On the morning I interviewed The Pierce Brothers at this year’s BIGSOUND it had just been announced that the duo had signed a publishing deal with Mushroom Music. Having spent the last few years touring the world off the back of their amazing live show The Pierce Brothers are currently in the middle of a massive national tour. Check out my chat with the boys here – and just a note, I may have attributed the wrong quotes to the wrong brother in this interview. They are twins after all.
Gareth Hugh Evans: I saw the news that you guys have just signed a publishing deal with Mushroom. That’s awesome!
Jack Pierce: We’re pretty excited about that. We were very excited to work with Mushroom. [Michael] Gudinski’s an interesting man but he’s very intimidating. I get intimidated because he’s done so much.
Pat Pierce: He’s done a lot. He has a real presence – he’ll walk into a room and he knows what he’s going to do.
JP: So you talk to him and I’m just like “Yep. Ok.”
PP: We’re stoked to be working with someone of that calibre.
GHE: Can you just tick off BIGSOUND now and go “we’ve done everything I needed to”?
PP: Pretty much. In fact what are we doing this interview for? [laughs]
GHE: I feel like you guys deserve that because you’ve worked so hard in building your own profile and building your own “brand” if that’s not a dirty word.
PP: Jack did advertising at uni.
JP: I very nearly went to the dark side and got a job in advertising. I had one offered and Pat had a job offered in film at the same time and we both turned them down, the things we’d been working towards at uni…
PP: To make much less money as musicians.
JP: And we were like “We’re actually going to go overseas and waste all of our money and come back poor and in debt for the couple of years. That’d be great, thanks. Bye!”. But yeah, we’ve worked really hard from the ground up. With busking, we didn’t realise what busking would accomplish until we gave it a go and then all of a sudden we were playing bigger shows, more people were coming, we were selling CDs and actually making money from it. So we said let’s just make this our fulltime job. And then from that and touring – it’s been an adventure for the last year. It hasn’t really been a job. I think it’s 18 months since I’ve worked anywhere else, probably two years for Pat.
PP: I haven’t had a job since the February before last.
JP: Wow!
PP: It’s awesome.
JP: It’s just been an adventure rather than a career path.
GHE: Would you recommend it to other musicians, to go the busking route?
PP: Ok yeah!
JP: Depending on their style. The thing about us as an act is that we’re not particularly talented in the studio. And I’m not that gifted a guitar player. Pat’s quite talented.
PP: Yeah.
JP: What we’re really like is when we’re on stage it’s all about the presence and the energy that we put into it. And that stems straight from busking.
PP: And we’re very very tailored for busking. It’s just what made the most sense for our sort of act. But it’s different with everyone. Jack running around, doing all his flips, having the didgeridoo out are all good things to make people stop and buy a CD. And that’s what’s kept us going. If you don’t have those gimmicks it’s harder to make the money to keep it up. But if there’s any way that you can be a musician full time and get by and pay all your bills then absolutely. It’s awesome.
GHE: You’ve just got to learn the didgeridoo…
JP: That’s the thing about my didgeridoo playing. My housemate’s a really good didgeridoo player and he’s taught me. But he’ll pick up my didgeridoo and get such amazing, better sounds than me. When he plays he sounds like Xavier Rudd playing. And then there’s me. But then again it comes back to the spectacle of the show.
GHE: Don’t you get Pat to hold it for you while you play?
JP: No I hold the harmonica for Pat and then I hold [the didgeridoo] out.
PP: That was something that people really enjoyed but that just came out of a fuck up.
JP: Pat forgot his harmonica holder one night and I was like “what do we do” and he’s like “hold it for me”.
PP: Everyone went ballistic and we like “That’s staying in”. That was awesome. The same night Jack was hitting stuff with his sticks and I was like “dude hit my guitar”. He goes “really?” and I’m like “yeah”.
