Speed Dating
Saturday 29th July, 2017
Speed Dating this week with musician Jackson Phelan, DJ/poet/marriage celebrant Sean M Whelan and illustrator Nicole Fai

Jackson Phelan




Where do we know you from?
Maybe you know me from RAT!hammock the band or maybe I served you at Specsavers Northcote.


What do you do with yourself?
At the moment I’m working on a bunch of new songs that are mostly bizarre murder stories in the Australian outback. Playing in RAT!hammock and Obscura Hail. Doing my best to make it through my uni degree. And getting super in to chess. (Also I occasionally work at Specsavers).


Dinner or dessert?
If chips count as dinner then definitely dinner. I think about chips probably 4 times every hour. I’m a fully fledged starch-aholic.


What song would you have played at your funeral?
Paul Simon’s 'You Can Call Me Al’ would be such a great funeral jam, that’s the epitome of going out on top.


When was the last time your were pissed off at yourself?/Last time you pissed yourself?
I do lots of stupid things so I get pissed at myself a lot. I piss myself a lot less than that, but it happened once more recently than I would like to share on the internet... so I’ll just leave it there. Ask me at one of our shows.


Favourite chair? (Obligatory chair question)
Favourite Chair is definitely the drivers seat in my Hatchback Corolla, I love that car to pieces and I love driving.


What's your perfect Sunday?
On a perfect Sunday I would eat a margarita pizza from Lazerpig during the 4-6 happy hour pizza special with my pals.


Sean M Whelan




Where do we know you from?
I frequent the planet Earth quite often, you've probably seen me there. And while on earth I dabble quite frequently in being a DJ, a poet/performer and a qualified Marriage Celebrant. You may have seen me doing any of these things or even quite possibly all three at the same time.


What do you do with yourself?
I write. I stare at the stars. I loiter around freeway art. I play my favourite tunes in public. I watch football. I marry people. I say my words out loud in public. I plagiarise my dreams. I fall in love every day.


Do you believe in love? and if so, what makes you believe that (and if not, what makes you say that)?
Love is like science or Britney Spears. Even if you don't believe in it/her, she/it still exists, whether you like that or not. I'm a tragic romantic. Love is the petrol I occasionally throw upon the fire of my life and it's also the water I use to put it out. I understand love as much as I understand how the universe can be of infinite dimensions. (in other words, not at all.)


What’s something you’ve been really proud of lately or just something you’ve been working on lately?
Bringing out a new collection of poetry. Working on recording spoken word and music with some of my favourite musicians. Writing a magical realism/crime/thriller/romance performance piece about the fake hotel on Eastlink by artist Callum Morton.


Has a wedding you've conducted ever gone terribly wrong and how so?
As a celebrant of four years I've never had anything go terribly wrong in a wedding. I have had plenty of moments not go to script, like a dog as ring bearer running off into an empty paddock with the rings, but the unscripted moments in weddings are nearly always the best ones. That's when the magic happens. And people forget that you will never have a more supportive audience as your friends and family at a wedding. They desperately want you to succeed at all costs, so what could go wrong?


What's your perfect Sunday?
As I wear so many hats as professions there is no uniformity to any of my days. They could be quite empty or extremely full. A perfect day is if I feel I have made some kind of impact on myself or somebody else through words, actions or feelings by the time my head hits the pillow at the end of it.


Nicole Fai




Where do we know you from?
Most probably (definitely) from my Instagram @nicolefaidesign or from some of the posts on Tax Collection.


What do you do with yourself?
Right now I'm in my third year of University doing a Bachelor of Design and loving that but also doing some work on the side, but besides the design aspect just enjoying things haha.


If you could have any super power, what would it be?
Pretty lame but to disappear whenever, definitely in situations like having to small talk with people I haven't seen in forever but never really talked to in the first place - I'm not a fan.


What’s something you’ve been really proud of lately?
I just got my first own car, probably doesn't seem like much to anyone older but I'm only 20 and its bringing me joy.


What's your dream project?
To design one of my favourite bands' album covers or either work with a client that's starting a business and wants my type of style, one can hope though.


What’s your perfect Sunday?
Binge watching a tv show or enjoying the day before the work week starts again, depends how my Saturday panned out :)).

@nicolefai