Biography
Music has always been the most natural form of self- expression for me. It has sometimes acted as self -preservation as well, like when I experienced bullying at school. Playing drums in the school band gave me immunity. I guess drummers are seen as being cool in a 15 yr old boy’s eyes!
Earlier on my first experience with a private music teacher was unfortunately also not a positive one. But it didn’t prevent me from writing songs (even if it meant I became teacher phobic!). I was 8 yrs old. I have always ‘received’ music out of thin air. Words & melodies come naturally to me when inspiration strikes.
I remember being particularly affected when I first heard John Lennon’s Imagine. I went through the motions of that song like no other. That power to convey an idea, a message in a few minutes probably impressed me the most. I think this is when I began to write music too.
Possibly, because of my traumatic time with my first music teacher, I became a ‘silent’ writer. I would soundproof my bedroom by placing blankets under the door so that no one would hear me sing or write. Over time I secretly gathered my songs on countless tapes, piles of books & a big suitcase under my bed, which remained hidden, for years. However, seeing that songs came to me as basically fully formed ‘light bearers’, to help me in my own life, I felt compelled to share them with others.
When I finally decided to record, along with the excitement of finally doing it, I was ironically met with the personal challenges that I sang about on the album. As ‘bonus extra’s’ I even had a close encounter with a freak wave, a deadly tiger snake & to top it all off I lost my dear father who was my greatest inspiration, teacher & supporter. Hesitantly I persevered with the making of the album using his inspirational legacy of selfless hard work & positive spirit. He would’ve wanted me to. This ‘drive’ if you will, is what I call soul volition - when the soul leads the way for a worthy purpose undeterred by emotions, fears & other desires. It makes a beeline for the goal. Nothing can stop it.
My family history in music goes back at least two generations. My dad’s parents were both folk songwriters on the Northern Aegean Island of Lemnos. Likewise my father & several uncles were musicians playing the Persian santoor, trumpet & clarinet in local village bands. It is possible that the first sounds I heard were of folk & classical music from Turkey, Greece, Arabia & Egypt as dad’s radio was always on, providing me with a rich early musical education. He was also passionate about western pop/rock music so I was exposed to that in liberal doses as well.
I developed my voice by singing with several choirs such as the Turkish Orchestra Fasil Istanbul but mostly with The Café Of The Gates Of Salvation, a A’capella gospel choir which was led by the enigmatic Tony Backhouse. We performed regularly & extensively around Australia singing at festivals such as Peter Gabriel’s Womadelaide & Hemispheres and at venues such as Angel Place Recital Hall & The Basement. I recorded two albums with the choir: ‘Paul Capsis Live’ & ‘Deluxe’, the latter of which I also contributed to as a soloist.
Instruments in general interest me & I’m always picking up something new to add to my collection. I play & compose on the harmonium, guitar, piano, hand drums & an Apallacian dulcimer too.
My debut solo album - SOUL VOLITION began being created shortly after a good friend passed away and my niece was born. Life and death arrived side by side and it was a wake up call for me who was up till then immobilised in perfectionist tendencies & fear. My friend passed on before she could record her own album and what a better gift to give to my newborn niece than an example of her uncle following his dream? So feeling a sense of newfound urgency (the soul volition within) I began collating the songs & the musicians that I trusted to make it happen. I called upon Dave Longo on guitars, Alexander Hewetson (D.I.G) on bass, Terepai Richmond (The Whitlams) on drums, Robbie Woolf (King Tide) on piano & various keyboards. Strings by members of The Zephyr Quartet amongst other special guests including extracting a blistering guitar solo for ‘Slave’ from my talented & celebrated friend iOTA. Mixed by Dave Longo, Aria Award winning producer & engineer Anton Hagop (Silverchair, Powderfinger), John Stuart & myself. Mastered by William Bowden @ King Willy Studios. I produced this album. It is the first of a trilogy. The underlying element is Ether/Air- songs for expansion & wonderment. It will be released through my own Independent label called FIRELIGHT RECORDS.
Performances: Since completing the album I have been enjoying performing these songs acoustically with my friends Simon Rudston-Brown (The Falls) helping me out on guitar and the sweet Inge Courtnet-Haentjes (The Savoy Quintet) on violin. I feel like I needed to take them back to their origins in simplicity before I dress them up again with a full live band in 2010. We have performed at the fiesty Vanguard, Frank Sinatra’s old hangout at Bar Me, Paddington Uniting Church & @NEWTOWN RSL.
Influences: The singers & songwriters that have impressed on me the most over the years would be: Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Roland Orzabal (Tears for Fears), Joni Mitchell, Prince, Kate Bush, Boy George, George Michael, John Lennon, Michael Jackson & Anita Baker.
Apart from music I am interested & always inspired by: the crazy fact & mystery of us all floating on a ball in space, true stories of brave, courageous, unique people & animals, the great big infinite blue sky, & the intricacies of nature. I am particularly enthralled with the works of Paramahansa Yogananda, Hermann Hesse, & Joseph Campbell. I believe in a boundless love & that we are all interrelated through it. I hope to promote personal inquiry into these matters- the primordial, eternal questions of existence & of self knowledge. I find them extremely interesting & significantly important especially in these days where it’s all go go go. Where are we going exactly?