By LAUREN MITCHELL

They’re far from a household name and will probably never reach the charts, however local music production company Realtone can’t wait to work with the Gembal Gang.
Realtone’s Steve Lane and Wayne Glenn will take the bare minimum of production equipment with them to East Timor next week, in an attempt to capture the sounds and stories of the impoverished nation, including that of the Gembal Gang.
“They’ve got this amazing mix of Portuguese influences and almost acoustic power metal,” Steve said.
“It’s beautiful what they’re doing and the sounds they get out of using plastic containers for drums and dodgy guitars.”
He said there were many similar “gangs” on Timor streets, which were actually music bands.
“It would be wonderful to capture their sounds,” Wayne said.
For the two Bendigo musicians, this will be their first international trip to help change a community through music.
It’s a cause they’ve pursued locally through St Luke’s and nationally under the Realtone banner.
“We work with a lot of young people in out of home care, who’ve maybe had a few knocks in their life,” Wayne said.
“It’s therapeutic in coming to terms with their experiences, they get to talk about them in context – and go home with a CD at the end of the day to talk about with their family and friends.”
The pair work to help young people and those in remote Indigenous communities to put their stories down as songs, make a recording of their experience, then empower them to carry on after the program has ended.
International aid organisation PLAN has been working to get the Realtone guys over to East Timor for some time.
It’s a fitting project for a local company, given Bendigo’s growing relationship with East Timor.
“The PLAN staff have been sending us some great info, so we feel up to date with some of the young people’s lives and what they face,” Steve said.
“It will be pretty busy, we’ll have one day off, but we get pretty excited about what we do.”
The two friends will travel to one of the most disadvantaged and remote areas to record the local music and get it on to the nation’s air waves, as radio is East Timor’s main form of media.
“The effect this has on the community in terms of building their identity, building their confidence, building their purpose, as an expressive outlet – the human benefits that come from that are amazing,” Wayne said.
“When we leave we hope at a very basic level the people over there will have some basic equipment and some basic skills to record their stories as songs, get them on a CD and them on the radio.
“And that will evolve how the community sees fit.”
The basic equipment Steve and Wayne are taking with them is thanks to the help of local businesses.
Muso’s Stuff and Boltons have supplied recording equipment and a lap top computer at cost price.
“I’d also love to take over a really good acoustic/electric guitar that records well,” Steve said.
He said with a few days grace before they leave for Dili, on February 11, any locals who wanted to donate cash towards a guitar, would be much appreciated.
In saying that, Steve said one of the privileges of meeting the East Timor locals would be capturing the amazing sounds they achieve with next to nothing.
“Over there there’s a great tradition of story telling through songs ... there’s a lot of people on corners with dodgy instruments,” he said.
In taking a guitar, the guys will help leave a legacy of encouragement and sharing through music.
“We like to do stuff that has a life beyond our presence there,” Wayne said.
For more information phone Steve on 0418 527 132.