By Jessica Anstice
Following the Bunyip State Park bushfires last year, an Emerald music producer united a handful of local talents with the idea of creating an album to help redirect the community’s minds from the sadness and negativity that pervaded.
Now almost 15 months on and overcoming a couple of hurdles along the way, the album is halfway complete.
Producer Mark Stanley became inundated with about 120 submissions, after putting the call out on social media for people who might be interested in creating the album with him.
After much consideration, he selected his top 10 favourite songs to form an album.
“What originally started as an idea to help one person out, rapidly turned into a feature-length record when I was bombarded with submissions,” he recalled.
“It’s brought 10 individuals, who didn’t know each other together and it’s ended up being a really fun and fulfilling project for everyone.”
Local musicians, such as guitarists, bass players and pianists, have also volunteered their time to make the project’s dream a reality.
“The songs are not just an acoustic version – they are all amazing pieces of work,” he said.
“The local singers brought their songs in and I’ve helped them produce it and arrange it by writing additional parts when needed, to make it more interesting and complete.
“I play the drums, but I’ve also brought more local musicians in to help. I think I’ve invested about 150 hours of my time and so has my wife, as she’s the back-up singer.”
The finished album will include songs that vary between folk, R&B, rock, pop and more.
With a lot that goes on behind the scenes, Mr Stanley brought in Jill Whitington to assist.
Ms Whitington, who created and manages the Phoenix Ensemble: A Hidden Expose Facebook page, recalls “I just happened to be perusing through Facebook one day and saw his most genuine offer, so I reached out.“
Ms Whitington had experienced the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, which gave her an understanding of just how important a project like this was for the community.
“Everyone can relate to music. Music is soul food and this community project has brought about so much positivity,“ she said.
“We’ve had tremendous support from the local communities and without their support, we wouldn’t be able to keep this ball of energy rolling.“
With the current coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the project has been put on pause for the time being, however Mr Stanley hopes to have the album finished soon.
“As soon as restrictions are lifted, I’ll get the last couple of singers in to do their vocal parts,“ he said.
“We also plan on doing a documentary, as we have a local filmmaker who said he’d love to put it together for us. I’ve received this kind of generosity from people throughout my career before, so now I’m putting it back into the community.
“It’s been really lovely and well worth doing. We’re all looking forward to finishing it.”
Unfortunately, on Wednesday 22 July the recording studio was broken into and valuable equipment was stolen.
“This was just terrible news to wake up to, devastating for all involved,“ Ms Whitington said.
“We all contribute voluntarily in this project; we have no funds to simply replace items.”
Even though it is another hurdle for the album’s journey, she said, “We will adapt and overcome, we really have no other choice.”
If anyone has any information in relation to this burglary, please contact Emerald Police.
