Camille Te Nahu and Stuie French: News

Five days have passed since we arrived home from that wonderful little Island called Norfolk and we miss it. Cam was there for the first festival 16 years ago and has been back a few times in between. Norfolk Island people are the most generous, happy go lucky people you could ever meet.

We took both our sons over with us (Chet and Sonny) and after a 3am arrival home from a gig the night before we left (At Cessnock CMF), we weren’t feeling too crash hot when we arrived at the airport @ 8am with two buzzing kids!

The first night on the island was the Meet and Greet night, which we were invited to showcase some of our songs for ½ hour while everyone was schmoozing. We played 3 sets throughout the week on the shows, but the best times we had were the Jam nights, where it’s all free and easy and you just get up and have a play! We had babysitters for the boys (all local ladies who offered their services to us) so it was such a treat to be able to go and let our hair down, play a few songs, bust out a few dance moves and have a couple of drinks.

Things to love about Norfolk:
* The only place in the world who have a phone book with the locals Nicknames in it!
* Apart from where Lego is made, Norfolk is the next cheapest in the world
* You can leave your car unlocked and feel safe about it
* Everyone is a friend – you hold your index finger up permanently when you’re driving
to acknowledge EVERY car that comes your way!
* The best Fish (apart from NZ!)
* All the locals are characters, most of whom you don’t even know their real names (eg
Pendo, Roughy, Smudgie)
* Chet loved going 4WD with Smudgie and the Glass bottom Boat ride

All in all we had a wonderful time at the festival and it’s always good to meet other musos and hook up with all of our NZ friends too.

This weekend sees us playing in Barmera SA for the South Australian CMF with our Band The Feral Swing Katz. Michel Rose is back in fine form after breaking his arm in January. We’re all looking forward to that, and then going to see Michael Buble on Monday night should top it all of for us!

Writing for the album is still chugging along however as much as we were hoping to have something out in the next few months, in reality it’s not going to happen til Tamworth. We’re heading to USA in October, so we plan on doing the last of our writing over there, then come home and record. It’s been good fun getting out there and showcasing some of our new songs at our gigs and getting feedback from our fans about them.

Lots of gigs coming up – trip to Tasmania, Mildura CMF, New Zealand then USA.
Keep checking the website for upcoming gigs, a few have had to be cancelled due to other band members picking up tours etc but we’re trying to reschedule when we can.

If anyone has any tips on Austin, NYC or Vegas do let us know – Cam is busily organising our trip and always grateful for any advice!

Rock on!
Camille and Stuie

Is the year flying by or what ...

Highlight of April was going to see KD Lang in concert at the State Theatre. The best concert we have seen without a doubt. After seeing KD perform on Sunrise singing "Hallelujah" I convinced Stuie that we had to go so after scoring two tix off ebay we were on our way. The Band were sublime - no one overplayed, it was perfect. The sound was fantastic - the band were heard but not over the top and KD's vocals shone through. It was such an inspiring night for us musically - we've written a couple of songs since, inspired by KD!!!

Stuie has been in the studio with Don Costa and Dean Perrett, so there's never a dull moment. I'm busy getting my head around the fact that our 4 year old could be off to school next year - yikes, it's a scary thought and believe me, just as they all say - time just flies by!!

We are getting excited about the Cessnock CMF at the end of the month where we get to play with the Feral Swing Katz - Michel's first gig back since he broke his arm back in January - should be fun! Then early the next morning (yawn) we head off to Norfolk Island for a week, to play at the Festival there.

Lots more shows coming up for the rest of the year, so check out the gig guide. If all goes to plan, the new record should be starting in June/July.

OH .. one last thing. I got a new Maton guitar for my birthday. I fell in love with the Everly Brothers style guitar, so Stuie got Maton to build me one and it arrived last week and I must say it is just gorgeous. Now I'm starting to sound like my husband who is an absolute guitar nut, but it really is nice. The scratchguards are getting put on it as we speak, so by this Wednesday I should have it in my hot little hands. It's even got my name in paua handwritten on the neck - flash aye!!!!

