By Lindsey Kin

Growing up, October loved to draw, sing and read. “This is what I would always be found doing when I was little. My mom and grandmother use to read up a storm and that is where my love for reading grew from.” Reading is still his number one indulgence and he admits that he cannot walk past an Exclusive Books without going inside. “I’m always buying books [and because] I like weird things and am interested in ‘things’ and how people think, I enjoy reading books about leadership, neuro-linguistic programming and autobiographies.” However, “I can’t get around reading on a Kindle. I want to buy a book and put it in my rack, which is an ever-growing collection of books.” He adds: “Language and reading has always been a big thing. I am one of those guys who go to bed with a book and for light reading, I will read book on punctuation or grammar.”

With all the talk about words, October says that there is not one word that encapsulates who he is as he is forever changing, but if he had to choose three, he feels ‘spontaneous’, ‘cheeky’ and ‘unpredictable’ would do. And unpredictable he is.

October shared a story with me, making it clear upfront that he is not a dare-devil - except for this one time. The words: “I rollerbladed down Sylvia’s Pass,” made me choke on my tea and I was curious to know more. October thought it would be wise to rollerblade to work. To give you an idea of the insanity of the situation, he was wearing shorts and no safety gear such as a helmet, because he had never skated in such circumstances. “Off I went, picking up speed really quickly and passing the Zenex garage behind me at 80km/h on rollerblades. At the end of Sylvia’s Pass there is a hair pin bend and I’m looking at this but remaining calm. I then thought, okay I have to do something.” With the slip road to the left in sight, October lifted his foot and went down on his back – by this point of the story and listening to October, I could feel the hairs on my neck, back and legs standing up as if I had been electrocuted. October says, “I then got up and nothing was broken. I looked around to see if anyone had seen what I had done. I checked and then felt my bum … there was a huge hole in my shorts. Of course, when you don’t wear any underwear, a hole in your shorts means you’re half naked. I had this rucksack around my waist and I walked up to the garage, had no phone or money on me, and there were no ATMs.” October had ‘no feeling in his butt cheeks’ for about a week and till this day still has his shorts with the gaping hole and black stains. “I’ll try anything once, unless it kills me.”

And on the music front, October says that music has always been in his family. “When my mother discovered that my sisters and I could sing, harmonise and do things with our voices, she would make us sing when people came over. It didn’t matter who came over, whether they knocked on the door for bread or old clothes, we would sing like the Von Trapp family except we were only three siblings in the family.”

Following his Idols journey, October has been hard at work on his self-titled album, which was released in September. “I am finding new ways to subtly introduce a new side of me, edgy rock.” He admits that he can’t be as ‘out there’ as Lady Gaga – “It would be kind of weird if I start walking around with feathers in my hair or out of my butt.” Having always loved music by the likes of Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, this is much like the new look he is creating, “singing the living crap out of it with a roaring band behind me”.

From singing Over the Rainbow in a school production to runner-up of the inaugural season of Idols, his love for language and books and now with the release of his self-titled album, the journey for October is a bright one – and not just on stage.

For more information on Brandon October, visit www.brandonoctober.net.