Me with Australian pop singer Holiday Sidewinder at Snooker World, Gold Coast. April 2019.
d-Wizz 2.0 in action, 2005.
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Music was my first love, and it will be my last. Music from the future, and music from the past.” - John Miles ("Music", 1976) |
I was raised as a musician by my parents Alan and Rowenna Western from the age of 5. Some of my fondest childhood memories are playing the piano for my folks, friends and relatives when I was living in Manchester from 1976 - 1982. I studied under Winfred Sutton (1976 - 1979) and then Stephanie Mawer (1979 - 1982). I got to play at several music festivals in Manchester in Hazel Grove, Macclesfield and Buxton.
When I emigrated to Brisbane in 1982, I enrolled at Padua College and in 1983 I took up playing guitar and violin with the late Rick Purdie and Elsie Parker, as well as continuing to play piano with my cousin Nicola Seneviratne and then later with Elsie Parker, Edna Kleinschmidt. I got up to Grade 7 in piano. In 1987, I also took up playing trombone with Chris Dodemont in my high school Senior Concert Band and Big Band. After leaving school, I did 6 months of a music technology course at the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music in 1989 and then again in 1993 at School of Audio Engineering. I also assisted Quan Yeomans on a recording project he was doing there, about a few months before he formed Regurgitator with Ben Ely and Martin Lee. In 1992, I played drums in the band West End, which consisted of my brother Lee Western on bass, Daniel Endicott on guitar and vocals and Ryan Smith on guitar. In late 1994, I formed the act Blackened with my then-girlfriend Julie Hepburn and we gained a small following on the Brisbane music scene doing gigs at Bandshake, The Shamrock Hotel (now Netherworld), Chardons Corner Hotel and Lands Office Hotel, as well as Pacific Sun Friends. This band lasted until 1999 when we decided to change our name to Latex and reinvent ourselves as a glam rock band. Sadly, we broke up in April of that year and I turned to managing The Busymen after befriending lead singer/organist/percussionist Robert Smith. I kept that role until 2017 when I turned to doing their PR work with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter instead. In 2001, I started up the concept band Laissez-Fayre (originally known as LASSivious) with Eliza Abbate, Kitty Stevenson, Trish Bathersby, Tema Morris and Bonnie Moir as the main singers. In 2006, I formed a new lineup and recorded some demo tracks for the band's Myspace page, but the band split shortly after. I then tried forming a new lineup in 2009 with vocalist Nova Eva Ciara, bassist Karen Venz and vocalist/keyboardist Amanda Clark-Brewer, and again in 2013 with Shelley Morris, Kate McMillan and Cassie Trent doing a demo CD to share on YouTube and SoundCloud. You can read more about the band's history at: https://dariowestern.wordpress.com In 2020, I was interviewed about the band on the Naturist Living Show's episode "The Nude Music" as well as by Sparks fan Christian Huey on his podcast show What We Do Is What We Do. In 2012, I started work on a solo act under my own name doing mostly 70's glam rock oriented originals and covers. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I was featured on Cheep Trill's single "Real Life Computer Game" as a backing singer, originally recorded by Emma Dean in 2007 and re-recorded as part of her online choir. In addition to doing my own music, I have also appeared in or participated in these following music videos: The Whats - "Oh" (2005) Bokmastaz - "Rappers D'light" (2006) The Medicine Show - "Dig Deep" (2008) Violent Soho - "Neighbour, Neighbour" (2012) Violent Soho - "In The Aisle" (2013) Miss Natalie Wyld - "Hot For Women" (2015) Sabrina Lawrie - "No Rules" (2017) Dune Rats - "Up" (2021) |
