As a young boy and then teenager I lived in the suburb of East Fremantle. I went to John Curtin Senior High School, the same school attended by Bon Scott a few decades earlier. Fremantle cemetery, the site of Bon's grave, is very close to where I grew up. As a child, and to this day, I regularly go past the corner of the cemetery where his grave is located. My childhood house was just a short walk from Canning Highway, or the "Highway to Hell" as it was called by the regulars at the Raffles hotel. Bon was one of those regulars. Growing up in this environment, AC/DC were a part of the fabric of my childhood. The Bon Scott connection with my local neighbourhood was strong. You couldn't help but be an AC/DC fan. AC/DC were one of the first bands I ever heard of. I can remember hanging out with friends in the 1980s, walking to the local shops. On every street on a summer afternoon you would hear someone playing an AC/DC album at full volume. It was normally a Bon album, but "Back In Black" was popular as well. Heck, I even used to hear "Fly On The Wall" booming from various front yards.

I give this background to highlight the significance of AC/DC in my own musical journey. The fact I went to the same school as Bon Scott once did gave me a sense that I could be a singer and play in a band. At lunchtimes we used to marvel at the thought of Bon sitting in those same hot classrooms that we did, no doubt giving his teachers some grief. It was inspiring for a young teenager to tread the same ground. This story has mainly been about Bon, but we all know there could be no AC/DC without Malcolm Young. He was the driving force behind the band. I took inspiration from his guitar playing, the fully locked in rhythmic brilliance he always displayed. As I grew up I discovered other bands but AC/DC were never far from my playlist. I bought every album, I went to every Perth show when they toured. Put simply, the riffing and writing of Malcolm Young has had a huge influence on me and I was saddened to hear of his passing last night. Although my own band sounds nothing like AC/DC, they were there at the beginning of my musical journey and I probably listen to them more now than any other band. My music tended in a heavier direction, but AC/DC and Malcolm Young laid the foundation. That is undeniable.

Rest In Peace Malcolm and thanks for the legacy you left.

I'm at the point where I'm ready for Elias to play on my solo project. My guitars are nearly done and I want to get at least his rhythm parts recorded soon. Hopefully we can organise a recording session sometime soon.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I've had an unexpectedly hectic couple of days so I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped. I have some errands to run today but I'm hoping to get some guitar parts tracked this afternoon. We are going on holdiays just after Christmas, so I'm hoping to have all my guitar and vocals tracked by then. Then I can take the laptop on holiday and work on the album in the evenings. I find I get a lot done in those situations. Have a great day and I'll check in again tomorrow.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Hi everyone. Just letting you know I'm going to pause the daily updates during December and January. A combination of a busy work schedule plus end of year holidays means it might be tricky to post daily during those months. I will still post during those months, just not every day.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Tonight I plan to continue with my solo project. I've got plenty to work on, so I'll just get through what I can once the kids are asleep. I might even try and record some riffs for the next two songs.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I'm just sitting out in my music room at the moment working through some material for my solo project. Today I'm mainly working through various guitar takes that I've recently recorded. This step is relatively slow but I'll get there eventually! I hope you're all having a great day and I'll check in again tomorrow.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I plan to do some more work on my solo project tonight. I have two tracks left to play guitar on plus I need to sort through the various takes I recorded over the weekend. There's quite a bit of material to sort through. Once I have drums, bass and my guitar all finalised, I'm going to start recording my vocals. Like I've been saying, it is a case of slowly does it on this project. The beauty of recording at home is I can do a little bit each day, rather than booking a studio session then needing to get a certain amount done in a window of time.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I spent most of today with my family so I didn't manage to get any music related work done. I'm happy with the progress I made on my solo project over the last two days in any case, so it's all good. I just have two more guitar tracks to record before I can get started on vocals.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I tracked two more solo project songs on guitar today. I now have only 2 left! I might even try and get them done this evening or tomorrow. Next step after that is the vocals. I'm loving it!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I got three guitars tracks recorded for my solo album today. I was recording on my own and that can be tricky. It's easy to become perfectionist and scrap a decent take because of some minor error. I really enjoyed the recording and I'm looking forward to doing some more over the weekend.

