“Moonshines brightly for me, this is my chance to show you what I could be” – these lyrics from the song “Moonshine” for instance, demonstrate Kurtis’ determination. “There was a pretty amazing moon that night” he says “that was inspiring, but really, this song is about keeping true to what you do, loving your passion, keeping your faith. My life was changing when I wrote this and I made a decision never to give up. That’s what this song is about.”

Another great song “Freedom”, is about being free to do what you want to do says Kurtis. The lyrics go - “Freedom is the thing that makes you happy, you’ve got to live to make it right” - Kurtis says “it’s about me living my life the way I want to live it without guilt or fear of other people’s opinions”.

Although Kurtis started writing songs in his early teens when he first picked up his brother’s guitar, it wasn’t until his university days that his talent found a stage. While still studying, he formed his first working band, Happenstash, and began his musical/life apprenticeship falling in love and experiencing the birth of his first child – a little girl, blessed with the same mop of gorgeous blonde curls as her dad. Happenstash morphed into another group, Kaliedavibe, which launched Kurtis into full-time performing and touring and took him away from his beloved Byron Bay and back to a base in Bondi for 18 months in 2000/2