#202 Sister 2 Sister
The amazing Sydney songwriting and singing Pop duo Sharon and Christine Muskat form 'Sister2Sister', Just releasing their first single 'Nothing's Gonna Bring Us Down Now' since their #3 ARIA charting single 'Sister' in 1999 and subsiquence Album in 2000. Touring with the 90's hit boy band FIVE around Australia at the end of the year they have decided to release some more origional music. These inspirational business women and artists along with having children and building a family have build an incredible singing school in Sydney and want to inspire their children and students to not let fear hold them back from chasing their dreams and having fun.
All the shows 2022 FIVE Australian tour November here: https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=FIVE21
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Transcript
Rae Leigh: So welcome to a Songwriter Trysts with Christine and Sharon muskat from sister to sister. Thank you for joining me.
Christine Muscat: Thank you so much.
Rae Leigh: Okay. Tell me, I like to start by asking, tell me a little bit about who you are and where you come from.
Christine Muscat: So I'm Christine and my sister is Sharon. She's a little younger than me, three and a half years younger. We're sister to sister and we released our, our debut single in. 1999. So that was a very long time ago. And as we are family, uh, we've been doing this since we were kids and we will continue to, I guess, cuz that's just who we are.
And yeah, we write songs. We love performing. We have a singing school, so, uh, it's called sister to sister school of singing in, Sydney. These days we've got online tuition as well. So we're, we're also singing teacher. We're also backing vocalists. So we tour with a lot of different artists and we have in the past, which I think that's what, delayed our original release, uh, cuz we just love to sing and, and we've been pretty busy.
So yeah, singing back in vocals with people like Michael Bolton, Delta Goodrem, Guy Sebastian, and whole, you know, amazing, amazing humans. So. Very lucky to, to have such a full, career still in the industry for so long, cuz it is very difficult.
Rae Leigh: That's crazy. Well done for being able to pursue your passion and enjoying it while you're doing it. Can you tell me about. You said you both were sisters, you grew up, obviously lived in the same house. Who where's was the inspiration for music. Where did the passion and love for singing come from?
Sharon Muscat: I think, uh, like so many musicians, we do come from musical family. So our dad, uh, is a musician. We just grew up, he had a music room at the back of the house, in the study and we. Just grew up with him, always rehearsing. And his brother, he was in a band with his brother and we just grew up in that atmosphere all the time.
There was always music. He was always playing guitar. He was always singing. He was always making backing tracks. He was always rehearsing for a gig and we were just always pottering around, wanting to get involved.
Rae Leigh: You fell in love with the music you wanted to be like daddy. That's so cute. I wanna know a little bit. And I, I forgive me if you have had this conversation probably a million times, but you are sisters. I have three sisters. It's not always easy. How, how has that relationship evolved from, you know, living together, which is one thing. And then obviously moving at a home, having families and working together, has it always been easy? Have you guys always been the best of friends or how have you managed that relationship?
Christine Muscat: Well, I think, you know, we're, we're normal sisters really. And at the end of the day, any kind of relationship is difficult because you've got two different humans, two different needs, two different wants. So, you know, over the years we've had to kind of mesh, and grow and learn as people like you would. With anyone. Right. So, and we are very, very entwined in each other's lives. So as an example, I was mentioning earlier, we've been stinging together since we were kids. We're also sisters. So we've been together since we were born. Right. But then after we finished that stint, that, you know, sister to sister, you know, stint back in the day, we opened a singing school.
So then. Was sharing cars that was starting up a business now we're, we're both quite intelligent girls, but it's not because we, you know, kind of studied business. We were only 19 and 22, so we were pop stars, you know? And so that was really, you know, that was really difficult navigating that because we were creatives first and, to learn all of that on the job was extraordinarily difficult. And then obviously singing, backing vocals and doing all that. So we, we are very much entwined in each other's lives. So, you know, is it easy? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, that's right. That's right. And we are lucky cuz you know, we are family and we have common goals and at, and at the core of everything, obviously we love each other.
We're we have, we are a very close family. Even our extended family. Auntie's uncles, everybody is, is in this area. so within, within, you know, a phone call, we've got 10 uncles that could rock up at our house. So
Rae Leigh: Oh, wow. It's
Christine Muscat: you know, not
Rae Leigh: big fat Greek wedding style family. Yep. That's awesome.
Sharon Muscat: What's really worked for us is the fact that musically, it's over the years, you know, we have a lot of respect for each other musically. So it's any sister arguments that we have. It's pretty rare that that sort of permeates into, you know, when we are songwriting or when we are doing a gig, you know, we love singing with each other.
We, you know, do backing vocals for other artists. And, you know, when we. We enjoy, you know, we enjoy working together. It's really all the outside influences and all the other pressures that sort of pulls us apart. But when we're in the studio, I mean, just recently we were recording and, the guy we were working with commented on our relationship and how respectful we are of each other's ideas.
So I think if we brought that sort of sister. Thing into the studio, then it probably wouldn't work, but, we have a really great thing going at the core of what matters most to us.
Rae Leigh: I love that. I love that. So I wanna get back to, songwriting did songwriting come first? Did singing come first? How did that evolve into you guys launching such a, a massive career. So early on.
