It’s the 4th December 2018. I am in Mobile, Alabama. We are at the end of the JBT Home world Tour and I am ready to go home. Travelling America has been amazing and quite incredible. We’ve played at some of the most iconic venues and I’ve met some interesting people. I went line dancing in Austin, ate a Beignet in New Orleans and fell in love with Ann Arbor. It is very hot outside and we have a day off. It’s a pretty quiet town but I’ve managed to find the one quirky bookstore and ponder in there for an hour or so. I have a skype session with Paul later today and I’m really excited.
I first met Paul on his Spring and Fall Tour when Tim (Urthboy) so kindly asked me to play drums for him. I watched Paul's 2-hour set most nights and it was pretty amazing. I fell in love with the diverse nature of his poetic song-writing and became a fan. He played through his new album then did a full set of old tunes. Some I had never heard before and I think that’s why I was so stunned and in awe of epic songs such as ‘Deeper Water’ and ‘Before Too Long’.
Paul was sweet, funny and kind. Sometimes on days off we would go and play football with him, his band and crew. At the time it was also nice to hang with some other fellow female musicians on tour – Bree Van Reyk, Zoe Hauptmann and Jane Tyrrell.
Fast forward a couple of years, I ended up collaborating on a song with Paul. Listen here. I was starting to dip my toe in the song writing pool and reached out to some writers I really admired. By chance Paul was able to give me a day of his time. We had a session at Free Energy Device Studios and he helped me workshop one of my songs and taught me a thing or two. One thing in particular I learnt was to figure out what tense I was writing in, and also learnt to write from different perspectives. Probably a basic skill to most songwriters but I was such a rookie.
Today, when I call Paul, he looks super chill and is hanging at his house in Melbourne. I had a really great chat with him, and I hope you will enjoy reading this. I particularly like the advice he gives at the end of our conversation.
What are your travel essentials, and what keeps you mentally stimulated whilst touring?
“I will always travel with a pair of shorts, runners and bathers. The other things that keep me going are coffee and exercise. For me, it’s about keeping myself sane and exercising. At home, I ride or play football with my friends. On the road, I always look for a hotel gym or pool, or I usually do a 12- step circuit in my hotel room or at the back of the bus – a bit of resistance and cardio. If we’re near the coast I’ll look for a beach, river or lake. Every time I go to a city on tour, I’ll generally head for the water. Can’t do it every day, but if you can get some good exercise say, 4 times a week, it’s really important for mental health. It lifts depression and it keeps everything working. That’s the main thing.
Touring America I used to always travel with a little Italian stove top coffee pot. That was back in the days where you could not get a good coffee in America – that’s changed now. American hotel rooms don’t have filters, but they usually would have an iron. I used to turn the iron upside down, and you could get just enough heat to make a coffee. I don’t worry with that so much with doing that anymore because I have a great app on my phone called Bean Hunter. Things have improved a lot in the last 10 years, you can find a proper espresso coffee now. Also… books. I use a kindle now so I don’t have to carry all my books around with me. But that also keeps me grounded. Sometimes the band swap books. In the que at the airport, I’ll stand with a book in my hand, it’s my way of getting through.”
Can you remember some of the feelings you had when you went on your first tour?
“My first experience of touring wasn’t so much “touring” then, this is probably in the late 70s, early 80s. We were doing gigs around Melbourne and did the occasional trip to Sydney or to Brisbane. We drove a lot; Sydney to Melbourne up and down the Hume, in a van, 5 of us, gear as well. You’re usually excited at the beginning of the tour, then there is a point, sometimes half way through. After a few weeks cracks start to appear, but it’s really a matter of just recognising it. If we were on tour for 7 weeks I would count the days till we arrive back home, and I’d always look at the half way point as the hinge point for the home stretch. It’s sort of like swimming laps, the first ten laps - say you’re doing 30 - are the hardest and go really slow, but then you get into groove it gets easier and there’s less and less laps to go.
