Corey Stewart

I am a songwriter, musician, producer and blogger from Australia
The Online Musician

Introducing… The Online Musician

Posted on by Corey Stewart

I was first introduced to the internet in 1997 and took my first tentative steps into the online world after buying my first computer in 2001. 

My first blog Corey Stewart Songwriting was started in 2004 and ever since then I have been writing about songwriting, the creative process and the business of writing songs ever since.

Corey Stewart Songwriting became Songwriting Zen which then became All About Songwriting and throughout all these changes the focus has always been on songwriting tips and trying to answer the question of how to write a song.

Along the way I had also expanded to other content relating to the music business and home recording under the All About Music Business and All About Home Recording banners.

Lately I’ve been trying to use Corey Stewart Online as the place to house my created and curated songwriting, music business and home recording content but this site is not really the right place to house this type of content.

With that said, let me introduce to you all… The Online Musician.

The Online Musician is a site that essentially combines my songwriting, music business and home recording content into one site with the goal of creating one of the ​​most trusted sources of songwriting, music business and home recording information on the web.

All About Songwriting, All About Music Business and All About Home Recording will still be online but will be home to curated content only.

I have also teamed up with Amanda West from Sheeaun Music who will also be writing for The Online Musician mostly on the business and administration sides of songwriting. I’m excited as to the content that she will be able to produce for the site.

Corey Stewart Online will still deal with songwriting, music business and home recording but as it pertains to me and my own experiences, not of a general “how to” nature.

This is all an end result of some deep soul searching and redefining of my online output and now that this post is published I can move forward with creating more content for this site.

The Online Musician can be found at theonlinemusician.net. Get yourself down there and check it out. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions of what topics would interest you.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

Mara

Life Is All About Letting Go

Posted on by Corey Stewart

Today, Monday November 22, 2021 marks the one year anniversary of Mara’s passing. 

At the end of last week I went back to her Mum and Dad’s place in Millicent to drop off some boxes of Mara’s clothes, shoes, photos and her wedding dress. The trip also gave me an opportunity to celebrate with her family what would’ve been Mara’s 50th birthday last Friday November 19th.

The trip was a sad one but a necessary one because over the past 12 months since Mara’s passing my life has been all about letting go of things both physically and mentally. I suppose for me, this is all part of my grieving process.

I was noticing more and more as time went on that things that had once served a purpose are no longer relevant in my life. No longer relevant as in its purpose, not in what it means to me.

One of the hardest things to let go was Mara’s wedding dress but the reconciliation I had was that at the end of the day it would be better for the dress to go “home” to the house where she grew up.

Besides… It’s not my size.

Right now though, I am slowly going through all of the collected stuff that Mara and I had accumulated in our time together and I’m asking myself the same question… “Does this thing now serve a purpose in my life or not?” 

If it does, then I keep it. If it doesn’t anymore then I simply just let it go and at the moment I’m finding a lot of things that don’t serve a purpose to me anymore now that Mara is no longer here with me. 

It’s these things that I’m letting go of.

Six months ago in my post A Tribute To My Beautiful One – Six Months On, I wrote that the lessons I had learnt in that time were…

  • Life is far too short for me to be waiting for permission to do something with it
  • Fear is all in my head
  • I suffer fools even less gladly than I normally would
  • People spend too much time complaining about first world problems

Well, I can add “life is all about letting go” to the list and I’m sure that there will be many, many more lessons to add as time goes on.

In the meantime, I light a candle and reflect on how lucky I have been to have shared my life with such a beautiful, magical and special person.

Peace.

Soul Trader Podcast

The Soul Trader Podcast: S01E24 – “Umm… Do You Know Any Beyonce?” And Other Stupid Requests

Posted on by Corey Stewart

I have been a performing musician since my very first gig at the age of 16 and in that time I have crossed paths with many people from all walks of life, all religions, colours, creeds and preferences.

You name it… I’ve crossed paths with it.

Now, even with all of the different people that I’ve come across in my career, one similarity still remains…

Pub + Alcohol + Music + People = Chaos. Notice I mentioned the word “People” and not “Audience?”

