Where has the time gone and is this really Masterclass #5. Less than 3 years since our first Masterclass, here we go again with a new intake of songwriters.
In the year since the last Masterclass we have released 2 volumes of Secret Coast songs on vinyl, CD and streaming and held our 2nd charity showcase. More details on these in other blog posts here.
For those arriving early on the Thursday, there was the unique treat of listening along with James to the vinyl version of the new Bulter, Blake & Grant album which James had just received that morning. Listening on the new turntable in the lounge, it was a very memorable moment.
We stuck with the successful formula from the previous 4 Masterclasses with the only change being that we recorded the song demos live on the Saturday along with the videos which are now all up on YouTube. This freed up time on the Sunday for a Q&A session with James, Bobby and Grahame.
We had 7 new songwriters in Kevin F, Tina, Tish, Michael, Colin, Mike and Kevin D plus 3 returners in Janie, Lisa and Graeme. Again we had a great mix of experience and a everyone was very supportive of each other.
We kicked-off the first Friday session after a lunch of some wonderful soup from the Five West team. The session was the usual mix of nerves, support and wonderful songs. By dinner on the Friday evening it seemed like everyone had known each other for years,
After a good nights sleep, Saturday was taken up with fine-tuning the songs in advance of the Saturday Showcase. After being unhappy with his song overnight, Graeme came up with a new theme and completely re-wrote the verses. Mike came with a partially finished song dedicated to his mother, Bobby. There is a lovely clip on our Instagram of him rehearsing the song in the kitchen on Saturday afternoon when James and Bobby come in and everyone in singing it. Mike's plan is to release the song "Back on Elie Bay" as a single to raise funds to #DestroyDementia.
The quality of the songs at the Saturday Showcase was stunning and the number of hooky hooks was evident as there was a lot of singing along to each song.
We started Sunday a little bit later following an exciting night before. It was clear through the weekend that everyone had other song ideas they wanted to share, so we did another round-table - although this time a bit more relaxed than Friday's.
Kevin was the first one to need to leave as he had a long drive back to Wick! The group decided to see him on his way with a chorus of "Woos" from the song he had just performed. Any passing locals must have wondered what the hell was going on at The Hollies. You can see this clip on our socials.
Another wonderful Masterclass completed and another 7 members added to our burgeoning songwriting community. This time, we only had 2 weeks to wait for Masterclass #6 which was speifically set up as an Advanced Masterclass.
