All posts tagged: never too old

New year, new me: come visit my Australian punk cabaret band Mutton!

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Hello lovelies, it’s been a loooooooooooong time between posts I know. How are you? Hello once again, where I’m swinging by to invite you to visit my new creative project ‘Mutton’, a post-menopausal, post-modern, post-punk, pre-apocalyptic drums and bass duet! We sing, we swear, we play bastardised covers and dodgy originals, and we are having the best fun. You’ll find our website HERE. We have stunning photos, upcoming gigs, and a good feminist vibe. So pop in to say Hi. Who knows: perhaps we’ll end up coming your way one day? If you’re in Australia, you’ll find us in Gosford, Bellingen, Brunswick Heads, Wollongong and Sydney in February… Then back on the couch recovering for most of March haha. In complete and utter gratitude for the privilege of creativity and my drumming determination, Love G xO

Too old to learn the drums at 56? Hell no! One year later…

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Welcome Folks, to the best year of my life. I mean that. Twelve months ago exactly I bought my first electronic drum kit for $400, played it for 2 weeks every day, then upgraded to a $1500 kit. I wrote all about it HERE. A couple of months later I spent $500 on a cute blue acoustic kit (which means the proper ‘drum kit’ you see with rock bands), then again upgraded to my now-much-beloved-almost-new-proper Pearl kit, with pride of place in my living room: And yes, I’d sleep there if I thought it would help me learn quicker. For me, drums are the perfect combination of rhythm, dance, meditation, creativity, focus, play, fun, and discipline. I try and play every day for an hour (sometimes more), and let me acknowledge here what a privilege this is: I don’t have to deal with a fulltime job, 3 kids, a struggle with homelessness, or even just grumpy neighbours. I am SO blessed. Last week marked six months of weekly rehearsals with my group of over-45 women …

How reading an article about over 50s women musicians changed my life

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Hello Folks, thanks for dropping by. Are you reading this post while sipping tea or coffee? That’s what I was doing when I read an article online which has changed my life dramatically in the last 12 months, and here it is: ArticleThatMayChangeYourLife. My new Shero– who I’ve never met but hope to one day- Ruth Miller had a gem of an idea to start an over 50s punk band, especially for women who never had a chance to do that when they were younger (for whatever reasons). YES. YES. YES PLEASE. In 2021, using the name Unglamorous Music, she launched workshops to teach simple song writing and instrument playing to women around Leicester in England; now there are 8 all-female bands gigging round her local area, and they’ve just released a 12-song sampler you can buy HERE (vinyl, CD or digital). As I’ve written in my previous post, the urge to start playing the drums came to me in a shaft of bright light from above, and that article about Ruth may have been …

Literally ‘getting back on the horse’

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I was one of those youngsters who loved horses, were you? Pretty privileged I know. I got obsessed at about 11 or 12, and luckily for me, Mum and Dad decided to assuage their parental divorce guilt by buying me a cheap old fat stubborn Exmoor pony called Christie. I had to babysit every weekend, and cycle a paper route before school to help pay for the feed and paddock costs; those animals can sure eat a lot of hay. After a couple of years trying out Pony Club, going hunting, and galloping over farmers’ fields without permission, I progressed to a Palomino called Holly, who was handsome, but with a crap personality. We tried cross country jumping, basic dressage/showing, plus lots of trail rides, and I fell off dramatically twice, getting concussion and then a fractured jaw. My Dad was not impressed. Still, Holly had the desired effect of keeping me away from boys… until I got to 17, passed my driving test, and suddenly discovered the freedom of nightclubs and dancing till 3am. Who …