SongHubs 2017

SONGHUBS2017 WAS EVERYTHING I COULD HAVE HOPED FOR ✔️

To be completely honest with you, I didn’t know what to expect, this being my first year attending SongHubs. After four days (I attended three), listening to songwriters speak about their personal experiences and how their careers came to be, I left feeling truly inspired.

Tuesday 28th February 2017
SONGWRITER: MIKE ELIZONDO
(pictured far left)

Microphone in hand and ready to start speaking to a full room of eager listeners, Mike Elizondo struck me as a happy man.

Mike spoke on the importance of collaboration, of trusting your gut when making decisions, and the lessons he had learned over time, working alongside Dr. Dre.

Among many other things, Mike discussed the inner workings of what a songwriting session looks like in his circle, shedding light on how he works his writing splits in a collaborative writing situation.

Side note: Least stressed looking man I have ever seen.

Wednesday 1st March 2017
SONGWRITER: Emily Warren
(pictured 2nd from left)

The words ‘talented’ ‘funny’ and ’empowered’ come to mind when listening to Emily Warren speak at SongHubs. Only 24, she has achieved so much already. The perfect example being the Grammy she took home for her work with Chainsmokers on their catchy tune ‘Don’t Let Me Down’.

Emily spoke about staying true to oneself musically and about her experience as a woman in a largely male dominated industry. Emily also spoke on her early days as a songwriter and how she came to work with well known producer Dr. Luke.

Side note: Awesome listening to Emily share some of her many experiences, a truly lovely human being.

Thursday 2nd March 2017
SONGWRITER: James Newman
(pictured thrid from left)

Quality sense of humour, loud shirt and an English accent – it was a pleasure meeting James Newman at SongHubs 2017.

Not only because I think the song he wrote with Rudimental titled ‘Waiting All Night ft. Ella Eyre’ is 100% epic or because he has worked with two of my favourite artists alive (Ed Sheeran and John Newman – who happens to be his brother), but because of how genuine James was when I was speaking to him after his presentation.

During his session James spoke about how he came to work with Rudimental, his earlier, less positive experiences with the business side of the music industry compared to the mostly positive today, and why he likes to collaborate with other artists. He also gave us an insight into what colloaboration looks like for him.

James also spoke about how he’d had a dream to work in the music industry and how, despite working for years in a restauraunt, he never gave up.

Side note: Good dude.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Great to have taken part and grateful to those that made it possible. Inspired by some of the information that was covered during SongHubs 2017, my personal goals seem that much more achievable. I’m looking at collaboration with fresh eyes (which is exciting) and wanting to connect with more musicians and creatives in the music industry. They are great company!

Facilitator of the event, Victoria Kelly of APRA AMCOS New Zealand – Thank you for asking the questions that I wish I had thought to ask. We loved hearing the responses. You made made the guests feel at ease and by the end of the last session you had a fresh, and fabulously original, tattoo with a great back story!

Thank you for all of your hard work.

And thank you to everyone involved in making this event possible, you guys rock.

“SongHubs is an APRA AMCOS initiative, supported by the Federal Government of Australia. In addition to APRA AMCOS, SongHubs Auckland has been made possible with the support of NZ On Air, Auckland Council, Recorded Music NZ and the New Zealand Music Commission.”

Much Love
Abz x

@AbbieMusicNZ on Facebook
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WWW.ABBIE.CO.NZ

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The Making of ‘Everything To Me’

Having recently released my latest music video for the song Everything To Me,
I wanted to share a little bit about how this song came to be.

At the ripe old age of 12, I first heard the larger than life sound of my instant friend, Emma-Jane’s voice. I remember thinking that I quite liked this girls brand of crazy and that I could see us being friends.

Fast forward some years and that same larger than life friend is engaged to the man of her dreams and we are discussing the planning of a wedding while flicking through a mountain of glossy wedding magazines over coffee.

I knew that I wanted to do something special for my lovely friend and her future husband on their big day, but wasn’t sure at that stage exactly what that would be.

Months later and back in the studio working on new music, something awesome happened!!!
Emma and Cameron became the inspiration for what would later become their wedding song.
Awwwww cuuuute.


