Why has Perth - the most isolated city in the world - produced so much great music?
I guess when you have less of an interest in an outdoorsy, sporty lifestyle you find yourself attracted to other things, be it art or music or writing, and maybe a few of those people were just that. And maybe there wasn’t a lot for us to do. It’s hard for me to judge really. We were taken to sports on the weekend and stuff like that when we were kids, but we lived miles from Perth itself. I was always jealous of my friends who’d go into the city on the weekend and see a movie because that just seemed like almost an impossibility for me.
But I think writers and musicians can grow up anywhere. It’s just what they’re interested in. You might be interested in the environment around you and writing about that, but that idea of coming out of an isolated city having a wealth of musicians, I’m not sure that’s exactly true. I mean, Melbourne has so many musicians it’s overwhelming. A person who isn’t a musician is a surprise these days. [Laugh]
I wonder about the role of being bored, the need to explore the imagination.
For the creative process to take begin, you have to clear your mind and you can do that in all manner of ways; switch off everything around you; go for a walk; go for a drive in the car.
I remember reading this article about Richard Hawley, the singer-songwriter from Sheffield, and he said his process begins with walking the dog. And the fact that they go in the same direction, over the same path and see the same things clears his mind and the rhythm of his walking might stimulate a rhythm to how the words are coming into his head.
So in some way that boredom or clearance of the mind is important. I know for a fact that driving -because we do it so regularly - really helps to engage the mind and take it to other places and I’ve created songs in the car. I have a recording device on my phone which I use all the time in the car, if it’s a melodic idea or if it’s just a lyrical idea I’ll pull over and record it.
I think you’re right. There’s something about being bored or just having a clear head that starts the imagination going. So maybe there is something about the environment, but were there that many people that came out of Perth that were greater than who’ve come out of Melbourne or Sydney? I’m not sure. I don’t know. I can’t answer that.
What’s different about being a music maker now compared to previous decades?
The main difference now is how people listen to music in terms of streaming and downloading stuff for next to nothing. I think it’s a lot more difficult for someone like myself to sell CDs or albums, the fact that vinyl is so expensive and there’s such a delay in it being produced. It’s difficult financially. When we first started out, there wasn’t a youth national radio network. We used to watch Countdown and Night Shift. They were the music video shows we had in WA that we could tune into and find out what was going on. Now you have access to a worldwide library of music through Spotify, music videos through YouTube, so you’re kind of spoilt for choice in what you can listen to. In a way that’s sensational and there’s nothing wrong with that. So you really have to be at the top of your game to have any attention at all.
I’ve always been struck by the quality of your singing voice. You have such a unique sound and tone. How do you approach singing and how does your singing influence your writing?
I think my singing has certainly changed over the course of time. When I was singing songs for David McComb and Phil Kakulas [in The Blackeyed Susans] early on it was about the melodic nature of the songs and trying to sing in that way. Now, as someone who writes my own songs, I think more about the delivery of the words and how important it is to get those lines across. So your ears might prick up or you’
