Adam Cousens is a local talent bound for international recognition. His stimulating and thought provoking lyrics float along with his simple yet beautiful folk-rock melodies. Adam played the APRA People's Stage at The Falls Festival, Marion Bay in 2005 and 2006. This year he has graduated to the Main Stage. Adam spends 5 minutes "In the Hotseat" with Con Kalamaras, APRA Writer Services Representative VIC/TAS

What's your story? My mother put the headphones on her pregnant tummy before I was born for me to listen. All my family are musos and my parents bought their first house almost entirely from gigging. My own original tunes started coming when I picked up piano in grade 3 and I played and notated my way through school, until I studied at the Tasmania Conservatorium of Music. I was writing many orchestral type arrangements, very Chopanistic and complex, usually without lyrics, when suddenly I wrote a simple song over four chords. It was so out of the blue that I thought ‘this somehow must be important’. Since that day, songwriting has almost ransomed my life. I fell in love with the guitar and have been singing my way around Europe, the UK and recently New Zealand playing festivals, clubs, pubs, parties and even in prison. Some describe my music as ‘new folk rock’ or rootsy bluesy, I say its simple music but with a complex message or challenging idea, music that’s for the thinker.

What sorts of things have helped you along in your career? Where did he get his big breaks or the most support. Positive optimism, faith, ‘never say die’ determination and ‘having fun with it all’ are definitely ingredients in the pie. Being one of the ‘Falls Festival play off’ winners has been a fantastic opportunity, supporting rock ’n’ roll royalty, The Angels, playing in De Aux Trois Mailletz in Paris on the same stage that Nina Simone used to play on (that’s a crazy story how that happened). Playing in prisons seems to spark a lot of interest (very Johnny Cash). Surrounding myself with positive influences, knowing when to make changes and when to take chances. Talking to artists who have done or are doing what I want to achieve like David Minchin from The Innocents or Rick Brooster from The Angels. Having a fantastic manager! Kaz Robson, we’ve worked so hard together this year and she’s amazing at doing all things I’m hopeless at. Unfortunately she’s leaving the team in January so I’m looking for a new Melbourne based manager and booking agent so please contact me.

What has it been like playing the APRA People's Stage the past few years. Over the last two years playing the APRA People’s Stage at the Marion Bay Falls Festival has been a fantastic experience. It has been positioned in a unique place at the festival, (right next to the beer tent) so obviously you can get a big crowd and great exposure to the punters. You’re also playing in between the headlining acts, just on a different stage, so technically you could say that I’ve supported Pete Murray ha ha ha! It's great to see other talented locals playing the stage as well and you flog enough CDs to actually pay for your festival if you’re lucky. Con Kalamaras, APRA Writer Services Representative (VIC/TAS), is always a great easy going guy to work with too, which really compliments the friendly none competitive atmosphere.

Looking forward to playing the Main Stage in 2007? Very excited to play to a big crowd and especially a big crowd in my home state, that’s always a real blast seeing your friends in the crowd singing your lyrics! The Falls will also be a valuable opportunity to meet and network with other artists and important people in the industry. I’m hoping to have a chat to Paul Kelly and Clare Bowditch, both songwriters I respect, so the Falls will be a valuable time indeed. It’s hard to believe it has already been a year since the last Falls! So much has happened for me since then; a new independent EP release Running Over Rooftops, the New Zealand tour, my song ‘When You Smile’ played on JTV and now the big stage at the Falls- very exciting! Its funny playing your own music as a career- it’s like you work hard all the time without holidays and sometimes without money, this goes on for a little while (or a long time!) and then something happens, like winning the Falls play offs and you’re thrown up to a different level. Then the whole process starts again.

What's in store for 2008? First and foremost finding a new manager and a professional booking agent based in Melbourne, because I’m gigging much more in Melbourne and interstate these days. Secondly, I’ll be spending some quality time looking/hunting down a respectable record label for the first half of the year, so if you’re reading this please check me out at www.myspace.com/adamcousens. I’ll also be filming my second film clip to my song ‘Running Over Rooftops’ from my Running over Rooftops EP Otherwise 2008 is shaping up to look like another fantastic year of song writing, music, laughter, sun, tours of adventures stretching across the country, guitar loving, meeting more amazing people in unusual places and hopefully touring to Tokyo near the end of the year. I love the constant travel.

What does APRA do for you? What do I think about APRA? Well APRA does a lot of really nice things for Adam Cousens, so I love APRA. Most importantly APRA gives me copyright over my tunes and secondly APRA gives me royalty money, so yes I loooove APRA. APRA also sends valuable information about festivals, tutorials, gatherings and competitions to me, that are all so beneficial to me and fellow musicians throughout Australia. God bless APRA!