Oli (Oliver) Statham was born in 1981 at Tamworth Base Hospital, and
was raised, until the age of 14, on a 7500 acre wool and beef property near Barraba, in
northern rural NSW, 100 kms north of Tamworth.
In 1996 he moved with his parents to Canowindra, in the Central West of
NSW, where they planted their first organic wine grapes and olives in
1997.
He attended a Sydney boarding school for
the last three years of his
secondary education, but spent half of Yr 10 on a cultural exchange in
France, his mother’s country of origin.
Oli
traveled around Europe for 6 months in 2000, the year after leaving
school, and in 2001 completed a Certificate IV in Music and Media
Studies at The JMC Academy in Surry Hills, Sydney.
In 2002 he setup his own recording studio in Newcastle, NSW, where he
recorded local bands and solo artists. In the same year he also recorded
his own 15 track demo CD, but has not promoted it for the retail
market.
Oli spent 2003 to 2007 working just
about full time as a marketing,
promotion and sales contractor with the family business, Rosnay Organic
Wine and Olives. He now shares his time between Umina
Beach, on the NSW Central Coast, Sydney and Rosnay.
His goal since 2007 has been to make his living from his music. It hasn't happened as yet, it's been a slow process securing a committed drummer and bass player. He's finally done so (19/04/08), and will play a colossal launch gig (old and new stuff) as soon as they're rehearsed.
Oli
also plans to collaborate and combine production, marking and
promotional campaigns with such
organisations
as Greenpeace, Amnesty International,
among others.
He's had a
certain degree of contact with some of these groups via his work
with Rosnay.
Music
1992 - Oli took classical
piano lessons for some years, but mainly played by ear, as it came
more naturally to him than reading music.
1998 - Whilst in year 11
at the North Sydney boarding school Shore, Oli won a music prize
for his performance on bass guitar of Ben Harper's live recording
of "Remember".
2001 - He completed a
Certificate IV in Music and Media Studies at The JMC Academy in
Surry Hills.
2002 - Oli set up and ran
his own recording studio, Empire Music, in Newcastle, New South
Wales. He recorded local bands and solo artists, as well as
producing his own 15 song demo CD.
2004 - He had a short stint with the
Sydney based originals band, "The Source", and another with Sydney based
covers band "Shift". He also played two solo gigs at two pubs in Balmain;
The Cat ‘n’ Fiddle, and the Commercial Hotel.
All
Oli's songs
from "An as yet un-named album" are available to be downloaded
for free. The
styles are varied; some acoustic, some plugged in, ranging from
alternate to pop/rock, some light hearted and some more serious stuff.
The music, lyrics and instrumentation is that of his
own, with the
exception of Acid Rain, in which the basic guitar riff
was written and played by his
brother, Sam Statham.
Oli recorded all but one of the songs
during his time in Newcastle,
2002-early 2003, while running Empire
Music. Churn was recorded at "Rosnay", the family
organic farm and vineyard in Canowindra, NSW, in late 2001.
The songs you don't hear here
are in the pipeline, and will be performed and recorded some day.
'No one likes to say
they sound like someone else, but I inevitably must... I'm shaped by my
influences; The Chili Peppers, U2,
Pink Floyd, Lenny Kravitz, BOB (Hosk) reckons Jeff Buckley.'
