Mark Tindall - Original Music Albums

 My music albums are available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer and YouTube. They are accessible through HearNow at this link:

https://marktindall.hearnow.com/sirens-before-dawn

 My YouTube music channel is here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNdLqlwyIuA0lzYZ7f8dT1Q

You can hear the full albums (and all tracks) of my last 4 albums from both links:
- Sirens Before Dawn (2026)
- Leavenu (2023 End)
- True Stripes (2023 Beginning)
- Res Des (2021)

The full list of my previous original albums (independent releases) in chronological order. None are available online or currently for sale.

2005 - Centrepeace
2006 - Rescue The Dream
2007 - LIV
2008 - Miracle Play
2009 - Exiled Believer
2010 - Nomad
2011 - Passion Fruit
2012 - Rockland
2013 - Urban Dreams
2014 - Perfect Title
2017 - The Place
2018 - Screaming Whisper

The first time I appeared on record was as a guitarist with Good Grief on their album Nobody’s Hero (1980).

 

Mark Tindall - Sirens Before Dawn songs shortlisted in the Australian Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest 2025

 

Two of my songs from my new album Sirens Before Dawn have been shortlisted in the Australian Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest: Australia On A Pale Blue Dot & Sound Paint (Parts 1, 2 and 3).

- Australia On A Pale Blue Dot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BKctBCruck

LYRICS - AUSTRALIA ON A PALE BLUE DOT X

It was my fate that day

Falling through blue screen

I was in a new world

Well, that’s what it seemed

The man outside Hoyts

Told me everything

He spoke about the elephant

That wasn’t anything

CH: Australia on a pale blue dot / That’s all that we’ve got

Galah caught on fire

Black swan appeared

Flying pig circled high

Before it was speared

It looked like a pork chop

That would make a decent feed

Blowie settled in my beer

Ankle biter on my knee

Threw a barbie on the shrimp

Petrol on the fire

The goon bag was on the hoist

Wound it up lots higher

Numpty doofus gave a shout

I gratefully accepted

It was only a half glass

More than I expected

Dipstick was fooling round

Bush telly going well

Threw a bunger in the dunny

Blew the place to hell

Startled, I woke up

Everything was fine

All my teeth were wisdom teeth

Vinegar turned to wine

- Sound Paint (Parts 1, 2 and 3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QpRMauoCSg

LYRICS - SOUND PAINT - Part 1

When your words are exhausted

And lie silent on the ground

Paint with sound

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry PERSPECTIVE

And there I stayed a bit, ruminating and telling myself that a man was able to adapt himself to anything. The notion that he is to die in thirty years has probably never spoiled any man's fun. Thirty years ... or thirty days: It's all a matter of perspective. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - (Wind, Sand and Stars p. 124)

Biagio da Cesena - The man who pissed off Michelangelo (Nudity in Art)

To return to the Last Judgement: Michelangelo had already finished more than three~fourths of the work when Pope Paul went to see it. On this occasion Biagio da Cesena, the master of ceremonies and a very high-minded person, happened to be with the Pope in the chapel and was asked what he thought of the painting. He answered that it was most disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns. Angered by this comment, Michelangelo determined he would have his revenge; and as soon as Biagio had left he drew his portrait frorn memory in the figure of Minos, shown with a great serpent curled around his legs, among a heap of devils in hell; nor for all his pleading with the Pope and Michelangelo could Biagio have the figure removed, and it was left, to record the incident, as it is today. - Vasari's "Lives of The Artists" (Translated by George Bull, Penguin; Middlesex, England: 1965; p. 379)

Note how Biagio is depicted with the ears of a donkey and how the snake is about to bite his penis. Don't piss off artists. They can take revenge in many different ways.

AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS LIVING IN POVERTY

Far more is spent by ordinary Aussies on football, cricket and beer than art. The arts inspire people to think and question. Art takes time to produce. Art is a real job. The public is largely uneducated in art. Art education of the general public should also be included in any budget. Art is a national treasure and should be subsidised by the state.

Most of the artists that I know (over all forms of art) are currently struggling due to the economic climate brought about by the greed of those in the finance industry who have "steady jobs".

One only has to look at our greatest Australian artists and the poverty that they live(d) in. Famous Aussie muscician Billy Thorpe almost went bankrupot several times. Famous Aussie actress Naomi Hazelhurst had to survive on the dole. Famous Aussie poet Henry Lawson lived in poverty and the handouts of friends. Famous Aboriginal Aussie painter Albert Namatjira lived in poverty.

