Brisbane singer-songwriter Sian Evans brings her experiences balancing life as a working musician and single mother to June's Mixtape session at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Presented monthly as part of the Livespark music series, Mixtape presents three singer-songwriters discussing the music that drives them and to play a selection of original songs or covers.
This month welcomes the 'Mothers In Music' Mixtape in which Sian will be joined by Emma Bosworth and Sue Ray sharing stories of their lives at home and on the road.
Going by how busy Sian is writing music, being a mum and running her own business, she'll be lucky to get there at all.
“I'm an artist, so my presence is a contribution, my experience is a contribution and I think anyone who is a parent who is in that audience will appreciate anything that any of the mothers have to say because parenting is relative regardless of what industry you're working in,” Sian says.
“Getting out of the house is one of the most difficult things to get your head around and your own time, to have any for yourself you have to be meticulously organised to be able to have a creative life and a job.”
Both a solo artist and a member of alt. country outfit The Long Johns, Sian has an extensive catalogue of songs to choose from for her Mixtape performance, though she's currently unsure exactly what she'll pull out. “I have no idea at this point,” she says.
“Definitely my solo material and depending on my capacity to rehearse and get my head around the stuff I usually play on the banjo with The Long Johns and translating that onto guitar, I might even play a couple of The Long Johns' songs as well.”
A varied and eclectic artist, Sian works in a number of musical styles and picked up a Queensland Music Award nomination in the World/Folk category for her song 'Thorns'.
Though she missed out on the gong this year, Sian says acknowledgement is the most important thing for her at this point of her career.
“It's nice to have the recognition, but at the end of the day winning it isn't going to pay my rent so I've become detached from winning and losing; being recognised is enough credit at the moment,” she says.
“I work my arse off just to make everything happen and just the recognition is enough at this point in time; it doesn't matter whether you're winning or losing.
"It's a lot of blood, sweat and tears... and it's always good when someone in the community is getting a cool win; it's a good community in Brisbane and everyone supports one another.”
The most important advice Sian will be giving to parents at Mixtape is: don't let your children grow up to be musicians.
“When I have people come tell me their children want to be musicians I really would encourage them to become an engineer first and enjoy their music as a thing on the side,” she says.
“I think it's fine when you're younger and living with your parents or you're at uni and can be a lot more available, but as we become adults and get older there's a lot of love-work done in the music and arts industry that doesn't pay for all the things required by a responsible parent to look after their children.”
