A few days ago I decided the best way to improve my posting frequency was to get into a good habit of posting DAILY media interaction? And like a new years resolution, that motivation was only temporary. But I’m going to attempt to improve that!

Today I managed to sleep in; catching up on the hours lost working on my assignments for Media 1 and Cinema Studies. I then had to head down to Yarraville for a rehearsal session for one of my bands – The Mochasins. While waiting for our drummer to finish up class, we spent some time covering bands we like – such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Courtney Barnett, The Strokes, Silversun Pickups and The Beatles – in order to get the musicial vibes flowing.

After practice, we had a little bit of a chat as a group to evaluate how things are headed. As discussed by Rachel in the Lectorial — it is important to take some time away from groupwork to really appreciate each other’s company. We all sat for a coffee and talked about a rough timeline. To me, it’s pretty exciting how quickly this group has moved towards actually producing music. Ethan (our vocalist and lead guitarist), Githmi (our bassist) and myself have been playing together for a little over two months now, and our drummer Adriano joined our group only 2-3 weeks ago. However, we already have five songs written; and the general consensus is that we feel ready to hit the studio and the stage in the coming months. Our first point of call will be to have a chat to Ethan’s friend Andrew (a music production student and the lead singer of local “dole-rock” group The Football Club).

The decision to have a little guidance for this is one we pretty quickly came to unanimously – simply due to each of our own personal inexperience in a studio setting.

Even just evaluating groupwork/collaboration in day-to-day life has made me realise that often it’s the people – not collaboration itself – that can lead to negative experiences. Previous groupwork projects I have really disliked have been caused by a plethora of issues – typically in-cliques and unbalanced work ethic. However, with The Mochasins, we’re all very open with each other, and we’re all prepared to bring ideas to the table; rather than just “being along for the ride”. There is leadership, yes; but it’s the kind of leadership that provides a foundation upon which the four of us can build something collaboratively. I aim to make my groupwork experience for PB4 similar to that of my groupwork in day to day life — I will give it my all but I will endeavour to make sure that everyone is happy with the direction of the project.