JP: I started playing the guitar. And then the flips came from busking and playing the concrete came from busking. When we were over in the Netherlands we actually had to find something to hit like that as well but there was a 6,000 person audience you wouldn’t be able to hear me if I played on the ground. But because we were the first act that day, you know the big trusses that hold up the tent that Eddie Vedder used to climb? We put a mic up there and then I was able to run up there, climb up a bit and then start playing. People went ballistic. It’s just fascinating because it’s different. It’s something out of the box and that’s what people enjoy. It doesn’t take any talent.
GHE: It’s the spectacle.
JP: It’s the spectacle!
GHE: The first time I saw you guys live you jumped off stage and grabbed a chair from someone and started smashing the chair.
PP: Chairs sound good.
GHE: And that was my favourite part of the show even though anyone could have done that.
JP: That’s the thing. People are like “how do you have so much energy”. It’s not about the energy. It’s just how committed to the but are you.
PP: That’s exactly right. The point of our show is to be high energy and fun for everyone. So it’s always really funny because I can be exhausted off stage, napping, and then go on stage and be really excitable and high energy and then go back off stage and collapse. I never really think about it until afterwards and think “how did we pull it off?”. But when I think I realise that we’ve defined that as our show and we’re up there doing what we’re supposed to do. Absolutely give it our all and jump around and look like complete knobs .
JP: You can pull anything off if you’re one hundred percent committed to it. If you half arse it then people will be like “well that’s a bit stupid”. There’s a fine line. And that is why comedy scares the crap out of me.
GHE: Is it hard as buskers playing original stuff? Do you have people coming up and saying you’d get more money if you did covers?
PP: People have said “you’d get more money if you play Jason Mraz “I’m Yours””. And we’re like “No we wouldn’t. We’re making way more money doing this”.
JP: I hate the people who come and go “why aren’t you guys on The Voice?
PP: When we do a busking set we do have a few busking songs that are covers because we’ve figured out how to play them. Then we try and put in as many originals as possible. We only like to do maybe one or two covers a set. You’re getting them to listen to you with the covers and then going “aha – here’s our music!”.
GHE: What’s coming up for you guys. There’s a massive tour going on right?
PP: We’ve just started a 26 date tour. We’re going to the Northern Territory for the first time. So we’re really really excited about getting up to Darwin and then getting over to Western Australia again because we’ve only played there once. It’s just going to be really busy.
GHE: I might leave it there for you guys thanks so much.
PP: No worries.
JP: Thanks so much!
The Pierce Brothers are currently on tour throughout the country. Check out the full list of dates below:
Friday 3rd October – Caloundra Music Festival, Caloundra, QLD
Friday 10th October – Golden Vine Hotel, Bendigo, VIC
Saturday 11th October – Birregurra Festival, Birregurra, VIC
Thursday 16th October – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, QLD
Friday 17th October – Metro Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Thursday 23rd October – Moonshine, Manly, NSW
Friday 24th October – 170 Russell, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 25th October – Swagger Music Festival, Mountain View Hotel, Wandiligong, VIC
Friday 31st October – Railway Club, Darwin, NT
Thursday 6th November – Newtown Social Club, Sydney, NSW
Friday 7th November – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 8th November – Djerriwarrh Festival, Melton Recreation Reserve, VIC
Friday 14th November – Westernport Hotel, San Remo, VIC
Saturday 15th November – AWME, Melbourne, VIC
Friday 28th November – Spirit Bar, Traralgon, VIC
Saturday 29th November – Gorgeous Festival, SA
Thursday 4th December – Torquay Hotel, Torquay, VIC
Friday 5th December – Settlers Tavern, Margaret River, WA
Saturday 6th December – Indi Bar, Scarborough, WA
Earlier this year Sydney singer-songwriter and Timber and Steel favourite Rosie Catalano was chosen by triple j Unearthed as one of the NIDA competition winners. The competition saw directing students from NIDA creating videos for the winners, including Catalano, with the finished videos premiering on Rage last weekend.
Rosie Catalano’s beautiful track “Hearts”, featuring backing vocals from Jack Carty, was the track given the brand new video from directing student Heather Fairbairn. Check it out below:
Rosie Catalano and fellow winner Julia Why? will be officially launching their videos at The Vanguard in Sydney on Wednesday 8th October. The night will feature their videos on the big screen and a Q&A with the filmmakers led by Timber and Steel’s very own Editor in Chief Gareth Hugh Evans. For more information check out the official Facebook event here.
Melbourne based folktronica artist Rose Wintergreen released her highly anticipated new mini-album Aurora about a month ago and she’s been showcasing it with a number of gigs over the last couple of weeks. Aurora was produced by award-winning Alice Springs artist and producer Dave Crowe an has scored Wintergreen an Artist of the Year at the Australian Independent Music Awards (electronica category) for the track “Feet In The Sand”.
The final show on Rose Wintergreen’s launch tour is in her hometown of Melbourne at The Toff In Town on Sunday 5th October. Joining her will be dance/folk/world group Zikora. For more information on the launch make sure you check out the official Facebook event here.
We were already pretty excited that Canadian alt-country singer-songwriter Lindi Ortega was heading back to Australia for the Out On The Weekend festival next month but this morning it was revealed that she’s also planning a headline tour while she’s in the country.
Saturday 11th October – Astor, Perth, WA w/ Justin Townes Earle
Sunday 12th October – The Gov, Adelaide, SA w/ Justin Townes Earle
Monday 13th October – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Wednesday 15th October – Metro Theatre, Sydney, NSW w/ Justin Townes Earle
Thursday 16th October – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC w/ Justin Townes Earle
Saturday 18th October – Out On The Weekend Festival, Williamstown, VIC
Sunday 19th October – The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday 22nd October – The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD w/ Justin Townes Earle
Thursday 23rd October – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, QLD
Friday 24th October – Tuning Fork, Auckland, NZ
Broads is the brand new duo project from Kelly Day (The Nymphs, Wagons) and Jane Hendry (The Tiger & Me, The Nymphs) and they have announced the release of their debut EP this Friday. Recorded with Ade Vincent, the self-titled EP is “a collection of sweetly nostalgic duets, each with their own slightly dark undertone”.
To help launch the new EP Broads will be taking over Boney in Melbourne this Friday, supported by Cash Savage & Joe White and Ryan Nico. For more information check out the official Facebook event here.
To get a taste of the new Broads EP check out the teaser for their new clip “How To Make A Hero” below:
When I first saw Melbourne’s Sweet Jean live I was absolutely blown away. They’d just released their new stripped back mini album Greetings From Goodbye and were recreating it’s stunning folk music live on stage. When I heard they were showcasing at this year’s BIGSOUND I just had to take the opportunity to chat to the duo
Gareth Hugh Evans: I want to start with the new mini-album Greetings From Goodbye. I have to say that I am obsessed with this album. More so since I’ve seen you perform it live. I guess my big question is what made you strip back and explore this kind of folky music.
Sime Nugent: That’s basically where we started. When we started playing together we didn’t even have a name for the band, we just started showing up to gigs that I had booked in Melbourne as the pair of us. We played this music together and investigated that sort of sound. That was the first year or so of us working together. We love that music. Then we went on to investigate and invest in the sound that ended up becoming Dear Departure and that took a while to generate. Once we’d published that bunch of songs it felt appropriate for us to honour that first period when we were working together. That said there’s a new sound that we’re generating at the moment which is sort of a broader pallet of work again.
Alice Keath: I think it’s really representative of a lot of the shows we do live as well. We do the band thing but we perform as a duo a lot and there’s a lot of thought and a lot of hours of playing live that have gone into that. There’s the two sort of elements – I love playing with the band but I love stripping it back to the core elements of a song and I guess being economical in what you do with it. Every choice matters when you’re dealing with material like this. It’s not just “yeah, throw on some strings and some drums and this and that”, you have to actually really think about what you’re wanting to say and play and I really love that process. We both really love a lot of the music, that old, soulful kind of folk music that’s quite dark and quite effecting I find. This album is actually a combination of really early recordings that we did basically in my back room when we first started playing together and then some new recordings as well. It was interesting for me because some of the vocal takes on that I find they’re quite raw and Sime and John [Castle] had to convince me not to redo them and put them on the album. In the end, now that I’ve sat with it for a little while, I think that’s maybe a strength, that it’s not too polished and it’s not too self conscious.
