Two local artists launch artist development school

Local artists Christian Lo Russo (Amy Meredith frontman) and Tegan Rogers (Atlantis Awaits frontwoman) have partnered to launch an artist development school in Sydney.

Having officially opened two weeks ago at 18B Carrington Road in Randwick, The Artist Studio offers mentoring, one-on-one voice and artist development sessions, group vocal sessions, songwriting and recording sessions, touring and performance advice and videographer sessions to maximise audiences on social media.

Lo Russo, who penned the 2010 ARIA Top 10 single Lying with Amy Meredith, has over the past two years leant his experience to Sydney-based global-charting band 5 Seconds of Summer, and co-written tracks with Sony Music’s Taylor Henderson, Dami Im and Jessica Mauboy, as well as ARIA chart-climber Jarryd James, Kita Alexander and ASTA.

Rogers signed her first publishing deal and recorded a debut album with Canberra alt-rock band Atlantis Awaits at the age of 19. She has run her own singing school, Tegan’s Singing Studio, for the past seven years; one of her students is singer Nicole Millar, who won an ARIA last year for her feature on Peking Duk’s track High.

Speaking to TMN, Lo Russo said he was writing in LA when the idea for The Artist Studio was sparked.

“We [Amy Meredith] were over there writing with a handful of different artists and hanging with the 5 Seconds boys and I remembered thinking about when we first met them and how they were bright-eyed kids with big dreams.

“I thought, ‘That is the sort of passion for music I want to be around to nurture and develop’. I wasreally excited to find untapped emerging artists who just want to make music because they love it.”

Lo Russo aims to teach students about the two crucial differences between a singer and an artist. “A singer can hold a tune, they can hit the notes that are required of them,” he told TMN. “An artist embodies the music and expresses the lyric and the tone of the song throughtheir performance. An artist commands the stage, puts their stories down on paper and expresses them through their music.”

Lo Russo said that while Amy Meredith continues its indefinite hiatus (the band announced its break in 2013) he has been splitting his time between Australia and the US, writing for artists alongside the band’s guitarist JoelChapman.

“It has really been a juggling act trying to find the right balance between creating music for ourselves and writing for others […] If anything, the launch of the artist studio means that I will be starting to write a bunch more for myself again. There’s nothing more inspiring than watching young talented artists discover their own passion for music and everything about it.”

According to the studio’s official website, students who take part in its songwriting development package will be eligible for submission into APRA’s 50 songs in 5 days program – the annual camp which has hosted artists and producers includingJoel Little (Lorde, Broods), Amy Meredith, Evermore, Thirsty Merc, Samantha Jade, Tina Arena and Mphazes (Eminem, Kimbra).

More info: www.theartiststudiosydney.com