In the studio with Eskimo Joe’s Kav Temperley

In the studio with Eskimo Joe’s Kav Temperley

Last year, 11 of us Year 10 students had the privilege of taking part in a songwriting workshop with the lead singer from Eskimo Joe, Kav Temperley. The workshop ran over two school days, with the aim being to produce a finished song.

We started the first day with an exercise to get the creative juices flowing where we just wrote whatever was in our minds down on paper and were not allowed to stop writing. After this exercise and a bit of inspiration from Kav, we split into three groups and went into our own rooms to write a song. Although, it wasn’t as simple as just writing a song.

Our group was made up of Alec Prendiville playing keyboard, James Winch on drums, Tom Mengler, a cello player who picked up a bass guitar for the first time, and me on vocals. We had a slow start at first, trying to figure out what type of song we wanted to write. Eventually, a line popped into my head – “I don’t know where I’ll be ten years from now” – and it all went very quickly from there. Tom and I worked on the rest of the lyrics while Alec and James worked on chords. Kav rotated through the groups, helping when we were stuck or unsure, and giving suggestions for lyrics. By the end of the day, we had finished most of our lyrics and had some structure to the chords. To finish the first day, each group performed, and everyone provided feedback.

Year 10 students Thomas Mengler, Rory Fleming, James Winch and Alec Prendiville with Kav Temperley

The second day involved finalising our songs and recording them. As Kav could only record one group at a time, and with our group being last, we had a lot of time to improve our song. We also took band photos during this time, and Kav’s assistant gave us some insight into a band’s inner workings. We then recorded our song, which was an awesome experience. With Kav’s expertise, our song slowly came to life as we recorded each part and added them together one by one to make a complete recording.

Once we finished our scratch demo (the first recording of a song), we all came together to end the day by listening to each group’s song. It was amazing to hear what we had all achieved in just two days! This concluded the songwriting workshop, leaving all of us completely creatively and mentally exhausted.

Thank you to our Enrichment Leader – STEM, Mr McLean, for organising the workshop. It is not every day you get to write and record a song!

Rory Fleming

Year 10