PHOTO CREDIT: The Lauren & Delwyn Project

This song started out as an acapella (voice only) chorus with melody, progressing to a complete lyric/melody song and then into the studio for the magical stylings of the ever-dope producer extraordinaire ‘White Wall’ (also known as William Henderson) with support from the team at Woodcut Studio in Auckland.

With Emma-Jane and Cameron’s one year wedding anniversary coming up this Feb 2017, I want to take this opportunity to wish them another year of marital bliss! Plenty of laughter, adventure and of course husband and wife alone time as we want some little humans, please.

Love to you both, thank you for having me share in your special day.


PHOTO CREDIT: The Lauren & Delwyn Project

Do you have a best friend that you have done something special for? xx

Check out the Official Video for ‘Everything To Me’ HERE

Follow ABBIE on Spotify HERE

Follow ABBIE on Facebook HERE

Follow ABBIE on Instagram HERE

Massive thank you to my label Waatea Music for allowing me the freedom to create x

Photo credit: The Lauren & Delwyn Project / http://laurenanddelwyn.co.nz
Beautiful, honest pictures that will last a lifetime.

Much Love
Abz x

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Jammin’ For Jethro

I had a great Friday night.

I was lucky enough to be chosen to perform alongside ‘Robby Thorne’ and ‘Apera’ in support of a six year old superman named Jethro, who suffers from a disease for which the medication is not currently funded in New Zealand (this medication is extremely pricey).

Friday night was about raising money to support Jethro and his family on their journey.

Robby Thorne and band kicked off the evening with a special guest performance by Sarah Sampson on Violin which was beautiful.
Apera then played a combination of originals and covers on electric guitar, demonstrating his rad looping skills and infectious chilled out vibe.

Last but not least I jumped on and played some of my favourite soul covers as well as original music from my EP ‘Only Human’ and my more recent album release titled
‘L O S T / F O U N D’.
Despite being a good few people in the room this felt like an intimate gig with friends, held at the classic ‘Dogs Bollix’ in Auckland.
Even had a random song request which I absolutely loved!

Check out my album on Spotify —–> CLICK HERE

I am grateful to have been able to take part in something as meaningful as this and alongside such talented musicians, the sound guy was on fire!

Massive props to Black Frog who has been running these events since 2011 and will continue to do so until Pharmac Funds the medication that Jethro needs to beat this disease.Jammin' For Jethro 2016

Keep reading for further information on how to donate and get in touch with Jethro’s family.

About Jethro:

In October 2010 when Jethro was 8 months old our lives changed overnight.
I took Jethro to Starship Emergency Department thinking he was suffering dehydration from a flu, hoping they could help get some fluids into him. As we were about to be sent home Jethro produced a funky coloured vomit and a nurse decided to do a blood test. It was then we found out his kidney’s were no longer working. Within 48 hours Jethro was in surgery having a catheter inserted through his stomach so he could begin Dialysis to work for his kidneys as his no longer did. That was a shock, but to then find out his kidneys were failing because he had a very rare condition Atypical Hemolitic Uremic Syndrome was a real blow!
There is no cure, and no treatment guaranteed to help him survive. It is just trial and error to keep him stable as this condition is so unpredictable and spontaneous. 60% of children die within the first year of diagnosis. The complications associated with this illness are
• Kidney failure
• Seizures/Neurological problems
• No response to supportive treatments
• Return of HUS even after kidney transplant occurs
• Severe Hypertension (high blood pressure)
We had to begin intense treatment with Plasma Pheresis, which consists of hours of removing his blood, spinning it, depositing it with other blood products and putting it back into his body, and regular infusions of Fresh Frozen Plasma.
What a little fighter he is though! He was on life-support within days of us finding out he was sick, but within 48 hours he was back and smiling away at us.
Since his diagnosis we have spent many months living in Starship, he has undergone many surgeries, and every week we go to Starship for a whole day to have FFP Infusions, we have now had over a year and a half of Plasma Infusions every thursday.
For Jethro to have a chance at a long life we need to get him onto a drug Soliris, as fate would have it the world’s most expensive drug. It it is his only hope of having a somewhat stable life, and is proving to help the few others with this condition around the world. This drug is around $500,000 annually, however, we have recently found out that while his weight range is between 12-20kg it will cost $200,000 annually. He would need to be on it for the rest of his life. We have applied for funding and been rejected two years in a row now as it is an ongoing cost.
It is our mission to somehow get him on this medicine, but everything seems to work against us. We are at a loss as to where to go from here but to fundraise and keep applying for funding. The company who make the drug are willing to give him a 6month dose free of charge, but that is all he will get. We are choosing to not utilise this unless he goes downhill as we only have that small amount available at this stage and would want to use it wisely. Soliris is now funded everywhere else but in New Zealand.

