(From Left): Mikey Cahill, Michael Dwyer, Kate Hennessy, Andrew McMillen, Jenny Valentish

Music and Writing, they go together like cheese and wine. There are lots of festivals that celebrate each individually but finally there is one that combines the best of both worlds: The Rock ‘N Roll Writer’s Festival.

Travelling from its home at the Old Museum in Bowen Hills, Brisbane to the historic, Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne on Sunday April 9^th, the Rock ‘N Roll Writer’s Festival is a celebration of the creative spark that so intrinsically link music and literature together.

Bringing the best of the 2-day weekend Brisbane event into a one day special, the Melbourne leg featured four seminars covering the impact of Place on identity, Memoir Writing, Music Criticism and Songwriting.

Curated by former self-managed, artist managers, Leanne de Souza and Joe Woolley, the festival aims to explore the conversation of professionals in the music and journalism industry and their powerful, dual impact on each other. Starting in Brisbane, Melbourne was a logical progression for the festival according to Mr Woolley.

“We are not a very open-minded society. Hopefully festivals like these will change that, especially in the creative pursuits,” said Mr Woolley. “Melbourne has such a strong music scene, especially now, so we’re glad we could hold the RRWF at such a historic place as the Abbotsford Convent.”

Each seminar consisted of four panellists and one moderator. The guest speakers included authors, journalists, songwriters, commentators and broadcasters and everything in-between.

Panellists for the day included 30-year music critic, Michael Dwyer, Triple J presenter, Dom Alessio, legendary aboriginal musician, Bunna Lawrie, and rising blues & country artist, Cash Savage amongst others.

Place without a Postcard focussed on the impact of place on identity and how home effects an artist’s music or a journalist’s writing style. The environment around us doesn’t just define our place in the world; it impacts our voice in it too, as each panellist made clear.

Bunna Lawrie spoke beautifully of the “magic in our bodies” and how the sounds of nature in his hometown of Koonibba in SA, had heavily influenced his music. Seemingly jaded, Pig City author, Andrew Stafford reflected on how the insular, paranoid nature of his adopted home in Brisbane contributed to his isolated, sardonic writing style. Mick Thomas described the feeling of being a social outcast when moving to Melbourne from Geelong at age 10 in the 1970s.

Different types of environments affected the panellists in different ways. For Stafford it was political (particularly the Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption in Brisbane in the late 80s), Bunna clearly had a tie to the natural environment while Mick Thomas drew on the impact that different societies had on the individual (comparing intellectually driven Iceland to popularist driven Australia).

This Wheel’s on Fire focus on memoirs took a darker turn and was understandably more contemplative. All releasing books ranging from drug addiction (Jenny Valentish’s memoir/research hybrid, Woman of Substances) to the loneliness and melancholia of touring (Hugo Race’s, Road Series) the panellists took the audience on a deep, dark journey into the depths of the human psyche. Suffice to say, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

All agreed though, writing memoirs was an incredibly therapeutic way to purge all the demons from one’s system. Can one be too honest though? Will a person be judged too harshly for opening up so deeply? Former Bad Seeds band member, Hugo Race didn’t seem to think so. “A memoir won’t define a person, it is just a moment in time. Once it’s published, after a while, people will forget about it and move on.”

There was notably more buzz in the audience surrounding the seminar on Music Criticism. It was a much more upbeat and light-hearted affair. All the music critics on the panel were well equipped to talk (to say the least) and it was a rapid-fire discussion full of colourful banter.

A funny moment occurred when all four panellists, (in a clearly pre-prepared speech) read passages from each other’s reviews. These were either cringe worthy, fake compliments or a reflection of the genuine, mutual respect they had for each other.

To conclude the discussion, a potentially loaded question was posed to former publicist, Jenny Valentish, about her decision to pass on Solange’s debut album for review to a “woman of colour”. Her response was honest and her decision, honourable. “The decision seemed obvious to me, that it deserved to be written by someone, particularly a woman of colour, who might’ve gone through similar experiences.” Bravo, Jenny.

(From Left): Cash Savage, Adalita, Mike Noga and Iain Shedden

From a panel of super articulate wordsmiths to the complete antithesis: the songwriters. Now, admittedly, you wouldn’t think that normally. After all, these are people who WRITE SONGS for a living. What was ironic though, was how difficult each songwriter found it to express themselves.

While the discussion was a little stop-start and not overly eloquent, what was interesting to note was that each artist didn’t make conscious decisions to be songwriters, they just did it. This says a lot about the individual pursuit of happiness in the creative fields and letting your natural desires guide you.

It was Cash Savage who stole the show though with her unintentionally dry humour and monotonic delivery. Melbourne singer, Jess Ribeiro hijacked the seminar at one point too; handing out books to the other panellists to ensure the discussion maintained its lack of structure and fluidity.

The themes of the day appeared to be self-deprecation, always be yourself and let the truth guide you. All great messages amid a conversation that, hopefully, will continue to become more widespread in this country.