Movers Smoothers & Groovers - November 12, 2008

Thirteen years ago radio station Triple J came to Lismore and discovered Grinspoon, as part of their Unearthed project. Grinspoon went on to become one of the most successful rock bands in Australia.In the past two weeks another group from Lismore has been enjoying a taste of rock and roll stardom thanks to Triple J's Unearthed initiative. A group of intellectually disabled people calling themselves MSG (Movers, Soothers and Groovers) were the featured artist on the Triple J Unearthed website and their song Icecream Truck was put on high rotation on the radio station. Triple J announcer Vijay Khurana decribed the song as "a slick, spooky bit of electro. It'll get in your head and stay there until the next time you eat ice cream." Others have compared their music to Madonna, Devo and Black Dog. Triple J listeners voted Icecream Truck number two on the Unearthed dance charts last week, while another of their songs, Rockers Soul, got to number five. The project came about when local music producer Randolf Reimann (aka Dolfazoid) came to do some work with the Community Participation Program at Multitask in Molesworth St. The program teaches life skills to school leavers with an intellectual disability. Randolf encouraged them to play with a range of electronic instruments and to write some lyrics. The participants were taught how to use samples and create loops, and then played all of the keyboards and percussion on the songs they had written together. Microphones were set up in the hallway and the lyrics recorded. Randolf then took it all away and mixed it at his home studio. One of the participants, Matthew Damonds, said it was "very weird" hearing his voice on the radio, but was obviously chuffed to be a part of the project. Community support workers Lez Joyce and Jo McRae said the group had been "humbled and amused" by the whole experience. "We're just all amazed. People have written in (to the website) saying how wonderful their songs are. We tell them they are world famous and they just giggle," Ms McRae said. Mr Joyce said that, unlike many online polls, the people in the group hadn't been lobbying their friends to vote for them, and it was a genuine response from Triple J listeners. A total of 10 songs were recorded by five different groups at Multitask and it will be released on a compilation CD called The Soundbeam Sessions. The official CD launch is planned for December 3 which is International Day of People with a Disability. Organisers say it will be a celebration of the achievements of people with disabilities.