Rebecca Moore

A touch of folk
By David Butler May 3, 2013, 3:20 p.m.

She's like the artistic love child of folk singer Joni Mitchell and stadium rocker Robert Plant and Rebecca Moore will be performing her unique, folk rock songs at a solo show at the Jerrabomberra Hotel next Friday.

The Sydney-based singer-songwriter grew up in a musical family, and was encouraged to explore a range of instruments and styles.

"I've had music in my family and in my life for as long as I can remember really, and I've played piano and guitar from a young age", Ms Moore said.

"I play the mandolin now as well, which I really like. It's probably my favourite instrument to play now".

But despite her love of traditional folk and pop, she still recalls the seismic impact 70's rockers Led Zeppelin had on her creative process.

"I really love rock music and Led Zeppelin really appeals to me because it's got that folk element but also strong lead guitars. I'd classify what I do as really folk rock. When I play with my band it's really a much fuller sound" she said.

As important for her art is travelling and seeking inspiration from abroad, Ms Moore said.

She spent three years travelling around Australia in a caravan, playing a stream of concerts and taking in the Australian landscape.

A friend inspired her to use her music as a way of creating lasting change, and she's become a champion of Phaung Daw Oo, a monastic orphanage school in Mandalay, which is home to thousands of Burmese orphans.

"It's definitely close to my heart" Ms Moore said.

"Besides the music, it's the thing that probably drives me the most to keep playing and travelling around and touring the music around. I take a tin to every gig and at some of the shows you get $300 or more and people are just so generous" she said.

She's raised over $19,000 so far, all of which goes to the school.

Ms Moore will be playing songs from her soon-to-be-release new album, and said she's looking forward to playing for a Queanbeyan audience next week.

"I try and get away from Sydney as often as I can and play a bit more in the country areas as well. I'm looking forward to getting there" she said.

Ms Moore will also be playing a three-month residency at the Thredbo Alpine Hotel throughout this year's snow season.

Catch Rebecca Moore at the Jerrabomberra Hotel next Friday, May 10, from 7pm. - The Queanbeyan Age 3rd May 2013

REBECCA MOORE

with Melody Pool

Sunday, May 12, 2 - 5pm

Bombie Bar, Coalcliff Surf Life Saving Club

Tickets: $10

Singer songwriter Rebecca Moore says her musical influences can be traced to singalongs during holidays at her grandparents' house at Guerilla Bay, near Batemans Bay on the Far South Coast.

"A lot of my aunts and uncles were musicians and we used to hang out around the campfire and sing Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones and all those classic rock songs," she says.

Moore describes her music as a blend of folk, rock and blues.

"My biggest musical influences are Led Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks," she says.

"I love the songwriting sensibilities of folk but also I love rock music - Pearl Jam and bands like that - so I try to incorporate the two.

"And I really love the blues as well. I do a lot of trad blues - Leadbelly and Eddie Boyd and Bill Monroe - he wrote Rocky Road Blues, which is on my album, it started out as bluegrass."

Moore has been based in the Illawarra for the past year and is enjoying laying roots after enjoying the gypsy life for a number of years, travelling the country performing music while living out of a caravan.

"From 19 onwards I started touring and playing anywhere - pubs, clubs, festivals and I pretty much haven't done anything else since then," she says.

"It's pretty much all I want to do with my life. I am totally happy playing music full time."

The travelling life has also suited Moore's songwriting and many of her songs were inspired by the landscape of places she has visited.

"I have a really strong connection with the land and nature and a lot of my songs come from a sense of place, so I write about where I have been," she says.

"The desert really affects my writing quite strongly and places like the Pink Lake in Esperance.

"I really get a spiritual musical connection to beautiful, natural places.

"I did a season up at Guthega and wrote some beautiful songs up there. There's something about it that really inspires me creatively."

In recent years Moore has combined her love of music with another great passion in her life, raising funds for orphaned Burmese children. She has organised several benefit concerts and collects money at all of her own shows. So far she has raised almost $20,000.

"The children that our money goes to all lost their families in a big cyclone in 2008. It struck me so deeply that one day they could be living with their families and the next completely orphaned - they had no-one and had gone through such a traumatic experience." - Illawarra Mercury May 2013

A great selection of songs which reflect a very mature songwriting ability, Rebecca Moore’s voice is one of her greatest assets, shown in these three rather diverse in style songs, taking the instrumental on an interesting journey. The opening two songs are “Factory” and “Uluru” which take somewhat different approaches to the same sort of style, seemingly influenced by a country feel, though moving away from this easy pigeonhole with little difficulty. Both songs have a very strong vocal presence and deserve your immediate attention. Even better is the closing track “ Tasmania ,” which I loved, a song that opens up with a very bouncy thing happening early on with Rebecca’s voice again at the forefront of the song. This reminds me just a little of the Killing Heidi single Mascara and should see some decent airplay happening for her. If you’re into good vocals then you’ll love this artist, especially as there is some great songwriting involved too. - Heard Magazine

