First of all, congratulations on the release of Stories of Ghosts. After three decades in the music business do you still get excited to have a new album out or has it become a normal part of your life?
Thanks Demi. I generally approach an album release with a degree of excitement mixed with trepidation, though on this occasion I had a good deal more of the latter than the former. I think this was because I was for the first time discussing in public what up to now has been very private; my Jewishness.
Stories of Ghosts is a concept album that explores and challenges Old Testament themes from a Jewish perspective. Was this an idea that you have wanted to delve into for quite some time or was it a concept that blossomed spontaneously?
I don’t think we have challenged Old Testament themes so much as tried to filter them through a 21st Century context. These are millennium old stories that have remained relevant, unsurprisingly since religion is a big idea that has held sway for a long time over a broad sector of humanity. I was not so much interested in challenging them as exploring them. The concept behind delving into this subject matter in this way came to us as a result of a song on our last album, ‘Take Pity on the Beast’, from Half Man Half Woman. In it I have quoted lines from a prayer book called the Haggadah that the Jews read on the festival of Passover. It is basically a retelling of Exodus but it includes dialogue, discussion and argument between the various learned Rabbi’s over hundreds of years interpreting all aspects of the story. It is part contract, part beautiful poetry, part adventure tale and it pointed out a path, if you like, toward exploring more material that was such a substantial part of our lives.
Has it been a cathartic process writing and singing about such personal beliefs?
The last couple of years have been very difficult for us personally; we have buried a number of people, friends and family members, some of who died untimely deaths by their own hand. Music takes up a lot of space, writing it, recording it and playing it; that in itself is a cathartic process that absorbs a lot of brain time that otherwise tends to more destructive thoughts. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of writing and recording these songs. They ring very true for me and in a way they are a healing process for a distressed soul.
My first listen of Stories of Ghosts came from Syd White who is the sound guy at Lizotte’s in a “You will love this record!” kind of way. He pointed out the incredible backing vocals of Vika and Linda Bull and praised the overall sound. Who else did you and Willy Zygier welcome to the recording process for accompaniment?
James Black came back on board as co-producer, Tony Floyd on drums, Nick Tsiavos on bass, John Bedgegood on violin, Paul Williamson on clarinet, George Butrumlis on accordion, Syd Zygier (our eldest daughter) on backing vocal and as you mentioned, a star turn from Vika and Linda on backing vocals on two tracks. We recorded rhythm tracks first and over-dubs afterwards, the traditional way but not the way we had done it for the last couple of albums. They were very enjoyable, happy sessions.
Just how much does the right person for accompaniment change the way the record turns out?
Of course different musicians bring different qualities to a project, their own stamp. The musicians on Stories of Ghosts all brought enormous integrity and dedication to this album and the songs are the better for it.
Co-producing the Broad Festivals with your partner Willy Zygier is just one of the projects that has given you the reputation of being an inspiration to aspiring singer songwriters. This was a showcase of contemporary Australian female singer songwriters of difference genres such as Mia Dyson, Ella Hooper, Liz Stringer, Elana Stone and Katie Noonan just to name a few. Do you think the music industry is slowly recognising female songwriters as simply SONGWRITERS without having to add the prefix of ‘female’ or is it still a struggle to be recognised outside of the monolithic genre of ‘female artist’?
I think there is a significant enough proportion of the contemporary music scene being occupied by women performers and singer songwriters that make face value assumptions of what female singer-songwriters should be harder to maintain. But “the industry” is only people after all; the revealing results of the recent JJJ Top 100 with zero Australian women on the list seem dire. It’s not the lack of releases but it tells us a lot about who votes for these things.
The Broad Festivals also made a point to highlight ways an artist can present their music independently without the help of record companies. From your experience, what advice can you give to aspiring musicians and songwriters trying to get a kick start in today’s music industry?
It has never been a better time to be an independent artist making music; we have the technology to deliver a first class quality recording straight from our own back bedroom to radio; we have the ability to promote the release through social media at zero cost. The process can be enhanced with the addition of a publicist to alert the conventional media. It simply remains for the artist to make sure that when they do get an audience they can deliver an excellent show. So my advice is practise hard and deliver to the best of your ability every single time you perform.
You and Willy have proudly claimed to be the pioneers of house shows in Australia where you literally get your music into people’s lounge rooms by performing in their homes. With so many iconic venues closing down due to issues such as strict liquor licensing, noise complaints, lock outs, etc, I have always imagined that eventually it will all go back underground and start again with house shows. Hearing that this was already happening was very reassuring! Do you have any ideas on how to keep the momentum of this movement going or things punters can do to help keep our music venues alive?
There are plenty of wonderful venues left to play in but there are certainly issues around inner city developments with noise restrictions for people moving into areas where venues already operate that need addressing through local and state laws. This has been acknowledged and is being tackled, slowly. I believe artists can service their local communities, not unlike your local plumber or electrician. With the growing take-up of house concerts, that paradigm is becoming more a reality and it’s all about the music as opposed to the music industry that tends to be more about sales, airplay and downloads but not really about connection or excellence.
Finally, what records or artists can we find you loving at the moment?
Luke Howard’s Sun, Cloud; Milk Carton Kids – we saw these guys the other day and were blown away by their beautiful harmonies and guitar voicing’s; Liz Stringer and Jess Ribero both put out excellent records last year and Daily Meds last album was also a favourite of mine.
Interviewer: Demi Mitchell
Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier perform at Lizotte’s, Lambton, on Thursday July 4, 2013. For more details, please visit their FACEBOOK site.