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Rhythm of the ocean

Musician Isaac Paddon jumped at the chance to be part of the Noosa Festival of Surfing. Photo: Geoff Potter/n19868
The rhythm of pounding waves and the sparkling sand on the shore have always inspired Isaac Paddon.
Not only are they a muse for his music, they are the main reasons for his love of surfing.
So when the Tweed Heads musician was given the chance to combine his two loves at the Global Surf Industries Noosa Festival of Surfing, he jumped at the chance.
After hitting the waves early yesterday morning in the ASP 2 Star LQS Telstra Men’s Pro, Isaac grooved on to the Festival Village stage for the opening party.
Although he found the waves “super small” and difficult to ride, he said it was great to finally compete in Noosa.
“This is one of the biggest longboard festivals in Australia and I am really having fun on the long board this year,” he said.
“Noosa is such a beautiful place, I have been here before but this is the first time I have competed and played at the same time.”
Isaac’s passion for music runs in his veins, with his mother’s Caribbean background bringing a natural musical ability.
But in true Jack Johnson style, he was a surfer before he began making music.
“After I had learnt how to surf, I ended up down the beach carpark with a guitar and went from there,” he said.
“Basically surfing, friends and family and the beach in general are the main inspiration for all my music.”
His first full-length album, A Stone’s Throw from Home, was released in January 2006 and has been drawing attention from ABC Radio and community stations.
OLD STUFF....

ISAAC PADDON & THE TIDES
When it came to recording their second album, Isaac Paddon & the Tides didn’t go about it in the conventional way at all. There was no booking of recording studios, no pre-recording of demos and no tight schedules to adhere to. Instead, the group recorded the album in the midst of mayhem – opting to lay down the early stages in Isaac’s lounge room. On the surface that may not seem too outrageous, the fact Isaac’s house was currently undergoing renovation (there was half a wall and only part of a roof), made it a definite challenge. However the band’s theory was that they were going to make a mess while recording anyway, so it may as well be messy to begin with. With coffee machines and eskies of beer on hand, they set out to record ‘A Stones Throw from Home’.
The band aimed for a slightly different sound to their debut album ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and managed to achieve this in only four days of recording time.However it took almost a year to bring the album to completion.
“We recorded most of it live,” Isaac says. “And the rest of the year, we took up just doing little overdubs. Everyone was so busy, we could only do an hour here, an hour there editing.” Continued over page
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The recording process in itself was also interesting; utilising the assistance of engineer Dave Aurora, the band situated themselves in a circle, facing each other to gauge reactions and inspiration.
“That was just to get the main recording down,” Isaac says. “The songs weren’t exactly worked out, whether they were going to be five minutes or seven minutes.
We looked at each other and kept playing and just went with it. Dave minimised the microphone bleed by pointing the amplifiers in different directions, just trying to face everything away from everything else. So the drums didn’t bleed into the vocal mike or the guitar amps didn’t go into each other. Dave did a real good job of recording it; you have got to know what you are doing.”
The music on ‘A Stones Throw from Home’ varies from country to blues and reggae, demonstrating the band’s versatility. And it is these skills Isaac Paddon and the Tides will be taking to audiences around Australia, New Zealand and Japan during 2006. In order to promote the new CD, Isaac says he and the band are getting ready to embark on a ‘shopping centre’ tour to do the ground work for their upcoming major circuit. This will entail playing half an hour sets in shopping centres around Australia.
“We will follow that up with a series of tours that will last a week at a time,” Isaac says. “In early April we will be heading to Sydney for a full week, covering Newcastle to Wollongong, and then as we organise it we will be heading over to WA, down to Melbourne, South Australia and so on.”
The Queensland based group have got the next few year’s mentally mapped out and it will include lots of recording and plenty of touring.
“I am set on doing an album every single year, that’s my goal,” Isaac says.
“I have got the next two albums written, it is just a matter of fine tuning and they are not necessarily the same type of music. I would like to do a country album, a hip hop album, a blues album, just to try a few different things.”
Isaac Paddon and the Tides album ‘A Stones Throw from Home’ is out through MGM. BY EVA ROBERTS