Sharon Muscat: me, the, it was at the same time. So I was sort of in primary school. I remember even in kindergarten writing little songs that weren't very good but, um, I always loved, you know, pretending to sort of play the piano. I didn't really have any lessons, but I could sort of, you know, write little melodies.
And, um, I remember doing that from a young age. We sort of did a lot of stuff separately when we were younger. And then as we get old, got older, we started to working together. So I don't know. What about you Chrissy?
Christine Muscat: Yeah. I mean, I think growing up it wasn't, you know, I, I, I think I just really enjoyed dancing and performing and singing. So, you know, it wasn't songwriting wasn't necessarily something that I instinctively felt like I needed to relate. Like, you know, that those feelings Sharon's always been really kind of like deeper than me, you know, on an emotional level.
I'm, I'm pretty light. So I think that the songwriting side of things happened when my dad realized you both sing, you are both talented, but I don't, and you're both doing the same things. You go to do it together. Cause you know, we might as well do it together. So from there I remember, you know, we would sit down and, you know, we wrote, Something, what was it, Sharon, something high, natural high, and like, um, you know, and we would record it on a tape.
I remember we had some ideas and we sent it to our manager at the time. Well, that was going to be our manager. So, you know, we had it in us then to start doing that. And it meant a lot to us back then, even though we were. Pop music was a little bit of a dirty word, um, you know, a little bit, and it was more known for like, you know, just cheesy pop color, you know, and we, we were singers and.
Our manager also really pushed that in order to stand out, we, we needed to show our voices and we needed to write songs and that was something we wanted to do. And so we were aligned in that way. And I feel like that maybe that's what set us apart a little bit back then, because while it was all very shiny and poppy and bright on the surface and light, When people saw that we were so young and we would just break out into acapella, you know, to our song, or we wrote, we co-wrote all the songs that was like, oh, okay.
Maybe we will take them seriously. you.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful. Okay. So you had a very supportive dad. Who encouraged you a lot. Massive difference. Like in all the hundreds of people I've spoken to, it's such a big difference between parents that supported their kids versus didn't. I massively applaud parents who support their children in the arts, because it's not an easy thing to encourage your child to do
Because we want them to have a roof over their heads and foods and security. . How do you feel that was it? Was it like that for you? You felt really.
Christine Muscat: We lived in Western Sydney. So our parents, you know, it was a struggle for them to kind of pay for all the dancing lessons and the acting lessons. And they would drive us, you know, down, down this massive freeway to, to the city, to, to do lessons.
And back then, you know, that was a lot. That was a lot. And even when we started. Like even just TalentQuest as, as young kids, like they were supportive in a way that it was like, if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it properly. And they, you know, and they'd critique us and all the rest of it, but it was very much, so this is what you wanna do.
Well, the second you wanna stop or the second you don't take it seriously, let's, let's get outta this, you know, cuz to be honest, I think. My parents probably actually wanted us to, you know, to be at uni and like to cuz it's just it's I wouldn't say easier. Of course everything's hard. Right? You've gotta work towards getting something, but the music industry, as easy as you get a degree and then you get your job, like, you know, it's not like
Rae Leigh: Well, they tell you, they tell you that's what it's like. It's not what happened for me, but
Christine Muscat: yeah. Yeah. Like I said, nothing's easy, but it just doesn't mean that. You can just, yeah, it's just, it doesn't seem as guaranteed and it also doesn't seem as lasting. But then when we did actually, kind of naked, but back then, you know, like we were, we were doing it right. Even we were overseas living our best lives.
Mom and dad traveled with us. I was 18 years old, I guess at that point. And I was the I'm the oldest, I guess, at that point they could have said, you know what? Like we are living our life. Um, You're old enough. Now you can look up to your sister. Um, you be the guardian and off you go, but they didn't. They sold businesses.
They sold, um, homes, you know, properties to be able to actually like pack up and leave with us. So that was a massive sacrifice. But even then they were still like, you know what? They would pray all the time. If, if this was to change us as a family, cut. We don't want it, you know? Um, yeah, that's right. And.
Really, we wanted to have families. We wanted to be stable, but yet we still wanted a career in music. So I feel like in hindsight, yes, we could have gone for a second album. Could have been massive, massive. Right. But where would we be? You know, now who knows. And are we that unhappy with where we're at now?
No, we still singing. You know, we're still doing what we love and we have, Sharon's got an 18 month old boy. Who's. So cute, um, and eats around a house and home. He's such a little piggy and I've got a nine year old and a seven year and, um, mental boys, you know, with, with,
Rae Leigh: They keep you on your
Christine Muscat: yeah. Oh yeah.
Rae Leigh: I think that's beautiful. And I think, um, it, it brings up questions because we are talking about, um, not too long ago, but still long ago enough that things maybe hadn't necessarily changed in the industry. And we're still want hoping that it's gonna continue to change to get better for women in the music industry.
Um, and I, I don't. Bring this up, but it's just been re you know, released all the reports around, um, safety for women in the music industry. And you mentioned your parents, you know, they could have left you in the guardian of the music industry, which other families have done, and it's not worked out as well.
For those, those younger people that were left in the care of the music industry and the record labels. Um, how it is, is that something that. You you felt, or do you think your parents being with you all the time, they were able to protect you guys from. Being young pop stars and women in the industry. I mean, it is an extre.
Being a young woman is, is vulnerable. Being a young, attractive woman is vulnerable being a young, attractive woman in an industry where you're expected to perform and, and behave in a certain way, is even more challenging as a woman. I do you guys have any insight onto that? And have you been involved in the reviews that have happened recently?
Sharon Muscat: No, I think it's a, it's a really fair question. And it's really valuable and honest. And I think that, you know, I've, if you had have asked me this before, I would've said that, you know, we were lucky. That our parents were with us and that, you know, we, we got out of those times pretty unscathed, but I don't think it is luck.
I think it is that we had that guardianship with us all those times and the things that I've been reading, and the things that I hear about, and I haven't witnessed, you know, I'll speak to myself. Christine's probably the same. I haven't. Witnessed a lot of things on that level, that were inappropriate or on any level, because like I said, we, we were young, but we had that guardianship at all times.
But you know, we're older now and we don't have that guardianship cuz we're grown ass women and you know, I just find sometimes, there is still, there's no doubt that there is still this. Probably not just in the music industry, across any industry where this stronghold that you know, men had and have is, you know, women are starting to speak up and things are changing slowly.
But you know, every so often, you know, you'll have a dealing with someone in the industry and you can just tell by a tone, you know, they know now that they can't take it to a certain level. But that level of respect for a woman is not the same. If that man was dealing with another man. And there's so much that comes along with being a woman in any business, but especially in the music industry where for such a long time, that upper echelon was, you know, really all, all men that it, it.
It's really difficult to see. I mean, I've, I'm not gonna sit here and talk about Taylor swift, but you know, I watched her say something recently and I just thought, yeah, like at any level of the industry, you can be so powerful. And yet. Something that she will say, and I'm not even a Taylor swift fan, but something that she will say will be misconstrued as this, you know, diva this, you know, she's difficult and she's, you know, all these, you know, she's bossy or whatever, as if she was a man, she would be a leader.
She would be confident she would be, you know, just treated entirely different for doing the exact same. As a man does. So I think that it's so well overdue that we look at these things and we need to keep looking at it and relooking at it. And, you know, it's, it's difficult to speak. I can totally, totally relate to how.
It would be difficult to speak up in those circumstances. And I'm not just talking about, you know, sexual assaults and this kind of stuff. Obviously that's come up a lot recently in the industry and there's a lot of really shitty things coming out, but also, you know, just that balance of power when you are dealing with someone, you know, who is trying to live their dreams.
And they realize that that, that someone else holds the key to their dreams that person has, has. A power that, that they know, and they they're aware of and they use it. So, you know, I, I don't wanna use the word lucky, but, you know, we were lucky that our parents made the decisions that they made and that we can't, you know, speak to these things I'm talking about on a more personal level, um, because you know, the things that we're hearing and the things that are coming out, it's just, it's just disgust.
Rae Leigh: Mm I, and I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not just the music industry. Absolutely. There's a, there's a light on it because, um, you. Sex cells. And there's a part of sexuality that we should be proud of as women. And that is perfectly okay to be human and sexual and we're moms and that's okay as well.
that's why we're moms, right? Um, but on the other level to be used and labeled and shamed for it, Is like a whole nother level and yet it gets mixed together. And you're right. It doesn't just happen in the music industry, but at the moment there's been a highlight on it. And, given that you've been a part of the industry in some way or another, for such a long time, I was just curious as to what your experience has been.
Are you glad that it's changing? I still think we have a very, very long way to go, but, I love everything you just said. And I, I think that hopefully more, more women can stand up and say, it's okay to be a leader in, in any
Sharon Muscat: I, I also, I also hope that that more men stand up, you know, I hope that, that it doesn't take, and I'm sure men deal with this stuff on a level themselves with other men, maybe higher up the chain in them, but, you know, but that's a different thing altogether. You know, if, if you are in, if you are witnessing that in the situation, it's one thing for, you know, a woman to stand up and say, well, you know, but it's another thing for another man to do that.
So I hope that everybody is a bit more accountable and that people are able to, to speak. Hopefully now it's not at a point where, you know, they just know for certain that they're gonna be shunned from the whole industry and lose their jobs. Um, you know,
Rae Leigh: it's a shaming of each other. Just decent human respect for all people would be nice. I mean like world peace, you know, whatever. all right. I love it. Thank you. I, yeah, no, it's that's really good. You said you men, you mentioned that you do co-writing together, but you also did co-writing with other people.
When did the co-writing start and how do you manage that? What do you find you've learned from your co-writing experiences?
Christine Muscat: Well, when we signed with our manager, he took us on a lot of, songwriting trips just to get into a flow. And from doing that, we wrote with a lot of really awesome people and wrote probably hundreds of songs before we actually wrote sister and the songs on the album. So I guess that's where the co-writing started.
To get our flow. So we were in situations where we would write with different writers, but then we, we found that the magic was actually when, we started writing with Pam Swick and Steve FFEL and they're over in America. And our dad actually was writing with us too. So we found that. really meshed well.
So then my dad and Pam ended up producing a lot of the songs too. So they connected on a production level. We all connected on a songwriting level and we just felt the most comfortable. And, and we found our sound with that group. So majority of the album was written with them. And when we did write with others, the song, some of the songs on the album, they were still good.
Still good. But you can really hear the magic. I think with, with the five of us.
Rae Leigh: I think that's beautiful. Like that's what I'm all about is like finding the magic when working with people. But you, like, I think you mentioned something also really important is you said you wrote hundreds of songs. How long did that take? Was there moments and, and waves of what are we doing? It's not working.
We haven't found magic yet. You know, give up before you've reached the gold kind of thing.
Sharon Muscat: No, that was never really an option. So I think the thing is, is we, we actually demoed other, we, we had started writing and then we de demoed a bunch of other people's songs. And we did that for, I think about six months I'm guessing. And that never felt right. And the songs just, it didn't. It just, yeah, it wasn't genuine.
Um, and then once we started writing it, I think that we didn't take us that long. Like we wrote a lot of songs, but we were, we were already in a really good flow by that point. And. We were, we were developing and we were getting better at, at knowing, you know, the kinds of themes that we wanted to talk about.
And, you know, we started to know our strengths and, you know, the kinds of things that I wrote well, that sort of in a room of songwriters, when we had ideas, you know, Christine would have a certain vibe and thing that she would bring and I would bring my certain thing. And then you obviously hone that skill, but you know, there's no doubt that we were elevated by the songwriters we were working with, which is what Christine's saying.
Um, one of the, the last song on our album is called count on me. And I was just thinking of this the other day. Um, I wrote that pretty much that whole song melodically, and then at school. So I was probably meant to be an English class. I went to the Victorian college of the arts in, for the first term of year nine.
And they had all the music rooms, which was just like a dream for me. And I went. I used to just like, skip the other classes and then just go in the room and play the piano. Cause I had these amazing pianos. And so I wrote that little, um, the, the intro to the song and wrote all the lyrics, but my lyrics were terrible.
Like they sounded like a 13, 14 year old. And then, but everyone thought that the song was good. And um, and then Christine, me and our dad got in a room with Rick price.
Rae Leigh: oh yeah. Okay. I've spoke to Rick
Sharon Muscat: And we sat. Yeah. We sat in our house and he had his guitar out and he played this honky line that I'd played on the piano and he played it on guitar.
And it just was like, once you heard it on guitar, I was like, this is meant to be on guitar cuz I was not a piano player. And then we started to look at the lyrics and we all rewrote the lyrics to the song and I will never forget sitting in that room, hearing Rick price, sing this melody that I had heard in school class.
And all of us, just Christine and I looking at each other and, and inputting lyrics and harmonizing with him. And it was just, it was a dream. Um, I was listening to this song yesterday and I thought I really wanna get in touch with Rick and just do Chrissy. We should do, um, a cover of the song with him singing on it as well.
Rae Leigh: That's a great idea. I just got his number the other day. I'll give it to you.
Sharon Muscat: Fantastic. Yeah, he just, he elevated the whole thing. So while I'm so proud of, of, you know, we definitely, we wrote all of those songs and, and I, I can think of all of their origins and, but, you know, we, we had some great opportunities to work with some, you know, really established artists and songwriters.
And that's why I think even 23 years on, I can listen to that album in my car and I'm still really. Proud of, of all of the songs and our.
Rae Leigh: That's fantastic. And it sounds like you guys are very pro professional and, and hard working and, and work well, not just with each other, but other people. And I think that is something that isn't necessarily taught at art school. on like how to work with people. That's just something you've gotta have a good attitude, right.
Sharon Muscat: Yeah. I, I think that we, we, when we are singing, when we're writing songs, when we are doing anything musical, 100%, if we're doing a photo shoot or something, buying clothes for something, or if it's like, you know, there are areas where, like, I'm not saying we're unprofessional, but it's like, it's just not as fun for us.
Like, you know, when we are singing, when we're doing a gig, that's, that's where we're meant to be. You know, the other stuff is just the thing you have to do to get the music out there.
Rae Leigh: Yeah, fair enough. I have a stylist just called my husband. I've outsourced that task of buying clothes to him. It's he's really good at it too. So I'm quite happy. Just. It's nice when you can delegate. All right. So I'm sure you guys have had, um, loads of giving advice, especially as you've been mentoring and, and supporting and teaching other people as well.
What would you say is the most common or, or the best advice that you would give to other people who are starting outta the industry today?
Christine Muscat: So remember what you love about what you're doing, passion is everything. And you need to want things for the right reason, whether we're talking about the music industry or just anything else, any other industry, because things don't come easy, there will be ups and downs.
And, in terms of the music industry, if you are just after fame, well, you will fail because. You're not gonna really have, it's very hard to have longevity with that kind of thing, you know? So yes, to ha if you love to sing, keep doing what you do, whether it's writing, singing, keep honing your craft, and keep doing it for the right reasons. Because like we said before, you know, good things don't really come easy.
Rae Leigh: Mm.
Christine Muscat: And things that are worthwhile. Feel you have more, you know, uh, love for it. And, gratitude? You know, because you've actually, you've worked for it and you've got it for the right reasons and you're gonna, you know, you're gonna stick, stick around and stick to it.
Rae Leigh: and you're gonna be proud.
Christine Muscat: it's yeah. Yes. And proud, proud.
Rae Leigh: that.
