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Following one of the hottest Melbourne temperatures on Australian record and a four day heatwave, on the 8th of February bushfires then swept across Victoria, leaving thousands homeless, devastating communities, killing thousands of bush animals and trapped pets and leaving almost 200 hundred people dead and families, friends and neighbors in mourning. My older brother and neice and my cousin's young family each ran for their lives with only the clothes on their backs as all burned to the ground. Others were not so lucky.

The fires changed the lives of Victorians. Climate change was knocking loudly on our consciousness. We were no longer in a 20 year drought. We were in a new world, one we hadn't planned on.

I wrote the song, What Used To Be as part of dealing with the tragedy of those events and with Donna and The Aspinauts we recorded the live demo featured in this slideshow.

We performed the song at the Rock n Rebuild Bushfire Relief Concert in March held in Hurstbridge and organised by Kinglake resident, Kane Marsh. The concert raised over $10,000 for the Bendigo Bank Bushfire Relief Appeal.

Featured in the clip is Donna Williams (vocals), Russell Edwards (keyboards), Andrew Sherman (lead guitar), Earl Wollff (bass guitar) with Paul Spears on drums.

You can find more info on http:www.aspinauts.com or http:www.myspace.comdonnaandtheaspinauts

Thanks so much for listening.

Warmly,

Donna Williams *)