[00:00:00] Welcome to Trevor McCormack Music Podcast. I'm Chrissie Mack from Radio Northern Beaches and I couldn't be more excited to kick off this musical journey with you. Joining me is my brother, the legendary Trevor McCormack known as Mack, a true storyteller and music enthusiast. With each episode we're peeling back the layers behind the hits, sharing untold stories from artists and exploring what sparks the creativity behind the music that moves us.
[00:00:30] Whether you're a diehard music fan or just love discovering new sounds, this is the place where passion meets storytelling. So hit the follow button, share this with your fellow music lovers and leave a review. Your support keeps the vibe alive. Turn up the volume and get ready to be inspired. And let's dive into the world of music together. Let's go! Well hello listeners, it's Chrissie Mack and Trevor Mack back again. How you doing Trev?
[00:00:58] Hello everybody, I'm doing fine. Now, you've finally got to your break and you're getting a bit of a rest. Tell us about that. Well, that's, yeah, I'm actually feeling good because I work a lot of hours. I suppose, what is it, three jobs? But I've taken the night shifts off working at my local RSL, have a bit of a breather and I can feel the change already. It's feeling good. People have even said to me, gee, you're looking really relaxed and easy going happy, sort of look healthy. And I'm like, oh, thank you.
[00:01:28] It's amazing what a little bit of a break can do. I still work of a day, but I've cut my days down to three days a week. I'm having the nights off and I'm just refreshing, reviving, I suppose, which has given me more time now to work on some tunes and different compositions we're working on, which one I've worked on with you. Yeah, I was enjoying that, trying the different compositions and the different styles.
[00:01:52] It's amazing how you can take a song or anything and just totally change it. It's exciting, which has led me into another tune, which is really difficult, but it's just got that beautiful notes and those beautiful sounds. So I've been playing with that the last couple of days and I'm just a little frustrated with it because I'm just not quite sure what I'm going to do with it. It's totally different again to everything I've done before. Looking forward to hearing that one. It's a bit of a challenge. So I keep putting it down, picking it up, putting it down.
[00:02:23] I just don't know what to do with it. So I'll get there. I'll get there. That's the thing about working on my own here at home. I think the advice I've had before is get with another songwriter or another musician and sit down and it's amazing how the doors just open again. So we're waiting on that anyway. I will be heading down to Byron Bay as well next week. So I'll pop down there and see my boy, my youngest boy, and the studio's down there.
[00:02:49] So I'll get to see the engineer hopefully and have a chat with him and who knows what can happen. I'll go down there for about at least four days if I can, five, and hang out, go for a surf. I'll take a surfboard down, a guitar down, your harmonicas. That's the weekend it's going to be. A bit of fun. Well, that's great. And it'll be great to see your boy. Yeah, yeah. Well, I haven't seen him for a little while. So we get down there and we do a bit of woodwork and carvings and build things and just wander around the property. It's 100 acres down there.
[00:03:19] I hang around and jump on a quad bike and go for a bit of a zoom around and have a look at the whole property, which is always fun. And Byron Bay is only like three minutes down the road to the main part of Byron Bay. So I might even see if I can hang out with a few people down there because you can bust on the streets down there. You can play in some cafes. So I might get to sort of check out the music scene down there as well while I'm down there and meet a few people. Just for some fun. Yeah, it sounds like it would be a bit of fun. So you enjoy yourself. Well, that's the idea now.
[00:03:48] Just have a little break before because I'm waiting. I am waiting for our contacts that we've had with our lovely people into the music worlds. And we'll see what happens there. So it's just a case of timing and get together and play some music and see what they like of my new stuff and my old stuff. And we pulled an old song the other day. You sent to me, oh, what was that one called? Yes, it's true, wasn't it? Yes, it's true. I didn't even realize. I sent you a song ages ago. I wrote that song in 2014.
[00:04:18] So I just realized. Oh, okay. I started playing it again and what a pretty song. I did. I played it. I'd forgotten I had. I was going through the different songs and we recorded all your songs so that we made sure we had, you know, the right tunes and so forth. But this one had been recorded differently and you'd had extra background and vocals in it. And when I played that one, I didn't remember it.