Sharon Muscat: think it's obvious to say that I think your network is everything as well from a young age, even just recently realizing how many people I can pick up the phone to, and, and, being in a position where, especially if you're young and you are learning, if you are going to, you know, a music school or uni or something like that, it's, it's important to make sure that you remember that those relationships that you form everybody's gonna.
Together. So being collaborative is really important. And also like, if you, like, if you watch. Some of the biggest superstars of all time have come from the most devastating lives, you know, adversity on like levels, unimaginable devastation and like pain on levels, unimaginable. And they are wildly successful because it's, you know, music was their, their outlet and was their one thing.
And so when you put that amount of passion and drive. Into something it's not guaranteed that you're going to succeed. It never is. But I do think that we got a glimpse of that level of passion when we were younger, because, you know, We had our parents who paid for our food, who paid for the roof over our heads, you know, so we could put that level of passion in and mentoring over the last 20 years in our school.
What I think I'm most proud of is seeing the kids that have come up that are making it in a real. Real world kind of sense in that they're balancing their lives and that they're diversifying the industry, which normally takes years to learn. You know, they're producing, they're songwriting, they're singing, they're working with other artists.
They're, you know, they're good at a lot of things they can teach, they can perform, they sing covers, they sing originals. And I, I also, I think that that's important because it means that they're always gonna have a living and that, that, you know, not gonna be living on someone else's couch, but again, that might not be the path to greatness either.
You know, like I said, the biggest people, you know, come from sleeping on their mate's couch to make that album and, you know, eating bake beans. So I don't know horses for courses.
Rae Leigh: I love it. I you're reminding me of that. Jim Carey quote, where he says you can fail it, what you don't love. So you might as well try and fail it. Like you can fail it. What you do love. It's gonna be more fun or something like that. I can't remember the exact quote, but I've thought of it a few times with you guys speaking today.
Um,
Sharon Muscat: that's really, really good quote. And it's really true because whatever you do in life, everything takes hard work. Nothing is easy. So yeah, if you're gonna fail, especially if you're young fail at the thing you want most don't fail at the backup plan. That'd be shit.
Rae Leigh: Well that's, I think that's kind of his point. I think his dad was an accountant and he still got made redundant I think at the very beginning we talked about, you know, going to uni is gonna be the easy pass because he had to get the job and it's, it's easier in quotation marks.
Um, And I did that. I was gonna be a doctor, you know, and I did the degree and it wasn't until third year where I'm like, I am so creative. I should not be doing this you know, and, but it, when the world is putting so much pressure around you, especially when you're younger, vulnerable to influence, um, and it is so important to have people like you guys out there encouraging people.
And, and that, that is so important. Like parents are obviously supporting them by letting them come to your school and, and be around you. But to have people like you to. Say to kids. Yes. You can do this. And, and you're right. These days, I feel like if you have a computer and you live in Australia, like literally you can be anything or do anything.
It's amazing.
Sharon Muscat: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think when we were coming up, when we were younger, You know, 20 something years ago, the only way to be commercially successful was to have this giant machine behind you. And lots of people believing in you and lots of people spending lots of money on you. Whereas now, um, you know, you, you can make music yourself, you can put it out there, and I'm not saying that that's easy, but at least you, there is some power in that, that you can create an audience.
You can build, you can build a crew of people that will listen to what you put out and put it out yourself and you don't need anyone else, which is great.
Rae Leigh: Absolutely. We are running out of time. So if you could collaborate or work with, or write a song with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Sharon Muscat: I have no idea. I have no idea. I mean, I really, I still think, you knows, I love lyrically. I just think that she's such a free songwriter and the fact that she can. Formulate emotions and thoughts and, and make, turn it into a pop song. That's relatable, but still has depth. I think is awesome. I really love her songwriting.
Yeah, probably her, I mean, the thing is, is it's funny, like when you say anyone in the world dead or alive, the people that I think of are actually closer to home than you'd realize, you know, Tanya doco, amazing songwriter. And we could probably pick up the phone and write a song with her tomorrow, which is amazing.
Um, but yeah, I, I think also I think that, you know, there's something about collaborating that it, it, there's a level of confidence that you need to take into that room. And, you know, I think that. I probably like starting things on my own, you know, I like hearing something. And once you take it into that arena or that forum where there's other people's ideas, it's fantastic.
But you know, it's, it's nice to also hone in on your own thing. Chrissy, who would you collaborate with?
Christine Muscat: Yeah. I mean, it's probably you saying what you just said then probably is the reason why we work together because I'm, I'm a collaborator, I'm a collaborator in everything in. I have to talk about everything. I like to, um, in the writing situation, I love to start with, with a little vibe in the room. I like starting fresh with people and I like being able to kind of, you know, work off each other.
I think it's, that's so cool because yes, I can do it on my own, but. It's so great when you can kind of grab goodness from other people in the moments. I enjoy that part of it. But to answer your question too, um, I don't know why, but Billy Eilish came up in my head. Now, when I say Billy Eilish. Yeah, it's it's I know it's a bit bizarre because I mean, I listen to her, I listen to her music.
Um, you know, um, when, when the party's over, um, you know, there's, there's lots of songs that just come at me and I discovered Billy Eilish slowly because I, I don't really listen, to be honest, I don't really listen to, you know, commercial radio. I listen to the old school stuff and so slowly I'd be like, film's catching me that melody is catching me.
