Episode 40 – Thomas Binetter (Remember That You Will…

 

Global traveller, legal man and musician, Thomas Binetter. Thomas was one of the original members of post rock giants sleepmakeswaves and since moving on from the band, Thomas has dived into the world of law and a mirage of other projects and adventures.

We spend time talking about music, his career to date in law, politics, and also his exploration into his Jewish background and Judaism (this is where my ignorance truly shines!). Lots of great perspectives and learnings to take from this one.

Show notes 

Find Thomas on LinkedIn.
Thomas’ current band – Remember That You Will Die.
Heard sleepmakeswaves? Check out one of Thomas’ and my favourite tracks ‘one day you will teach me to let go of my fears‘.
Here’s a resource on Judaism if you know zilch about it!
What’s Safe Schools? Article: Marrickville (Inner Sydney Suburb) backs Safe Schools.

Episode 39 – David from Sweden (The Swedish Number)

 

Sweden’s tourism agency has come up with ‘The Swedish Number’. This great idea to have ‘one’ phone number that you can call and be connected to a random Swede to discuss, well, whatever you want!

I discovered this via an article in the New York Times and thought maybe I should call the number myself?

Enjoy my extremely awkward conversation with David, from Sweden!

Show notes

The Swedish Number
So where is Sweden anyway?
Tell me more about Stockholm.
Find out more about Cities: Skylines here. Play through video here.

 

 

Episode 38 – Duane Jackson (Electrik Dynamite, The Midnight…

 

Legendary rock-a-fella and all round nice bloke, Duane Jackson is best known for pulling uniquely crafted bass playing shapes on stage with Melbourne band Electrik Dynamite and newer band Midnight Parlour. In addition, Duane is a multi-purpose touring work horse, lending his hands to a multitude of artists doing everything from merchandise, production and driving the trucks!

I spent a bit of time catching up with what is happening in the Electrik Dynamite camp and being introduced to Midnight Parlour, but also picked Duane’s brain on free lancing. He talk about him working a multitude of jobs and how it helps him live the lifestyle that he has. Another great example of someone doing what he loves and making sure he gets paid for it. Definitely some great inspirational candy for those with an appetite for alternative living and sticking it to the man!

Show notes

Check out Electrik Dynamite – Website, Online Store, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube.
Purchase Electrik Dynamite music straight from Amazon! Amazon also supports this podcast!
Check out Midnight Parlour – Bandcamp, Facebook.
Destroy all Lines
Unified

An oldie, but one of my favourite ED songs!

Episode 37 – James Norbert Ivanyi (Instrumental Rock Solo…

 

James is a great example of someone who is living life on his own terms. Already making plenty of noise with his solo career as a guitarist, James has been on a journey to re-balance his life and rediscover his passions, not just in music. Some fantastic lessons to be taken from this, regardless of what your passions may be, and a conversation had me completely inspired to continue to find more harmony in my own life.

Show Notes

Find James Norbert Ivanyi on Facebook, YouTube and Bandcamp.
James’ latest EP ‘The Usurper’ can be heard on YouTube for free HERE.
James is endorsed by Suhr Guitars, Friedman, Fractal Audio and D’addario.
James used to play in the band Paradigm. You can see some of that music on Facebook and YouTube.
Guitar Gods Interview with James here.
What’s NAMM?

 

Episode 36 – Mick Goddard (Mick G Photography)

 

Mick Goddard is best known for Mick G Photography, his photo work in the Sydney music scene, shooting both local and international shows, Mick’s photos are seen all over the internet and are cherished by many bands, including ours!

Mick and I have a great chat about his love of Iron Maiden, his photography and most importantly we talk at length about his son Kai who’s suffered extreme heart issues since birth. This is the second guest in a row on the podcast who has had first hand experience with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (also see episode 35 with Sinclair Newey), which was certainly not planned.

Show Notes

MickG Photography – Main website and Facebook.
Kai’s Heart Facebook Community Page.
Heart Kids NSW.
The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network.
Miracle Babies Foundation.
Kai’s Story – 4 Part Blog from 2010.

The (Not So) Secrets to a Productive Day

When it boils down to it, there are no secrets to being productive at all. The concepts are simple and straight forward. In fact, many of us know them already. Despite this we continuously fail to remember them in the heat of the moment. Before we know it, we’re groaning about how we’re not getting anything done, life is without purpose, we never have any time to do what we want, etc etc. At least, it happens to me!

Whilst the concepts are simple, the execution at times can be quite difficult. As soon as you wake up, you’re bombarded with distraction and it does not let up until you’re ready to go to bed at the end of the day. Even at that stage our minds are usually racing so much with a multitude of thoughts that many of us have difficulty getting a decent night sleep.

With this all in mind, I thought I would come up with a few (not so) secret actions you can take to ensure you have a productive day. If you can work any (or all!) of these into your daily routine, the results will be absolutely dramatic.

PREPPING THE NIGHT BEFORE

Give yourself 5 minutes the day before, just before bed, to plan ahead. Plan your day (pen and paper!) and also plant the seeds mindfully in thought to ensure you’re waking up with clarity and knowing how your day will look.

TIME BLOCK

Allocate realistic time blocks throughout the day (ie: between 10am and 11am I will do nothing but work on a specific outstanding task). These time blocks must be made with the strict rules that there are virtually no exceptions. This helps to ensure that there are no opportunities of distraction and all other tasks and requests (unless life threatening) can wait. Whatever you do though, don’t go back-to-back with your tasks. Give yourself breaks and leeway between each one. No need to burn yourself out.

