Far North Queensland artist Greta Stanley recently released her debut EP, Bedroom City, at the age of 20. Greta has already built quite a following and Bedroom City proves why. It was my pleasure to talk to her about her music.
Congratulations on
your EP, which is just a delightful collection of songs – and your voice is
captivating, which I’m sure you already know because people have told you.
Thank you! It’s always nice to hear.
I’ll start with a
perhaps unusual question, by asking you what the sounds of your childhood were.
I guess I was influenced by whatever my parents were
listening to, with a bit of terrible stuff that my friends were listening to
[laughs]. I grew up listening to Missy Higgins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the
Dixie Chicks were a big one for us, the Waifs, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash. And then
the stuff that I would listen to – I remember just loving Pink when I was a
kid. And Jojo, which I think was a hit back then – but it was terrible
[laughs]. Pink’s all right but Jojo no deal. But I guess a mix of everything.
My brother was listening to Eminem and Alien Ant Farm so I thought that was
cool and I listened to that as well.
That’s quite a mix of
things.
Yeah, it is.
You liking Pink and
listening to the Dixie Chicks – I can hear that in your music. Natalie Maines
[of the Dixie Chicks] has quite a strong, articulate voice and Pink is a very
developed singer. So out of that background, how did you develop your sound?
There was always a guitar in the house when I was growing
up. My dad played a few chords. I showed an interest in it after he showed me
the basics and I kept learning. I taught myself through online tutorials and
learning off other people at school or friends. A family friend, Dusty, he taught
me the blues, which was awesome. Dusty taught me great music. I think the first
song I ever learned was ‘Ground Control to Major Tom’, so I had good taste from
then on out. I guess I started writing my own songs and playing them to family
and close friends. The first few were absolutely terrible and people thought I
was terrible [laughs] but I just really enjoyed expressing myself through music
and the more I did it, the better I got and the more confident I got, and the
response I got was better the more that I tried and put it out there. I’m still
developing as an artist. I haven’t involved myself in one particular sound. I
hope in a year’s time that I’m going to be better or different or something
like that. But it kind of just came naturally. I’ve never set out to have a
certain sound, it’s just whatever I’m writing and feelings that I’m feeling
will come across in how I sing, if that makes sense.
Absolutely, it does.
A lot of people would be content playing guitar in their bedroom and maybe
singing away to themselves. With singer-songwriters who are performers, there’s
always that element that the stories you’re telling belong to a bigger audience
and that’s the point at which you decide to start performing. Did it feel a bit
like that for you – ‘my bedroom is not big enough any more’?
Yes [laughs]. That’s how it starts. I was always playing in
my bedroom and then I started to upload stuff online – I’d post a video on
Facebook or something on Soundcloud, and people really liked it. I got a good
response. Once I finished high school I thought maybe I should give it a shot.
So I moved from Mena Creek to Cairns, which is an hour and a half north, and I
did music at TAFE – a Cert III and a Cert IV – and just being surrounded by
people who are in the same headspace and same industry is inspiring. Through
TAFE I was able to learn about how to get gigs and how to get my stuff. TAFE
teaches you a certain amount and then it’s up to you, and I followed through. I
started busking in Cairns and people from venues saw me busking and asked me to
play at their venues, and it just all went from there. It’s such a nice feeling
to play to people. I mean, sometimes I’ll play to drunks who don’t give a crap
[laughs] and sometimes I’ll play to people who will come up to me and tell me
that I’ve really spoken to them with whatever I’m singing at the time and
that’s what makes it all worth it. I’m glad I got out of my bedroom [laughs].
Just on the subject
of busking: it takes a lot of guts, I think, to stand there when the audience
is so close. If you’re on a stage there’s at least that little bit of distance.
Do you love busking or do you see it as a challenge?
I think I like busking almost better because in a way I
don’t get as nervous because people are just walking past – some people will
stop and listen for a while, and that’s a bit nerve wracking. But when you’re
playing a gig – especially a really important gig – all eyes are on you and all
the focus is on you. But when you’re busking people are just walking past having
a little listen and they keep on going, and I think that’s better because it’s
not all the attention on you, which can kind of rattle your nerves a little
bit. And busking builds your confidence – you just meet so many people and I
think it’s a great way to practise your skills, and if you stuff up it doesn’t
really matter because most of the time people are just walking past.
Have you ever busked
at the Tamworth Country Music Festival?
No, I haven’t, but I would love to.
You’d better …
particularly if you have busking experience. Because so many big country acts
have started their careers by busking on Peel Street, everyone goes to look at
the buskers because they’re never sure who’s going to be there. So it’s a
massive crowd, and a knowledgeable crowd, and especially if you have
experience, you’ll go down a treat there.
That would be awesome. I’ve been making a note to look into
the Tamworth Festival.
I’ve interviewed
Fleur McMenamin in the past and I think she’s terrific. It would be great to hear
a bit about your relationship with her and how it’s helped form your career.
I was just so lucky to meet Fleur. There’s a programme in
Cairns called Spotlight and they ran this competition, and I entered an
original song. From there I was selected to attend Bigsound in Brisbane, which
is a music conference. So Fleur was one of the people who ran that competition,
so when I went down, I went down with her. And she was the one who found my
song and said, ‘This is incredible’. Then she got into contact with me. It was
funny – she said if I had entered a day later I wouldn't have been in with a
chance, it was the very last minute. From there I guess we kept in touch and
she gave me the ropes of what I should take to Bigsound and what I should have
ready. Being someone like Fleur who had a lot of experience in the industry,
she knew a lot and I knew nothing, and she really helped me out. She introduced
me to Mark Myers, who was my producer for the EP, so if I hadn’t met Fleur I
have no idea where I would be right now.
