Barely a week passes without the appearance in the media of a story describing in emotive and graphic detail the permeation of excessive alcohol consumption in youth culture
Images of teenagers slumped against the wall of a nightclub, police officers escorting inebriated youths into a van, and bloodied faces are all too common. But the Australian Government initiative, The Be Project: Be The Influence — Tackling Binge Drinking aims to curb this worrying trend. The initiative is supported and promoted by the Australian National Preventative Health Agency, the Commonwealth Government statutory agency established in 2011 to promote healthy living.
An important aspect of the Government's preventative health strategy is to raise awareness in particular demographics who are more susceptible to the immediate and longer-term dangers involved with excessive alcohol consumption, ie. binge drinking. In addition to targeting binge drinking in younger demographics by encouraging responsible behaviour — such as encouraging punters at festivals to balance their alcohol intake with water to maintain hydration levels and promoting positive self-esteem — Be The Influence invited young songwriters and aspiring filmmakers last year to create songs and video clips consistent with the themes of the responsible drinking campaign.
Once such person was Liam Park, who began writing songs at the age of 16. Living in a small country town “about 300 kilometres inland from Brisbane” meant Park had to retreat to his bedroom to experiment with his songwriting and production techniques. “Like a lot of people, I started off listening to people like Eminem, and then I got into Tribe Called Quest and Hilltop Hoods,” Park says.
Park came across The Be Project when a friend referred him to the Facebook page advertising the songwriting competition. With local hip hop star Pez an ambassador for The Be Project, Park was immediately interested. “I'm a massive fan of Pez, so when he put it up on his Facebook page, a mate of mine told me about it,” Park says.
Park already had what he describes as a “good vibe sort of melody” kicking around in his head, but wasn't sure what lyrics to put to the song to complete it. Park's song, aptly titled ‘Be The Influence’, explored the notion of subjective enjoyment, free from peer pressure.
While the presence and influence of alcohol is omnipresent in any Australian town, city and country, Park concedes that binge drinking isn't something that he's surrounded by. “Everybody loves music, so in any celebratory event you'll find music, and probably alcohol as well,” Park says. “I think the message of The Be Project is awesome — as well as the other things they're doing, like giving away free water at festivals. When you're off your face, it's pretty hard to take in the music, so you're really missing out.”
Against stiff competition, Park's song was chosen as the successful entrant in The Be Project. Park's prizes included a MacBook Pro, and a mentoring session with Pez. “I had my session with Pez last weekend,” Park says. “We spent Friday doing the vocals, and on Saturday we mixed the track.”
As well as getting some hands-on experience in a studio, Park was able to explore songwriting techniques with Pez. “It was great working with some real heavyweights,” Park says. “And it was great talking with Pez, and seeing where he gets his lyrical influences from.”
Park's song is due to be released in February, though Park isn't sure what the future holds for him or his music. “I'd probably like to put out some mixtapes. I'm about halfway through one, but I need to do a bit of work on it,” he says. “I'm not sure what will happen with my music in the future — I just want to have fun with it, and see where it goes.”
Written by Patrick Emery
Over 100 songs were submitted to The Be Project between October last year and January.
