OGAE REST OF THE WORLD
presents

OGAE Contest 2007:
Australian preselection

Guy Sebastian

Short bio:

Guy Theodore Sebastian (born October 26, 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter and winner of the first Australian Idol TV talent competition quest in 2003.

Guy Sebastian can be called real Rest of the World representative, born in Malaysia to Sri Lankan and Malaysian father, and a mother of Portuguese and English descent who had been raised in India. He moved to Adelaide, South Australia as a child. Since winning Australian Idol, he has released three top five albums and seven top twenty singles and has sold over a million albums and singles in Australia alone. He has also had substantial success overseas with number one hits in New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore. In 2005, Sebastian was appointed Ambassador for World Vision. In August of that year he visited Uganda to shoot a documentary An Idol in Africa for a Network Ten television special which was broadcast on December 3, 2005.

Website: http://www.guysebastian.com.au/


1st song "Elevator Love"

Written by: Guy Sebastian and Jarrod Rogers

"Elevator Love" is the second single from Guy Sebastian's third studio album, Closer to the Sun. The single was released on 2nd December 2006, album was released on 28th of October 2006. Style of the song is modern pop/rock.


"The title is a metaphor," Guy explains. "From the title you think it's about making love, it's a metaphor about love that's so up and down, you never get it right but you like it that way. I've been in a relationship like that before, as soon as stuff levels you wonder what's wrong."

Audio:
http://esckaz.com/mp3/Guy Sebastian - Elevator love.mp3

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQaSuL9hVaY (music video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FMduwWTIQE (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh79Ems56tg (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw1w81rhpH4 (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWGorgcPYPk (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyxyNksW07A (live)

Lyrics:
If I could, I would
Do it again, I’d do it again
I wouldn’t change a thing
We have love, and lose love
And do it again, and do it again
But that’s just how we are
We come back just to throw it all away

Tell me it’s over
So we can do it all again
I’m addicted to this elevator love
Tell me you miss me
And I will come back for one more day
I’m addicted to this elevator love
Elevator love

We laugh, we cry
And do it again, do it again
We go to hell and back
But there’s something ’bout you
I can’t keep away
Just can’t keep away
We know we’ll crash down
But I don’t want it any other way

Over and over and over we fall
We go up to come down, just to turn it around
And face it all again
2nd song is: "Cover On My Heart"

Written by Guy Sebastian, Anders Bagge, Peer Astrom.


From the same third studio album of Guy Sebastian Closer To The Sun, released on 28th of October 2006. It is the 3rd single from the album which is scheduled to be released in late April 2007. It is pop ballad.

"That's one of my most favorite ballads I've ever written," Guy says. "It's about a guy I used to work with at a warehouse who was the sort of dude where life bit him in the butt. This guy was obsessed with this lunch truck girl, he hated his job, but she was the only reason he stayed at that job. I reckon she was into him, she gave him her number but he was too scared to do anything. One day she just stopped coming in. That drove him nuts, he was so depressed, he actually even wrote down one time what he'd say to her. So the chorus says `I was going to tell you today, I even wrote the words I would say' so the song is all about him. I hope he doesn't take offence!"

Audio:
http://esckaz.com/mp3/Guy Sebastian - Cover On My Heart.mp3


Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUjmHEb26ik (live)

Lyrics:
Everyday feels all the same
9 to 5 gets so mundane
But something breaks with just one glimpse of you
I would stare so long awhile
Trying to tell you with my eyes
I didn’t say a thing I thought you knew

I wish I never did assume, cos.

Chorus:
I was gonna tell you today
I even wrote the words I would say
I finally found the courage
But now it’s too far
It took me all this time to reveal
What everything about you does to me
So tell me why did I keep a cover on my heart

Spent all night trying to explore just
How I’d tell you I adore ya
And how I’m moved by every word you say

But today there’s an empty space
I’ve found you gone without a trace
I wish that I coulda told you yesterday
Maybe then you would’ve stayed

Chorus

It feels like my point of existence
Has vanished with you in the distance
Whatever it takes I’ll persist
Till I see your face again

Chorus
Silverchair

sc6.jpg (18100 bytes)Silverchair is an Australian rock band. The group has had more top twenty hits in Australian charts during the last decade than any other local artist and they have sold over six million albums worldwide. Every album released by the band to date has spawned at least one "Top 3" single and debuted at the number 1 position on Australian charts. Silverchair is also one of only three Australian bands to have three number 1 singles on the Australian Singles Chart.

Members:
Daniel Johns (vocals, guitar)
Chris Joannou (bass)
Ben Gillies (drums)


Website: http://www.chairpage.com

Song: Straight Lines

"Straight Lines" is a single by Silverchair. It was released in Australia on March 10, 2007 and debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart. The single was shortly followed by the release of the band's fifth studio album Young Modern on March 31, 2007. Unlike the songs written during Diorama where Daniel Johns wrote all the tracks himself, "Straight Lines" was co-written by The Presets Julian Hamilton. On February 19, 2007, it became the band's first Australian number 1 single since 1997's " Freak".