Rebecca Moore is an Aussie folk rock singer with a beautiful voice. Her style of folk rock is engaging and captivating. Rebecca is currently touring non stop and has recently been chosen as the support for Afro Celt Sound System at none other than the Sydney Opera House.
I was lucky to be given the opportunity to ask her a few questions.
O.A.M….Hello Rebecca, thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions for the Only Australian Music website. You are clearly a music orientated person, you play piano, guitar and sing. How long have you been playing music?
I started singing and playing piano at age 7, and then guitar at age 19. I have been touring and gigging since then. Music has been around me my whole life as there are musicians and music lovers on both sides of my family.
O.A.M….It’s a very hard task to make it in Australia without mainstream radio support. My own opinion is that the big stations have let both us listeners and you the performers down in a huge way. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I think it would be awesome if someone started up an all Australian content radio station. There is definitely enough amazing music of all different genres in Oz to make a great Aus Music radio station if someone decided to do it. As far as mainstream radio goes, I think there could definitely be a commitment to more variety and exploration of different artists and a greater level of open mindedness musically. It would be great if there was more support for Australian artists on Australian radio. In saying this though it’s possible to make a living in Australia touring and playing, without mainstream radio support, but obviously it makes life easier if you have it!
O.A.M….Folk rock seems to be working it’s way into the national consciousness a fair bit lately, especially with the continued success of Angus and Julia Stone. Do you see this as a trend that will grow or do you feel that the genre is tailor made for a niche market?
I think its very difficult defining music by titles and categories because even under the banner of “Folk Rock”, there is huge diversity. For example there’s no way I would compare my style to Angus and Julia Stone in any way, because we are so vastly different. I definitely think though that “Folk Rock” in it’s broader sense, (incorporating the many differing styles under that one title), has in the past, and will, continue to engage and appeal to wide audiences, and grow in popularity and evolve. I dont really see it as a niche because there are so many “popular” successful artists (eg Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and the Fairport Convention) who fit under the “Folk Rock” title, but if we did call it a niche, it is certainly a big one!
O.A.M….As a person working in the industry, do you feel an upsurge of support for local musicians just now, is the tide turning do you think?
I think the varying levels of support that artists feel can, (and do) often depend directly their own experiences of the world generally. I believe that people create their own reality, and if they are feeling unsupported, it is often a reflection of something going on within themselves. I do however think that society can help determine, the level of support that is available to artists, and there is so much more can be done by way of creating opportunities for artists. I think there is a long way to go before we are really fully valuing the contribution of artists to society. There are many encouraging signs of change in this area though and I also think that it is about artists mobilising to create opportunities for themselves. It is however very difficult to create a platform for art if the society isnt supportive of it. A friend of mine says that “the audience is half the show”, and to a huge degree this is true. Interestingly I feel far more supported in the UK musically, because the people there seem deeply interested in the style of music that I play, plus, the extensive musical heritage of those places seems to give the people an intrinsic connection to music in general. - Only Australian Music Web site

Rebecca Moore has released her new EP Closing the Distance and will be showcasing it in Canberra this weekend, ahead of a big benefit at Lizotte’s Newcastle on Wednesday 3rd October to raise funds for Burmese Orphans. Rebecca will also be playing at Gulgong Folk Festival.

Rebecca’s one of a breed of musicians that wears themselves to the bone to do their own music but somehow finds time to give a little back as well. On a night when the Speaker of the House of the ACT Legislative Assembly was two tables away building his vision for Canberra in Lego in the Duxton in the people’s republic of O’Connor, Rebecca Moore took time out to talk with Bill Quinn about her new record, her life in music and what she’s doing to bring a little joy into the lives of the Burmese orphans.

It’s always a pleasure to meet with anyone, young or old, who lives their life in whatever they do with passion. So it was especially pleasing to hear what Rebecca’s been up to.

Bill Quinn: Tell me, Rebecca, you’ve had a bit of trouble over the last couple of years, haven’t you? Tell us about “the trouble”.

Rebecca Moore: Oh, my accident? I was on tour in 2010 and I was driving between Darwin and Townsville and I had five days to do it and four shows. 3 x 45 minute sets a night, lug in PA, lug out PA, drive 800kms a day.

Half way across between the highway to Darwin and the coast, I rolled my car. So I got a pretty serious hand injury which is still healing, and that was the end of my national tour!

BQ: And what sort of a hand-brake (no pun intended) has it put on your music?

RM: A lot. I had six months where I couldn’t use my hand at all. So I spent a lot of time song-writing and left-hand playing the piano and that kind of thing. And just slowly getting back into it now. I can strum guitar fine. Every now and again I have a little trouble with timing because it’s still healing.

