How did Deborah Hocking get into the "business"? Have you been plucking away since you were a little lass or was it simply a case of "I've got to get into this racket" ... what's the story ?

I think that racket found me - I reckon the passion chooses us (kind of like a pet) rather than the other way around. I started quite 'late' in the scheme of things. I began learning guitar when I was 12, then singing and began singing covers in a female cabaret trio. When I was in my mid teens I began theory lessons and learning blues and jazz guitar as well as classical guitar , which gave me a good foundation.

Then I jumped on bass for a couple of original bands in my late teens before I thought I'd better stop flunking uni! When I finished my postgraduate psychology degree in Darwin, I returned to Melbourne to put together a band of my own, doing my own material. Drummers and bass players can be like revolving doors, so I've been playing solo throughout the various band incarnations.

I've been playing the pub scene about 5 years now, and have played festivals local, regional and interstate. I've recorded a couple of CDs and just received a grant to record another, so am currently putting together a 3 piece line up and am really looking forward to sharing the stage with other musicians again!

There are two kinds of songwriters ... those who write music for the general public, the kind of music that touches everyone lightly yet doesn't stay too deeply, then there are artists who are the opposite to that, who touch only a handful of people but have an incredible impact on them. Would you rather be the former or the latter, and why?

Hmmm. I think I'm currently the latter, but I like to distinguish between the song itself and the live performance. I have the feeling that my music is more accessible when I perform it live, because it makes more sense - it's the human connection, you know.

Like hearing a person's story one on one, rather than reading about it in a case study or biography. So I think the live performance of my music makes it more accessible to people because it's brought to life in the here and now, in an authentic and dynamic way.

Some of my favourite songwriters manage to touch MANY people deeply - Sting, Ani DiFranco are a couple who do it for me - and I guess that is the ultimate destination, but paradoxically, one that cannot be manufactured. I just heard a song the other day that I've heard many, many times, but I suddenly 'got it' and felt really met - it impacted on me - because of the emotional space I was in at that moment.

So what gets Deborah Hocking inspired lyrically?

It's a quirk, or a twist on a clichéd meaning of something that will grab my attention - either in my own reflections, or in conversation or in a film. For example, I was walking down Brunswick Street a few weeks ago where a couple of women were standing at the bus stop near 7-Eleven and one of them said "...he's a psychic vampire."

Whilst I probably wouldn't use that in one of my songs (but then again, who can predict what will happen in the creative process!), it was such a cavernous image and that combination of words is laden with images, associations and meaning. It's a matter of wandering into that space and seeing what can be derived. My songs almost always begin with a lyrical concept or emotional tone that I then hunt for words to capture.

If Deborah Hocking ran a short course down at the local CAE, what would it be?

Ha! How to deftly apply the transferable skills inherent in Iyenga yoga and jazz improvisation to everyday life.

Run us through the five steps to making a killer tune ...

1. Connect with yourself
2. Read The Artists Way
3. Send The Critic on a mental holiday
4. Free associate in thought and writing.
5. Go with where the song takes you (TRUST the process)