It’s really important to have good people with you and I’ve always tried to work with people who are low maintenance, and people who are pretty cheerful most of the time, pretty resilient and who don’t get upset by little things. Everyone gets cranky and grumpy at times, but you want people that can work their way through. You want people who are talented. Everyone has their own idiosyncrasies and opinions, but it takes time to get to know people.
My band now is more like a squad. I generally work with the same group of people. All these people I’ve known for a long time, and we all know each other. They turn up, don’t get worried when things go wrong and as you know, things will always go wrong on tour. The bus breaks down, the monitors are shit, the PA isn’t ready. But you just know that stuff is going to happen at some point so you just go ahead and do the job that you’re supposed to do.”
What’s the longest you’ve been on tour and what were some of the things you experienced on that stretch that you took away as a learning experience? Did you find it hard being away from friends and family, and what toll did it take on you?
“There have been times when I’ve been miserable on tour, but that was a long time ago. I’ve done tours in America with small crowds and shitty sound and thought “Why am I doing this? What’s the point? Is this worth being away from home?” I’ve been through all that. But that’s along time ago and touring is easier for me now.
I’ve gradually figured out one of the best ways to maintain sanity is: not to drink too much, to try and get exercise and to look forward to going home. I found it really useful when the internet arrived and I could email. Around 2001 I got myself a laptop and could write letters home, to a friend or a loved one. Before that I used to fax letters. Writing about your day or experiences helps you get through them. If you have a shitty day or week and sit down and write about it, you can change it. You write a song about it and some how you’ve changed the experience into something else. Writing for me is a way out of feeling miserable. Working your way through it. I was always at the back of the bus tapping away. I’d be writing home. Writing to my partner, friends and family. I had a big family so I’d write about my job or things that were happening. That really helped keep me sane.”
Being a musician, touring is such a crucial part of what we do in general for our careers, and it’s pretty essential. What did you find hard about this lifestyle and what were some positive things you’ve learnt?
“What I did find hard when I first started touring was the repetition. Playing the same songs every night, new town, set up, sound check, do the show, back on the bus. But at a point some years ago, something changed or I changed my attitude and I started to like that repetition and routine. My longest tour was 9 weeks. I started to realise that by the end of the tour my voice was better. I compared it to an athlete, and thought ‘how do they get better? They train and they repeat the same thing over and over again. Its boring work. Olympic athletes do hours and hours each day of training just to see small improvements. So, by singing night after night my voice was getting better, and not wearing out, just getting stronger. I started to see that in a positive way. Every night on stage instead of thinking, ‘here we go again’, I’d think, ‘I’m still training and finding new things within my voice’. I started focusing on the joy of repetition. About 8 years ago I played with Leonard Cohen. We did 10 shows with him and he did the same show every night with the same script - but never once did it feel forced or contrived, cynical or boring. It was a ritual, a form of prayer or training. “
Have you ever struggled with a mental illness on or off tour? Did it have a big impact on your ability to perform? At certain times were you around other people struggling?
"I’m fortunate enough to not have had crippling anxiety or depression. I am reasonably cheerful, and never struggled with those things. On the other hand, I have felt nerves, felt miserable, felt unwell and missed home, but those feelings have never gotten on top of me. I’ve worked with other people who have struggled more than me. I find that you need to be tuned in with the people you are working with and pick up the signs when they are not going so well. Sometimes you can’t do that much and it’s just the little things that make a big difference, like making sure they can be heard if they need to talk, or maybe they just need some space. Making sure they are not isolated – which ever they need. Just being in tune with people – seeing where they are at. Because being on tour, even when you’re with a big group of people you can feel isolated."
What are three qualities you think every touring musician/roadie should possess?
1. Being a team player. Wanting to be in a team.
2. Resilience. This is really important. Knowing ‘I can get through this’ or ‘this will pass’. Knowing deep down you can get through it.
3. Wanting to do your best. You want to work with people who want to do a really good job. You’re playing night after night and you want to do the best show possible. If you can have that kind of quality you can make each night really great.
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