It's so wanting and it's so, you know, so. I slowly discovered her and, and what I realized, what I like about her it's mini it's minimalistic, but it's it's so like the, whether it be the chords or the notes, it's just, it's so haunting and like really hard, like it gets your heart like, um, and. Sorry about the text.
So I think with our pop and our modern modernized kind of melodies and, and what we kind of bring to it, it would be great to have a Billy Eilish to kind of give it, give it a bit of depth and some, a little bit more, maybe some darkness with it as well and have that. Um,
Rae Leigh: Polarity.
Christine Muscat: Thank you. Yes,
Rae Leigh: That's really cool. Have you seen the TV show? Nashville? You have, you know, Maddie.
Sharon Muscat: I have,
Rae Leigh: Yeah. So I found out this afterwards because I was when I, I finally watched it because so many people on this podcast told me to watch it. So I finally watched it and Maddie is the daughter of the singer as a character.
It's all character based, but music industry, and apparently Billy Eilish was actually influenced by. Watching Maddy perform one of her songs. And I only looked into it because I heard this song that she was recording on this TV show, which is, you know, it's old now. Um, and I was like, wow, that sounds like Billy Eilish, like that little flick of some vocals.
And then I went and Googled it and it was like, yep. Billy Eish said that she was inspired by Maddie from Nashville. So they, uh, just thought I'd put that in there cuz it's an interesting
Sharon Muscat: Wow. And isn't that crazy? How, you know, it's just crazy how that she could be inspired by something, but take it to this whole other level, you know? And without it being yeah, you can, that's really cool. I didn't know that that shows pretty awesome. Any show that's like. Industry, even I'm thinking of that.
Um, oh, what's that show with Adrian Grania, Christine, the entourage, you know, any of those shows that entourage is like, obviously for the movie industry, not the music industry, but still any of those shows that sort of depict the industry in a real honest kind of way. That's relatable. I'm always like, ah, this is awesome, but I, I have to put the again.
I haven't seen it for a while.
Rae Leigh: Um, I, I literally just had that many people bring it up in the podcast. Um, we we're over 200 episodes now, then it got to the point where I was like, I'm looking like an idiot, cuz I'm like, I feel like the only songwriter on the planet that hasn't watched Nashville
Sharon Muscat: Yeah.
Rae Leigh: and I have been to Nashville's this beautiful place.
So I was like, okay. And I, I wasn't expecting it to be what it was obviously very dramatic, um, industry, like it's over dramatized obviously for the sake of the TV. but it's beautiful. And it was just an interesting fact that I found out about bill Billy Eilish. Um, that's the only, um, tri I have about Billy Eilish.
So we'll move on. Um, all right. So you had the school, you've had all this major success. You've toured the world, had the album. Um, and now you're, you've, you've released a new song. What's, what's inspired this, this new, doing what you're doing now. And, and what are you guys planning on doing now with your music?
Sharon Muscat: Uh, well, we got asked, so we were out on tour with Delta rim in March, and we were doing backing vocals for her. And we were asked to special guest on five's tour. So five, a UK boy band that we actually toured with at the height of their probably are now famous. In,
Rae Leigh: Mm.
Sharon Muscat: and they're coming out here and they said, look, you know, come and do some shows with us.
And, you know, we thought it was hilarious cuz we hadn't done any sister shows for ages. Um, but we were like, look, yeah, let's go and do it. And over the years there have been times where we've, you know, started songwriting or, you know, we've. We've had some ideas and then we sort of put it back on the shelf and get on with other things.
And then when this opportunity came up, um, we had talked about, oh, you know, maybe we should put something out with the tool. And then it was literally just one day we were at our school and we got asked to, we, we got asked to do some press along with the tool and we thought, well, we're gonna go on these shows and you know, be on TV and on radio talking about this tool coming.
We should just put something out and it was literally that simple and it was like, let's just do it for fun. And let's just, you know, it seems like, you know, we're singers, we're songwriters, it's unhealthy to not be doing what we do and what we've always done. Like we should be releasing music without this weight of expectation and drama, you know, it doesn't, we should do the thing that we tell our students.
We say to our students, don't judge yourself. Don't, you know, make a song, put it out, be proud of it, get onto the next thing. And don't, you know, put this big weight behind it. And we had been doing that probably for 20 years because of our previous success, you know?
Rae Leigh: that's hard to follow. Yeah.
Sharon Muscat: hundred percent, it's hard to follow, but after 20 years you're not following, you know what I mean?
There is no following. It was then we've moved on and we've been successful in other areas. And I'm proud of all the things that we've done and, you know, we don't wanna move backwards. We don't wanna relive what we did. We were kids. Um, we love the lives we have now. I don't want my life to change. I'm happy with exactly what's happening.
And exactly what's what's doing, but I'm proud of these songs. I love singing with my sister and I'm really excited to put the song out. Plus I think we work best together when we're under the pump and we've got a shared vision and we just run with it and it was like, cool, we're gonna put this song out.
Let's shoot a video this week. Let's call some old friends and let's just get it done. If it was like a sit down let's plan and be strategic for this big comeback, we, I would not have done it speaking for myself. So I'm really proud of it. And. I think nothing's gonna bring us down now is, is a great song.
