TOP MOMENTS OF 2015

I figured I should jump on the band wagon and do a recap of 2015. Hell, I have a website now so why not chuck something up on here?

2015 was filled many moments of growth. I must say that at times I was certainly challenged, however overall it was filled with positivity and appears to have set me on a path to an even bigger and better year ahead.

So here are my top moments of 2015, in no particular order. I hope that you’ll be able to share yours with me and if there’s anything I can do that will help make your 2016 even better than planned (I’ll accept silly requests), please let me know via my Facebook or Twitter pages.

 
Engagement

I proposed in November 2014 to my now fiancée, Jessica, in Singapore, however we had our engagement party in 2015 with a small gathering of friends and family. I still have to pinch myself that not only do I have such an amazing woman, but she said yes and we’ll be making it official in August of this year. I’m one very, very lucky guy.

Buying a house

It probably should have happened 10 years ago, but better late than never! Due to the ridiculously overpriced property market in Sydney (one of the most expensive places in the world to live!), we decided to take the plunge and buy a beautiful 80 year old property down on the south coast. At the moment it’s an investment, however we hope to move in soon to take advantage of first home owner benefits in New South Wales. My plan is that this property will be the first of many. Very exciting as I said before, I should have done it a long time ago!

Trip to the USA

In September I ventured to the US for a few days to attend the annual ProgPower USA festival. Also spent a brief bit of time in Los Angeles and New York as well. You can listen to my entire trip on episode 8 of my podcast.

Playing in new places for the first time (LORD) – Kalgoorlie, Cairns, Townsville and Mackay

You never know what you’re going to get when we play a new town/city for the first time (especially in Australia), but we had an absolute blast in Kalgoorlie, Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. Some shows went better than others, but it’s always a great feeling to play in front of new people for the first time. It keeps everything fresh and great to see that we picked up a lot of new fans from those shows.

New EP – What Tomorrow Brings

In June, we (LORD) put out our latest release ‘What Tomorrow Brings’. It’s always a rush to something new out and the feedback we’ve had from fans has been fantastic. For those who aren’t aware of it, check out our release page. It might be just an EP, but the title track is over 25 minutes in length and comprises of an additional unreleased original and 4 cover songs. Total bang for buck!

New video – Against the Wind

If only we could just do video clips for everything! In late September, we met up in the inner west of Sydney to film ‘Against the Wind’, the re-recorded version taken from our The Dungeon Era box set. It’s been quite some time between videos, so it was great to get a new visual out there for everyone to see, and even better to give a classic Dungeon song its deserved attention. Hopefully we’ll get back to our videoing ways in 2016 with more video clips.

Immersing myself in the world of podcasts

I’d been listening to podcasts on and off for the last couple of years, but in 2015 I really threw myself into it and began regularly listening on a daily basis. It might sound silly, but it’s been life changing for me and opened my eyes up to many more possibilities when it comes to the band growth and my own personal development. Some of my favourite podcasts include Joe Rogan Experience, Tim Ferriss, The Church of What’s Happening Now, Small Business Big Marketing, The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, Bertcart’s podcast and Damn Interesting.

Launching this podcast

Picking up from what I’ve just mentioned, my ultra-high consumption of podcasting opened my eyes to this new form of media (at least new to me) and I finally bit the bullet and launched my own podcast. At the time of this post, I’ll be 20 episodes in and while it’s still in its infancy, I have already greatly benefited by the conversations I’ve had with all of my guests but also those who regularly tune in every week. Thank you so much and this year I’m looking forward to taking it to the next level!

Seeing John Farnham twice

How could I say how awesome 2015 was without mentioning Farnsy? No, I didn’t get to meet him, but I did get to see him perform twice in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. At 66 years of age, he is still the greatest singer of all time. I would even go as far as to say that he’s singing better now than he has in over 20 years. Absolutely incredible! If you aren’t familiar with John Farnham, check out episode 4 of my podcast which includes a number of links to his music. Oh, and you can of course listen to our cover of Playing to Win!.

Paying the Music Forward

One thing that I’ve been trying to practice more and more is giving to others. I found that I had accumulated a large number of CDs, tapes, records that were duplicates due to buying by accident in my travels or inheriting someone else’s collection. Instead of sitting on eBay and slowly selling everything, I made the decision to give away one release each week to people on Facebook. At time of writing this, I’ve been doing it for 40 weeks and it’s been fantastic. Not only have I been able to offload a lot of clutter, but I’ve also helped other people complete their collections or introduce them to great music. I hope that others will do the same and pass on their unwanted music to someone either young or appreciative of it. Music needs to be shared, and it’s much better being played than sitting in a box collecting dust! This year I’ll be looking to continue the weekly give-aways and find other ways to pass on music to those who will love and appreciate it.

Discovering Mindfulness

This is a work-in-progress. I read a great book entitled Mindfulness for Life by Dr Stephen McKenzie and Dr Craig Hassed and I’ve spent the last several months trying to improve my awareness. For those who aren’t familiar with mindfulness, here’s a great definition;

“a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique”

It’s about not being in auto-pilot. Not reacting blindly in situations that can later lead to regret. It’s not about judging your feelings or what’s happening around you, but simply being aware of what is happening in the present situation. You’ll find that by being mindful, you’ll be able to conquer many debilitating habits such as anger, bad eating, alcohol consumption, smoking and much more. I suck badly at practising mindfulness but I do find that I can do it better than when I first started. It’s all about practice.