This is because for me, an audience is defined as a group of people that WANT to experience music not just tolerate it

In my experience (mostly playing covers in a soloist or a band situation), I’ve played in venues where the audience look at the musician as an unwanted distraction from them watching sport on the big screen or, them talking about the sport that they’re watching on the big screen.

(Incidentally, I love this time of year when the AFL take a break)

In this weeks episode of The Soul Trader Podcast, Simon and I take on the roles of grumpy old musicians and discuss the pros and cons of performing live plus the unspoken rules of engagement between pub audiences and musicians.

The title of the podcast episode “Umm, Do You Know Any Beyonce?” was taken from an actual conversation I had with a drunk female punter at the Daniel O’Connell Hotel (for any of you Adelaide folk, remember that place) way back when.

The unspoken rules part of the episode description stems from a book idea I had which will attempt to document all of the best comeback lines a musician can make whilst engaging with drunk punters.

Anyways, check out the podcast episode below. You’ll be glad you did.

Health

It’s Time For My Obligatory Health Update

Posted on by Corey Stewart

I put in the word “obligatory” in the title not as a sarcastic inference but as something I am obliged to do for myself and for all of you too.

This obligation was set up by my May 27th post It’s Time To Take My Health Seriously and it is an obligation that I do take seriously.

So, with that all being said… Here is the update.

Since I started my “changes in lifestyle” journey on May 20th, I have lost a total of 22 kilograms and in that time (just under 5 months) I have not once succumbed to the temptation of ordering takeaway food.

This means that all of my meals at home to date have been cooked by me, from scratch and that in itself is a HUGE achievement.

When I started out I was pretty strict on myself and this was partly due to me “punishing” myself for getting my health into such a poor state.

Now, while this worked getting the initial weight off of me, I realised (with the help of a wonderful nutritionist) that my restrictive program was not going to be sustainable in the long run.

I have since then started to add foods into my life which strike a balance between good to eat and good for my pancreas as well.

Compared to when I started (check out my original post here)…

  • I drink more water (but I can always do more)
  • I’ve only just started introducing alcohol again (red wine mostly)
  • Coffee consumption is the same but it’s now black, no sugar
  • No takeaway food (not even once)
  • Occasional walking on treadmill (I’ve got to do more exercise)
  • Food portion sizes are still smaller
  • Still intermittent fasting (eating window of 2-6 hours depending on whether I have a late lunch or not)

At the moment my weight has plateaued but that was expected and all I really need to do is to address some of the issues listed above (especially increase my exercise) and I can start losing some more weight but more importantly, start feeling even lighter, more energetic and sharper in focus.

I’m due for another blood test to see how my blood sugar levels are going and whether I am on my way to reversing my Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis.

I’ll make sure I get it done in the next week but nevertheless, I’m pretty proud of myself and what I’ve achieved so far and I can’t wait to see what I can do for the future.

Mara would be very proud.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

Live Music

Introducing… The New Normals

Posted on by Corey Stewart

One can never accuse me of sitting still when it comes to performing live and even though I had taken an extended break from regular gigging, I have always kept my ear to the ground and left myself open to any music opportunity that comes my way.

So, when my good friend Geoffrey Stapleton approached me to put together a band that would play selected covers from the “Great Australian Songbook” interspersed with our own material which will eventually become the main part of the repertoire over time, I immediately said a big YES!

I introduce to you all… The New Normals.

The New Normals consist of the following members:

  • Corey Stewart – Bass, Vocals
  • Geoffrey Stapleton – Keyboards, Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
  • Darren Zaza – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
  • Dave Branton – Drums, Percussion

Besides the fact that we’re going to be playing our own material live starting off at 50% covers to original ratio and working our way to a 100% self penned repertoire, the band gives me an opportunity to play bass in a live context again, something that I haven’t done in a long while.

I’m really missing it.

I know I’ve said this before but I consider myself a “bass player by trade” and while I love playing guitar on stage (especially in the context of a soloist) there is something magical to me about singing and playing bass at the same time. Moving the gig forward through voice while locking into the groove at the same time.

I love it.

Our first ever gig as The New Normals will be at Wassail Wine Bar (95 Prospect Road, Prospect) on Sunday, October 24th starting at 3:30pm.