GHE: Was there ever a point when you were putting the album together where you started layering the drums and the strings and things before pulling it all away or was it going to be stripped back right from the very beginning?
SN: I think from the very beginning we knew that it had to be a fully duo orientated record even though I think one drum kit made it on.
AK: Half a song!
SN: And there was one guitar solo overdubbed. We really wanted to keep it very pure.
AK: And most of the songs as well are performed live which I think was important for us. We really wanted to make it representative. What you hear, apart from a couple of overdubs, is what was played in the room. Which is a completely different process to how we made Dear Departure. That was built up in layers, bit by bit…
SN: And edited over months and months. Revised and revisited. A totally different way of working.
GHE: So when you listen back to Greetings From Goodbye do you wish you could fix some of the rawness?
SN: Not really because it is what it is. There was certainly a moment where we had to kind of take a deep breath on some of the songs and just commit to that take. But once that process has happened it sort of takes on its own internal logic.
AK: And I find that often it’s those happy accidents or mistakes or rough moments – the bit where your voice cracks or there’s a change in tempo or something – I find actually build into making a more interesting group of songs.
SN: They add to the realness
AK: Those are often the most interesting bits on an album, for me as a listener. I guess it’s interesting as a performer remembering that and not getting too precious.
GHE: Your live show is really what caused me to really knuckle down and listen to Greetings From Goodbye properly. What I feel it does is capture your live show beautifully. What I saw on stage is what you get on the recording.
SN: Totally. And that’s what we wanted to honour.
GHE: If you’re putting together a set list for your live show does it depend on whether you’ve got a full band or not as to whether you’ll play anything from Greetings From Goodbye?
AK: We will always play the folk stuff. There’s quite a breadth of material that we do but I think in every show there will always be at least one stripped back, duo acoustic song. So far anyway.
SN: The reality from our point of view is some audiences respond more to the duo and some audiences respond more to the band stuff.
AK: And it’s purely out of what we’re interested in. There comes a point where you’re dabbling in different types of music and you go “is this so far outside of what we’ve been doing that it’s time to do a side project or something?” [laughs]. How far can we push this in a live show stylistically? And I think at the moment even with the new stuff we’re doing which is more band driven or wide screen or whatever you want to call it its roots are still very much in that folk/country/gritty/roots music. Its roots are in roots! [laughs]
SN: We’ve got delusions of synth-pop but you’re always going to hear the folk music in there [laughs]
AK: Even when we think we’re writing pop music it’s still entirely grounded in the roots tradition.
GHE: You keep referring to Greetings From Goodbye as your “folk” album but I think Dear Departure is a folk record.
SN: Nah man, that’s our synth-pop record! [laughs]
AK: Sometimes you just can’t escape it and that’s not a bad thing at all. We love that music. We’re having a lot of fun with new songs and pushing the sound and making it bigger. But often keeping it simple, there’s a real strength in that and a real immediacy. It’s not that easy to do sometimes, to write a really distilled song that sounds simple but has weight. You can put all the bells and whistles on there and dress it up but the challenge is to write a song that sounds like it was really easy to put together.
GHE: And I guess that’s what makes those great folk songs. They sound simple but there’s years and years of writing behing them.
SN: There is something funny that happens. If the ear is listening to say two voices and two instruments and technically it’s a certain volume, and then you play a song beside it which is two voices and twenty instruments, the larger pallet song will always feel quieter. Because there’s so much more information for the ear to work out. I’ve done this again and again. In the set trying to put a band song beside a duo song, the duo song always sounds louder even though you sit there with the mastering engineer and you go it’s not technically louder.
GHE: So you said you’re working on new material and it’s more leaning towards the band stuff?
