The I Heart Songwriting Club started out as a self-help group that encouraged each other at house parties to shed the negatives and pressure of creating steadily by giving each other feedback and high-fives in person.
Ten years later, it has inspired the writing of 30,000 songs by over 1500 songwriters from 30 countries. It has its own website, retreats, a podcast called The Magic Of Songwriting, and workshops.
A fortnightly show on ABC Radio Qld features an evolving door of four members. Each member is given a theme or phrase word and 20 minutes to write a song. The members play the song on air and get listener feedback.
As part of the 10th anniversary, the Club is holding a showcase called Acoustic Mornings over two days at BIGSOUND.
Acoustic Mornings, at the Hotel X lobby from 8-11 am, features 12 songwriters from all over the country, including Jackie Marshall, Abbie Cardwell and Club founder Francesca de Valence.
WA guitarist and singer-songwriter Mama Kin exclaimed, “I love I Heart Songwriting Club! It shook me out of my writing block and taught me new ways to write. I have it to thank for most of my songs on my latest album!” That album, Golden Magnetic, was nominated for an ARIA.
Bobby Alu has written well over 100 songs in the Club. Eight ended up on his current album, Keep It Tropical, which peaked at #3 on the ARIA chart and which he is touring throughout Europe and the USA behind.
Beginnings
The Club began when de Valence, then teaching at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, talked to one of her students, Erin Jane, who was feeling disillusioned.
“I’m not able to write anything because I don’t think it’s perfect.”
Having her own issues with writer’s block with her routine of writing every day, de Valence replied: “Why don’t you let go of making a song perfect and write for the sake of writing while you’re working at being an artist.”
She added: “By the way, I’m starting a songwriter’s club, and you and I are the first two members! Here’s our homework: we write a song each in an hour and then text it to each other for feedback.”
As de Valence told TheMusic.com.au, “The whole thing about the writing process is that it is in isolation and self-deprecating.
“When you’re by yourself, you start buying into negative feelings. Is this good enough? Is it good at all? You have doubts. Unless you get feedback about that or someone tells you that they resonated with the piece, you do continue to wonder if it is any good.
“I’d be stopping the writing process because I wasn’t liking what I was writing. Sometimes, it’d be months to finish off a song or even start a new one. I’d end up with dozens of ideas that never went anywhere. It can become crippling at that point.”
The club quickly swelled in numbers as more people found out about it and wanted in. At the start, they’d hold concerts in Brisbane in a member’s backyard, attended by other members. A strong, supportive community grew up around the Club. Members would dress up and create that no-stress environment where every song was a work in progress.
Concerts were held in other cities. However, members eventually wanted the Club to grow their profile and build up their careers, too. So, the shows were moved to public places like Queen Street Mall for wider feedback and workshops with QMusic and APRA AMCOS.
Own Path
The biggest impact of the I Heart Songwriting Club was how it taught its members to be proactive and find their own path.
Francesca de Valence, who was playing piano in wine bars on Brisbane’s Elizabeth Street aged 15, went on to play in the Queensland Youth Orchestra, wrote songs for her rock band, studied at the Conservatorium, performed in hotels in Asian capital cities, and co-founded the Whitsundays Songwriter Festival.
Through the Club, she built up a catalogue of 700 songs. She has written with Toni Childs, Vika & Linda, and Mark Sholtez, as well as cuts with Bryce Sainty and Kaiyah Mercedes, whose co-writes saw over 250,000 streams in the first month.
Abbie Cardwell (NSW), another early Club member, went on to win triple j Unearthed, did well in the BMI USA Songwriting Competition and entered TV’s The Voice.
She has released the first single, Husha Husha, from her upcoming album Love Is An Amplifier. She notes that she wrote every song on the album and attributes it to the Club “for creating a magical, creative, supportive and safe space for songwriters to learn, revive, reinvent themselves, explore and stay sane. It’s cheaper than therapy, too.”
Jackie Marshall (QLD) is returning for the BIGSOUND showcase from Amsterdam filmfest, Septimius Awards, for her role in the feature film 3 Chords And The Truth. Five of her songs, written in the Club, made the soundtrack.
Acoustic Mornings are on Wednesday, September 4, and Thursday 5, at the lobby of Hotel X, 458 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley.
Also showcasing are Hannah Acfield (Vic), Mardi Lumsden (Qld), and Brooke Austen (Qld), IHSC course students Romanie (Vic), First Nations artist CANISHA (Vic), and graduates of IHSC’s mentoring, Ella Hartwig, Tessa Fleur, and Amy Elise from Qld and Mandy Hawkes (NSW).
You can find more information about Acoustic Mornings at BIGSOUND here.
