Bio – Dugald McLaren

I grew up in Kingston Beach, Tasmania. Our house had thin walls, so from pre-birth on, I heard a lot of music practice from my dad, an accordion player who played music both solo and with his band for decades around Hobart venues and festivals, while my sister’s piano studies formed the other soundtrack to the household. I absorbed scales and melodic intervals by osmosis.

I began song writing at about 12 years old, after discovering mums’ classical guitar, inspired by my immediate acoustic environment and later Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Led Zepellin, Rodriguez etc…

I’m old enough to remember watching the first moon landing on the school TV, leading to my first aspiration to be an astronaut, which led to an interest in technology. Taking the long route to a music career I have worked as an electrician, travelled around Australia on a home-built motorbike, wintered in Antarctica and designed and built green power units for use in remote wild places. I have gigged around the place, both as a solo performer and in bands, e.g. Cygnet Folk Festival, Republic Bar. Interested in alternative energy, I have designed and built a passive-solar house with music studio, and am currently converting a 50’s concrete house by the sea into an energy efficient home filled with lots of creative spaces.

When it comes to songwriting I live for hooks, either melodic, lyrical or rhythmic but preferably all three. I also prefer lyrics that leave space for the listeners interpretation, cohesive, but a little ambiguous.

The music theatre work ANTARCTICA (first production in Nov 2016) has songs that are pop, rock and even a little country, but all have hooks; even the most storyline-centric should be entertaining independent of the story. My benchmarks for musicals are ROCKY HORROR SHOW, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, GREASE and the like with great songs, generally free of derivative music and clumsy lyrics. I began working on a song cycle version of ANTARCTICA. COVID-19 interrupted plans for a concert at Hobart’s Theatre Royal in 2020. But where there’s a will, there’s a (digital) way. We are now working towards releasing a concept album for 2022.

Developing from my love of design, skills in building things and need, I delved into puppet design and making (with assistance from my partner Dana Bergstrom) for ANTARCTICA, which has resulted in an uncontrollable desire to create sculptures.

So my life is about creating music intertwined with stories, sculptures with beautiful curves (the 3D equivalent of a great hook). In between, I build creative spaces in which to pursue such endeavours.

Creative Works

Year	Type & Genre	Details
2022	Single – Easy pop/ jazz	Bird In A Circle (AKA Cosmic Fly)
2022	Single – Electronic/dance	One Of A Kind (Electronic)
2022	Single – Show Tune	Along The Road To Avalon
2022	Single – Easy listening	Bliss
2021	Single – Celtic folk	Breath Of The Sky
2021	Single – Chill	Storm Kite
2021	Single – Instrumental	Storm Kite (Instrumental)
2021	Single – Folk	Found My Way Again
2021	Single – Folk	Courage (2021 Remix)
2021	Single – Country	Penny For Your Thoughts (2021 Remix)
2020	Album – 7 tracks instrumentals	Velo
2019	EP – 4 tracks pop	The Brady Tapes
2019	EP – 3 tracks, classical guitar	Boronia Serenade
2019	EP – 4 tracks easy listening	Peace of Mind
2019	EP- 4 tracks alt-country	Dirty Strings Shakedown
2019	Album – 6 tracks alt-rock	Guitar in the House
2018	Sculpture – welded aluminium rod	Albatross 3.2 m wing span
2018	Sculpture – welded aluminium rod	Snow Petrel 90 cm wing span
2018	Sculptures – welded or soldered aluminium rod or steel wire	Penguin Series – 8 sculptures Range in height 30 – 53 cm
2018	Album – 8 tracks alt-rock	Compilation 8
2017	Sculpture welded steel rod	Different Systems gate 1.8 x 2.9
2016	Articulated Puppets – 10 – brazed steel or welded aluminium and cloth, painted	Antarctica – A New Musical (with assistance Dana Bergstrom)
2012-2016	Musical Theatre (lyrics and music)	Antarctica – A New Musical (with Dana Bergstrom Workshop performance – Peacock Theatre 2012 Directors – Allen Jeffrey & Leiz Moore, Music Director Charlie Hull Workshop performance – Backspace Theatre 2014 Director – Kris Stewart, Music Director – Amanda Hodder Premiere – Theatre Royal 2016 (Audience 2260) Director – Terence O’Connell, Music Director Craig Wood, Puppetry Director, Peter Wilson, Choreography Cassie Xintavelonis
2005 under “Mac Lauren”	Album – alt rock	Crash Landing on Venus
2002- 1990	6 albums – alt rock/folk	various