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July 2008: Farewell SammyQ, Welcome Rob!
2008-07-02 - 3:01 p.m.
Hey all, Loz here. Strap yourself in for a long one...
Wait, that sounds a bit wrong.
Farewell SammyQ :(
So last month we promised you a shocking piece of news;
well, let's not beat around the bush. The current Suade
lineup, the most successful in the history of the group,
is coming to an end. SammyQ is leaving. In his own words:
Read Sammy's
farewell letter
This is sad news for the rest of us, as Sammy's been
an asset, a fine singer and a good mate for many years.
We won't be losing touch with him and we're sure we'll
get him up on stage for plenty of gigs in the future.
We understand his decision however much it saddens us.
His timing could probably have been better - he announced
his decision to us around the table at Maccas after
a 3-hour-long photoshoot in which we posed for several
hundred photographs, all of which are now going to be
useless because they've all got bloody Sam in them!
Ya mongrel! I may be forced to get my Photoshop on.
I always wondered what this group would look like with
two Lozzes in it.
If you'd like to send Sammy a message, you can either
email him on sammyq(at)suade.net or stick something
on the guestbook. I'm sure he'd appreciate it. If it's
nice.
Welcome Rob! :)
Sam's exit has given the rest of us a chance to reflect
on Suade's future - we've always felt we should be a
5-man group, none of us were interested in being a quartet.
But in the a cappella game it takes a long, long time
to train up new singers to a level we can be comfortable
with. Did we all have the energy and commitment to search
for another singer and bring him up to speed? The answer
was a resounding yes all around. We all feel that Suade's
on the brink of something really big, it's a great time
to be singing in this group and quitting wasn't an option
for any of us.
So over the last few weeks we've been auditioning a
long list of fantastic Melbourne singers, many of whom
would have been a pleasure to work with - but in the
end, to our relief, the decision was a snap.
When I asked Rob Latham to audition for the job after
doing a random Channel 10 appearance with him on the
Great Debate, I didn't realise he'd been a Suade fan
and a friend of Een's for several years. He aced the
audition, breezing through a tough sight-reading challenge
and showing us a great solo voice. The decision was
unanimous and easy.
And so begins the task of getting Rob up to speed with
our (now bloody huge) song list in preparation for the
launch of a new CD and what we expect to be a huge 2009
for Suade. Please make him feel welcome and be nice
to him, because we're gonna flog the poor bugger mercilessly
to get him up to gig fitness as soon as possible. We're
sure you'll like what he brings to the band and we look
forward to seeing where we can take this thing with
some fresh energy and ideas on board.
Rob says:
G'day folks, I'm Rob - and am pretty stoked about
becoming the new 5th member of Suade! The lads put
me through a grueling audition process, which has
somehow seemed to have worked to my advantage....!
I'm 24, and have been singing since early high
school. Opera and Rock have been my fortes, but it
has always been my secret shower-singing dream to
sing with the boys!
Hopefully you'll get to hear me rockin out at
the next Suade gig.....
Cheers.... Rob.
If you want to know more about Rob, his personal website
is here
- and here's a
picture of him in a white t-shirt about to stab somebody
with a knife. So yes, not only do we have a new
member, we've got a new security guard.
Tasmania ROCKS
So in all the frenzy of running auditions and working
on the upcoming CD, we ended up scaling back our Tassie
tour. Instead of 10 days on this mountainous motorcycling
paradise, thrashing the life out of a poor 900cc Kawasaki
between gigs, we've had to settle for two weekends -
and hire cars. A great pity but life goes on.
On Saturday we visited Launceston for a quick pub show
- which was great until the Colonel had a chair thrown
at him for being so foolish as to wear a scarf.
On Sunday it was off to the town of Burnie on the North-West
coast for the Burnie Big Sing, a day of workshops with
local singers and a big show featuring the Burnie
Youth Choir and the Australian
Boys' Choir. Some of you will know that Sammy, the
Colonel and I all used to sing in the ABC when we were
little tackers, so it was great to see the current crop
of youngsters getting stuck into tunes we remember singing
20 years ago. Wow, 20 years. You have no idea how old
and decrepit that makes us feel.
(On a side note, I just stumbled across a New
York Times review of an ABC show I performed in
19 years ago in Manhattan as a 12-year-old choirboy.
Trippy!)
The Burnie Youth Choir knocked our socks off with their
huge enthusiasm and range of talent. Their leader and
conductor Katy Pakinga, a whirlwind of energy and positivity,
is putting Burnie on the map as an arts hub with her
Encore studio team, and her infectious excitement has
got those kids singin' up a storm. Rock on, guys, don't
ever let anything stop you from loving what you do.
Big thanks to the guys for staying up all night partying
with us after the show, you know who you are, we all
got back to the plane on time somehow and may recover
by sometime early next year. Ask Roy how he earned 10
special Suade points on the trip back to the airport...
No really, ask him. It's very impressive. ;)
We head back to beautiful Tasmania again tomorrow -
Hobart this time for the Festival
of Voices. We look forward to catching up with some
of the Burnie crew again, as well as listening to Een
jump up and down raving about how Tassie taxis are all
different colours.
We'll hopefully get a chance to sing with The
Vocal Consort - revisiting our classical past -
and get in front of heaps of singers from around Tassie
and around the country to do what we do best.... Whatever
that is. And apart from a corporate gig we're doing
in a few weeks, these will be our last few shows with
Sammy. Don't worry, we'll find a way for you guys to
give him a proper send-off the next time we do a big
show in Melbourne.
Thanks for sticking with us through a long July newsletter.
We can't wait to see what's around the corner.
All the best,
Loz
...and the Suade lads.
| Photo
of the month |
|
Een, SammyQ and the Colonel at Launceston's
stunning Cataract Gorge. If you haven't been
to Tasmania, you must go. And you must take
a ridiculously overpowered motorcycle. And you
must hoist bulk wheelies. Mark my words.
More photos here!
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