[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!
[00:00:53] Well, hi everyone. I've just landed at home from a big tribute show of the Bee Gees. Huge success, 210 people in the audience. Did really well, really pleased and everybody had a great deal of fun. Trev's just landed at home from a big weekend at the Country Stars Australia. So Trev, hi, how you doing?
[00:01:18] Hello, hello. How you doing? How's it all going? Tell us a little bit about what happened on the weekend. Oh, well, it's been a big two weekends. A big two weeks. But I got a little country gig I got sorted out last weekend. But this weekend it was focused on the Country Stars Australia. Yeah, and that was a big thing.
[00:02:09] Really good, honest opinion on what you do. And had a great lineup of judges that were, I reckon, spot on, you know, on the money. They picked the right people, which I was very impressed with. I even picked those people. I mean, these guys have got a win. They were just great songwriters, really good vocalists, fantastic stories, and good people to go with that. Just all a bunch of really, really great people.
[00:02:35] So that was pretty exciting. And I took off, I suppose, I had a gig that I had to do on a Saturday night of this weekend. So I basically had, that's where I started. So Thursday night, not sorry, Thursday day in the afternoon, I took all my gear over and hid it in a lady's salon that she's got at her house. She was having a private party for her husband. So we had to sort of sneak gear in there and hide that on Thursday.
[00:03:05] I said, I'll be back Saturday. I don't know what time. And she looked at me and went, I've heard what you're doing. It's all good. You get here when you can. So I organised the boys, said, all right, fellas, you're going to have to set this gear up because I'm going to be late. We'll get into it and we'll go from there.
[00:03:22] So with that, off I went and I took off up to, I stayed with a friend in Flaxton, which is not far from Mullaney, which is where the country stars have their big tent and stage in their Mullaney show. So we went up there and I prepped myself the day before and then you had to get there early. So I got there early every morning.
[00:03:49] And the first day was everybody just do your own thing. It was an acoustic day. And it's funny, you know, I've jumped on and off stages and I've played in front of people and this sort of rattled me a little, which is, well, you know me, Chris. So I get up and I have a great time. You do.
[00:04:09] But for some reason, and I think it was just all, and you know about this because you helped me do the whole thing, the up and coming pressure and the having to get music transcripted into what they needed. And you just did so much. But the pressure on both of us, I think, was incredible. It was huge. It was really a lot of work just to get this to happen.
[00:04:38] And thank God we've got people around us that actually knew a few things as well. So, you know, I'm that kind of guy that's just like, let me get up on stage and do what I do. And isn't it that easy? Apparently not when you go into a competition. No, but you got up there. Yeah, I appreciate everything you've done. You did so much to help me get through this. And for a good reason. Come the Saturday morning, I'm sitting there thinking, oh, this has all changed. I thought I had two songs to do and that's all.
[00:05:08] So it turned out the first day was do whatever you like and show us what you do. Which made me even nervous for some, more nervous for some reason. And it was a hit and miss the first day. So with all the pressure and all the build up over the couple of weeks of trying to get all this organized and up to what we needed to do, because believe it or not, they judge you on everything.
[00:05:34] How you present your music, how long it takes, what sort of website. And you're doing your own advertising to let everyone know that you're playing at this venue. Yeah, all your social media. Social media. Well, yeah, it's like I just want to sing a song. So it was a lot of pressure, which you and I aren't really familiar with. It's normally a lot easier. So we got through that, didn't we? We did.
[00:06:04] We did. We did. And from there, it was all up to me then, wasn't it? It was. It was all you from there on. So I'm there. And my lovely son and daughter-in-law and my grandchildren, they turned up to watch this day. Anyway, so I have no idea what I'm going to do. I've gone, well, don't do the same two songs because we'll do that tomorrow. The second day was the play with the band. First day, solo, raw, do your thing.
[00:06:30] So I thought, all right, I'll just pick two songs that I've written. So I picked Velvet Howl. Yeah, we gave that a run. I wish I was there to see what sort of reaction you got to that one because I love that song. Well, you'll find out in a minute. So I thought, all right, I can do that. And it's a good trial ground because we're being judged on this. And I'm thinking, you know what? I'm going to put down, that's the best song we've ever written.
[00:06:57] So let's give them that one and hope I don't make a mistake. Because for weeks I've been focusing on those two songs that we put in the competition and didn't think about anything else. And here I am going, oh, okay. I hope I can remember all the lyrics. Yeah, like pressure, more pressure. Yeah. So and then I thought I'll do another one, Keep the Line On, which is a crack and soft brand new. Yeah, I like that one too. I thought I had that down, Pat.
