Max's Island

"There was a real lack of women on the line-ups and at the different gigs we were playing"

Feels is a duo featuring Rosie Taylor and Elise Reitze-Swensen. Together, they have over 10 years of experience writing, producing, and recording music, and then playing this music all over the world as professional musos.Recently, Rosie visited the island to share their story of where they saw a gap in the local electronic music space for female artists. The opportunities were not always there, and that was to perform or to make their mark in the local scene playing live and even aspiring to go international.So to correct this gap, they created Womp. (Women of Music Production). Now a registered not-for-profit and charity, the feature of their work is their annual Womp workshops. This is where nine artists, predominantly from WA, but some from the East Coast, come together and collectively work and collaborate to create music. They learn from local mentors and, ultimately, are given the space to take that leap of faith with their music. These are truly life-changing workshops.https://womenofmusicproduction.com/https://www.instagram.com/wompp__/

"Yeah, I've got a healthy amount of delusional self belief"

Flash Poetry visited the Island in late 2025 and shared the journey from having a career in copywriting, to being fully immersed in making music, sharing messages and having real impact from a creative form.Flash Poetry blends spoken word, freestyle rap & alt-rock instrumentation to concoct lyrical epics that explore our modern myths & middle-class demons.The recent release of a debut album … “Reality. Now” is now a platform for live performance and collaborations with a community wanting to be inspired to make change.Also in this episode is a special treat for all visitors to Max’s Island … not one but two fully improvised and unscripted freestyle rap creations that showcase the talent that is Flash PoetryCheck out Flash Poetry at :-https://open.spotify.com/album/335LJKgEVST6E0PM0yVzW0?si=OXQsEF7UQ_2exE1-CKg0BQhttps://www.instagram.com/_flashpoetry_/

"its my quest for 2026"

Welcome to Max’s Island, 2026. This year I have a quest. Just like all my guests on Max’s Island, I aim to be more relaxed and open with my lead-ins to each episode. I want to feel like I’m talking directly to you and not at you. So, I’m going to be far more less rehearsed and just go off the cuff. This may mean I might ramble a bit, might even sound like I’m sort of looking for words, but the approach is hopefully going to make your listening experience so much more enjoyable.This episode to start the year is going to be a snapshot of three episodes that were in 2025. They were all music-related. It starts with Michael and how he confronted his life and those demons that he was facing and determined that he had to change. Then we listen to Gaj, who started playing hip-hop when he was 16 in Sri Lanka.Finally we hear from Justin who was influenced by his older brother getting into music and at 16 got his first guitar.

"It wasn't Beirut ... but it was pretty unpleasant"

Alex Green grew up with a nurturing, working class environment that positively influenced his approach to helping others. Guided by his grandmother and a significant example of caring for those less ‘well – off” saw him become connected to the charity … for purpose … sector, where he has spent his professional career.After a confronting experience, on the charitable front line in Manchester, he released he was best suited behind a desk doing things in the fundraising and organisational management space.From here, he realised that his personal values we the driving reasons for him to engage passion and forge a career making an impact.Following a career working for these organisations, and most recently as a CEO, Alex has now set up his own consultancy, designed to assist for purpose organisations prepare for mergers and collaborations with like-minded organisations to become more sustainable and to be able to continue to make a difference. Being prepared and taking ‘ego’ out of the conversation is his focus.Alex has taken his extensive experience and made a brave decision to go it alone and support organisations survive in this tough financial environment facing charities and for purpose organisations who may be ‘frogs in boiling water”.His focus is something that many organisations must reconcile … so that they don’t let their clients down.Alex is a leader and the sort of values driven professional who is needed in the sector … right now.

"That's why we started with this song called ... Jamerah & Her Dads"

Gaj was into hip hop and rap when growing up in Sri Lanka. At 16 years of age, and heavily influenced by the New York hip hop and rap scene, Gaj and his brother set up their “Urban Sounds” outfit to entertain crowds at clubs and live events… and then through studio recorded releases.As typical teenagers, they were actually really anxious about performing live and were more comfortable in the studio. This changed once they began to get a following.After coming to Australia and with the birth initially of his daughter and then his son, the desire to keep creating music in this genre was still strong but he realised a need to create “kid friendly’ content. From this thought, The Cuddly Koalas was born and the creation of hip hop/rap music with clean lyrics that have important social and personal messages …specifically for children. Using lyrics created by his acclaimed song writing wife, Anjana, and supporting vocals from their children, The Cuddly Koalas sound is catchy and highly relatable to their audience.They have had great impact since releasing their initial album “Happy Families”. With world-wide involvement of children to make this music … this translated to international appeal once it was released. Consequently, they were discovered by an international network and this opened more doors to the world wide scene and a new growing audience.Their latest single ‘Help’ was released earlier in 2025 and will be part of a second album that is being planned.The future is exciting for Gaj and his family, as they strive for more positive social impact from their music and taking The Cuddly Koalas toward more success on the international stage.https://open.spotify.com/artist/05rc1X0D0a090zEHNu2wEB?si=FukWhtZsSd69nxJ89khPfAhttps://www.instagram.com/thecuddlykoalas/#