Your upcoming Lone Wolf tour will take you to 12 regional locations across Australia, what was the motivation to go rural?
I think the best way to promote a record and the truest barometer of how your music is going is to play it directly to as many people as you can and in as many places as you can – you have to find ways to keep playing shows to people and you can’t just play in capital cities every year. We’ve got such a massive country that we’ve got so many pockets of audiences where you’ve just got to make the effort to get out there.
You’ll be playing gigs in Pomona and Toowoomba in Queensland. Do you have anything on the bucket list while you’re there?
I’m really excited to get to both of those places. Pomona is near Noosa so it’d be nice to get out and have a swim or a surf. And Toowoomba I’ve played once before – not at this venue – but I really enjoyed the town. It seemed like a really creative, artistic community so I’m looking forward to getting back there and checking it out more.
You’ve been touring your most recent album for almost a year – how have the crowds been responding to it so far?
It’s been unbelievable; I feel so bloody lucky! I always say that every time I put out a record and it goes well, I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet for another couple of years … It’s hard, you just never know how it’s going to go. I’m really, really passionate about this record; I absolutely love it and I think it’s my best work, and so I was really stressed about how it would go down and it’s just been amazing. The shows on this most recent bout of touring have been the best shows I’ve ever done.
What would you say are the best and worst things about touring?
Being away from my family – particularly now having two little boys – is pretty brutal, but I’ve managed to find a good balance. Finding that balance has been the best thing because I absolutely love playing shows and I love getting to new places and seeing more of Australia.
Do you have any rituals when you return home from tour?
It’s always a bit weird coming home because you literally step out of the world of signing autographs and playing shows for amazing people and then you step in the door and you’re sweeping the floor and changing nappies … We have a little ritual when I come home that we go out to dinner so it’s not just straight into the domestic world, I try to ease back into it a little bit. But again, it’s the perfect balance, because if I ever start to get a big head on me, coming home and cleaning up baby poo is definitely a good grounding.
How do you like to spend your free time when you’re home?
My domestic life is very, very chilled now because when I go out on the road I try to take advantage of the fact that I’m on tour and party a bit – then when I’m home, I’ve gotten all of that out of my system.
It’s pretty handy you get that outlet then!
It is! I said a long time ago, touring is like future-proofing any kind of mid-life crisis. Every couple of months I get to spend a month going to bed at 3:00 am and drinking whisky for breakfast, and then I come home and take a break for a while.
Was it always your plan to be a musician, or did you have a back-up career in mind?
I never had any Plan B. As soon as I joined a band, I was like, ‘This is what I’m going to do. When I grow up, I want to be a rockstar,’ while other people were saying ‘I want to be a policeman’ or whatever. Then I was in bands all the way through from the last couple of years of primary school and through high school. I did uni for a year and a half, then I quit to do music – and it took another ten years, but it was the only thing I was ever shooting for, really.
Can you remember the first gig you ever went to as a kid?
Yeah absolutely, it was Mötley Crüe at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. I think I was 11 and it was just amazing. I was already in a band, and my buddies and I were really big metal and punk fans, so it was a pretty amazing gig to go to.
You’ll be joining a couple of other Australian musicians and a 17-piece rock orchestra for the return of The White Album Concert in July. What can audiences expect from those shows?
It’s going to be awesome! Feeling the weight of that orchestra behind you is really amazing, so people can expect to hear a phenomenal band and the four of us guys doing our version of the songs. We’re not trying to ‘be’ John, Paul, George and Ringo, we’re just being ourselves playing these amazing songs and there’s collaboration and interaction. It was a total blast last time so I’m really excited to do it again.
What’s your personal definition of success?
That’s a good question. I actually had a list of goals when I first started out, and they were so basic – I just wanted to make one album, I wanted to do one national headline tour and I wanted to play one proper festival. And then I ticked those off in the first six months of signing a record deal, so from there, it was like anything was a bonus. I really mean it when I say my definition of success is just to be able to do this as a job that I love – to tour and perform music and write music and engage with other creative people and collaborate, and basically just fill my life with being a creative person and somehow earn a living from that – that’s my version of success. I’m not saying I don’t care that I’ve won ARIAs and that my records do well, I obviously care about that and I’m proud of that, but that’s not my measure of success. My measure of success is being proud of my output and being able to continue to do this as a job.
FAVOURITE WEEKEND SPOT TO:
Perk up … I’m a bit of a coffee snob! Coffee Alchemy in Marrickville, Sydney, is probably my pick.
Relax … Probably Bronte Beach.
Dine … At the moment, I’m really loving a little cafe in Ashfield, Sydney, called Excelsior Jones.
Catch-up … Probably The Henson Park Hotel in Newtown, Sydney.
Be inspired … Funnily enough, touring is the best place for me to get inspired and write new songs because I have the time and space to do it, but I’m also slightly emotionally fraught because I’m missing home, I’m excited about shows and I’m going to new places.