AK: I think there’s going to be a mix but it’s not going to be as stripped back and distilled. The next album is going to have more production on it.
SN: And there’s a bit of a grittier palette to what we’re doing.
AK: Yeah! I think doing this folk EP has informed some of the newer songs and I’m really looking forward to exploring that darker palette with the band stuff. Some of the stuff on Dear Departure was quite polished. I’m looking forward to exploring that more produced sound but with a few of the mistakes and a few of the darker tones in the instruments.
SN: Some of the looseness.
AK: Yeah, getting some of the looseness in there.
GHE: So the new material is going to be Dear Departures informed by Greetings From Goodbye.
SN: I think you just helped us work that out!
AK: We’ll put that on our next press release.
GHE: You can quote me. I haven’t heard the new material but you’re welcome to use that pull quote!
SN: Yeah!
GHE: And you guys have a couple of festival dates coming up. You’re playing JamGrass right? You haven’t played it before right?
AK: No. I’m looking forward to it. There’s some good acts on there.
GHE: It’s one of my favourite festivals of the year. It’s very well put together – really slick.
SN: That’ll be fun.
GHE: And then after that what’s next? Is it just writing at the moment?
SN: After BIGSOUND we’re basically going home to get to work. There are a bunch of demos currently kicking around that we’ll go out to the laundry [studio] and start to work out what to do with them.
AK: Honestly, having that space in our backyard where we can record – John [Castle], our producer, set us up with some monitors and another friend gave us a a preamp. Basically we can go out there and record something, give it to John and maybe add a couple of extra things. Greetings From Goodbye is the perfect example. Having that space there free from time constraints or any studio pressure, that’s just so much fun. You can just muck about and try out sounds and ideas. Having the time and space to do that has been so much fun – I’m really looking forward to spending the summer doing that.
GHE: Well that’s all I’ve got time for today. Thanks so much for spending you BIGSOUND afternoon chatting with me.
SN: Thank you!
Stream the new Sweet Jean mini-album Greetings From Goodbye below:
Josh Pyke has been pretty solidly on the road since the beginning of this year, showcasing his 2013 album The Beginning and the End of Everything and showing the country why he’s one of the best solo performers around.
Now Pyke has announced the final round of dates for his Lone Wolf tour, taking in shows through regional Victoria and New South Wales this November. Check out the full list of shows below – and make sure you get in quick as these are bound to sell fast:
Thursday 20th November – Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, VIC
Friday 21st November – Karova Lounge, Ballarat, VIC
Saturday 22nd November – Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC
Sunday 23rd November – The Loft, Warrnambool, VIC
Thursday 27th November – Lizotte’s, Newcastle, NSW
Friday 28th November – The Astor Hotel, Goulburn, NSW
Saturday 29th November – Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul, NSW
Sunday 30th November – Lizotte’s, Kincumber, NSW
Friday 12th December – Baroque, Katoomba, NSW
– Irish singer-songwriter Hozier has released his new single “Take Me To Church”. Details here
– All Our Exes Live In Texas have released their hilarious new clip for “Tell Me” staring Jake Stone, Phil Jamieson, Jackson Gallagher and Lawrence Leung. Details here
– We premiered the new video from Ruby Boots, “Oh Lover”. Details here
– Sydney’s Jep and Dep revealed details of their new album Word Got Out along with the video for “Granted” and tour dates from this October. Details here
– Folk trio RAPT will be launching their self-titled album at Folk By The Sea tomorrow. Details here
Interviews
“I enjoyed writing songs and when I went to record the first album I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a great deal of direction. I had the songs that were acoustic and that was the way they were so I didn’t want to stray too far from the way that I’d written them. Luckily Anthony Lycenko and Ben McCarthy who co-produced that one, they got me onto people like Ray LaMontagne and Ryan Adams, along those sort of Americana, alt-country lines. It fit very well. Those guys knew what they were doing so under their guidance and advice, off I went” – Brad Butcher chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