Thanks for all of your support!

Camille and Stuie

So here we are back in Sydney after a huge four days in Adelaide. We played our last gig last night (Sun 06/04/08) and arrived home @ 12pm, a wake up call @ 4am for a 6am flight out of Adelaide .. ouch .. with 2 children in tow - double ouch!

It started on Thursday, we flew out from Syd/Adelaide. We're parked up on the plane, seat belts on, then the pilot announces because of the bad winds, there was only one runway open, so we had to sit and wait for 40 minutes until we were allowed to go... We eventually arrive in Adelaide. Go to pick up hire car and Cam manages to get appointed the Trainee on the counter so that ended up taking another half hour instead of 5 minutes. It all gets a bit hard some days when you're travelling with kids and you just want to get to where you're going!

Enter GPS .. It's seriously one of the best investments we've made (Cam anyway!), we call her "Paula" and off we go to Trev and Marty Warner's House. They're the lovliest couple you will EVER meet and Trev is the most enthusiastic, musical musicians we've ever met. They've lined up a dinner with another couple of good friends Al and Bryan DeGruchy (makes bloody great Acoustic Guitars!) so that was a great night of catching up for everyone and the best food ever thanks to Marty.

Friday we headed off to Port Pirie to do our first show. It was a cold night in Port Pirie and we didn't have such a great turnout, but those who attended seemed to really enjoy the show. We had special guests Nathanial and Tracey who opened the show and they were fantastic. Huge thanks to Roma Sampson who helped co-ordinate the show and let us bunk in at her house for the night - oh and to Lyn for babysitting!

Saturday we headed back to Adelaide and that night Stuie jumped in on a bluegrass gig with Trev Warner and a couple of his buddies - Stuie had a blast doing a bit of flat picking!

Sunday - we headed to the Adelaide CMC as the main reason we were here was to play at a friend Robert Sextons 60th Birthday Bash which he celebrated @ the Club. We played a couple of sets for him, and got our good friend and local legend Trev Warner up with us to blast out a few tunes. Thanks to Mel and Travis from the John Matheson Band for jumping up with us too.

After that we headed to the Oakbank Hotel for our final show - but stopped along the way for a late lunch @ Rena's Thai Kitchen, Erindale - seriously good Thai - fresh as fresh.. wanna move to Adelaide just so we can eat there more often! Great food.

Our show at the Oakbank was fantastic. The publicans Greg and Sheryle were just fantastic and really looked after us .. the room we played in was lovely and intimate - the show sold out a week ago so everyone was happy before the show even begun!

We had lots of Cam and Stu "virgins" which we were really grateful for, the fact that they took a punt to come to our shows, some of who knew nothing about us!!

Thanks to Dave Prior for organising the show and John O'Dea for the PA.
If you get a chance to go to this venue for a show, do it .. it's got great food, good people and a great vibe.

It's time for an afternoon kip.

Thanks to everyone who came out to our shows.

Stu and Cam

Writing writing and writing ....

That's what we've been doing in between studio sessions, changing nappies and spending time with our two young sons Chet and Sonny.

The new album will be ready later in the year with a few more originals this time round.

Cam got to sing backing vocals recently on the upcoming Leo Sayer album - a collection of his hits recorded in a laid back jazzy type environment. "To be honest, I didn't really know too much about who Leo Sayer was initially. When I got talking to him, he spoke about how he did backing Vocals on Stevie Wonder's 'Keys of Life" album and it was then I thought 'hang on a minute!' He is such a lovely man, and made me feel so welcome while singing on his record. It was an awesome experience!"

Stuie has been producing records for Lee Forster, Matt Manning, Clelia Adams, Jane Saunders, Royden Donoghue and Greg Champion. Never a dull moment in our house!

Our latest single "All I ever Need is You" is currently Number 10 on the Top 30 Country Charts!

Lots of upcoming festivals around the country so we'd love to see you at one of our gigs!