If anyone out there has any ideas, knows the right people and can suggest anything that may be able to help our amazing little boy it would be appreciated.
He is such an inspiration to everyone that has come into his life. He has the happiest outlook on life, smiles 24/7, even during his treatments he laughs. He is such a fighter and is already proving to beat the odds having remained well for the past year and a half coping on just Plasma. Plasma is not a permanent treatment however, one day his body will not respond to it and the Soliris will be necessary. We would love to have Jethro on this before the damage is done.

Any ideas can be submitted to us here:

[email protected]

We have a Trust Account set up for donations or for anyone willing to set up an automatic payment of $1 per week. If 10,000 people were to do this it would cover the costs of his medicine.

Kiwibank
The Jethro Morrow Health Trust
38 9012 0102064 00

If you are paying from Overseas:

A deposit can be made directly into New Zealand Dollars from another bank anywhere in the world. You’ll need to make sure you use the following information:

Account name: The Jethro Morrow Health Trust

Account number: 38 9012 0102064 00

Bank: Kiwibank Limited, Wellington, New Zealand

SWIFT code*: CITINZ2X

Correspondents: Use Citibank NZ correspondents for all currencies

Other information/reference: Include ‘forward to Kiwibank’

* The SWIFT code belongs to Citibank New Zealand, which accepts payments on behalf of Kiwibank.

You may be asked to provide extra information like BSB numbers, sort codes, routing codes or IBAN numbers.
These are just different terms used overseas for bank, branch and account numbers.
Just use the full Kiwibank account number we have provided.

If you are wanting to make a donation via internet banking there sometimes may not be enough fields to enter both Jethro’s “account number” and New Zealands “swift code”.
In these cases the “Kiwibank Limited” can be left out but you must make sure you quote the “38” at the start of “Jethros account number”.

Ways you can also support Jethro are:

Enrolling your child in a Free Learning Programme care of Footsteps, they will donate $100 to Jethro http://www.footsteps.co.nz/jethro

Thank you for the support everyone, we are so grateful to all that have and continue to help us on this crazy journey.

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ABBIE ➕ GOAL DIGGERS NZ

ABBIE ➕ GOAL DIGGERS NZ – Music Meets Pure NZ Motivation!

Hey Friends x

Tuesday already! Having a fabulous week so far?

A cracking past couple of weeks for me with family and music life!
Busy busy, making life happen.

I recently had the opportunity to talk life with the truly inspiring Bridget Paddon of ‘Goal Diggers NZ’.

Bridget, the creator of Goal Diggers NZ is a genuinely lovely soul with a passion for supporting and improving the lives of those around her.

Kicking ass and achieving goals is her thing and she is nailing it.

about2

I was lucky enough to be featured on her site ‘Goal Diggers NZ‘ most recently.

CLICK HERE – To have a read through my the interview with this super motivated human, discussing what keeps me on track, my music and life goals for the future as well as the ups and downs of being a musician that has survived anxiety – and so much more.

I am lucky to have the space and time to invest in my passion for music and to be able to share this with not only Bridget but the lovely people that are empowered through her baby ‘Goal Diggers NZ’, is something I am both proud and grateful for.

If you have any questions about me, about my music, about this post – I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment so that we can connect.

Time for me to head off and get organised for the gig I have coming up October 2nd at The Portland Public House in Kingsland from around 7:00pm – late.

If you are about, feel free to join us for a night of music and a wine or two.

I will be performing some of my favourite tracks both original and covers.

Thanks again for reading – ABBIE ➕ GOAL DIGGERS NZ
(Music Meets Pure NZ Motivation!)

Much Love
Abz ?

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