Interviews

Print and audio interviews.

A Punter’s Perspective 25 — “Thanks! You’ve been a wonderful audience. Goodnight!”

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"You've been a great audience. Goodnight!"
“You’ve been a great audience. Goodnight!”

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#25 “Thanks! You’ve been a wonderful audience. Goodnight!”
First published in Trad and Now magazine, April 2011

Late last year, I witnessed a reasonably unsavoury moment in crowd behaviour at a folk gig. Countrified folk. Folkified country.

No, the genre labelling wasn’t the unsavoury bit. It was the mix of ‘crowd there for music’ vs ‘crowd there for tipping several vats of beer and/or pre-mixed drinks down their throats before collapsing somewhere outside the venue’.

Which got me to thinking about the whole performer/crowd interaction cocktail (no pun intended), and how that affects a performer’s mojo on stage.

Myriad questions sprang to mind, and I planned to pose them to those best-equipped to answer them.

Months later, and with deadline looming, I threw a vague question to the four winds (ok, Facebook) one Sunday night and got a whole heap of responses. So I’ll can the investigative essay for now and just give you some responses, because they’re many, varied and some quite entertaining. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 24 — Q&A (John Schumann fields questions from the floor)

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John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#24 Q&A (John Schumann fields questions from the floor)

First published in Trad and Now magazine,  March 2011

How an artist builds a rapport (or not) with their audience on stage has always fascinated me. Especially if it’s an artist whose work has become very familiar, I find the gaze wandering from the stage to the crowd. Gauging others’ reactions becomes the main game.

Not everyone makes the audience the main game. I’ve never seen Van Morrison perform live, but his self-confessed lack of focus on, or regard for, those watching is legendary. Just plug ‘”van morrison” audience disdain’ into a web search and read for yourself.

On topic, I often recall a rock gig several years ago where two headline acts could only manage one complete, barely-coherent sentence between them that was roughly aimed in the direction of the paying punters. I left early and, passing one of the band cars, left a one-line critique in the dust on the rear windshield. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 20 — Gypsies (Raggle-taggle and others)

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Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen
Image courtesy of Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#20 Gypsies (Raggle-taggle and others)
First published in Trad and Now magazine, April 2010

From flitting sporadically and erratically around the edges of the music scene, it’s possibly to form occasional observational and lightly-informed opinions.

I have hundreds. Many of them so self-evident they barely bear recounting.

One that seems worthy of at least a little light attention is the casual observation that gypsy music has been on the rise in recent years. There’s more on the radio, there’s more on festival programs and gig guides are swelling with their ranks.

Struggling to differentiate between Roma Music and Roma Street Station, I spoke to a number of exponents of the art-form.

My interest was piqued about a year ago when UK-bsed Paprika Reloaded (previously Paprika Balkanicus) came to Australia and whipped up a frenzy of punter acclaim wherever they went. I Canberra, just these five guys on stage, dressed conservatively in white shirts and black pants – no elaborate lighting or special effects – created pandemonium. There was dancing in the seats, dancing in the aisles, and every security’s detail’s nightmare, the crowd was invited up for dancing on the stage. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 16 — The Beez: Portrait of a band at the end of a very long road

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The Beez at the (Australian) National Multicultural Festival
The Beez at the (Australian) National Multicultural Festival, February 2009

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#16 The Beez: Portrait of a band at the end of a very long road
First published in Trad and Now magazine, May 2009

‘Is there any point going on with this? I mean, should we just unplug and go acoustic?’

It was late December 2008, one of the first gigs for The Beez from Berlin at the start of an epic four-month tour. Fresh off the plane (and without their usual all-terrain sound man Georg for the first few gigs), things were not going well.

The speaker, Rob Rayner, originally from Sydney but a long-term resident of Berlin, was being polite and patient and professional, but the strain was beginning to show as Julischka’s acoustic bass seemed determined to stay unplugged. The audience was urged to move up front and cluster in the front rows.

Guitarist Peter D’Elia made some gag to help defuse the situation which got no response from the audience, except this from yours truly. ‘Try telling that joke again acoustically’.

‘Hey, I know you!’ D’Elia said, pointing into the second row.

And so was rekindled a friendship that left off in Cobargo in 2007.

This was the start point of the mammoth undertaking that saw The Beez travel to just about every point on the Australian compass, from Darwin to Hobart, from Byron Bay to Perth and many, many points in between. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 14 — Countrified folk or folkified country? (Greg Champion)

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Greg Champion
Greg Champion

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#14 Countrified folk or folkified country? (Greg Champion)
First published in Trad and Now magazine, February 2009

When musical chat turns to genres, labels and identification, if someone poses the age old question, ‘Is it folk?’ or the broader chestnut, ‘What is folk?’ I suddenly hear my mother calling.

(For a woman with reduced lung capacity, she can make herself heard well enough from 300kms away when the need arises, God love her.)