Recently footage for the video, which fans were invited to appear in, was shot in Sydney. The music video for the single appeared on the official website and released to radio on February 2nd. The video for the song also premiered on the day. It features a dynamic band performance that was filmed at the Olympic Park railway station, Sydney by directors Paul Goldman and Alice Bell (the pair behind the acclaimed film Suburban Mayhem).

"Straight Lines" is generally a positive and upbeat song. The song is about feeling alone in the world, but making it through tough times and overcoming them. This is illustrated in the lyrics such as "Lately I'm a desperate believer, but I'm walking in a straight line" and "There's no changing yesterday...everything will be fine". The songs meaning appears to be a biographical comment from lead singer Daniel Johns who fought anorexia, clinical depression and reactive arthritis in the late nineties and early millennium, but was able to beat them. It also appears to be about being content with your place in life, thus walking in a straight line.

Audio:
http://esckaz.com/mp3/Silverchair - Straight lines.mp3

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79DrGah0GuY (music clip)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hur7vJv-KE0 (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOPSqz7rdxU (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA2x9l6JO-U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13kLVBQkr6E (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5GvBvIGt6A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-XttDJgA3I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLOPNxMdU30 (live)

Lyrics:

Breathing from a hole in my lung
I had no one
But faces in front of me
Racing through the void in my head
To find traces of a good luck academy

Sparks ignite and trade them for thought
About no one
And nothing in particular
Washed the sickened socket and drove
Resent nothing
There's good will inside of me

Wake me up lower the fever
Walking in a straight line
Set me on fire in the evening
Everything will be fine
Waking up strong in the morning
Walking in a straight line
Lately I'm a desperate believer
But walking in a straight line

Something I will never forget
I felt desperate
And stuck to the marrow
Invisible to everyone else
I'm a sex change
And a damsel with no heroine

Wake me up lower the fever
Walking in a straight line
Set me on fire in the evening
Everything will be fine
Waking up strong in the morning
Walking in a straight line
Lately I'm a desperate believer
But walking in a straight line

I don't need no time to say
There's no changing yesterday
If we keep talking and
I keep walking in straight lines

Wake me up lower the fever
Walking in a straight line
Set me on fire in the evening
Everything will be fine
Waking up strong in the morning
Walking in a straight line
Lately I'm a desperate believer
But walking in a straight line
Thirsty Merc

Thirsty Merc is an Australian rock band fronted by singer/songwriter Rai Thistlethwayte with co-writer and bass player Phil Stack. Thirsty Merc began as duo of Thistlethwayte and Stack playing as session and live jazz musicians in New South Wales country town of Dubbo, turning to make R&B rooted rock music. The duo enlisted guitarist Matt Baker and drummer Karl Robertson to fill out the band to a regular rock outfit and began to seek live audiences, initially in Dubbo and then branching out into neighbouring country towns. Before long, the band gained momentum and decided to move the group to Sydney to further pursue the band's career.
Following the success of First Work EP, Warner and Thirsty Merc formed a full recording contract to put together at least one full length studio album. In 2004, Lindsay Gravina, who has produced albums for The Living End and Magic Dirt produced the band's first full length epynomous (self-titled) album. The band's second album Slideshows will be released on the 21st April, 2007. Thirsty Merc recently completed their short small-venue "20 Good Reasons Tour" and have announced a full Australian tour for late 2007 in promotion of the album.

Members
Rai Thistlethwayte Guitars & Singer-Songwriter
Karl Robertson Drums & Percussion
Sean Carey Guitar
Phil Stack Bass guitar & Backing vocals


Website: http://www.themerc.com.au/

Song: "20 Good Reasons"


"20 Good Reasons" is the first single from Thirsty Merc's second album Slideshows. It was released on March 17, 2007 and is to date, the band's highest charting single, reaching #7 on the ARIA Charts. The single was also the #1 most added track to radio across Australia in March 2007.

The music video for "20 Good Reasons" features the band playing in what appears to be a gritty warehouse of some kind. Intercut with the band scenes, the clip features a married or defacto couple going through some sort of relationship trouble, obviously echoing the story told by the song. The music video has been made a MySpace feature video for Australian visitors in April 2007 in preparation and for promotion of the forthcoming full length album Slideshows..

Rai Thistlethwayte says of the track; - "It's one of those matter-of-fact songs. It just says: "Life is life, this is what happens sometimes. Just live with it." But the chorus is pitched with a question mark - why does it have to be like this? It's a very real song."

