By Mohsen Soltany Zand for his mother, spoken in his native Farsi.
The words may be foreign, but the emotion, love and heartbreak of his delivery is universal.

[English translation]

The shame is aflame on my pen

The embarrassment burning my paper

My head is bowed in beseeching

I swear to god I want nothing but for you to forgive me

I've done things that were wrong

But you never ever blamed me

Your eyes full of kindness, never scolding

I yelled at you and shouted

I was rude and disrespectful I pushed your patience

You were sorrowful for what would become of me.

In the dark of night you prayed for me to Allah

You cried for me .You made wishes, you appealed.

You settled on the prayer mat. You prayed to Allah for me.

Every second you called to Allah for me

Forgive me, please forgive me

Happy Mother's day, please forgive me

I now your heart is larger than the ocean

For love, I've no way to tell you

Just forgive me, for the sake of Fatimah,

please forgive me. Happy mother's day.

BLUE GUITAR

2010-11-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

ALBUM $20.00

LINER NOTES

The songs on this album are all written by Annette Hughes and Geoffrey Datson during the past four years. The album began as a limited edition of 25 for a group of girlfriends, entitled 'one for the girls', and has grown into a collection of all Hughes' material recorded since working with Datson.

Evie was written with love for Yvette Duncan - flatmate, singer in that amazing chick band The Glory Box and MTV VJ. (2000)

Now and Forever began its life as bitter and twisted post divorce therapy, but Datson, with the addition of one line and his beautiful mesmeric music, has turned it into a love song. (2001)

That Girl refers to a small blip on the heart monitor a few years ago. That old green eyed monster. (2000)

The Pony Princess is for 8 year old Chaquira Cusak who answered for Barbie when Ken popped the Cinderella question, "Is this your shoe?" by saying , "Yeah, give it back creep!"

Blue Guitar is about setting of on the journey again. (2002)

Hey Sheba is from a line in a Patti Smith song, "hey sheba, hey salome, hey venus" that pretty much sums up the 'chick thing' of this collection. (2002)

The Last Night was inspired by a scene from Scheherazade by Anthony O'Neill, and recent events. (2003)

Mother of God deals with empty nest syndrome. Easter 2002. Thanks to WB Yeates, the unknown painter of the Wilton dyptych and my own little object of devotion, Evan Hughes. (2002)

Beauty's Lament is about that moment when a girl peers into the mirror and sees her mother there. (2002)

Now That's a Lovesong speaks for itself really.

All of the songs fell into being by their proximity to the making of the music. All are recorded in one take which accounts for their rough production, but also for the energy they seem to have. The melodies formed as the music ran.

evie

Here comes Evie with a new boyfriend.
He's strutting round the place like he owns it.
But he can't see what I can see - the look in her eye,
I think it's over.

Slow down, you move too fast.
You're gonna walk before you can crawl
Take it easy, take it slowly,
if you want your love to last.

Poor little Evie, she's all alone now
Watching TV and taking take out
But she's staring at the telephone, like its an omen
And if he calls she'll probably go there.

Slow down, go slowly, take it easy, don't go too fast,
If you want your love to last.

now and forever
You don't want me back but you'll have me
Don't remember my face but you'll see me
Wouldn't know my voice but you'll hear me

In your dreams.

You won't get me out of your dreams,
Now and forever, I'll be
In your dreams.

I'll take everything you've got but you'll give it
Drag you screaming all the way, but you'll follow
Then I'll desert you at a crossroads, bleak and lonely

In your dreams

When you dream, you'll be swimming then I'll drown you
On the edge of a cliff I will push you

You'll be running like a deer and I'll kill you

In your dreams

You won't get me out of your dreams,
You will dream you are falling but I'll catch you
When you're lost in a maze I will find you
We'll be fighting to the death, but then I'll kiss you

In your dreams

You won't get me out of your dreams,

You may never think about me in the day time
You are blissfully without me when aware
I'ts only when you're sleeping I'll be there

In your dreams
You won't get me out of your dreams,
now and forever

that girl

That girl wants more and long before
you know what it is, she's gone because you can't give enough.

That girl will take all the love you can make.
There'll be nothing left behind when your down on your luck.

That girl, stay away from that girl. Don't go there whith that girl.

She can't stay still, needs you to move through her gills.

She's got an eye on you for any signs of life.

That girl will desire every flame in your fire,

every breath every swallow of pride still left in your soul.

That girl, stay away from that girl don't go there with that girl.

That girl.

the pony princess

The fall is waiting after the pride.
See the fine lady out for a ride
humming a fairytale fantasy song
the pony princess gallops along.

A fever's burning, but her hands are cool.
She waits in hope but feels a fool
as she tells herself it will be ok,
though night is falling on another lonely day

Find your missing crystal slipper and buy a brand new dress
step into the folds of its sympathetic caress.
F ind another place to hang your mirror ball,
'cause princes don't come looking for princesses

any more.

Her heart is breaking but her eyes are dry
her voice is shaking every time she lies
as tells herself it will be alright
though the dawn's breaking on another lonely night.

Time has come for waking, the wicked witch has died,
the spindle is still spinning and the spots of blood have dried.
Smash the casket glass and spit the poisoned core,
'cause princes don't come looking for princesses

any more.

The grain is counted and the golden fleece is plucked.
After all the trials of Venus, you find your life's still fucked.
It's never going to be the way it was before
'cause princes don't come looking for princesses

any more

blue guitar

Drive me home in your car

Play me on your blue guitar
Take my hand I'll go with you
anywhere you want me to

Follow you follow me
Round and round the mystery of
Why we are lovers

And I will make you angel wings
And chain your mail with golden rings
Setting sail for foreign lands
Of harvest moons and caravans

You'll find inside a garden grown
where every tenderness is sown
and every beauty seems the same as
every other every day

follow you follow me
round the round the mystery of why
we are lovers

and paradise is when your are
playing me on your blue guitar.

hey sheba

7 days and 7 nights
7 trees in the garden of earthly delights
7 deadly sins and 7 seas
I see you but you can’t see me

7 steps to heaven scale
behind the hems of 7 veils
Ring around the rosie, slip together slide
step to m’loo and I’ll be your bride.

I am the womb evry holt
I am the blaze on every hill
I am the queen of every hive
I am the sheild to every head
I am the tomb of every hope

Here is a candle to light you to bed
here is the chopper to chop of your....

7 pillars of wisdom
Who knows but me?
But if you promise me
he’ll be mine, I will dance for you

the last night

Clear the streets before me, light the oil lamps
And I'll walk naked through your city of a thousand domes.
I can hear the panicked hurry of a thousand frightened feet
And a dulcimer plays high above the fragrance of the street
And a desert wind is blowing in a thousand miles from home.

Famous as a goddess, a beauty in my time
I beguiled a tyrant with the intrigues I devised
Who after just a hundred days fell captive to my lies.
And the source of each new episode that I was forced to tell?
A thousand virgin fairytales heard whispered round the well.

I wove a magic carpet and he flew a thousand miles
Travelled caravans of fantasy into fabled territories
Steeped in tales of ancient glory. I told him what he wanted to hear
The tyrant was a spoilt child who took my lies for truth,
But the truth that he believed was fed on fear.

With every word I told him I hoped to save my life
I courted him cajoled him seeking somehow to control
Now I walk the silent alleys and the torches tell the terror.
Disrobe me now and listen to the drums. He comes,
Slouching towards Bagdad bristling with guns.

And an army of a thousand gormless fools
In saddle-bags of pure invention conceal hypocrisy,
Armour polished with his righteousness and hate.
So here I stand before you, the spinner of the tale.
I settle on my carpet and pray for your forgiveness,

if it's not too late. Shall I tell another story invent another fate?
I am Scheherazade.

mother of god (Music by Annette Hughes)

Mother of god came over for tea
She lives in the caravan next to me
Still only taking one day at a time
But coping, I think she's gonna be fine

Told me how her son hardly ever rings
Far too many other important things
to do like sneaking around with his pack of mates
Flaming little overindulged ingrate

Seems like just the other day she
Came to ask if she could stay
For the term of her pregnancy
I said, baby, that's ok by me

We were swapping gory stories in the shower block
When waters broke, like, a total shock
And while it pooled at her feet like molten silver
And the baby itself was a breeze to deliver

You have to agree it sounded totally insane
To ask me to believe it was the lord who came.
All that stuff about wings beating about the room
and the terror of bearing the heavens in your womb?

