Dave Norman

Hi,

thought I'd put up my song 'The Crocodile Hunter' from my recent Koala Blues EP. The song was inspired by Bob Irwin's book 'The Last Crocodile Hunter. about Steve and his life. As you may know the crocs in Australia are under threat again with some politicians suggesting that there needs to be a cull with one notable politician even suggesting that they should sell 'Crocodile Shooting tours' ! If any of you have seen crocodiles in the wild you'll know just how unique these creatures are coming from the age of the dinosaurs, living to 100 years or more, able to reduce their heart beat to one beat a minute and move through the water without a ripple ... the ultimate stealth hunter.

Bob and Steve's aim was for people to recognise just how amazing these animals are and hopefully this song will also help them in this regard. If you haven't seen them in the wild I really think it's one for the bucket list along with the Koala, Dingo, Bilby and the Great Barrier Reef which I have also written about and are on the EP.

Thanks again for all your support. We're currently coming close to 200,000 views, 150,000 shares and 1,427 subscribers which is quite amazing and really shows the desire to keep these animals living in their natural habitat. It just needs understanding and consideration to achieve ... the more people who know the better the outcome for all wildlife.

All the best, Dave

Well I guess this will be the last message for 2017. I thought it had been quite a quiet year but looking back there have been some real successes, the major ones being playing at the National Koala Conference and having 'Song for the Koala' adopted as the song for the global fight for the Koala, and bringing out the 'Koala Blues' EP with Jacqueline Schindler which is being considered for inclusion in the Queensland State education curriculum (how good would that be - all those little minds understanding the need to protect the environment for the future !) I'm also been No.1 Australian Folk artist on N1M and had a number of No.1's including the current Easy Listening song 'Change of Situation' - quite a year, but only achieved through the help of you guys !

A number of you will have heard the basic recording of my new song 'Takarakka'. The song is currently in the recording process with a recording studio in Los Angeles (the wonders of modern technology). I've heard the first keyboard backing track which sounds really nice and am now waiting on the cello track but it seems to be coming on nicely. I was a bit dubious about this to begin with, but it does seem to be working out.

I'm currently reading Neil Young's autobiography. Although I've only just started he's raising some good points about music having lost it's soul ... most of what we hear now is too perfect, or too digitalised to get the proper feel, hence why people are turning back to vinyl. What do you think ?

Have a great holiday period, if you're on the north side of the world that probably means food and partys if you're on my side beach and partys !!

Have a great time and thanks again for your support. Dave

Hi,
thought it was about time for an update ! I've been a bit distracted recently with a new job in the little country town of Yandina near Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. This has meant staying up there in my campervan and traveling back at weekends ... however things are changing as I'm now working a 3 day week which gives me more time to pursue my music again.
Hopefully you've checked out The' Koala Blues EP' which is up on all the major music websites. There is one song in particular which seems to be attracting attention and that is 'The Crocodile Hunter' a song about Steve and Bob Irwin which I wrote after reading Bob Irwin's book. The EP is currently with the State Education department for consideration to be added to the education syllabus - so fingers crossed. Unfortunately a State election has now been called for the 25th November so I don't expect anything to happen until that is out of the way, however the current Labor government are bringing in some really strong environmental policies so hopefully they'll get back in easily.
One of the problems as a singer/songwriter is how to get your new songs recorded. The music industry is forever changing and long gone are the days where a single would suddenly pop up from nowhere in the charts along with recording contracts etc. I have posted a 'home recording' of a song I wrote recently called 'Takarakka' about a trip I took to the beautiful Carnarvon Gorge. It was great to see the song go straight to No.1 in the N1M Folk chart just in it's current state and I guess I have you guys to thanks for that. It really would be good to record it ... I really think it's the type of song people can identify with. I have another song called 'Old Petrie Town' which is much in the same vein about a local historic village ... another I'd really like to get recorded ! I've also released 'Change of Situation' on the music websites, again I have some more songs in this vein called 'Special Friends', 'My Sweet Valentine', 'Career Girl' all of which are strong songs but not recorded ... and have just released 'The Silent ANZAC' in time for the 99th anniversary of Armistice Day. This song was recorded with legendary Australian guitarist Phil Emmanuel (brother of Tommy), and features guitars made from the wood of one of the WW1 troopships the RMS Olympic, a sistership of the Titanic and got this amazing review from Eric Bogle writer of THE best antiwar song of all time 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda':
'To my knowledge, which is admittedly imperfect, “The Silent ANZAC”. is the only song about a WWI submarine that has ever been written! Nice atmospheric arrangement, and the song remains true to the story of the AE2, which I have read about on couple of occasions.
So ... as you can see the question is which direction to go in, and how !!! Please let me know, your thoughts and your reviews really matter !
Thanks, Dave

Firstly got to thank you all for this TOTAL 100,044 + 35 SONG PLAYS TODAY ! So if you were one of those plays today you could have been the 100,000th ... The new Koala Blues EP is up on all the major digital sites so hopefully you will have checked that out. The latest news on this is that the State Education Office are looking at it to see if it could be added to the school curriculum. This would be fantastic as it would really get the wildlife message out to the children and their families so fingers crossed. The other big news is that 'Change of Situation' has now been released and should start appearing on the digital sites. I know this is a favorite with a lot of people and everytime I promote it on N1M it seems to go to Number 1 on the Easy Listening charts ! I've also written a couple of really nice songs which I'm planning to home record first and then will have to think about getting back into the studios ....

