Hey everybody. Thank you for tuning in to this special episode of the production talk podcast. This episode is a little bit different to the other ones because it's not on our normal schedule day, but, uh, in between. And the reason why I'm recording this episode today is that, um, you may have, uh, seen the news lately. What's been going on in, uh, on the East Coast in Australia. So I'm speaking to you from the Northern rivers in Northern new south Wales. Well, the Bundjalung country. And, uh, at the time when the last episode with Jessica was released or the entire south-east of Queensland and Northeast of new south Wales got hammered by severe weather and extreme flooding. Um, that's what I would like to speak to you today. It's been absolutely devastating to the local community. Uh, I'm, I'm safe. I live up in the Hills and the Byron hinterland, uh, on one, one side, about 20 minutes from me is Mullumbimby where heaps of my, lots of my friends live, for example, Andy, who was on the podcast in an early episode and lots of other friends of mine. And so many of them went under in the other direction. About half an hour from me is Lismore and Lismore good hit a lot worse than most other towns, um, with the entire town centre going under, not by one story, but even two stories. And over two stories. So, um, some houses were completely submerged and there was lots of life. It's a terrible situation. Uh, I haven't done much work lately because we're trying to organise community support. Um, I've already done a run to the Lismore evacuation centre. Uh, driving and supplies, and this will continue today. Um, at the same time, the entire region is now, uh, pretty much. And there are long, long lines in front of these shopping centres. Um, however, they don't have much left, uh, if any, at all the, the shelf OD stripped, uh, there's no more fresh vegetables and fruit available and very few other things, but the good news is the highway is opening up. So hopefully this will change soon so we can give more support to the local community. In the show notes, I'm going to add a couple of links to organisations that you can donate to if you want to help. Uh, every bit of help is deeply appreciated right now and deeply needed. And if you know any of the amazing volunteers of the SES and the volunteers at the evacuation centres, please give. Big pat on the back for me, a huge respect for what these amazing human beings are doing. Um, at the same time, um, all of this now comes at a time where the local music industry, uh, was just about to get up on their knees and try to, uh, get the ball rolling. And, uh, so many musicians now have lost everything in the floods. So I just wanted to let everybody know that there will be government support, but we all know that the government is sometimes a little bit lopsided and loves to support. People who don't need it, eh, and sometimes their own clientele and not necessarily, um, the musicians. So we often find that the musical industry doesn't get as much support as they deserve. So this is also a big call-out to all the local MPS, to all the politicians, to not be blind on this eye, but to, to help. The, the musical community, the music industry, that's pubs, that's venues, that's studios, that is all the musicians and performers, theatres, venues, and so on and so on. They all need help right now. And, um, of course, I would like to do what I can at the stage, which is unfortunately not as much as I would like to do, but, um, the right now is the time to. Give supplies to help cleaning to, to, to rebuild those communities. And I will be actively engaged in this as well. Um, in a few weeks time, hopefully, there will be a time to sort of reflect and take a step back and just consider what was happening and start to process, um, the devastation, uh, that we've seen in our local communities. And, uh, at this time, I really hope that as a musician and a performer, you will pick up your guitar. You would pick up your instrument and take all of that and put it into, um, into a song. That is what I'm here to tell you today, that when the time is ready, one of the best ways to process trauma is to, to put it into music. And, um, since so many musicians have literally lost everything, I would like to do what I do. And I would like to offer to all the affected musicians in the Brisbane area, in the Logan area, all up and down the gold coast in Mullumbimby ocean shores in Lismore, of course. And now the storm system is travelling south towards Sydney. So to all the affected musicians who have lost their houses, their places, I would like to invite you to reach out and let's make music together. I want you to put all your experiences into song, write music about what you're experiencing right now once, once the time is right. I know that right now is the time to clean and do other things. But once the time is right to kick back and, and reflect and think and process what's been happening. That's the time when I want you to write music and I want you, I want you to reach out to me. I want to help you with this. I have more recording gear than I need in my house. Um, it's all survived. It's all dry. And I might be able to come to you and help you record. Um, If you can record yourself, send me the files, I'll mix it. And I do all of this, of course, without cost for free. I'll give you a finished master book so that you can publish it. And I will also help to promote through my channels. Look, this is not really well thought through right now. Um, as you can probably imagine, this is coming spontaneously to me, um, and it's not fully fleshed out, but I want to help the music. Community, um, turning our experience into songs. And to music is, is a good way to process what's been going on and I want to help with that and I want to help with the production side. So please don't be a stranger, reach out to me. I want to help. I will not charge for anybody who's been affected with the floods. As long as I can. I will do this just to help you. Okay, look, this is just a short episode. Um, I will finish up here and, um, I will go back to sorting out my family to sorting out my property and of course, to help the local community where I can. But in the meantime, stay safe, stay dry, stay out of the floodwaters. Don't get in there, help each other out wherever you can, stay tight and stay safe. A short episode today, I'll speak to you soon again with more amazing interviews. And I would probably keep you updated about the situation here in the Northern rivers. Much love from a mixartist headquarters. This is all for the short episode. Bye for now. Stay safe.