We would have had no art whatsoever from artists if they had to hold down a "steady job" while creating their art. Australia would have been impoversihed had that happened. In ancient Greece work / " a steady job" was for the lower uneducated classes. Art and philospohy was what people of intellect and culture engaged in. Ancient Greece changed the world. All a "steady job" does is produce mindless products to be consumed. No thought, no culture, no change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/art-m07.shtml

Thousands of Australian artists living in poverty

... the overwhelming majority of artists are living in dire poverty.

Financial problems and time constraints are identified as the major factors inhibiting the development of an artist’s career. Limited work opportunities, poor financial return and lack of access to funding or financial support forces artists to take on other paid work, thus making it difficult for them to sustain their creative work.

The survey found that most artists were unable to work full-time in their chosen profession. ...

Most artists’ incomes were too low to support their basic needs. The survey showed that while a tiny minority of artists were high earners, the majority lived far below the poverty line. Based on figures from the 2000-2001 financial year, half the artists surveyed earned less that $7,300 before tax from their creative endeavours and half earned less than $30,000 from all other income sources.

...

there has been no long-term increase in artists’ earnings over the past 15 years—a period when all other occupations have shown an increase in real terms.

~~~~~~~~~~
From http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/the-poverty-trap-ensnaring-creative-australians/2010/02/19/1266082355060.html

The poverty trap ensnaring creative Australians

A decade after a report revealed the poor financial outlook for artists and performers, little has changed ...

The latest census data suggests things might have become worse for the nation’s artists. ...

There are financial lifelines for lucky artists: public funds are available through community and government grants. The Australia Council is in the first year of awarding start-up grants of up to $10,000 for about 40 student artists under the annual scheme ArtStart.

But Australia makes no specific social provision for artists; Denmark, by contrast, grants select artists a stipend for the rest of their lives.

The lives of many artists are a juggle of casual jobs, commissions, auditions, grants, studio time, unpaid work, short-term contracts and teaching positions. Performers complain of being asked to work without pay or for less than minimum wages.

In ‘‘times of empty bank accounts’’ the Sydney actor, who won acclaim as the lead in Bad Boy Bubby, has been a spot welder, a mail sorter, an online journalist, a university tutor and an unsuccessful french polisher. ...

‘‘If Australians could value artists, these people helping to build and describe stories of us, in the way they value footballers and their careers, then surely they deserve more than an income of $14,000 a year.

Answering trite essay by Brian Orme "Why Creatives Leave the Church"

Brian Orme "Why Creatives Leave the Church" http://www.creationswap.com/article/6512

Quote: "It’s hard to feel like you belong when you’re God-given talents aren’t valued and, at times, even suppressed."

The church only wants those who are willing to prostitute their art and turn it into propaganda to increase both numbers in the church and their bank account balances. They are also only interested in "praise and worship" though they have no idea what either means in the real world.

The church is not interested in art for the sake of art. The church especially does not want thinking artists who question man-made dogmas.

As a musician aged 15 years old I began to learn my art playing in Christian Coffee Shops organised by the church I attended. We played the rock songs of the day. No such thing happens today. It is considered "worldly".

If the church wants the many artists who have fled for their creative lives out of churches then they must accept the artists on their own terms. The church needs to be educated in valuing and reading art. Many Christian artists may never mention Jesus in their work. They don't have to. Art is a gift of God and is not merely made acceptable by multiple references to Jesus. Artists make art because making art is good within itself. Artists do not exist to further the aims of church.

WHAT IS ART?

Art is a human creation bound to a person's humanity. Life and art are inseparable. Art is the expression of one's innermost being and covers everything from the way we decorate our houses and hum a tune to Van Gogh's Starry Night and John Lennon's Imagine. Art covers the whole range of human expression.

Art as a means of propaganda (eg evangelisation) is no more than kitsch (low art). Such a utilitarian view of art is a form of prostitution and a misuse of one's talent. In fact, an artist makes a body of work and that body of work represents his world-view. One piece in the body of artwork does not express the full view for it is impossible for any single work to represent the totality of an artist's view of reality.

The value of an artwork does not depend upon the morality or belief system of the artist. As George Orwell stated "One ought to be able to hold in one's head simultaneously the two facts that Dali is a good draughtsman and a disgusting human being." (The Penguin Essays of George Orwell)

An analogy can be made with a tree. A tree has many functions. It casts a shadow. Birds build nests in its branches. Trees produce oxygen and can be used as wood. The meaning of the tree is not in these functions. The sum of the functions is not the meaning of the tree either. If it does not realise some of its functions that does not mean it is not a tree. Rather, being meaningful, it has many functions.

Art is to be enjoyed because it is art. It is a mark of people's creativity and what it means to be human.