Well, really, what's the poor boy to do
when his mother carries on like a loony tune?
You got a flare in your ear? Well bugger me dead -
It was an orgasm, not the bloody god head!

I told her it was only gonna end in tears
The way she kept to that story all these years
Now the boy thinks he's god's own gift
When he's actually legally illigit

You can only ever be sure who your mother is
So how's he even know the kid is his?
Typical, the holy father should turn up now
When all the hard work's already gone down.

Where was he when the measles hit
And the croup, and all the tons of nappy shit?
He sits up there on his big white cloud
While you have to cop it sweet down here on the ground

I'll never understand what you see in that sucker
Just another good for nothing holy motherfucker
Now the golden haired begotten wants to be with him
Without so much as a thought that she'll even miss him

She said, To know yourself they say you break with one to grasp the other
Well I said oedepus-shmeodopus, long as he loves his mother!
I said you're being a victim girl, get a grip
It just a simple problem of relationship

So we workshopped it till she could see
That this thing with Him is co-dependency
It was four when I finally shut the screen door
And hoped that she feel better in the morning

She even laughed when I said, hey momma
If you lose this son, just go begat another
And she she sighed when I asked her if she'd be all right
And she thanked me for the wine and wished me good night.

I said hey honey, don't you look back
When he's on the other side he'll have a heart attack
He'll get tired of laughing at all the same jokes
And nothing but the company of all those blokes

He's eventually gonna say the wrong thing about
You and the old-buck-young-buck thing will be played out
And when he wonders what the world is coming to
He'll remember it is all because of you.

beauty's lament

She's leaving that little girl is deceiving
after all this time and everything she's done,
that girl is fading like a dream.

How long before she turns away?
When she's gone it will never be the same.
Every day she slips away,
I can see the change on her face

She's going, that pit of emptiness is growing.
I'm trying to believe that she can walk away
and leave me all on my own.

It can't be real, I gave her my life.
I can feel the pain cut like a knife.
I don't want to believe
that she's longing to be free.

Expired. She's had enough and now she's tired.
She's lived so many lives and played so many roles,
when will my curtain close ?

How long before she turns away?
When she's gone it will never be the same.
Every day she slips away,
I can see the change on her face

I'm just the seed to her shell
I'm just the sea to her shell

now, that's a lovesong (Music by Phillip Beckett)

Why is it nobody ever sings love songs
About how love can really be
Why is it always about heart ache
And unrequited misery

It drives them nuts and drives them crazy
It sends them into decline
It's always down to someone's baby
Who's gone and left them behind

When being in love's like cracker night
And you never shout and you never fight

Now that's a love song

Being in love like it's a mystery
and a flight of birds and bumble bees

Now that's a love song

No tears no drama or secrets and lies
You don't just sing you harmonise
And they tell you that they love you every day
And you already know what they're going to say
You take turns at the dishes and never keep score
And you know you'll be together for ever more

Now that's a love song

STAR OF HEART

2010-11-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

DATSON

ALBUM $20.00

MUSIC & LYRICS

REVIEWS

I have to say that I've enjoyed the Star Heart listening experience....particularly while watching George W Bush give his latest pep talk....or while putting on my tie in the mornings. It's an odd soundscape of course, which seems to somehow counterpoint the
feeling of walking in mollasses , surrounded by so many Californians.
Kurt Austin USA

It's kind of like... soft punk.
David Kirk, Painter

STAR OF HEART is the first release of DATSON’S music. He was, way back in the dim distant recent past of rock, a member of the Sydney cult punk/surf band Surfside Six, and wrote their hit single 'Cool in the Tube'. After that, he formed Samurai Trash, the first Australian band to sign with Virgin records. In Trash, DATSON explored looping with answering machine tapes, and was responsible for the ‘noises’ used in that band. He also made his own instruments and included folk instruments like the dulcima in his textural repertoire of sound.