And it's produced really well by rich Sanford. And I I'm really, I, I love what we've done with it and I love sharing it. I listen to it. I listen to it in the car and it's really nice that for me is a sign that, that I'm proud of something. If I wanna listen to it in my spare time and it's my myself, then I must be proud of it.
You know? So I'm, I'm, I'm really glad that we did.
Rae Leigh: That's awesome. And I, I really love that you shared so openness honestly, about your ity, because that is me. The best thing is have happened to me with less than 24 hours notice. Um, and you just gotta just say yes and just do it and see what happens. And I, yeah, makes me feel better about the way that I live my life, because that is me a hundred percent.
Don't make me plan it. I'll just get overwhelmed.
Sharon Muscat: Yeah, that's right. And I think too, for us, we, we came from a time where there was, you know, management label, publishers, agents, PR companies, radio plugs, you know, there was a, a team of hundreds that elevated. You know, ultimately the same thing, we've done the same thing now, as we did, then we've got this song, which is, you know, a product or whatever, but, you know, there was a cast of thousands that made that happen.
And if you think, well, I'm not gonna do anything unless I've got that cast of thousand support. Well, what does that say for your own belief in what you're doing? You know? So I, I, I'm just glad that we did it on our own with a bit, bit of help from our friends, but mostly on our own
Rae Leigh: and, and writing the tail waves is of that tour. Sorry, I was just gonna say is something that I get a lot of advice from different people of like, you've already got all this free press take advantage of. And that's, there's nothing wrong with that. That's smart business.
Christine Muscat: No. That's exactly what it was. I think I said to Sharon, like people pay big money for this kind of thing. Like, and the phone's ringing for this. And I think going back to what we were saying earlier, like, you know, remember where you come from, be nice to people you don't know, you know, so we've realized 23 years later, we weren't as fault Because, know? Yeah.
Rae Leigh: hard to not be an asshole when you're a teenager.
Christine Muscat: I know, because people that were working with us back then are now the head of like, you know, directors of a magazine or a, you know, radio station and I literally was just picking up the phone and emailing, hi, dunno if you remember me, but, we have a new song out, you know, and that's how we got a lot of, the TV stuff.
We did the radio. And even, you know, just people that we just phone and said, can you work with us? They're like, yeah, let's go. So yeah, it's, it's been really good. And, and I don't, the thing is it's not like it's, you know triple platinum, but it, but the, the, reaction has been overwhelming and we've been really busy.
And it's. It's really cool to kind of ride this momentum now, because it is really heartwarming that, that people are taking to this and seeing videos of people that we wouldn't even think of that are, that are still even listening to the song that our first album let alone now this one.
So it's just, yeah, it's, it's really nice. And I guess you just gotta go.
Rae Leigh: and I, I think it's also beautiful that by doing what you're doing now, you're actually opening up all of your older stuff to a new generation of, of young people that maybe. Went around when the first one came out. And so now they're getting to know you as who you are now, but also get to see that history and, and get to know, you know, all your other stuff.
So I think it's good business. I think you're very smart women. I think you're really passionate women and I love what you're doing and mummies. And so that's absolutely beautiful and inspires me cuz it, you know, there aren't a lot of mums out there doing what we do. And so it's nice to see women supporting each other and and doing it and.
Doing it with children, you know, absolutely hot on my hand, amazed to be able to
Christine Muscat: it's not easy. It's not easy. Like we I'll be doing an interview in school pickup. So hopefully no one's knocking at my door on Wednesday. Because I'll be like, you know, might even have to put that on my wall. It's like, cuz we just, we gotta keep doing what we're doing regardless. You know, gotta pick up the kids, gotta drop with the kids, gotta organize their dinner.
Gotta, you know, you know how you have all the kids too. The, the schedule's ridiculous. There's always something going on,
Rae Leigh: You make it
Christine Muscat: you know, and Sharon's got the lip,
Rae Leigh: Do you have your kids going to school and be like my mommy's famous? Yeah.
Christine Muscat: Yeah, its like that, but yeah, it's quite funny actually, the boys just, yeah, I mean they were very excited cuz we had our open mic day, which is our big concert for our singing school and they got up and sang one play guitar and one, one sang a guy, Sebastian song and guy Sebastian actually commented on their post.
So when they, when they. Yeah, when they go home, I showed them the comments and they were freaking out, their reactions actually on our TikTok and on our Instagram. And so, yeah, it is a bit bizarre because to them, you know, it's just a Shay cuz they call Sharon Annie Shay and it's, you know, mum. So when they're to school and we we're on the radio doing an interview, they're like, what's going.
Sharon Muscat: Yeah, but you know,
Rae Leigh: real.
Sharon Muscat: to what you were saying before it, you know, it, it is hard. And the thing is, especially if you are, a. A performer, you know, when you are touring or, you know, it, it does take a team of people to also support that aspect, you know? And it's funny seeing different reactions of people that are, you know, more understanding than others, you know, because we are, we are just people, we just wanna do our jobs too.
Like we, we wanna keep doing what we do and what we love and what we've worked towards before we had kids. But now we have these little humans that also need our, you know, our love and support and attention. And without. The mum's being supported in any industry, you know, they can't, we can't do what we do without other people supporting us.
So it's, it's, it's, it is difficult, but it's, it's also awesome. I wouldn't give it up for anything
Rae Leigh: it takes a
Sharon Muscat: at all.