“I’ve come to terms with the fact that I love country music. It’s only been this year. I recently went away to Europe and all I listened to was Gillian Welch, Bill Callahan, Johnny Cash – all my favourites. And I was like “You know what Bree? You loved country music. Don’t be ashamed of it anymore”. I used to be really apologetic about it but now I know that I love it” – Bree De Rome chats to Gareth Hugh Evans. Interview here
Angus and Julia Stone Friday 26th September – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Boy & Bear Friday 26th September – Bunbury Entertainment Centre, Bunbury, WA
Sunday 28th September – Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, WA
Castlecomer Friday 26th September – The Northern, Byron Bay, NSW
Saturday 27th September – Spring Soiree, Toowoomba, QLD
Sunday 28th September – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, QLD
Cat Canteri Friday 26th September – Pacific Hotel, Yamba, NSW
Saturday 27th September – Queens St Mall, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 27th September – St Martin’s Hall, Mullumbimby, NSW
Sunday 28th September – LiveSpark, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday 28th September – Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 2nd October – The Rails, Byron Bay, NSW
Friday 3rd October – 5 Church St, Bellingen, NSW
Festival of Small Halls feat. Andy Brown, The Mae Trio Thursday 2nd October – Caloundra Music Festival, Caloundra, QLD
Friday 3rd October – Caloundra Music Festival, Caloundra, QLD
Folk By The Sea Friday 26th to Sunday 27th September – Kiama, NSW
Fred Smith Friday 26th September – Taste Canowindra, Canowindra, NSW
Saturday 27th September – The Street Theatre, Canberra, ACT
Friday 3rd October – The Clarendon, Katoomba, NSW
Green Mohair Suits Friday 26th September – The Lass O’Gowrie, Newcastle, NSW
Sunday 28th September – The Junction hotel, Maitland, NSW
Friday 3rd October – Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel, Beechworth, VIC
Helen Begley and Penny Larkin Sunday 28th September – Sappho Books Cafe, Sydney, NSW
Lacey Cole Friday 3rd October – St John’s Glebe, Sydney, NSW
Little Features feat. Caitlin Harnett, Hannah Rosa, Jon Reichardt Saturday 27th October – Hibernian House, Sydney, NSW
Missy Higgins Friday 26th September – The Events Centre Theatre, Caloundra, QLD
Saturday 27th September – BCEC – Great Hall, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday 28th September – Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, QLD
Tuesday 30th September – GCAC – Arts Theatre, Gold Coast, QLD
Wednesday 1st October – Lismore City Hall – Churchill Auditorium, Lismore, NSW
Friday 3rd October – Civic Theatre, Newcastle, NSW
Patrick James Friday 26th September – Old Museum, Brisbane, QLD
Sahara Beck Sunday 28th September – Powerhouse, Brisbane, QLD
Friday 3rd October – Studio 188, Ipswich, QLD
Steve Smyth Friday 26th September – Baroque Bar, Katoomba, NSW
Sunday 28th September – The Rhythm Hut, Central Coast, NSW
Friday 3rd October – The Golden Vine Hotel, Bendigo, VIC
The Perch Creek Family Jugband Friday 3rd October – Turner Bowls Club, Canberra, ACT
The Pierce Brothers Friday 3rd October – Caloundra Music Festival, Caloundra, QLD
Wagons Friday 26th September – Under the Clothesline, Perth, WA
Saturday 27th September – Wave Rock Festival, WA
Wollombi Music Festival Saturday 27th September – Wollombi, NSW
Xander Smith Sunday 28th September – Wave Rock Weekender, WA
Friday Folk Flashback
“Big Sciota” – David Benedict
So I get obsessed with fiddle tunes and this is my current obsession. There’s literally hundreds of versions out there (it’s a bluegrass and old timey standard) but I just like the clean recording on David Benedict’s recording.
It’s been an interesting few years for singer-songwriter Bree De Rome, from being a finalist in the 2011 season of Australia’s Got Talent to re-inventing herself as the “coolest cowgirl on the Gold Coast” according to triple j’s Rosie Beaton. We sat down with Bree De Rome while she was buzzing around BIGSOUND to chat about her latest single, the Gold Coast music scene and admitting you’re a fan of country music.
