It’s actually a very funny story! It took me a week to record all the songs, it was during my holiday and I was on a high. One of my boyfriend’s relatives looked like an accountant to me and I wanted to convince him to take up the trade. My boyfriend and I made a project of it. He made a powerpoint presentation with funny pictures with quotes whilst I made the accounting album. I had no clue it would get to where it would.

At the time the songs were on my phone and on my boyfriends computer. Funnily, the idea to put the album on the internet came from an accounting professor in the university I attend (The University of Sydney) who encouraged me to try Bandcamp. After I put it up on a “test” site (the first time I’d used Bandcamp) it took on a life of its own. I believe big accounting firms have an alert system that picked up the name of my first song “KPMG Audit Team” and people started looking at it and sharing it off the test site within their firms. Even now, the test site gets more views than the official site and the YouTube videos I created for it- which I’m hoping will change.

I think, as a person that compulsively writes songs it was inevitable. I had a sudden urge, thinking it would be something fun to do and that’s all it took. A week where, rather than writing songs about love and confusion, I decided the theme would be accounting.

I’ve been playing music since I was a young kid. I started in guitar ensemble when I was in kindergarten and it just grew from there. I went to a performing arts high school (Newtown High School of the Performing Arts) and finished a talent school in my senior years (the Talent Development Project). At the time my focus was actually on writing comedy songs and that was what I did. I wrote stuff that was so off the wall people would laugh at it (if I did it right). The first song I wrote was when I was 14 years old, but I fell in love with the process and since then I write songs all the time.

I started releasing my music and putting it out to the world as Meri Amber on the night of September the 18th, 2012. A very important night for me. That’s when my website went live and I started actively posting on social media. It was petrifying. I’m celebrating a year since I first started in my upcoming Mini-P launch concert.

Well, leading on from the last question- I finished recording my “Mini-P” (named such as it is smaller than an album or EP). It has three fully produced songs and two acoustic songs on it. I am super super proud of it and am going to be throwing my first ever solo concert and launch party when I release it on the 20th of September.

I enjoy the recording process and am super picky about everything, which works out well in the end for the recordings but means extra work for me (and my producers). I already can’t wait to get back into the studio to record an EP.

I’m seeing a lot of buzz and you have been featured in quite a few publications down under. How cool is that?! It seems that you have really hit on something and developed a dedicated following quickly, which is (to be honest) a difficult thing for an indie musician to do. How does this sort of publicity figure into that?*Blushes* I am very lucky and extremely humbled by everyone that has supported me and what I do. From people working within the media industry to near computer-illiterate people that have specifically gone onto a website to vote for me to help me out. It means the world. It really does. The people that listen to my music and support it are the reason I make it in the first place. I cannot be grateful enough.

Getting to know you on shows with Artists in the Plus and others on Google Plus has been a lot of fun.  How have you found Google to be different from social media sites like Facebook?

What I particularly like about Google+ is that it facilitates more personal relationships as well as meeting new people online. It facilitates more personal relationships because you can speak to people through video calls at the click of a button and as its part of the culture its not an awkward thing to do. In fact it can be anything from super casual to an online concert hangout in a more formal public setting.

It also allows you to meet new people through the communities, pages and through explore function. Sites like Facebook push this a bit less I feel and are more targeted towards creating an online environment as an extension of a real life social environment. You’re more likely to personally know people on Facebook in real life than on Google+.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Why?

Vanilla. It might sound like a silly answer and some people think its boring, but I really like it. It’s nommy.

Well, Love$Accy has been exciting due to all the publicity it has gained and the fun videos that have been made for it. I can’t wait to release some of the later videos. The album itself and the first video KPMG Audit Team have already gained great reactions. I just released the second video in the series Smooth Calculator and I’m already chomping at the bit to get the next one out… And the next one and the next one!

I’m soon going to be launching into releasing some of my “Uku Italia” work, which are songs and artworks I created whilst I was in Italy. The “Uku” in “Uku Italia” stands for ukulele, which is an instrument I just recently took up and brought with me to Italy because it was more compact. The songs I release under that project are going to be accompanied by ukulele and have videos with footage I filmed in Italy.

Lastly, but most certainly not leastly (I know I know that’s not an actual word- but it should be) is my Mini-P launch. I mentioned this earlier a couple of times but it is by far the biggest thing I’ve got going right now. So if you’re reading this and you’re in Sydney- come along! If you’re not in Sydney, I’ll be streaming it online- so stay tuned for that!

Haha, again as a great lead on from the last question, I am planning to stream the Mini-P launch online. I don’t want any of my overseas fans to miss out on the biggest Meri Amber event yet. I’m also partaking in the Artists In The Plus online Music Festival– which is going to be fabsauce. The online festival will be a great opportunity to share the virtual stage with musicians from all over the world, what more could you want?

What’s next? More school, job, music career?
Who knows. The most exciting thing about the future is no one knows what’s in it! I hope I’ll be writing more songs and better songs, continuing to grow my listener base and constantly be inspired, meeting incredible people along the way.

Where can we purchase Love$Accy?
The place to get it is Bandcamp- right here.Anyone you want to shout out?