[00:07:27] No problem. I can do this. So I got up there on my time. I had to wait all day. Got up in the afternoon and I did Velvet Howe, which will be very honoured. I said, my sister and I wrote this together. Oh, thank you. I said, we wrote this from the heart. And it all started from just basically childhood memories and talking about old times and how we grew up. And went through the whole thing of how we sat there and talking about this, that and the other.
[00:07:57] I said, and we wrote the song. And then we sort of rewrote the song and turned it more into poetry and just changed a few things here and there. And this is what we did. So I sung that start to finish. There was like unbelievable looks. They were just, I don't know. How do you say when people just stare at you? The feeling was so overwhelming. I think they couldn't believe what I was saying in the lyrics. And the tune, obviously, a beautiful melody, which we got marked on. Exactly that.
[00:08:26] Every judge commented on that song on the scorecards, which they give to you after they've judged you with their names on it. And I will take photos of that and send it to you. Oh, yes, please. I'd like to see that. It is, I'm so honoured to have those people that just had their feedback on such a well-written song and such a joy to have had that sung to them people. That's awesome. That's awesome.
[00:08:55] I can't wait to get that recorded and get it out. Yeah, well, the band heard it as well that were playing the next day and just said, you know, we'd love to play your songs and sing with you anytime. So don't be a stranger. Keep in touch. Oh, wow. That was the second day they told me that. Cool. So back to the first day, we got through Velvet Howe. The audience just ripped up a big applause and cheers and just wowed.
[00:09:24] So that one works really well. No problem at all. Cool. We've got that one done. So that was the first trial out in the public. The second one I did, keep the light on. The nerves must have got the better of me. And I did the first line. I did the intro perfectly. Perfectly. First line. Perfectly. Blank. Oh, no. Blank. Like, come on. One line. I've sung this song a hundred times over when we wrote it.
[00:09:50] And I just hadn't done it for a few weeks, I suppose. And you know me. You don't stop. I'm a professional. Yeah, we just keep going. Nobody notices that you haven't got it right. And I think I repeated the first line and I went into the chorus, which they ticked. They knew. They knew. And I thought, well, you'd be a professional. You just go into the chorus. So I ran through, I think, a cycle of chords and straight into the chorus and didn't miss a beat.
[00:10:20] Kept going. Finished the cycle. Well done. And you'll see the comments on the sheets, on the score sheets. Oh, very professional. Yes, you mucked up. It's a new song. We understand that. And we take our hat off to how professional you just, no one would have noticed it but us. Yeah, cool. I thought, right. Well, I've taught myself how to do that anyway.
[00:10:48] If you muck up, you lean on your lead guitarist, get into a little quick riff, say something to the crowd, just break it down, you know, and make it like a natural thing, you know. Say g'day to someone. Oh, g'day. Here you go. Yeah. Continue on, you know. You cover up your mistake. I'm sure every musician's done that over time. So we got through that first day. I listened to all the other contestants. Oh, my. Wow. Wow.
[00:11:14] Is there some talent out there of songwriters and musicians? Well, that's wonderful to hear. We're all going to catch up here and there or, you know, a few of us. And so we moved on to the second day. And the next day was with the band. That's, you know, that's my passion. Oh, yeah. My songs. Now, no one has ever put music around in the mirror. It's just been a me with a guitar and on YouTube.
[00:11:43] These guys just went, right, what do you want to do first? I said, well, all right, we're going to do the cover that I chose. And Max McMahon's song. And This Side of Heaven, that one was called. So I thought, I'll just slide into that, hoping that I got everything right. And perfect. Got everything right. You could see them all smiling. I got the audience involved. So everyone's clapping hands and singing the song. And away they went. So I got good marks all the way out of that one.
[00:12:12] And then I had to swap guitars because I keyed down that one to make it a bit deeper. Swapped guitars, chucked me other guitar on and looked at the band. I said, here's a song called In The Mirror. No more to say other than look it up on YouTube if you like. And enjoy. Stood back, walked over to the drummer, counted him in. And away we went, well, we give that our all. And you could see the band just loving it.
[00:12:40] So I walked up to the mic, started belting out the tune, got into the lead part, stepped back from the mic, ripped into that with the lead guitarist, him and I doing our bit. The guys are just smiling, you know, loving it. Walked around the band and up to the drummer, up to the bass player, back to the lead guitarist, then back to the mic and finished it off. And just nailed it, kicked it out of the park, finished up. And the judges, you could see them, just everyone was smiling, cheering, going crazy. It was a great day.