The goal with The New Normals is to have a regular and consistently promoted monthly gig at Wassail and build up the audience by having them come to us, rather than spread the band and the resources too thinly trying to play anywhere and everywhere.

I’m very interested in seeing if this experiment works and get people lining up outside the venue. That would be lovely.

Soul Trader Podcast

The Soul Trader Podcast – S01E23: Cancel Culture And Its Effect On Creativity.

Posted on by Corey Stewart

Yes, yes, yes I know it’s been a little while since I put up an update for The Soul Trader Podcast but now that I’m able to devote some time to writing again I thought that an update is needed seeing that it’s been 14 weeks since the last one.

Fourteen weeks! That’s three and a half months… Time flies and all that stuff.

Anyways, in this weeks episode of The Soul Trader Podcast, Simon and I discuss the phenomenon known as “Cancel Culture” and how it can effect the arts and creativity in general.

While we don’t make a huge deal over certain sections of the community that feel that it’s their collective right and purposes in life to serve as moral arbiters of societal thought and action, we do attempt to work out why this is happening and what had caused this concept of cancel culture to exist in the first place

Plus, as an added bonus, Simon goes to town on Joe Rogan and conspiracy theorists in general. Normally it is I who gets up on my soapbox and shouts at the sky Grandpa Simpson style but not this episode.

Let me tell you all now, it’s not to be missed…

Funkus MaximusLive MusicSongwriting

Introducing… Funkus Maximus

Posted on by Corey Stewart

Anyone that knows me knows that I love funk music. As a bass player I almost think it’s somehow my duty to devote some of my playing, practising and songwriting time to the dark arts of FUNK.

As I mentioned in a previous post “How Music Has Shaped My Life (So Far…)” I was part of some funk bands in the early 2000’s and from there wrote and collaborated on, many songs in the funk, groove and dance genres to which I am very proud of.

This fascination with writing funk tunes has continued to this very day and it’s been my involvements with songwriting challenges such as FAWM and 5090 for a number of years that have been the catalyst for these funk songs to be created into existance.

Now, you might be asking right now… “Corey, where does Funkus Maximus fit into all this?”

Well, one of my consistent collaborators in these songwriting challenges has been Irish songwriter and lyricist Amanda West.

She very early on in the piece realised that I could put together a pretty good funk tune so being a person who could sense a good opportunity, she started writing lyrics for me to encase funky arrangements to and before too long, we had a decent list of recorded funk tunes with nowhere to go.

Amanda makes her living from sync licensing through her business Sheeaun Music, by collaborating with other musicians to create songs from her lyrics so she can then pitch to sync licensing companies, music libraries and music supervisors.

This is also what she wants to do with these funk songs so with that in mind, we both thought it would be a good idea to create a project name for these songs so as to not muddy the waters for my own non-funk songwriting output and Funkus Maximus was born.

By creating Funkus Maximus as a new vehicle for my funk tunes it seemed like a natural progression to form a band around these songs so they can be performed live.

It also seemed a no brainer to mine the rich vein of funk in my past and reimagine, reboot and reinterpret the old FunkStar and Orangutang tunes as well while I’m at it.

Hell, if movies can be reimagined, rebooted and reinterpreted to a new generation why can’t music be approached in the same way?

Anyways, yesterday (Friday, August 6th) the first song for Funkus Maximus, Funk Into The Heat was released out into the world and with that my musical journey continues moving forward.

To say to you that I am “Big Kev” excited would be an understatement.

To find out more information on Funkus Maximus go and check out the website.

You can hear the new song Funk Into The Heat at at all good streaming platforms such as…

Spotify
Apple Music
Deezer
Amazon

There will be more music on the way so watch this space but in the meantime, check out Funk Into The Heat and let me know what you think.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

Songwriting

One Songwriter’s Trash Is Another Songwriter’s Treasure

Posted on by Corey Stewart

You would’ve guessed by now through reading my posts that I’m a real fan of the songwriting process and the many ways that a song can be created.

I’m also a great believer in not throwing any songwriting ideas away, no matter how small, bland, banal, silly or trivial you might think they are.

Now I know of songwriters who, like me, are pretty good at organising their ideas for future reference and that’s a great thing.

However, I know of others who have indiscriminately thrown away reams of paper and piles of notebooks filled with potential song fragments, possible song titles and bits and pieces of hurriedly scribbled phrases and sentences.

