Original writing

Journal

These essays are written by Shirwell Bancan and Shirwell Entertainment for listeners who want more than a stream. Each article is unique to this site — studio method, live work, vinyl, flowers on the road, and how the Black Horse anthology was chosen. They are not syndicated posts and not image-only pages.

Dated newsletter issues live on Newsletter. Track-by-track notes are on Discography.

March 4, 2024
How Shirwell writes a song
Lyrics on paper first, then melody, then the band — the working method behind 45 years of original Shirwell Bancan songs.
I still start on paper. Not a laptop, not a voice memo that gets lost in a phone. A printed or handwritten sheet forces me to hear whether a line earns the next rhyme. That habit began in the late 1970s in New South Wales, Australia and it has not changed, even as the studio moved from tape to digital masters.
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March 18, 2024
Come on Babe: from 1979 demo to Version 2 (louder)
Why the louder remaster exists, what the original session sounded like, and how live crowds changed the mix.
Come on Babe began as a club-date rocker. The 1979-era demo had live drums, a shorter intro, and a vocal that sat a little back in the tape. On stage the crowd sang the hook louder than the playback. That gap is why Version 2 exists: not a rewrite of the song, a mix that matches how the room actually behaved.
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April 2, 2024
The Black Horse photograph and why it became the album
Gold curtains, a rearing horse, and a guitar: how one image named an anthology of fifteen originals.
The Black Horse title is not a marketing slogan invented after the fact. The photograph — Shirwell on a rearing horse, guitar raised, gold stage curtains behind — was already how people described the live act. When we curated fifteen songs from 45 years of writing, that picture was the honest cover, not a costume.
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April 15, 2024
Glorious Days: three voices, one theme
Echoes of the Don, Girls Singing Two, and Male Vocal — how arrangement changes the colour of the same story.
Glorious Days is a suite, not a single mix with extra files. Echoes of the Don opens the stereo field and leans folk-rock. Girls Singing Two puts two female leads in conversation before the chorus. Male Vocal strips the picture so the lyric sits closer to a band in a room.
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May 1, 2024
Touring New South Wales: theatres, clubs, and the calendar
How Shirwell books smaller rooms, what to send for a date, and why the set list changes with the building.
I book theatre shows, private events, and club dates when the calendar allows. New South Wales, Australia is home, but the work is travel: load-in times, parking for a van, and whether the room wants an acoustic set or a full band. Email is better than a vague social message. Include venue, proposed date, expected audience size, and which format you want.
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May 8, 2024
Why Shirwell Entertainment stays independent
Masters, vinyl runs, and this website — how an independent label publishes original music without a major-label advance.
Shirwell Entertainment publishes the masters you hear here. That sentence is the business model. We do not license a third-party catalogue to fill a player. We do not scrape other artists. Ownership is listed on Music Owner because listeners deserve to know who is responsible for the work.
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June 3, 2024
Mixing ballads and rock in the same catalogue
Phone speakers, theatre PA, and vinyl — how Shirwell mixes quiet songs and loud songs without pretending they are the same.
A ballad that is mixed like a rock song loses the story. A rock song mixed like a ballad disappears in a club. I treat them as different jobs that share a singer. Without YourLove needs room around the vocal. Baby Gonna Rock needs drums that announce the downbeat in the first bar.
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June 20, 2024
Pressing Black Horse: what a limited vinyl run actually involves
Lacquers, jackets, and why a sold-out batch does not delete the songs from the official player.
A limited vinyl run is a manufacturing decision. We press a finite number of LPs with the full-size poster art. When they are gone, they are gone. The digital masters remain. Collectors are not required to stream, and streamers are not required to collect. Both are valid ways to hear the same fifteen songs.
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July 9, 2024
Nati Roses, pop-up bunches, and music on the same books
Forty years with a Middle Dural grower — weddings, memorials, and $10–$20 bunches that funded the next session.
Before streaming apps, I sold rose bunches at Sydney markets between tour dates. It connected neighbourhoods and paid for studio hours. That work continues through Nati Roses in Middle Dural — professional florals for weddings, funerals, and events, about 45 to 50 minutes from central Sydney when traffic is light.
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July 22, 2024
Building a theatre set list from a 45-year catalogue
Openers, hinges, encores — how live order differs from the Black Horse album sequence.
An album sequence is for the living room. A set list is for bodies in seats. Black Horse opens with recent favourites and travels toward dance cuts. Live, I often start with a recognisable mid-tempo song so late arrivals still hear a complete thought, then move to rock, then a ballad, then a closer that lets people stand.
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August 5, 2024
What you hear on the official player — and what the credits mean
Approved masters, Premium early access, and why AI or choir credits belong on the track.
The Music page streams approved masters from Shirwell Entertainment. If a song is in the queue, it is cleared to be there. Featured cards on Home sample the same catalogue. There is no second secret playlist of other people’s recordings.
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August 12, 2024
Read the catalogue like a book, then press play
A map of this site for new listeners: About, journal, discography, newsletter, then the player.
A player without context looks like every other widget on the internet. Shirwell Bancan is a songwriter with a documented catalogue. Start on About for the timeline. Read a journal essay for how a song or tour actually works. Open Discography for the fifteen Black Horse notes. Then press play.
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