[00:13:11] Everyone was so supportive. All the other artists, we all backed each other 110%. It was really, really good. And lots of supporters just sitting around enjoying the music and having a good day. So with that, we got some really good feedback and some very, very beautiful responses, which they flick over the school card and they put on the front of it, what they put on the back.
[00:13:40] So turn it over. So you turn it over and they put personal, how they feel, what they got out of this. And some of the comments, just amazing, for the songs we wrote. We wrote, you and I. And what a day. What a day. Wow. Well, you got along pretty well with everybody. Oh, yeah. Everybody was fantastic. The judges all come up, say, good day. I've got contacts from judges.
[00:14:08] I've got contacts from all the people. The band is like, stay in touch. The judges, stay in touch. Cole Finley himself, lovely man. I'm at the back playing, just warming up and doing my thing. He just wanders up and gives you a smile. And you can see him having a bit of a listen. And, you know, I'm trying to, you know, not be too nervous. And just relaxing with the guitar out in the sunshine because it was cold up there, very cold.
[00:14:35] And we had a few chats over the weekend of, you know, a bit about him, a bit about me. And come the end of it all, I've got some great doors that have opened for me and some beautiful people just want to keep in touch. And I said, look, mate, don't be a stranger, including Cole himself. Just said, mate, we're not far apart. Come and hang out. Let's see what we can do together as well. So I'm honoured, very honoured to have that offer.
[00:15:04] And that was a win for me more than any prize. Excellent. So not everybody can win. And there were two amazing people that you said won. And you were telling me about the winner. Tell us about the winner. Oh, the winner, just amazing. Just amazing artists. Vocals. Just everything they did was just, it just, like it blew me away.
[00:15:32] It was like, this is where I just want to live around these people. Because it's just surrounded by good hearts, honest storytelling, very great creative. The way they create their songs. Just the stories, where they come from. But the winner, the runner-up, and the, you know, one, two, three, they just, you can't say enough. They're just, wow. That's it. Wow. It's amazing. And they've even, like, they've asked me. They said, let's get together. Let's hang out.
[00:16:01] Let's tell some stories together. Let's play some music. Let's do things. Let's get to know each other. Just beautiful songs. Beautiful songs. So I can't wait to do that. And I can't wait to meet the others that all just, they were so friends. They come up to me. And I felt like they were looking up to me. Like, going, this guy's, he should have won, sort of thing. And I'm thinking, these guys deserve to win. So it was really like that.
[00:16:30] It was just an amazing experience. One I've never done in a competition like this. And what else can you say? It was just, it was a really good experience. I walked in there going, I really don't want to do this. And I come out going, wow, these people think I am so good. And I think everyone thought that about each other. So what a great time. What a great experience to have everyone think you're the best to each other. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic.
[00:16:58] And can't wait to mix it up with them and hang out and do some work maybe with them as well. Well, now you've got some more collaborators. You can get even more different styles of songs. Yeah, that's right. Well, and that's what we all talked about, you know. And like Cole Finley, his wife, she'd come up to me, I think it was on the second day, and just like walked up and just said, I love that song, Velvet Howl. That was it, wasn't it?
[00:17:26] And I'm like, she just listened to, I don't know how many songs that day. Like there was 15 contestants, two songs each. There you go. And she remembered that name of that song and who sung it and come up and just said, wow. Like that really was an amazing written song. Like the lyrics were just unbelievable. So yeah, very impressed that she really thought that stood out.
[00:17:55] How proud are we? So the Finleys, yeah, they're very, well, they've been in the music industry for a long time. And they proved that. I have seen them down in the Gold Coast, believe it or not, up on a bar, on top of a bar, dancing around singing songs. So they really have a good time. But they performed at the end of the day, at the end of the whole thing.
[00:18:24] And they performed some songs and did a Fleetwood Mac cover, which it took every ounce of me to hold my body in the chair. I wanted to jump up and get up and sing with them. Yeah, I love Fleetwood Mac. I absolutely adore Fleetwood Mac. I probably should have, but I just thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because I've done that before. At the end of the show, everybody gets up and joins the last song sort of thing. So I'm used to like, come on, come on.
[00:18:54] I took all my might to just sit and enjoy. So what a great singer she was. Nicole's a great singer too. Their band, they all sing. What a band. The band was amazing. Like very, very professional. Top of the line. Just lovely guys and they know what they're doing. Really, really good stuff. So between Cole and his family and the judges and the band, they got a lot of sponsors, which, yeah, were fantastic.