But in terms of song-writing it’s been useful. It’s just taken some time to get better really.

BQ: And is there a song about it?!

RM: There’s a song forming about the accident. It’s not out yet, but there’s some really amazing things about that whole time. When you have these sorts of things happen, you learn a lot. I definitely got a lot out of it even though it was a challenging thing.

BQ: Let’s go back a couple of steps. Tell us a bit more about your music up until this point.

RM: I just decided in 2009 that I was going to sell everything and travel full-time doing music, so I did that. Sold all my stuff and bought a caravan and had my PA and my piano and took it all on the road.

I did a tour from Melbourne all the way to Darwin and half-way back. Leading up to that I was doing a lot of tracking for my new album which I’ve just finished in London. But the first three-quarters of the demos and the tracking for the band songs on the record I did down in Tathra with Dave Sparks.

BQ: It’s a lot of time on the road and you’ve got more than just a lot of equipment, you’ve got a little flesh and blood person too, don’t you?

RM: I do, yep! But he’s actually tomorrow turning 15. And I’m lucky that he’s got a bit of time to spend with his Dad now and go to the speedway and things like that! He’s great; he’s learning the drums and doing lots of digital media and everything which is really exciting.

He can drum in my band one day!

BQ: The album; it’s been a while coming, hasn’t it?

RM: It has; ten years, really. The oldest song on the record I wrote in 1999. It’s just been a big expanse of time of travelling and writing and I think the songs have grown over time and I’m really happy with where they’ve ended up.

I think the time I spent in London was fantastic because it was just the best thing for bringing the songs into their true form. I think all of them have been given the best chance to be as artistically close to how I hear them in my head as they could possibly be.

It’s very exciting!

BQ: You were very busy over there because you were doing a bit of gigging at the same time, weren’t you?

RM: Yeah, I was playing a lot of tours, festivals and a lot of folk clubs around the UK. I love it over there; it’s amazing.

BQ: Tell us about the gig on Thursday night.

RM: We’re playing at The Front Café. It’s really cool because one of my friends is running that venue: Paul Jamieson. He’s a mate of mine from a long time ago. I used to come here and hang out with some friends. My brothers were both at uni here.

So Paul’s venue, The Front. An amazing place to play. I haven’t actually been there before, but a LOT of my friends who tour have come through Canberra and that’s where they play. I’m really looking forward to that.

Alice Cottee from No Hausfrau will be playing with me, which will be awesome. She’s a local gal and I’m met her a few times or three over the past year, so we thought we’d get together and play a show, so it should be really exciting.

[Rebecca tells me off air later that she met Alice - Timber and Steel

"Australia's best kept secret" - Myspace

Rebecca Moore took to the stage where upon it was announced that she’d just featured in a self penned article in the Aprap magazine as part of the APRA Professional Development Award. The first song performed was “Factory” which featured a propulsive guitar hook that bordered on Rock. Strong and bluesy, the song carried itself by the surrealism of the lyrics and the story and with it Rebecca’s amazingly captivating singing. Very spontaneous and musical yet grounded by the guitar hook. Fascinating story and lyrics that demand future listens. “Ice” also showcased some amazing vocals and Rebecca’s convincing stage presence and delivery. The tempo and guitar patterns follow the emotion in the song, an excellent piece. Finally “Arnica” was based on a homoeopathic healing remedy. This was melodious and featured Rebecca’s alto vocal range. A brilliant set from Rebecca Moore who is a great performer with a stunning voice. Quote from Ben Ackermann, “she is one of the most brilliant people I have ever seen here.”
- Songsmith Magazine

"Rebecca's song Factory is a great blues number that moves along like a fast moving low pressure system" - The Manly Daily

Rebecca Moore who debuted on the Society stage in November at Darling Harbour next took to the stage and commenced with “Daddy.” She enthralled with her wonderful Celtic, Earthy style and a powerful voice to match. Kate Bush and Sinead O’Connor are two comparisons, but there was a discernable individualism that was all Rebecca’s own, a certain Australianness was present. Enigmatic, reaching yet slightly haunting, she captured the audience immediately. Re. the song “Spaceships” (writes Gav)…the chords captured the feel instantly, strong, breathy vocal. Interesting modern phrasing that adds to the lyric. Vocal dynamic kept everyone quiet. Killing Heidi energy but her own style. The song had energy and a real flavour. “Arnica” was about a homoeopathic remedy for traumas. Passionate, she captures the feel and energy, almost as if a thunderstorm is present. Rebecca’s presence and powerful performing and singing kept the audience enthralled. Brilliant set from Rebecca who performs a lot around town, and excellent songs full of passion and an expansive feel that relates both to the inner and the outer. - Songsmith Magazine