Audio:
http://esckaz.com/mp3/Thirsty Merc - 20 Good Reasons.mp3

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX8ujzKEq_w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYAOf5aKE78 (accoustic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muPsy70IUlI (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gdtit7fwYw

Lyrics:

They say love hurts
I wrote that book
I climbed that wall I had one look
But you just came around
To say hello

The streets were filled
With guilty hearts
And here was I right from the start
And I lost everything
When I lost you

So tell me why-y-y-y
Should I let you go
Give me 20 good reasons
I need to know, yeah

And at that point
There was no pain
There was no sky
There was no rain
For all there was was you
And your sweet face

But life is life
And things will change
Like scenes upon an actor's stage
Tomorrow comes today
For all we know

So tell me baby why-y-y-y
Should I let you go
Give me 20 good reasons
I need to know, yeah
Give me 20 good reasons
Give me 20 good reasons
Give me 20 good reasons
To let you go

So tell me baby why-y-y-y
Should I let you go
Give me 20 good reasons
I need to know, yeah
Tell me baby why-y-y-y
Should I let you go, yeah
Give me 20 good reasons
I need to know, yeah
Give me 20 good reasons
Give me 20 good reasons
Give me 20 good reasons
Augie March

Augie March are a five-piece band from Melbourne, Australia who formed in 1996. They take their name from a Saul Bellow novel ‘The Adventures of Augie March’. After many years of hard graft supporting other bands, during recent times they have achieved both critical and commercial success with their album ‘Moo, You Bloody Choir’ and the single ‘One Crowded Hour’. In January 2007 the song was voted #1 on Australian radio station Triple J's annual Hottest 100 songs for 2006, and in March the band won the Australian Music Prize.

Glenn Richards (guitar, vocals)
Adam Donovan (guitar)
David E Williams (drummer)
Edmond Ammendola (bass)
Kiernan Box (keyboards)


Website: http://www.augie-march.com/

Song - "One Crowded Hour"

"One Crowded Hour" is the first single off their album entitled Moo, You Bloody Choir, released on March 11th, 2006. The song debuted at #37 on the ARIA singles chart and made it to #33 nine weeks later. At the beginning of 2007, the song placed at #1 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2006 which resulted in it reentering the chart at a new peak of #29.

The video clip for One Crowded Hour is set in a gloomy forest where Glenn and the band perform. Plastic animals like deers and bears are seen passing by the band. The clip's atmosphere is very dreary and mysterious, represented by the band's clothes, instruments and the sky in grey.

'One Crowded Hour' captures both the daring and the loving homage to the musical past that makes listening to Augie March at once a new and a familiar experience. During the band's appearance on the live music TV show Cold: Live At The Chapel, Glenn Richards revealed the song was written while he was housesitting for Deborah Conway, and was inspired by a book she owned about an Australian wartime photographer. It's markers are as numerous and diverse as any Augie tune and take in the rollicking essence of Dylan and Van Morrison, the splendour and pomp of Walter Scott, and the organic intellectualism and larrikinism of Australian wartime cameraman Neil Davis. In short, no, it's not a song about boys and girls.


Audio: http://esckaz.com/mp3/Augie March - One Crowded Hour.mp3

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWEahIQGsZY (music clip)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPNxQpQjcNw (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG8BJUhWqkI (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4RfiacJCAU (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEJlGOwNLwE (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqgcx8VzvTU (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEpEHvArwxA (live)

Lyrics:

Should you expect to see something that you hadn't seen
In somebody you'd known since you were sixteen;
if love is a bolt from the blue, then what is that bolt but a glorified screw?
and that doesn't hold nothing together
Far from these nonsense bars and their nowhere music it's making me sick
And I know it's making you sick
There's nothing there, it's like eating air
It's like drinking gin with nothing else in
That doesn't hold me together.

* (But/And) for one crowded hour, you were the only one in the room
And I sailed around all those bumps in the night to your beacon in the gloom
I thought I had found my golden September in the middle of that purple June
But one crowded hour would lead to my wreck and ruin

Now I know you like your boys to take their medicine
From the bowl with a silver spoon
Run away with the dish and scare the fish by the silvery light of the moon
Who were taught from the womb to believe to the tomb
In as far as their bleeding eyes see
Is a pleasure pen, meant for them, built for and rent for them
Not for the likes of me
Not for the like of you and me

[Repeat *]

Oh but the green-eyed harpy of the songland
She takes into hers my hand
She says, "Boy I know you're lying
Oh but then, so am I,"
And to that I said "Oh well."

They put me in a cage full of lions, I learned to speak lion
In fact I know the language well
I picked it up while I was versing myself in the languages they speak in hell
That night, the silence gave birth to a baby
They took it away to her silent dismay
And they raised it to be lady
Now she can't keep her mouth shut

[Repeat *]

One crowded hour, you were the only one in the room
Well I played a few songs for those bumps in the night
In fact I played this very tune
You said, "What is this six-stringed instrument but an adolescent loom?"
And one crowded hour would lead to my wreck and ruin.