In the beginning...

If we were to go back to the start – where this all began – we’d find two girls, a kayak and an idea. Throughout 2006, Rhi and I were training for a kayak endurance race. Many mornings were spent (before work) paddling on Sydney Harbour working our biceps while soaking up – from a comfortable distance – the early morning chaos of inner city working professionals. Being on the water also gave us a unique perspective of a lesser-known Sydney: homeless men fishing from the wharf with self-made fishing rods, riggers working on the wharf at Cockatoo Island, old mansions nestled along the shores of Lane Cove River…

The harbour, with its vibrancy, chaos and intricate buzz, gave us energy to keep powering forward. But it also fed our creativity. Although I suspect mostly it was simply the time our training afforded us to bounce ideas back and forth across the kayak. Either way, much inspiration was found during our long paddles. Many new ideas formed: a book to be written, a story to be told, a blog to form, a project to implement, an organisation to begin. How often did we suddenly realise our paddles were lying dormant across the kayak while we excitedly chattered about our latest creative endeavour!

One morning we were lamenting the lack of people we knew who were interested in talking about music – talking deeply about it, tearing it apart and dissecting its layers, exploring its darkest secrets… and so, after a bunch of emails were sent to friends, acquaintances and a few randoms, our Nerd Music Nights began!

At the initial Nerd Music Night we explored the music of Liza Lim, while drinking red wine and enjoying the vegan goodness Rhi and I enthusiastically cooked up for our new friends. And since then we’ve found ourselves emersed in many critical listening and focussed discussion nights, supporting the presentation of each others creative practices, enjoying vibrant colourful (and at times rather raucous!) dinner parties, adventuring in the wilderness of Australia and spending far too much time guzzling beer after gigs and concerts while arguing, bitching and ranting about all that is art…

Curiousity began to grow about our own creative practices: Were there crossover points in our personal approaches to creativity? What would it be like working together to create art? How could we work together? What would we create? Eventually another idea emerged…

…And so here we are…

Where will this new idea take us? Who knows! But it is with great excitement that we begin working creatively together and we invite you to follow our creative process through reading this blog. Stay tuned!

- Dan