Courtney Barnett
How does rising star Courtney Barnett really feel? Buzz’s resident Aussie Jaydon Martin chats to his countrywoman about local underground scenes, indie record labels and her friendship with Kurt Vile.
How do you feel about the positive reception by fans and critics for Tell Me How You Really Feel?
It’s been good, yeah.
Do you get nervous when you release records?
I always get nervous when I release something. I’m not immune to judgment [laughs] and I’m really self-critical. I can’t avoid that. Also it’s quite a moving feeling because you work on something for so long – to just get it out there it turns into something else when you release it. Other people interpret your songs and they’re kind of not yours anymore; they just belong out there.
Your songs have a relatable quality to them. No pretentiousness at all. Do you get people coming up to you relating their own lives to your songs? How do you react to it?
Lots of people hear their own stories and make their own connections to the songs, which I really like. It’s nice to see how many layers of meaning one song can have.
How about for you personally – do you find that the meanings of the songs change for you when you’re playing them every night? Especially when your lyrics are so personal.
Yeah, I think when you play them to an audience they change. I think all my songs have changed and evolved as time goes on. As I evolve as a person, the meaning of the songs change for me and I understand them from a different level.
Do you still find little novelties about touring or has the sheen of touring completely worn off?
The whole thing’s a novelty – being on stage singing to strangers and being in new exciting towns is incredible. It’s not something I take for granted.
How was working with Kurt Ville on Lotta Sea Lice? You can really feel your friendship with him when you listen to that record.
It was a really incredible experience and it was just kind of casual and silly. I really enjoyed it. It was a really cool project that worked really well.
You played a couple of gigs with your idol Patti Smith last year. What was that like?
That was amazing, it was a life changing event and seeing her perform, which I had never done before, it was a really special show. It’s something I’ll never forget.
You set up Milk Records to be almost like a music collective. Could you tell us a little about it?
It’s a record label that we set up five, maybe six years ago. We have some really great artists and bands. It’s mostly people I know in Melbourne and we just put out their albums. It’s a very community-focused indie label.
Was setting up your own independent label a conscious decision to stay away from the big record labels and men in suits dictating creative decision to you?
I don’t even know if that stuff exists anymore, with the big labels and men in suits, maybe? But I’ve never been involved in that world. I just want to be able to create my own story and my own path. I just wanted to make a platform that I could release things on, my own way.
You went to art school in Tasmania and illustrated a lot of your own album art. Are you still drawing? Do you have any plans on exhibiting them?
Yeah, I’ve started drawing again recently. I kind of stopped and started taking lots of photos instead. I’ve got a box full of stuff, so I’ll do something with them one day.
You cover Shiver by Nick Cave’s first band, The Boys Next Door. Their guitarist Roland S. Howard is I think one of Australia’s most underappreciated songwriters. I was wondering what drew you to cover the song?
Oh yeah, I love Rowland. I’m a big fan of Pop Crimes [2009 solo album, recorded whilst Rowland was dying]. It’s one of my favourite albums. I think Shivers is just a great song. At that moment in time when I recorded the cover I was really obsessed with it and listening to it a lot. And I’m a big Nick Cave fan - that whole era in Australian music I really like, but yeah Roland was amazing, an incredible guitar player as well.
Do you think there’s a lot of Australian music that hasn’t been appreciated internationally?
Definitely! I don’t think a lot of people know any of that stuff. Everyone knows Nick Cave, which is great. But when you ask anyone about Australian music they’ll say AC/DC, Tame Impala and Nick Cave, all great bands. But people don’t know the Divinyls, Paul Kelly, The Saints. Some know of The Go-Betweens. But yeah, there’s so much stuff people haven’t heard that’s worth checking out.
How important was it to you personally to discover these amazing local Australian bands and musicians?
Really important. I didn’t really even discover them until I was in my early 20s. I wasn’t hearing that music in the outer suburbs of Sydney so there was no chance of people on the other side of the world hearing it.
I remember seeing Magic Dirt when I first turned 18; they’re a band from Geelong, Victoria [near Melbourne]. I think I had a kind of realisation then. They were so great and because they were a local band, I thought I could do what they were doing. Up until then, seeing only American or English bands in magazines and in music videos on TV it seemed so far away and impossible. Seeing an amazing local band like that made it seem possible.
You have openly spoken out against sexism in the music industry and last year you signed an open letter calling for action. Do you think the culture is changing?
It’s slowly changing. Women are speaking up so much more and sharing their own stories; it’s never easy for people to be so open about those things. And obviously it’s not just the music industry, it’s the world dealing with sexism and inappropriate behaviour.
Do you feel optimistic about the future?
I think I’m a pretty optimistic person yeah. I’m pretty optimistic about the world, but at the same time I think we’re all doomed, ha!
5 of the Best Courtney Barnett songs
Even at a fairly young age, Courtney Barnett already has a deep discography with plenty of hidden nooks and crannies. Jaydon Martin searches out the best.
Walkin’ on Eggshells
The penultimate track from Courtney’s latest album Tell Me How You Really Feel brings together the sound and vibe that Courtney has been cultivating over the last 7 years, with beautifully constructed instrumentals that melodically draw you into her deeply personal and relatable lyrics. The song itself deals with being torn apart when arguing with a partner, when you keep hitting a brick wall whilst having to bite your tongue because you don’t want to push things beyond the point of no return.
Shivers
A B-side to the Boxing Day Blues Revised 7-inch produced by Jack White. This melancholic Boys Next Door cover (best known as being the band where Nick Cave started from) slowly rolls over you with its lonesome drums and the haunting guitar that creeps in over the chorus. Courtney’s vocal delivery is equally downer, almost seeming almost like she’s forcing herself to sing while in the grips of breakdown.
Canned Tomatoes (Live at The Electric Lady Studios)
As apart of a FUV live session Courtney delivers a live version of a track that fills the head with fuzzy guitars and melodic vocals. The electric energy here rivals the studio-mixed version, a welcome breath a fresh air into a song that was already jam-packed with vigour.
Pickles from the Jar
On the surface the song is almost whimsical with its jangly Jonathan Richman-esque riff. The lyrics seem to double down on the tongue-in-cheek vibe with lines like “I say “Hugh”, you say “Grant” I say “pot”, you say “plant””. But delve deeper and the song unravels, vocalising the point-of-view of someone dealing with lots of insecurity, as they pull apart over the foundations of a relationship.
Peeping Tom
A reworked cover of Kurt Vile’s track Peeping Tom Boy recorded for Courtney and Kurt’s collaborative album Lotta Sea Lice. This doesn’t fall into the pile of needless covers that don’t add to anything to the original version, finding its own voice not only with the slight change of the track’s name, but musically as well. The stripped back acoustic guitar complements the stunning vocal performance Courtney lays down. A perfect folk song for a rainy afternoon.
Courtney Barnett, Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union, Sun 18 Nov. Tickets: £22.50. Info: 029 2078 1458 / www.cardiffstudents.com