Leaving Home
The best decision I ever made in my life was to leave home and learn to stand on my own two feet. It was hard, and not entirely my choice to be cut off from my family, but in retrospect, it was a great character building situation and freed me up to create my art and shape my own identity. It also provided me with plenty of material to write about and a confidence in myself to handle the many challenging situation that were to arise in my life.
Learning about Business
Some of the most valuable moments that have shaped my career were actually outside of the music industry. I participated in business studies and ran my own carpentry business for four years between 2010 – 2014, and that taught me so much, that I’d never understood before, about how the world of money & business works. The light bulbs finally switched on in my brain when I realized that everything I had learned from that entrepreneurial venture could be applied to the music industry. Soon after that I reset my career and basically started from scratch here in Geelong in 2013. (I’d already release 2 independent records with little or no success.)
Dead Man’s Garden – Album Tour
In 2014 I released my third independent album “Dead Man’s Garden” and I was privileged to work with a great publicist, Annie Johnsson, to make the tour a success. The album charted at no.18 on the Australian Blues & Roots Airplay Charts in its debut month. That resulted in me being invited to play at several music festivals and increased album sales and raised my artist profile in the industry. I learned a lot about how important publicity is to an artist and became much more self sufficient through that process.
Finding the Right Team
In late 2013 I met a person who would help shape the next couple of years in ways I had not expected. Will Cook (from Geelong visual design company UP Creative) and I hit it off immediately, and our conversations quickly expanded into a vibrant creative relationship. We have now done many projects together, including most of my photographic portfolio and video content since 2013. We are still meeting regularly and working on concepts far into the future. You only need to look at my album art, merchandise and web presence to understand how he has helped to shape my brand and deliver a consistent, high level of quality and integrity in the visual element of my products.
Alex Legg Memorial Foundation Scholarship 2015
In December 2015, my spirits were buoyed and my waning confidence rekindled by the surprise decision by the ALMF to unanimously nominate me as the inaugural recipient of a 12 months scholarship and grant of $3,000. I was amazed and truly honoured to have the support of a board of veteran musicians and industry experts who believed in me and recognized the hard work I had been putting in behind closed doors to build my career and refine my song writing and production skills.
When & Where: Saints & Sailors and Real Music – November 19, Babushka Lounge, Ballarat – December 16, The Workers Club, Geelong – December 17