[Laughs] Probably still in my bedroom! So when I went to Bigsound with
her I guess, like anyone you hang around with, you get to know them, and me and
Fleur really hit it off. She’s been mentoring me, co-managing in a way, and
we’ve just become really good friends. I love her. And she’s just had a baby,
so I haven’t heard from her in a little while.
I think Simon
McMenamin played on your EP as well?
Yes.
I find it really
interesting that they have this classically trained background and they’re both
operating out of the Cairns area, because a lot of people would think you’d
have to move to Brisbane at least to make a go of it. They’re so committed and
passionate about music that it’s really infectious.
It is. She’s a musician, a mentor, a mother and a friend all
in one. There needs to be more Fleurs in the world.
Well … I think what
tends to happen when you’ve had that sort of experience is that you, in turn,
may end up mentoring someone at some stage, because you’ve felt the benefit of
that connection.
Yes, definitely. I’m so grateful to have met someone like
her and, like you said, I hope that one day I can help out someone with the
knowledge that she’s given me and what I’ve learnt myself as well.
You mentioned Mark
Myers, who was your producer, and it seems that he became, in the studio, a bit
of a collaborator as well – is that something you were expecting to happen?
So, I went into the studio and we did the first three songs
before Bigsound – so we just did them to take down to Bigsound and then after
that the idea of an EP was floating around and Mark said it was a good idea and
Fleur said, ’You should do it’. So I went on to record the next three with Mark
again. The first day in the studio was pretty nerve wracking but Mark’s awesome
to work with. It was so easy to work with him, because if you’re really
comfortable around him – which I think is really important in a producer, in
someone that you’re working with – he really appreciated my music and really
liked it and that’s why I was open to any suggestions or ideas that he had,
because I knew that his heart was in it.
So he featured on ‘Left’ and ‘Bedroom City’ in the vocal department –
you can hear him doing some back-ups there. So
I just went in with me and my guitar, and that’s all I had for the songs. I
wrote them and I played them on the guitar, and I showed them to Mark, and from
there we brainstormed where we were going to take them. He had a lot to do with
how they turned out because they’re more than I imagined initially, in the best
way.
It’s interesting the
different forms your work can take – you compose it on the guitar and
originally you compose it for your voice and the guitar, and then someone else
comes in with a different interpretation of it. I guess, though, each time you
perform the song it’s a bit different, isn’t it?
Yeah. I think we had a lot of difficulty in the studio
because I’d never worked with anybody else and my timing was a bit all over the
shop.
I suppose it could
have gone the other way – he could have had a very different interpretation of
your songs than the way you thought they should be interpreted.
That’s it. Because I was comfortable working with him I
trusted his opinions on the songs, and everything he did he would ask me if
that’s okay and we’d tweak it and make it work. It would have been completely
different if I’d gone in with someone who wanted to do it in a certain way and
wasn’t going to budge on how they wanted to do it because they’re my songs and
it’s like my baby and I want it to be the best that it can be. But I think I
was just really lucky to have Mark as my producer.
The EP’s been
released through Junkie Uncle Records. A lot of people I’ve interviewed,
including Fleur, have crowdfunded their albums and managed that whole process
through. So you’ve released this EP through Junkie Uncle – how did they find
you or you find them?
Junkie Uncle is Mark. Jake Rhys is the other half of it –
he’s the business side and Mark’s the music side. So it’s just like a licensing
deal that I did with them. So obviously they found me through working with Mark
and he wasn’t going to propose it to me because he said, ‘I don’t just want to
suck you in to record and then suck you into this label’ but we went over it
and chatted and it just seemed like a really good idea. And they’re both lovely
guys and it’s been a really good experience. They’re an indie label and there’s
a few other people on their label, and they’ve helped me get the song onto
iTunes and the hard copies are available through their website, which is
awesome for people who want to get it.
Being a new artist,
and surveying the landscape, there’s so much more to think about – social
media, for one thing, which can occupy a huge amount of time if you let it.
There’s the fact you have the physical release and the digital release, and the
discoverability of both. And also thinking about being in regional Australia
and how you connect with your audience. When there are so many avenues for
people to discover you and for you to connect with them, how do you start to
conceive of who your audience is?
The internet is a really important platform for me because
being from a small town, that’s always been the way that I’ve gotten [music]
out to a wider community. My audience is kind of really mixed up [laughs].
There’s a bit of everything. I did a crowdfunding campaign and through that you
have a glimpse of who your audience is – who’s buying the CDs and stuff like
that. It was just really a surprise. There were two people from the Netherlands
who bought it – one was 60 and one was 30. And three people from the UK who I
don’t know and I have no idea how they found my music. And then there’s a bit
of an older audience, and a bit of a young audience. It’s so cool to see that.
And I think that’s what’s handy about the internet – you can view who your
audience is. As for when I play live in Cairns, I guess the music industry
isn’t as big as in Melbourne or Brisbane or anything like that, there’ll be a
young crowd at the gigs but there’ll be an older crowd as well because it’s
just what’s on at the time. I guess the people who would relate to my music the
most are people who’ve had heartbreak or a bad ex-boyfriend or something like
that. [Laughs] Probably everyone.
Bedroom City is out now through Junkie Uncle Records.