Samurai Trash unfortunately imploded soon after their first few singles, and following that disappointment, DATSON left for New York. As a result, he missed out on the flowering of Aus/rock during the 80s, so consequently, does not have the embarrassing skeleton in the closet of ever being photographed wearing a mullet. In New YorkDATSON worked with Dana Vlcek (Rebirth of Cool and now Abstract Truth) and spoken word siren Dana Bryant. Since then he has recorded hundreds of hours of music, andSTAR OF HEART is the first selection to make its way out of the studio.

For twenty-five years, DATSON has stuck to his guns and made his own music, when there was no market for individual song writing musicians making electronic music. He has been refining his material and now, the industry has caught up with his ear, and he is ready to put it out there.

STAR OF HEART comprises a range of material, from the spoken word Ballad of Pinky and Pablo, to the high-energy Angel’s Commute. Filling the spectrum in between is a mix of funky pop (Velvet Scooter), love songs (Now and Forever) and beautiful evocative instrumentals (Mooring).

LINER NOTES:

The Best of all Times was a collection of letters written in1992 from a fictitious crusade fought in early 21c, The wheezing clicky sound is a Tempo Harmonium driven by a small hair drier type fan.

Now and Forever was written as it ran.

Mooring is an audio excursion to the magical foreshores I grew up on. The infinite depth of rock pools, there's a whole universe in there and sea anemonies are supa-novas.

@ Joy was recorded with 2 keyboards Josh found in a garbage skip.

The Ballad of Pinky and Pablo grew from the characters in a sand sculpture at Seal Rocks. Mick Wade provided the guitar line.

Larry, who I believe, is one of those quantum cats, turned up on my birthday 2 years ago with DJ Bonnefoy.

It's been a great pleasure and privilege to finish this first CD. We launched at the warehouse because this is where the music is made. It's been afternoons in the company and sound of angels. The room is suffused with a glorious glow and there have been moments in the presence of beautiful alchemy.

So to the thank youse;

25 years of long suffering neighbours and flatmates, thank you;

25 years of difficult and unreliable genius band mates; from you I have learnt.

All those people who've supported with work and advice over many, many years.

Toby Creswell, David Messer & Cate, Helen Ryan, and Dave Bonnefoy for labouring through the tapes.

Everybody who's hung around arguing till the small hours, because it's only through argument we reach agreement. (the jury is still out on the mixing black debate.)

DJ FuckHeaD who'll be turning up at a party near you to tamper with your records.

Arc=Atom and Emma for extended use of turntables & records, along with numerous turntablists who've played the most exquisite of musics in the small hours. You guys gave me a whole new set of ears.

Darrenator for doing production on the launch.

And the musicians who are not finalised (so as to speak) yet.

And of course Annette who's believed in, inspired, sung on and ploughed thousands of hours into the CD and setting up the label.

stickylabel

WELCOME TO STICKYLABEL

PROTEST SINGER

PROTEST SINGER

Signed Limited edition of 100

THEN, AND THEN: A MEMOiR

Then, and Then: a memoir

Various folk clubs and house concerts - see gigs 2010-11

Gloucester Writers and Readers Weekend 2011

Byron Bay Writers' Festival 2011

THE HINTERLAND HALL CRAWL PROJECT

THEN, AND THEN - CD

Then, and Then: a memoir

Various folk clubs and house concerts - see gigs 2010-11

Gloucester Writers and Readers Weekend 2011

Byron Bay Writers' Festival 2011

WELCOME TO STICKYLABEL

LIBRARIES TOUR

ART LIFE CHOOKS - The Soundtrack

GREAT LEADER

NEW DEPRESSION SONGS

PROTEST SINGER

THE TRUTH

FRANCE IS BACON

AUSTRALIAN DREAM

MOHSEN

BLUE GUITAR

STAR OF HEART