[00:04:47] It was so different that I didn't pick it up. And I thought, oh, that is so pretty. That song is so pretty. So, yeah. So I sent it to you and said, I don't remember this one. But when I went back and looked, it was there, but it sounded completely different. Yeah, because we did like a scratch track. What do you call a scratch track? It was just basically slap them out. That's the idea. That's the concept. And where you take it from, there's a whole different ballgame again.
[00:05:16] So I must have sent you. I must have been in the studio because there was some harmonies in that. Yeah, yeah. You sent me a few of them. But that one and the other ones, you know, I had and I knew. But this one I'd totally forgotten and I didn't recognize it because it was so different. But when I played, oh, that is so pretty. And that's the case of I think I sung it with a, instead of going up in the keys in vocals, I went down in the vocals. It's the mood you're in when you do it.
[00:05:45] And that's probably the best, the best way to do that song is in that vocal key and those chords and just pick the beginning into a beautiful, sweet little picking session in the first verse and then into the big music. I can hear a band, a good band around there, even an orchestra behind that. Yeah, it is. It's just such a pretty song. It is. And I will learn my early day songs. And that's why I've got to go into the studios and just go back and start and record and not stop
[00:06:13] until I get to the end, which is all the new ones, which are great again. Yeah, we've got so many now. It's going to take a bit. Well, I don't mind. I said I could live in a studio day and night and just play and play and play. And while you're in there, you actually get better and better. You tune in your vocals. Everything just seems to grow. They get stronger and you feel more confident because you're recording it and you listen to it come back to you and you say, no, we'll just do one more run. We'll do that again.
[00:06:42] And you relax more, I suppose, in the studio. The same as when you're on a stage. You just walk out and you're confident and happy and the band's right and you're comfortable. It's effortless. You just get in and do what you do and love to do what you do. Same thing as competition. You get back into competitions and I get rattled. I think, oh, why am I so nervous? Why am I so worried? But it's, yeah, it's studio. I just love studio work and can't wait to get back in there and actually, yeah,
[00:07:11] get these songs up and running and I can send them out and we can get them on the radio and we'll get them moving. Well, that sounds like you're in for a good time down there and, yeah, a time to sit and work and relax and get your strength back and let's get some more action happening. That's right. And that's the plan. So that's why I'm working on the time off and shuffling my day work to make it easier so I've got more time.
[00:07:38] So we're looking at now Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sundays. I'm not tired to work so I can focus on these writings and all the new songs and pull out some old ones like you just sent me. Yeah, we can have some fun. I'm actually looking forward to it. It's been a long time. So, yeah, it's going to be great fun. All right. Well, I'm going to make it a short one because I've got to go to work this morning and what are you up to today? I thought you were retired. Yeah, well, that didn't work out, did it?
[00:08:09] That's like me. I'll probably get that busy playing music. I won't have time to go to work. I have so much fun. I've got my radio show and now I'm working at the cinema making sure that it's looked after properly and organising the shows there. So we've got the Songs of Dire Straits coming on the 9th of August which is going to be a big show. Okay. Yeah. I can't wait to come down there actually and play on one of those stages if not both of those stages because you've got one upstairs, one downstairs. That's true, yeah.
[00:08:38] And we'll have to talk more about that because I'd like to come down there and probably use the band that's down your way. Oh, yeah, Stacey's Got a Gun. Yes. So those guys were just brilliant. The percussionists, the singers, your lead guitarists, just lovely people, lovely music. Jamie is the singer because she didn't want to name the band. And Jamie's Got a Gun because Jamie was her name, which is the standard. So she named it Stacey's Got a Gun. Ah, that's right.
[00:09:08] So, yeah, it'll be fun to get down there and actually create some good music. Well, they really enjoyed the time that you spent with them when you were down last time. Yeah, well, I could see me doing a full production down there, get the local orchestra in the background, get the band in there. Yeah, because we've got the big band. We've got the young Northern British big band down here. Oh, you have, right. Well, there you go. We'll have to have a chat with those guys. But, yeah, I'd like to do something really powerful and strong and just build out all
[00:09:37] those new tunes with a couple of covers thrown in so people have got something familiar and play some new songs. So we'll work on that down the track. Well, I'm going to play Yes, It's True for Everyone. I'll talk to you soon and you have a great day. Okay. Sounds like fun. All right. You enjoy, everybody. Lots of love. Bye. Bye.
[00:10:38] Bye. Bye. Bye.
[00:12:09] Bye. Bye.
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