God Bless and Rock On!
vAUGHAN

Tomorrow I plan to record some more rhythm guitars for my solo project. I've recorded guitar two tracks so far and I plan to get a few more done over the next few days. It's been great fun putting this album together. I'll let you know how it goes!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Doing this original EP reissue has inspired me to freshen up on the 5 tracks. They are all very simple songs but there are couple of little parts I need to relearn. Luke has helped me with that because he can listen to anything and tell what is being played. When we eventually get the live side of things happening again it will be fun to play a couple of those tracks. We always used to open with "The Calling" but we haven't played it for many years. And I can't remember the last time we played "Back To Basics". Lucky that song only has 5 power chords!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

After many years, I've arranged to get some more copies of the original 2005 EP reprinted. Keep an eye on our site for details over the next few days. This was originally only available as handmade CD-R copies. If you missed out back in the early days, you will be able to get a copy soon!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Another busy work day today, so no progress on any band work so far today. When I get home I plan to do a little practise and some work on my solo project. It all depends on how long it takes the kids to get to sleep. Hope you're all having a great day!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Today I plan on doing some practise and working on my solo project. With the busy lives we all have, I've just got to try to get a bit done each day. It's very hard to dedicate huge chunks of time to music work, so I try to do things in small steps. With my solo project I just like to make a little progress each day. It's no huge rush to get it done but I don't want it to sit idle for weeks at a time either. It's been particularly enjoyable recording guitars over the foundation of Tim on drums and Matt on bass. I'm really grateful those guys were so willing to perform on the album.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I was up fairly early this morning, so I decided to do some guitar practise. A real focus of mine lately has been to relearn all of our material. As I've mentioned before, it's very easy to get used to playing certain songs. As a result, there are songs that fade from my memory if I don't practise them. I'm finding a nice drum pattern that fits each song then I'm practising them with a lyric sheet in front of me. My goal is to be able to play rhythm guitar and perform vocals on every track we've ever recorded. I also plan to do this for the Gregory Salmela Project album as well. It will take awhile but it's something I'd like to be able to do. When we do eventually start playing live shows again, it will give us a lot more options. Anyway, better get back to my practise!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I'm happy to let you all know that original Grave Forsaken drummer, Tim Steadman, has recorded all the drum tracks on my solo project. I have always kept in touch with Tim since his time in the band, so when I decided to do a solo album, I asked if he would play. Over the course of a few sessions Tim came in and recorded drum tracks for the project. His paying on the album definitely contributes to the album having an early Grave Forsaken vibe to it. Doing this solo album gives me the flexibility to work with Tim again and I must say it's been great fun. Right now I'm prepping a couple of tracks so I can record rhythm guitar on them. 

God Bless and Rock On! 
Vaughan

This week I've been featuring tracks from "The Fight Goes On" on our facebook page. It's been fun listening back to the album, especially given that it is no longer our latest. I'm really pleased with how this album came together, and sometimes it takes a couple of years to hear something fresh again. I hope you've been enjoying revisiting these tracks as well.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Luke is heading over to my place tonight. That usually involves some serious musical discussion, along with Star Wars speculation and ruminations about life in general. I can't wait!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Hi all, just a quick update today. As sometimes happens, it's been a busy day at work and then I had a dinner with friends tonight. As a result, no progress on any music projects today. That's OK, I should get a chance tomorrow to get some more bits and pieces done. I hope you're all having a great day and I'll be back again tomorrow.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Tonight I pan to do some work on a solo track called "Warriors of The Cross". This one isn't quite ready for me to record guitars, so I'm going to tweak it a bit. It's a cool track, obviously a bit reminiscent of "Warriors Of Light" form "Destined For Ascension". I hope you're all having a great day and I'll check back in tomorrow.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

I spent some time today practising "It has Begun" on guitar today. I like to be able to play and sing as much of our catalogue as possible. I've also been playing through some older material as well. In particular, I've been working on "Kill Your Idols" from "Reap What You Sow". That was written by Simon when he was in the band. We never played it live, so I never actually learned how to play it back in 2012! It's been a lot of fun. Because we've tuned in D, E flat and E over the years, I've got three guitars set up for each of the tunings. Obviously it is possible to change pitch with software but I like to play along to the original recorded version.

As I mentioned yesterday, Elias came over last night. We had a good time jamming through quite a bit of material. We ended up practising for a couple of hours, so it was a fun evening.

I'm hoping this week I will get a chance to do some more work on my solo project. I've been pretty busy with family life and work the last few days but hope to get stuck into it again. I'm currently in the process of tracking my rhythm guitar parts.So far I'm very happy with the sound. Like Ive mentioned before, it harks back strongly to the early Grave Forsaken material.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan

Elias is heading to my place tonight for a jam. I've been working hard on a few tracks from our catalogue, so I'm keen to show him what I've been up to. It's always great fun when Elias comes over, I'm looking forward to it!

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan