What did you get up
to in 2016?
I’ve been so busy. I’ve been focused on writing the new
album. I’ll hopefully be starting to record it at the beginning of February, so
I’ve been trying to do as much writing as I can and get it all out of my
system, so between that and doing a lot of gigs and festivals, it’s kept me off
the streets.
Are you doing a
crowdfunding campaign for the new album?
I haven’t decided yet. It worked really well for the last
one so potentially – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But I haven’t thought
that far ahead at the moment. I’m going to try to do as much as I can just
because it’s not going to be as quick a process as it was last time. I’ve had a
bit of time to write and think about things. I’ll be going in a very similar
direction in that I can’t not write sassy music but on this one there’s going
to be a bit more homey-rootsy songs as well.
Do you mean you might
record some songs and leave it for a little bit?
Yes. I’ll probably decide on one single to release from the
album and really focus on that for a bit and as I’m doing that record in the
background and finish the details, so there’s not as much pressure to get an
album out. Last time I really wanted to get a full-blown album out because I
had so much, I guess, to prove in comparison to my first one. I really wanted
to prove that my new sound and my new direction were exactly who I was and
where I was up to, whereas this time I haven’t got quite to prove so there’s
not as much pressure.
You mentioned that
you’ve played festivals and quite a few gigs – have you found that your fans
are changing or growing?
It’s definitely growing, which has been such a thrill. I’m
just a bit of a bogan country kid and to think now, especially, that I can go
to festivals and people are starting to really sing my lyrics, it’s a really
weird feeling. I’m still getting used to it, because I go to gigs and to
festivals and people know who I am and it’s kind of, like, ‘Whoa!’ I live quite
a country bumpkin sort of a life. All week I’m either playing music or I’m
writing or I’m out on the farm, so for me to go out to a festival or gig I’m in
my own little world, and for people to say, ‘Hey, Jess, I can’t wait to hear
you play’, or they’re requesting my songs, it’s a really cool feeling. So I
reckon my fan base has definitely grown in the last twelve months.
The album certainly
made a statement – it was like a declaration of arrival, in a way.
Well, it was so different to everything else that was
brought out at that time and that’s what I loved. And, again, with this new
album, I’m not trying to sound like anyone, I’m not trying to mimic. I’m
writing songs that I want to write and I’m not trying to fit into a certain box
or a genre. I’m writing what I’m writing and whatever comes out, comes out, and
sometimes that can be a lot different to people being pressured to sound or
look a certain way – and I’m so far from that it’s not even funny. I pride
myself on not trying to be a certain way, it just sort of happens.
And that means your music
comes from a really authentic place, and no doubt that’s what people respond to
– ‘I believe her when she’s up there’.
I hope so. At my gigs I’ve been test driving a lot of my new
tracks. As I write them I like to test drive them and see how people react.
Especially a lot more of the getting-back-to-my-roots kind of music, people
have been really responding to the storyline or the message behind it, which
has been really cool. On the new album there will be something for everyone and
all ages. I think for me it reflects what I’ve been through in the last twelve
to eighteen months. I’ve had a complete … not lifestyle change but it’s been
about getting back to my roots. I moved back out of town, whereas I’d spent a
little bit of time in town but working out of town. But now I love out of town,
I work out of town, I don’t go to town much unless I really need to, so the
writing has been a lot more influenced by the country and the people that I
meet at my little local pub.
Are you still in the
Mungindi area?
No, I moved back to my home town, Mudgee, but I’m living
about 20 ks out of town. I’ve been working on my dad’s farm and living in this
little farmhouse. It’s been a hard time but it’s been good because it’s been
helpful in the writing process.
I’m picturing you out
in the stillness of the countryside – is it a good place to let inspiration
come to you because you don’t have a lot of noise and distraction? Does it
allow space for you to be more creative?
I think so. When I first moved back and into this little
farmhouse I did not put the TV on until I felt like I’d finished writing. I
could still watch TV if I wanted to – I could go into town to my parents’ place
– but I actively made sure I didn’t have any distractions in regards to
technology, and where I live you’re lucky if there’s one bar of phone service.
It’s actually been a really cool experience. I haven’t had all those
distractions like ‘I’ll just quickly look at Facebook’ or ‘I’ll just quickly
check an email’ – instead it’s forced me to think. A lot of the songs I’m
writing are the history that is wrapped up in this house, and all this cool
stuff that I’d never thought I’d write about but because I’ve changed my
situation completely it’s all come to the surface.
I can’t wait to hear
these songs now.
I can’t wait to put them out. It’s a really weird process
because people forget that when you release the album it’s been in the works
for a long time, so the artist is really familiar with the songs so it’s a
relief when they’re finally out and people can hear them.
You’re in an unusual
situation in that you’re able to compare different ways of living
creatively - you’re here now on a
farm where you have a bit of space and time but you’ve lived in other places
where there are more distractions and more competition for your brain space.
It’s great to be able to make that comparison.
Definitely, and I think it comes out in my music. A lot of
the stuff I’ve been writing about – some of it is still definitely sassy and
Jess Holland at the crux of it, but some of the new stuff I’ve been writing is
old school. It’s more of a story. I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘bush ballady’
because that’s never been my direction, as much as I love listening to it and
appreciate it, that was never my direction. It’s quite … vintage, I suppose.
I guess your voice
demands something a little more high-stakes in the storytelling, if that makes
sense.
Definitely. One of the songs I’ve had written for probably
twelve months now – it’s called ‘Linburn Lane’ and it’s a cool full-circle
moment because [the lane] is only about a k from where I’m living and the song
is about my grandmother. She grew up on Linburn Lane. When she married she went
from Linburn Lane, where all her family were, to the back of the Never Never, a
long way away. So she never saw her family; she had nine or ten kids. All these
hardships. But I don’t describe it as a bush balladeer thing. It’s her life
story in a roundabout way and she’s telling it – the song is like she’s telling
it. I’ve just moved back to that area so there’s so much history and I think
that’s the reason why I wrote the song.
This is an evolution
for you as a songwriter, stepping into this more personal storytelling mode,
and this historical storytelling. But I just got a chill down my spine when you
said you were singing the song from your grandmother’s perspective. Does it
feel strange to almost inhabit an ancestor?
It took me a very long time to sing it. She was my mum’s
mother and [the song] came about because when my grandmother passed away I
guess I didn’t know a lot about her. I said to my mum, ‘I really want to write
something about my grandma and about her life, how she got to where she was.’ I
saw her from a certain age, when she got Alzheimer’s, but I didn’t want to
write about that side of things. I wanted to write about the hard life she went
through. I did a bit of investigation through my aunties and uncles and came up
with this. [But] I haven’t been able to sing it until the last six or eight
months because it’s quite emotional. You don’t think it will be – ‘It’s just
another story.’ But the first time I sang it my mum was in the audience and she
started bawling her eyes out and I was, like, ‘Great – thanks, Mum.’ [Laughs] I
was trying to choke back the tears and I thought, What are you doing, Jess? I never thought I’d be like that. But I
think I’ve tapped into something that a lot of people can relate to and, no
word of a lie, every time I’ve sung that I’ve had people coming up and saying,
‘That reminds me of my grandma or my great-grandma.’ People in the area, when I
sing it, they say, ‘I remember certain aspects of that song.’ It’s tapping into
something that I didn’t think would be so popular and it hasn’t even been
released yet.
That’s amazing. I
can’t wait to hear it. But you haven’t recorded it yet. Although you have
recorded the song ‘Ain’t Quittin’ This Run’ which has been released as a
single, so what inspired this one?
This was one of the first songs I wrote for the current
album, Whole
Lot to Say, and I think a lot of the inspiration behind the album was
that I’m sick of people trying to tell me that I should look like this or I should say this or sing like this. And I was
getting a bit annoyed, I suppose, because I’m very sassy and people were trying
to change me in order to make an album, and I said, ‘That’s not right. I am who
I am.’ And part of me was thinking, Imagine
who else they’re trying to pressure this onto. So for me it was, ‘No matter
what you’re trying to do, I’m not going to quit. I’m going to keep being me and
true to myself. I’m not going to wear blonde tight curls and high heels and
fake this and fake that.’ And I think people respect that I’ve kept to my roots
in regards to [the fact that] I’m not going to change for anyone. So that’s
really what the song’s about, embodying that attitude of, ‘You can do and say
what you want but I’m never going to quit what I’m doing.’
And nor should you.
But Australian country music has so many female artists. I would have thought
it was the one genre of music where there wouldn’t have been a lot of pressure
to be a certain way. I’m curious to hear that it still comes up.
It kind of does, and I didn’t believe it until I delved head
first into the industry and I thought, Of
course pop is going to be like that because they want to see a certain image,
but it’s actually quite puzzling that country music is still trying to produce
these doll-like people. It still really gets to me. A lot of these people
they’re portraying are gorgeous girls and they’re really nice but if you ask me
if they can sing or not, it’s a whole other ball game. That is where I stuck to
my guns and say I’m not going to be the next blonde bimbo or the one they’re
coming to see because she’s wearing a short, tight skirt. I like to wear
sparkles and skirts like everyone else but I’m not portraying myself as one of
those doll-type people because I’m far from it.
I think that comes
back to the authenticity of what you do, and that’s what your audience wants
and what they love about your music. You wouldn’t have been authentic if you’d
changed.
And I think I would have kicked myself. I’m from a very
down-home family too so if I decided that I couldn’t do something because I’m
wearing fake nails or I can’t do that because my hair will get dirty, my dad
would say, ‘Get down here and swing off that crowbar right now!’ It just wouldn’t
play. So I can’t expect other people to take to me if I was fake – I’d be
pulled down to size pretty quickly if I tried all that sort of stuff.
Now to Tamworth –
will you be back at the Tudor Hotel?
I will be. I’m excited because I’m doing a variety show this
time. Each gig’s going to be different. I’m doing solo, I’m doing duo, I’m
doing full band. And then I’ve got a bit of a special trio outfit that’s going
to be happening. I’m not going to say too much but it’s just really exciting
because we have only really performed together a couple of times at Mildura
Country Music Festival and so we’re just having a bit of fun and for us that’s
what Tamworth is all about. We get plenty of gigs and a lot of work through the
year and we get to catch up with each other at Tamworth.
No comments:
Post a Comment