Gareth Hugh Evans: I came across your music with your latest single “Easy To Forget” and I really really like it.
Bree De Rome: Thank you!
GHE: You’re from the Gold Coast yet you play country music…
BDR: I know it’s a bit strange. I’ve discovered that it’s hereditary. My mother has always loved country music. I started playing country music when I was a kid and then when I was about fifteen I was like “country music’s not really cool, I don’t want to do it anymore”. Then with my first EP I sat down with the producer and I specifically said “I do not want this to be remotely country, this is not going to be a country record” and he was like “ok”. Then I uploaded it onto Unearthed and Rosie Beaton commented with “You’re the coolest cowgirl on the Gold Coast” and I was like “aw crap! It’s come back to haunt me”.
GHE: It’s kind of cool to own it now though.
BDR: It’s really cool.
GHE: And I wouldn’t really describe your music and straight down the line country. But I can definitely identify why Rosie has picked that up.
BDR: I’ve come to terms with the fact that I love country music. It’s only been this year. I recently went away to Europe and all I listened to was Gillian Welch, Bill Callahan, Johnny Cash – all my favourites. And I was like “You know what Bree? You loved country music. Don’t be ashamed of it anymore”. I used to be really apologetic about it but now I know that I love it.
GHE: What is the live music scene like in The Gold Coast?
BDR: At the moment there’s a weird transition where a lot of the venues are shutting down. I think new things are popping up but I’m playing a lot in Brisbane now. It’s 45 minutes to The Valley, it’s really easy. I’ve been up here three times already this week. And there’s actually a pretty good alt-country scene happening here with Brad Butcher, Phil Smith, Josh Rennie-Hynes – it’s a really nice community. On the Gold Coast there’s a lot of folk music and a lot of indie and pop. I think something is going to happen soon with the Gold Coast. There’s great food, great coffee, good art and stuff like that. And aesthetically it’s beautiful – the beach, the hinterland, everything. Something is bound to pop up eventually, a really good venue. I hope it does soon. At the moment we’re being forced to be creative with where we play – like I’m thinking about doing a couple of living room shows. And my single launch for “Easy to Forget” was in a friend’s photography studio.
GHE: Nice.
BDR: It was a big warehouse with cushions everywhere and little candles. We step up with a little stage, had a tea station because my friend’s just opened a tea company. It made it really nice.
GHE: I feel like that sort of DIY scene is happening everywhere at the moment.
BDR: And I think that should happen on the Gold Coast. A homemade scene. Why not do it DIY? Make it really creative. It works really well.
GHE: So back to you, what’s next on your musical agenda?
BDR: At the moment I actually have no idea. I’ve only made plans up until this week. I’ve just had the most hectic year. I went away to Europe then I had the single launch, then Gympie Muster and now BIGSOUND. I’ll probably be recording, making another single, because we’ve got lots of songs. And then maybe an EP in the works, touring…
GHE: Do you get out of Queensland much to tour?
BDR: I do. I am planning on a little tour either late this year or early next year. Maybe try and make it a bit more regional as well. I’d like to do some stuff over in Europe as well. Next year I’m hoping to head over to America as well.
GHE: Because of your influences – country and 60s pop – do you feel like there’s a bit of a draw to the US?
BDR: Yeah. I really love Americana. I love the mid west and the southern landscape.
GHE: Well that’s all I have time for today! I hope the ideas you have formulating come to fruition!
BDR: Thank you!
Take a listen to Bree De Rome’s new single “Easy to Forget” below:
catherineelaine
chordsandcandles
Elizabeth Walton
Evan Hughes
HannahA
janineestoesta
KTBell
laurenandmoore
lilmercanti
JDX
mackajay
Serena Skye
miladyred
Nikita Andrea
Overheard Productions
Haz
richardlawsonmusic
sarahtuz
starryattic
Thom Owen Miles
timberandsteel
tunesinbloom
Timber and Steel 