Thanks again, really appreciate your support, Dave

My New EP 'Koala Blues' is now available on CD and from all leading digital music websites. We believe this is a great way to let people know about the plight of these animals and give the wildlife a voice ! As well as making the EP generally available the plan is to try and get it into the schools so the children get to learn about the environment through the songs. The new EP contains the following tracks:

1. Song for the Koala – a song about the plight of the Koala which was played at thisyears National Koala Conference at Port Macquarie in June
2. It's Hard to be a Dingo – this song was written for the Jane Goodall Institiute's Day of Action for the Dingo and received Highly Commended at the 2015 Queensland Music Awards
3. The Crocodile Hunter – an up tempo bush song inspired by Bob Irwin's recent book
4. Once in a Bilby Moon – written to help the Bilby Organisation and the plight of the bilby
5. Don't Wait until Tomorrow – a ballad about Global Warming

Although we'd like to cover costs we are not really trying to make money out of it, but are more interested in putting the message across and believe that songs are a great way to do this. We're lucky to have such amazing wildlife in Australia, and we need to protect it !

Hi,
wow what a busy time since the last newsletter ! The great news is the new EP, Koala Blues is now available from all major music websites ! This has been quite a project and we are hoping that it will bring these Environmental issues to people's attention and also extend it to the schools. The attached poster can be printed off so if you can advertise it all that would be great !

Thanks for your support - the message is getting through and things are changing. In our immediate area the koala population is increasing by an estimated 22% !!! This is of course against the overall trend which is a sharp decline in the koala population, but I think it goes to show what can happen JUST by getting the message out to the community.

I think the new EP will be keeping me busy for a while but once that is out of the way I have some other non environmental songs which I'd really like to record ... so who knows !

Thanks again. Please check out 'Koala Blues' and listen to the lyrics as the message is in there and please share with your friends and if you can help at all please let me know. This our World and what happens in it is down to US.
Dave

Hi, in preparation for the imminent release of my new EP, as requested I am trying out the digital music websites with my song 'Coal Dust on the Water' which should be circulating on all the main music websites through CD Baby. The song is about the problems the Great Barrier Reef is currently facing and the devastating effect the planned coal ports would have on the reef ...

The latest news on the new EP is that it's currently being mixed and according to my producer Gavin is sounding 'really nice' ! The new EP will contain a remix of 'Song for the Koala', 'It's Hard to be a Dingo', 'Once in a Bilby Moon', 'The Crocodile Hunter' and 'Don't Wait until Tomorrow' (a song about climate change). Jacqueline Schindler President of the ZKS Foundation is financing the project and we are hoping to get the EP into schools, Environmental groups and centres and into the global community to bring awareness of the current state of environmental affairs. Any help you can give us with this would be much appreciated !

Thanks again for all your support and watch this space !!!
Dave

Hi,

been a while since my last newsletter so I thought it was time to update you all ! At the start of June I played at the National Koala Conference in Port Macquarie. It was a bit of a drive, 650 clicks, but well worth it. The performance had been kept secret and was the first time many people had heard 'Song for the Koala' which went down a storm - apparently there were people in tears ! The performance can be seen on YouTube at (expired link). The Koala Hospital at Port Macquarie is a worldwide tourist attraction and is currently being refurbished. One of the refurbishments is a giant video screen and the song and video will be part of this. This is expected to take place around September or October of this year so another trip will be in order to kick it all off ! The good news locally is that our koala population in Moreton Bay is now INCREASING at a rate of 22% ! This is an incredible turnaround from previous decreases which have been as high as 85%. Am expecting to start seeing young males pushing out as they try and find new territories ...

The other big news is that I am back at the recording studio starting this weekend.. I have a Koala festival at Noosa I'm playing at then I'll be going to the Gavin Hamburger studios where most of my other songs were recorded to start work on the new EP which has been sponsored by an overseas sponsor. The thoughts are to put some wildlife songs together which we can also try and get into the schools to push the message through the children, after all the future is in their hands ! I've added a picture of one of the creatures I've written a song about, it's a bilby, there used to be millions running around but they are now down to the last few (could be as little as @650) as their numbers have been decimated by feral cats and foxes. Many of the last remaining few are now housed in an electrified fence area in the north of our state ... hopefully my new song 'Once in a Blby Moon' can bring attention to their plight.

Thanks again for all your support and shares. It really feel as if the message is getting out there and things are changing. We are lucky in Australia in that we have the chance to plan ahead with the wildlife in mind - let's hope we don't blow it.

All the best, Dave

Sorry if it's gone a bit quiet at the moment, am in planning mode ! The exciting news which I forgot to tell you was that an overseas sponsor has offered to pay for a new EP ! We are planning a new EP of my environmental songs which as well as pushing out the message to the general public we can also get into the schools ... I have 4 or 5 songs in mind including a new song about the Bilbys and the crocodiles which are currently under danger of a proposed cull. I am currently in the UK on family business but can hopefully get started on it next month when I get back home. Watch this space for more details !!!!

Despite a last minute attack of the 'flu bug still managed to get on to play 'Song for the Koala' at Saturday's National Koala Conference at Port Macquarie in front of around 250 people from around Australia involved in trying to save this iconic animal in the wild. I understand there were few dry eyes ... check it out at (expired link).

Thanks again for your support and please consider sharing the more people who know and care the better the chances of saving them !

Exciting news ! Heard some exciting news at the weekend am planning to announce it at the National Koala Conference when I play there on June 3rd ... stay tuned !!!

This year we're really going to try and put the message out for Wild Koala Day. What we are asking people to do is simply play 'Song for the Koala' and share it ... There is no cost involved, the song, video and artwork have all been donated to help the Koala. Hopefully the message of the song will get heard across the world !

Studio recording featuring Dave Norman
Video created by Meghan Halverson
‘Koala Blues’ picture by Nambour artist Brian Tisdall