KEEP IT SHORT AND TO THE POINT

Don’t overdo it. A short list is better than a long list. It’s great to be enthusiastic and write a page or more of things you want to tick off for the day, but this is a marathon, not a sprint! The last thing you want to do is become overwhelmed and find yourself with a number of incomplete tasks at the end of the day. Not good for peace of mind! Start small and set yourself up to win. With that being said however…

THE ONE THING

Don’t always lean towards the easy items. Use the rule that is outlined in the book ‘The One Thing‘ by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan which is “What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”. Having 3 or 4 purposeful items will have far more of an impact than 20 things that are easy and only give short term satisfaction for that day only.

MEDITATE AND CLEAR THE MIND

This highly underrated practice is being picked up by more and more people. Start with 5 to 10 minutes in the morning, each day (Recommendations – Sam Harris and Headspace App). By allowing a few minutes of meditation, this will help establish focus for the day. It will also reduce the chances of dramatically being impacted by distraction and finding yourself in auto pilot. It can also be a great relaxant, especially when you have some challenge tasks or experiences ahead.

14 Tunes You Must Hear – Music from The…

We’re still early days when it comes to The Andy Social Podcast, however let’s highlight some of the amazing music that has come from the guests who have been generous to give their time and appear on the podcast to date!

This is the first of hopefully many blogs of this nature as I continue to talk to more amazing musicians who are working hard to bring their creativity to the masses.

A Call to Action – Share the music, share the podcast episodes, tell these guys what you think and simply enjoy!

Sedition – Do You Believe (Featuring Sinclair Newey from Episode 35)

Northlane – Impulse (Featuring Josh Smith from Episode 33)

The Art – Weirdo Superhero (Featuring Jordan McDonald from Episode 32)

Aversions Crown – Erebus (Featuring Mick Jeffery from Episode 31)

Widow the Sea – Cinerary Casket (Featuring Mick Jeffery from Episode 31)

Harlott – Systematic Reduction (Featuring Andrew Hudson from Episode 22)

Lagerstein – Land of Bundy (Featuring The Immobilizer from Episode 21)

Dawn of Azazel – Vassalplasty (Featuring Rigel Walshe from Episode 18)

The Eternal – Circle of Light (Featuirng Mark Kelson from Episode 14)

Albatross – Jugglehead the Clown (Featuring Riju Dasgupta from Episode 7)

Shanghai – Shenanigans (Featuring Riley Perry from Episode 5)

Mechanical Black – Together in Electric Dreams (Featuring Riley Perry from Episode 5)

Arnie O Connection – Absolute Escape (Featuring Arnie Olbrich *Rest in Peace* from Episode 3)

Rise of Avernus – Acta Est Fabula (Featuring Andrew Craig from Episode 2)

Oh, and because I have *NO* shame, here’s the last video clip from us!

Episode 35 – Sinclair Newey (Double Lung Transplant Recipient)

 

Late 2013 saw Sinclair go through the most challenging part of his life, which began an urgent journey towards becoming a Double Lung Transplant Recipient. After being admitted to hospital for haemoptysis, he was rushed to ICU where he came extremely close to losing his life. In fact, things were so bad that Sinclair was ready to go himself.

Sinclair ended up being the recipient of a double lung transplant and in the process was placed into a coma that lasted for almost a month.

I’ll let Sinclair explain it all as he will do far better justice than me. I was lucky to more or less start my career as a musician with Sinclair in his Progressive/Power metal band Sedition over 10 years ago and it was great to catch up after many years.

If there’s any message I hope you take from this episode is that you help bring further awareness to organ and tissue donation. Check out the links below and discuss this topic with your family and close friends. Your generosity once you go will have a dramatic impact on many people, just like Sinclair.

Show Notes

Charity Ride Link – Cycle of Giving
Donate Life
Sedition Website and Webstore
Check out the Sedition song ‘Do You Believe’ here.
Organ and Tissue Authority – Facts and Statistics
Prince Charles, Princess Alexander and Mater Hospitals in Brisbane
Interesting article – Australian-first double lung transplant using damaged lungs saves Sydney Man’s Life
What is an EMCO? Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Episode 34 – Get Your Lingo On – Part…

 

In this episode we do a bit of a catch up on my journey to Duolingo mastery (not really). I touch on the observations I’ve found to date, the challenges that I have and some further perspectives of learning a foreign language

If you’d like to join me in my Duolingo adventure, we can compete against each other! Download the app and find me (andydowlin1) and we can compare progress.

Show Notes

Duolingo – Get the app for iphone or Android or Windows phone.

Episode 33 – Josh Smith (Northlane)

 

We started off talking shop but it quickly sprawled out into a number of topics including yoga, meditation, mental health and a variety of other social themes. While it might seem off topic, these all branch back into the core of what drives a successful musician in one of Australia’s most popular rock/metal bands. Whether you’re a musician, music fan or just someone always looking to improve, this is another great conversation with many learnings!

Description

Check out Northlane at the following sites – Merch store, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Bandsintown.
Buy Northlane music straight from Amazon! Amazon also supports this podcast!
What’s Bikram Yoga? Check it out.
Are things a little tough? In Australia, check out  Beyond Blue for support. International listeners, hit me up and I’ll help you find the right people!
Article – 50 guerrilla marketing tactics you should be using.
Need an introduction to meditation? Get the free headspace app!