They are worthy and valid questions of a kind, with multiple levels and directions of discourse, but to borrow a phrase another family member uses, if someone starts on these topics, I can just feel the backs of my eyes going dry.

It’s fair game (sometimes) if weighty matters are being discussed at a conference or workshop, but when someone decides to get all loquacious after 17 pints of the sponsor’s product at a festival, that indeed is time to throw them their guitar or bodhran or electric spoons and ask can they play that one about the boat/shearers’ strike/ode to Annie, Nancy or Gwinviere.

For all of that, there’s one related topic that I’m continuously interested in: folk versus country. Which is not some sort of fiddle and dobro slap-down in the cage with folding chairs at ten paces, but more of a mild interest on where the line is, or if it exists.

Are there points of intersection, cross-over (and pass your partner down the line) or even symbiosis?

I’m suspecting ‘yeah’ on all three.

But lord knows I’m a punter and do not presume to be capable of long treatises on-topic. Instead, I took the chance at last year’s Maldon Folk Festival to buttonhole a favourite performer, just one of many who move in both worlds of folk and country: Greg Champion, as he made his way through a lunch-time feed of Indian food outside the Guinness Tent. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 13 — Mike and Thom Jackson

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Mike and Tom Jackson
Mike and Tom Jackson

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#13 Mike and Tom Jackson
First published in Trad and Now magazine, November 2008

This is the second in a (very) occasional series that’s taking a casual glance at what’s being done in the realm of folk for and by kids. Back in

T&N: Mike, what are you doing here?

Mike: 16 performances! Kids’ performers tend to be the work horses; we basically are often multi-talented and we have to be able to perform for adults and for kids. This festival fortunately I’m doing just kids’ performances so I’ve got time to concentrate down here.

It’s a wonderful life, it really is.

Why do we do what we do? I think initially it was a second string to be an adult performer: you were sent off down to the kids to make them happy for a while. In my case, it became a profession fairly early in the piece.

What am I trying to do for kids? Pass on some of the traditions that my grand-parents and parents passed on to me. It’s an ongoing thing; I’m basically entertaining but teaching as I go about the music and about the instruments that I play. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 11 — Kids in Folk I: The Bond Traps

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BondTrapsA Punter’s Perspective 11
Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

Kids in Folk I: The Bond Traps
First published in Trad and Now magazine, June 2008

The folk scene seems to be largely switched on to the fact that engaging with kids and getting them involved early is important.

This is neither startling news, nor is it in any way new news. If anything it borders on the screamingly self-evident.

It’s worth dwelling on for a while, nonetheless.

Festivals have for years been at least incorporating youth elements into their programs, or holding self-contained and separate kids’ festivals, sometimes devoting a discrete area specifically for the kiddies. Woodford boasts a kids’ program that’s as extensive and packed as some whole festivals.

I’ll spare you, dear reader, from further personal insights and observations on topic. Much more illuminating (and hopefully, more interesting) are the experiences and motivations of younger performers and the adults who help nurture the burgeoning young talents. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 10 — It’s only words and that is all…. damn, what’s the next line?

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Bill (7)A Punter’s Perspective
Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#10 It’s only words, and that is all… Damn, what’s the next line?
First published in Trad and Now magazine, May 2008

By Bill Quinn
At a recent singing session, a participant asked a very leading question in between songs.

“I love singing and I love songs, but I can never remember all the words. How do you singers remember not only the words to one song, but to so many songs?”

It’s a fair question. One with possibly as many answers as there were singers in attendance to provide answers.

How does one recall to mind lyrics they’ve written themselves, lyrics written by their peers, and lyrics written by others from one to 400 years previous?

(Arguably, the same question applies to instruments, notes and chords, however, since the author isn’t a musician – or at least, not for the last 27 years – we’ll confine the discussion to the realm of the vocal cords.)

In singing sessions, not everyone is expecting polished performances, and there’s a fair amount of group effort involved; if someone starts to falter, others will usually chime in with a word or phrase or some background accompaniment while the main singer gets back on track. If they know the song. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective np — Cloudstreet

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cloudstreet -- Nicole Murray and John Thompson
cloudstreet -- Nicole Murray and John Thompson

A Punter’s Perspective
Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

NP Cloudstreet: On the road and on the phone
Not published, for some strange reason. Possibly due to the eye-watering length of the text. Used in Monaro Musings at roughly the same time.

By Bill Quinn
Many readers would be familiar with the name Cloudstreet (the folk music act, not the book. Maybe both. Let’s stick with the former for now).

Nicole Murray and John Thompson have been plying their trade as individual performers for many years, and as a duo for about ten years, turning out fine studio albums and countless live performances in the process.

I spoke to Nicole and John in April this year, following a post-National Folk Festival gig in Canberra, and then again to John in June, when Cloudstreet’s first live album had just seen the light of day.

John and Nicole shared their views on singing, recording, live performance, and most importantly, what makes a really good cardboard box drum.

*************

Trad&Now: How was the National Folk Festival for you this year? Continue reading →