This really breaks my heart.

If you’re one of those songwriters who would rather clear the slate than organise your song snippets for later use, listen up… Have I got a deal for you.

Next time you’re feeling the need to sort out and purge or, if the temptation to chuck away all of your stuff you’ve held on for so long has become far too much to bear…

Just give your songwriting ideas to me.

That’s right, give them to me. I’ll gladly take your songwriting ideas off your hands and out of your life.

Think of me as a retirement home for all your old song snippets that you feel have stifled your creativity and have gotten you nowhere. I’ll give your stuff a new home and in the process, I might just develop some of them into songs of my own.

But here’s the thing…

Even though I’ll be in possession of your old ideas, I’m still very mindful of where these ideas have come from and will definitely give you credit where the credit is due.

So, the deal is…

If I create a song from anything that you’ve sent me, I’ll give you between 10% and 50% songwriting credit depending on how much of your idea I’ve used.

I think that’s a pretty good deal considering you were going to throw them away in the first place.

This is proof of how much value I personally put on songwriting ideas, no matter how large or small they are or, where they came from.

So before you throw your old stuff away and before you succumb to the urge to bin all of your old song fragments, think about my offer. Contact me and we’ll work out how I can offload these ideas from you.

I’m serious. What have you got to lose?

Peace,

Corey 🙂

Songwriting

The Illusion Of Songwriting Perfection

Posted on by Corey Stewart

I remember chatting to a songwriter friend of mine a while ago about the pain he was experiencing when writing songs.

He said to me that he was great at starting songs but really lousy at finishing them (well, aren’t we all).

He also told me his main philosophy for his songwriting process and to me, this was the main reason he wasn’t finishing his songs.

He said to me words to the effect of…

… if the song is not perfect then the song isn’t worth finishing.

WTF!!! No wonder he was experiencing the pain of songwriters block.

I think that the concept of having to write the perfect song is something that’s more common among us songwriters than we care to admit so, allow me to be a little blunt here.

This struggle for songwriting perfection KILLS PEOPLE.

It kills their creativity and kills their inspiration and sometimes (in extreme circumstances) the drive to perfection generally can kill a person physically.

There is a HUGE difference between being driven to write great songs and being driven to write perfect songs.

My reply to his philosophy was this…

… why don’t you try seeing your songwriting not as a means to an end (the hit song) but as a way of just letting yourself go?

As songwriters, how much pressure do we put ourselves under? A lot!

Is it worth it? NO!

You see, the notion of perfection in anything is but a mere illusion. It’s created by the ego and massaged into existence by insecurity, jealousy, doubt, low self esteem and shame.

Songwriting should be a celebration of life, of letting yourself go, setting yourself free and playing around with your creativity. It’s not about reminding yourself how inadequate you are through comparing yourself needlessly to other songwriters.

Always remember that there’s not another one of you on this planet so therefore your experiences, your thoughts, your insights, your feelings, your dreams, your desires, your observations and the way that you question life, universe and everything around it are uniquely yours, and yours alone.

What does that mean? A lot actually.

It means that…

  1. There is no point in comparing yourself and your songwriting to others as there is no one else but you to compare yourself to in the first place
  2. Being the one-of-a-kind and unique creature that you are, whatever you say is always very, very important.

The concept of perfection would only exist if there was something perfect to aspire to in the first place.

Now granted, there have been some amazing songs written in the past and there will be amazing songs that will be written in the future, but none of those songs are “perfect” and they never, ever will be.

We, like our songwriting, are all works in progress so embrace those imperfections and just concentrate on writing songs without getting in your own way.

Peace,

Corey 🙂

Soul Trader Podcast

The Soul Trader Podcast – S01E09 – Our Songwriting Process

Posted on by Corey Stewart

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I’ll be linking to the latest episode of The Soul Trader Podcast every Saturday and of course, this Saturday is no exception…

This week’s episode has Simon and I chatting about our songwriting processes and how they are different when we write songs by ourselves as opposed to collaborating with others. There are some nice pearls of wisdom in there if I say so myself.

Click the play button above, check it out and let me know what you think.

Peace,

Corey 🙂