Bios
May 26, 2009 About us
Scotty Lew – percussion, vocals
Scott has been playing percussion for 20 years. He studied Cuban percussion from 1989 until 1995. he has played with Musiki Manjaro, Kenny Lopez Sex Mambo and Skin 2 Skin. In 1996 he went to Senegal’s famous E’cole des Arts for two and a half years and studied with Ballet Jamm Africa where he learnt Mandinkan drumming under Abdou Diouf. He also studied the kora (Mandinkan harp) under the tutelage of Kaw Cissoko, Lamin Cissoko, Lamin Kouyate and Djali Bouba Kouyate. He founded Melbourne based percussion ensemble “Safara” and became a well known West African percussion teacher. He toured with Djali Bouba Kouyate in 2005, and now plays freelance percussion in Melbourne.
Scotty is a founding member of The Conch and a major creative contributor.
Sean – trumpet
Sean is a versatile trumpet player and composer based in Melbourne. He has performed on television backing Kate Ceberano and Marcia Hines and has toured and recorded with ‘The Funken Wagnells’.
Sean currently performs with the The Cairo Club Orchestra and regularly fronts his own ensembles that feature his original compositions and arrangements. Sean is a dedicated and passionate secondary school music teacher in the state system. He is thoroughly enjoying ‘The Conch’ as a way of connecting people, contributing to a better society and fighting back against increasing world wide injustice and oppression.
Jo – vocals
Jo was singing along to Carole King’s Tapestry when she was 2 years old. She studied to be a music teacher at Melbourne University back in the 90s, majoring on the clarinet, and performing with a range of orchestras and ensembles. Her love of singing saw her and two friends become Saffron, an acapella trio, singing original songs as well as creatively arranging some classic and contemporary tunes. She taught music and drama in secondary schools in the late 90’s. For the past few years she’s combined her love of music with a passion for social justice, performing at a range of political and cultural events around the country, in particular bringing some of the great struggle songs of Latin America to Australia. The Conch, with its awesome music and damn timely message keeps Jo awake at night with excitement…
Nick – drumkit
Nick studied drums and percussion throughout his secondary school life and completed Year 12 music solo performance on tuned percussion. During this time he played with the Preston Brass Band and toured New Zealand and the UK before specialising in drum kit and playing in various original and cover bands around Melbourne, including “The Committed” a Commitments cover band and his original band “Mint”. He has been teaching drums and percussion in secondary schools for nearly twenty years and currently runs a rock programme at Doncaster Secondary College as well as coordinating the music programme at Thornbury High School. He is very excited to be playing the variety of rhythmic feels in “The Conch” from Latin, Reggae, Ska, Hip Hop, Funk and Rock. “I’m having a ball!”
Mel – keyboard
Mel has been involved in a diverse range of music and theatre projects for the past 12 years, as a performer, keyboardist, violinist, composer and director. Her passion for avant garde theatre has lead to her collaborating as a writer/director on such shows as There’s a naked man in my lounge room, The great chocolate advertisement and currently, as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival, Goddess Wanted: Must provide own pedestal. Reflecting Mel’s strong feminist outlook, these works have explored issues of domestic violence and the family, mental illness and women’s empowerment. Mel’s also studied jazz and contemporary music at The Gordon Institute, and has just bought a gorgeous new Roland keyboard upon which she hammers out the funky keyboard lines of the Conch.
Ralph – sax
Ralph started playing the saxophone at the age of eight in the Healesville Concert Band, then later took up a music scholarship at University High School. Working professionally as a musician whilst still at school lead to poor academic grades and he decided to skip the HSC and enrol at the Victorian College of the Arts where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music performance. Since then he has performed, arranged and composed in many of the varied ensembles in Melbourne and has toured extensively throughout Australia plus recent tours to South Korea and Tonga. Ralph completed a Masters degree in Music in 2005, and also wrote a thesis entitled A SEARING SOUND A Preliminary Investigation into the Legend of Australian Saxophonist Frank Smith. Having a strong social ethic and a healthy disdain for all forms of authority, Ralph feels that playing in The Conch in today’s political environment is as important as any endeavour he has undertaken to date.
Neilo – trumpet
Since graduating from VCA in 1993, Neil has performed extensively in and around Melbourne. With experience ranging from orchestral/chamber groups & musicals through to numerous big bands, latin, funk, rock and jazz combos, Neil brings a wealth of musical experience to ‘The Conch’. He is also one hell of a nice bloke, and we love him.
Jim Glasson – sax
Jim has played clarinet, flute and sax with the British Rock Symphony alongside Eric Burdon, Thelma Houston, Glenn Shorrock, and CDB among others. In 1998 he toured with Demis Roussos (yes THE Demis Roussos) and has played with Vince Jones, Mike Nock among others. In 1995 he played for 3 months with the house band at the Hard Rock Café in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Jim was a founding member of the government funded, avant-garde jazz orchestra The Australian Art Orchestra, and has performed in front of audiences of over 10,000 people with the Legends of Motown Australian Tour, alongside The Four Tops and The Temptations.
Stue – vocals
Jo-jo – Bass
Shane – Guitar
forest gig
Tags: band members, biographies, information