Rae Leigh: To
Sharon Muscat: It does.
Rae Leigh: Absolutely. And monkeys see monkey do that's. My, I used to be a personal trainer and I used to have moms that would come to me. You know, their kids have finally gone back to school. They've, you know, passed the baby in toddler stage and they've completely let themselves go.
And they're like, okay, I need to finally do something for me, but they're struggling with making that first step. And my advice would always be, you know, if you have a little. For example, when your daughter becomes a mom, do you want her to do what you've done for yourself? Do you want her to let go, not take care of herself and sacrifice everything about her dreams, passion, body for her child.
And she's like, oh no, definitely don't want that. It's like, well, the. Most of the time children do as their parents do and it is harder to do something different it's different to yeah. So that that's, and that's kind of like, that was, I didn't, I didn't, I I've always done music. I, I come from that hard background.
My music was my lifeline. But I never shared it with anyone until I had children. And I was like, what am I doing? There is no way that I can tell my children to follow their dreams and be passionate and follow what they love when I'm too scared to do it myself. And so he's
Sharon Muscat: Nothing brings. Well, in my experience, nothing brings clarity to your life more than having a kid, because you realize that life is short and that you are setting an example and that you, yeah, you, your time, you're more time poor. So you can't spend all your time doing all these things you don't wanna do.
You've gotta be, you know, you've gotta be clear with yourself and what, and with what you want.
Rae Leigh: You learn how to set boundaries? Mm-hmm
Sharon Muscat: Yes that old Chestnut.
Rae Leigh: healthy
Christine Muscat: Look, I mean, it is, it is difficult being, you know, a, a mum and working and, and I can see why, um, you know, it, it is, it is difficult to try and keep up what you do and, uh, you know, What I, what you, I, you know, people identify you as, and who you identify yourself as. So that balance is really important. And like you were saying to, I think my, my advice is exactly the same.
Like, you know, obviously you can't do exactly what you were doing before kids cuz your priority is your kids first and foremost, but you need to still do you a little bit. You still need to do what your job or you still need to keep doing you because you don't wanna get to the point where, you know, they're in high school and then you're like, What am I doing now?
You know, you're still a human, you still have goals. You still have needs and wants. And I always wanted my kids to look up to me. I wanted to see that, you know, I'm contributing, not just obviously as a chef and a cleaner, um, which I'm still doing. Um, uh, but, but also,
Rae Leigh: outsource that as much as possible as well.
Christine Muscat: yeah, um, trust me, me too, mom will be here tomorrow,
Rae Leigh: all
Christine Muscat: but you know,
Rae Leigh: good.
Christine Muscat: I want, I want them to see me, you know, more than just the person that's gonna put food on their table.
You know, even though that's the most important thing
Rae Leigh: Security and safety for children. Absolutely. And, and it, and it changes, you know, and you guys are at different phases as well. You've. Young children the same age as mine and a baby and, and the, and the level of attention that they need will change. And then I'm scared, but when they become teenagers, they may not wanna surround anymore.
then we'll have more time.
Sharon Muscat: Why this would also be why I look the most tired outta.
Rae Leigh: you are in the, honestly, I couldn't even leave my house when I had toddlers. So, you know, I'm well done for trying to do this with a little baby. Strong woman. All right. Is there anything else you'd like to share? You mentioned socials. I will put the links in the, the website. There'll be a blog.
There'll also be the description of the podcast, but what just for people who are driving and maybe aren't looking the description, what are the socials that people can find you on?
Sharon Muscat: Yeah. So Instagram, at sister to sister official, and then TikTok is the same, Facebook on YouTube is a space where we are gonna be sharing more and more, but I think on a personal level, we probably spend most of our time on Instagram. So yeah, definitely. If you, if you hear the track and you wanna shoot us a message, that would be lovely.
Christine Muscat: Yeah. And the songs. Is gonna bring us down now. And we will be releasing another single soon, so just, yeah. Follow, follow our vibe and our pages and stuff to eye out on all of that. And then, yeah, the tool with five is happening early November. So tickets are on sale now you can get out and, if you're not, if you're not there to see five, even though they're the headline act, come and.
Rae Leigh: that sounds awesome. I would, I would love to actually get to that and, I feel like it's gonna be very nostalgic for a lot of people, but I think that's kind of the point. So it's gonna be fun. All right. Is there anything else you guys would like to share that you feel like, you know, you would like to share before we finish up the space is yours.
Christine Muscat: No, just in terms of songwriting, just to, you know, to kind of let, let everything, let yourself just, just flow and don't overthink things. And these days you have the opportunity to release. Release release release, just put things out there, and something hopefully will stick. And in the meantime, you're also, quite possibly attracting somebody that may wanna collaborate with you and then something happens from there.
And so just put yourself out there, because honestly your music in your music room and to stay in that space is, is, is not going to do anything, you know, so you might as well put yourself out there and slowly build your skills in the public eye.
Rae Leigh: Why not if you've got the gumption for it, when you're ready. All right. Thank you so much, Christine and Sharon, it's been a pleasure to meet you. I'm very inspired by everything you're doing very strong, independent mummies and business owners and, and artists and creative and stunning.
Well done. Keep doing what you're doing and thank.
Sharon Muscat: thanks Rae Leigh for having us.
