Laura-Doe & The Chaps

Laura-Doe is a singer/songwriter, comedienne and educator who writes and performs entertaining and informative material on a variety of topics. She is particularly passionate about environmental issues and women's issues, in particular women's sexual health. An entertainer since the age of 9 when she performed with Diana Quick (Brideshead Revisited, Saving Grace) in an Oxford University production, Laura-Doe is at home on any stage. She applied her performance skills to a career in education, becoming a Senior Lecturer at North London University before moving to Australia to work as a corporate trainer for Apple Computer. Laura-Doe performed, wrote and recorded with women’s choir ‘Voices of Gaia’ in the 90's and her first solo recording ‘Do the Kegel’ was picked up for use by HBO in a TV show and in a movie by American director Adam Fields. During that time she also trained in Method Acting and Character Analysis with Penelope Chater (NIDA, Nimrod Theatre) and has written and performs a comic cabaret called 'Vaudeville of the Vulva' (www.vaudevilleofthevulva.com). This unique show artfully challenges societal taboos about the discussion of feminine genitalia. An Australian contribution to the genre that includes Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues and Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, the show is hilarious, irreverent and illuminating. Her latest environmental project has been the production of an awareness raising CD 'Whole Lotta Frackin' Going On' (www.wholelottafrackingoingon.com). This is a compilation album of songs about 'fracking' (hydraulic fracturing), an environmentally unsound technique used in coal seam gas (CSG) mining. Many Australians have only recently been alerted to the potential dangers of fracking through the movie 'Gasland'. After seeing this documentary Laura-Doe wrote a song called 'Lock The Gate' and recorded it with her band The Chaps. Friends (owners of the Crystal Castle, Mullumbimby) heard the song and offered to sponsor the pressing of a CD to help get the message out. Laura-Doe and her producer Anando Bharti (anandobharti.com) felt that a compilation CD with a wide range of songs and genres would reach a wider audience, so they put the word out. In two weeks they received over twenty submissions, fourteen of which made it onto the album. The CD also features powerful excerpts from an interview with CSG activist Dayne Pratzky, who retired to rural Tara to live a quiet life, and now finds himself living in the middle of an industrial zone. All proceeds from this CD will go to support environmental groups working to stop franking. Laura-Doe's current work in progress is a CD of recordings of the songs from ‘Vaudeville of the Vulva’- songs that address the important (but rarely sung about) niche area of women’s sexual health. Collaborating with bass player/guitarist Anando Bharti, who will also produce the recording, and pianist Andrew Cox with mastering services donated by Grammy nominated engineer Kamal Engels, the CD will be a valuable promotional tool for the show and an important part of Laura-Doe’s bigger vision that includes an interactive web presence, youtube clips, educational material and workshops. When not writing and performing Laura-Doe has been running www.yOni.com - one of the first women's websites on the internet. She also facilitates workshops on women's sexuality (see www.yoniversity.com.au). For more about her Laura-Doe and her work visit www.vaudevilleofthevulva.com, www.wholelottafrackingoingon.com, www.yoni.com & www.yoniversity.com.au

Byron Bay, NSW