Cam Giles - My Life In Music.

Since recording the winning song for a Battle of the Bands album in that late 70s, his became a meteoric ride supporting untold iconic homegrown rock bands forever immortalised in the annals of Australian music lore. Not only a talented multi-instrumentalist, he established himself as a songwriter penning many original numbers as well as readily embracing computerised music programming. His versatility as a performer and producer paved the way for him to work with many different bands, including pushing buttons on INXS’ legendary KICK album.

 

A new decade heralded a new adventure. Cam moved to the United Kingdom where he soon after joined a band and flexed his musical muscle at gigs around London for several years. Returning homeward a few years later, he formed a duo band ” Wonderkind ” that played all over Sydney and released a couple of original albums to favourable acclaim. 

 

Opportunity beckoned yet again, this time in Singapore as a composer for a commercial studio that produced television commercials and film advertising for media production companies throughout Asia. At night, he moonlighted as a heavy rock muso performing in clubs throughout Singapore while working on his own album. Cam brought his extensive production experience back to Australia to compose countless television and radio advertisements, for which he won many awards for his achievement.

 

As the millennium loomed, not only did Cam release his own first album “Sane” but set up a band under his own moniker and shortly thereafter kickstarted his own music production business “Gusto Music”. The powerhouse trio of EMI Studio 310 engineer Colin Simkins and advertising agency producer Brigid Giles-Webb composed music for TV commercials, film, drama and internet corporate videos.

 

He reached another career milestone when he teamed up with esteemed Sydney Producer Craig Porteils to become the first Australians to write lyrics for the famed EuroVision juggernaut competition in 2009. Not only did their song “This is our night” top the charts for several months but the songwriting duo travelled to Moscow for the finals where their song placed seventh overall in the competition. The accolades kept coming with Gusto Music composing the award-winning musical score for the Showcase TV Drama “Satisfaction” which played for three seasons and repeatedly played on Foxtel Live.  

 

Yet another decade dawned as Cam turned his musical prowess towards one of his first loves – jazz. Armed with a renewed passion, he produced, co-wrote and recorded the jazz pianist album “Points In Time” with Steve Sedergreen which they performed in many of Melbourne’s renowned jazz hot spots as well as the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

The ensuing years were dedicated to finessing all things jazz under his new band The Glass Moon which released a series of albums that drew inspiration from crooners and jazz divas dating from the 1930s to contemporary pop tunes. He merged his two great loves – jazz and rock – to reimagine some of his 

favourite pop tunes in a jazz way. His first tribute album to none other than 1980s/90s Aussie legendary rock band INXS, later followed by The Songs of Leonard Cohen and The Fabric of Michael Franks reflects his career coming full circle.