[00:19:24] Which surprised me too. One of the judges, or two of the judges actually, some, which one is one of the girls that I see on social media. She said, let's catch up. I said, yeah, that'd be great. But there's another lady there and she was a judge and she's got her own, she does a lot of recording stuff for a lot of people. I'm supposed to be very, very good at it. And I'd like to actually stop and have a chat with her too one day, which I'm sure I will.
[00:19:53] She got up and sung. Wow. Just blew me away. What a voice. Yeah. Great storyteller. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So to wrap it up, wow, what a big weekend. And then after all that, I had to say, Cole, see you later. Thanks, guys. But I've got to run. I've got to gig. I've got to go. So I packed up everything and took off from Malaney all the way back down to Bribie. The boys were setting everything up. Thank goodness.
[00:20:23] So I just finished off, got the rest done. And believe it or not, had an unbelievable gig. It just, we walked in there and we set up, played one song. And I knew a few people in there, believe it or not. The people I was playing for obviously know a few people I know. So there was a couple of faces there that knew me very well and some that didn't that walked in and went, wow, I didn't know you did this.
[00:20:52] So it was really good. But they just, they come up and said, we want bangers. We want you to, we want a party. Don't stop. So I said to the guys, well, looks like we're starting from everything we know that really kicks them butt. Don't stop. So we just played party songs for three hours. Wow. After a whole weekend of all that. Wow. And believe it or not, like Dave, he'd been gigging all weekend.
[00:21:21] So he said, mate, I've had about like four hours sleep today or last night. I said, well, I'm buggered off. I was going to say, carry me. Help me. Do some more. He said, well, don't we always do this anyway? Every time we do a gig, we're really buggered. I said, well, actually, yeah. He goes, normally we do our best when we're tired and worn out. You know. I said, well, nothing to write. And we had a cracker.
[00:21:47] These people could not stop raving about how professional and how good and what a guitarist, what a drummer, what a singer. That's what you want to hear. Yeah. And that's, the boys were just so happy. You know, and I love pushing my boys to go, mate, you've just done a great job. Well, I didn't have to. They could hear it. You know, people are just going, where did you find these?
[00:22:13] How did you afford, how could you afford a band like this? Like, these guys are perfect. I've never heard anything like this. We just made the weekend, finished it off. I didn't get home until about one o'clock, but we got it done. So, yeah. And then you had to go to work today. Oh, then I had to get up and go to work today. And then they threw an extra couple of hours on the end of the shift. Oh, my God. No, it's right now.
[00:22:41] It is quarter past 11 and I've just got home. I've got to have a shower and brush my teeth and I'm just going to climb into that bed and I'll let the sun wake me up tomorrow, I think. Yeah. Well, make sure you have something to eat as well, okay? I've had a feed. I had a feed just before I rang you. All right. Well, I'm feeling the same. I am absolutely exhausted. We had a cracker of a night at the Polaroid. The film in, yep.
[00:23:10] Yeah, and the Bee Gees were absolutely wonderful and everybody was up dancing in the aisles and it was just fantastic. So, I am, and I've been there since 8 o'clock this morning. So, I'm ready to hit the sack myself. So, I'm going to say goodnight, little brother. Absolutely fantastic effort on the weekend.
[00:23:35] So pleased you tracked out our new song and your new song and got such a great response. And as you said in many of the podcasts, that's where the real test happens. That's right. That is exactly right. Give it out to the public and people who have never heard it and see if they just go, wow, I like that song. And they did. So, good work to you. Good work to me. And I really want to thank everybody that supported us too, which is a lot of people.
[00:24:04] I'd love to thank Cole and his wife. I really love what he's doing with the Country Stars Australia. It's a great, great thing. And I look forward to hopefully being there next year as well, just to support the people who are coming through. To me, it's not about winning prizes. It's about experiences and meeting new people and artists and all the musicians and all the sponsors. And if you win, it's a plus. If you win, it's a plus. That's right.
[00:24:34] And the lady who won the guitar, she only said to me just before she went up and did the song was, oh, my guitars, it's breaking like it's lifting. And she won the guitar. I said, well, you should, I think, you know, you deserve to win that. And she did. She'd come back going, can you believe it? Yeah. All right. Well, I'm going to say good night, brother. And sleep tight. Yes. And I'll talk to you next weekend.
[00:25:04] And everybody, get into the music, turn up that radio and enjoy. All right. Good night. Now, don't forget to check out Trevor McCormack's YouTube for Trevor's latest music video, which is going off. So don't forget to have a listen. And you can also go to Trevor McCormack Music for any podcasts that you might have missed. So don't forget to follow and share.