Q: Tell us about your experience at the GRAMMYs. What was the most surreal moment from that night?
（参加格莱美是一种怎样的体验
A: It was pretty funny and weird and exciting to be a part of y'know? Like the Rock Eisteddfod at school, but with TV cameras and famous people. It’s not completely my scene but we had a real good time. I kept thinking, “Man, what if I win? What will I say? I hope I don’t win.” Then I would think, "That’s a crazy thing to wish for: to NOT win a GRAMMY when you’re sitting there with a nomination." I’m terrified of public speaking, you see. I just can’t do it, it’s not in my blood. I’m sure it dates back to the debate team in high school. Everyone was so poised and eloquent. I guess it’s a pretty surreal situation when Patti is sitting to your left, then Kendrick is sitting 5 meters to your right and 2 minutes later he’s slaying on stage being a legend and then next minute you’re going for tacos and champagne and a couple of rounds of bowling with your best friends.
Q: Are you working on new material for the follow-up to Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit? How is its sound different from the songs on your debut album?
A: Yep, always scribbling away in my notebook. Then I like to take some of my favorite lines and type them out on the typewriter and stick them on the wall in my writing room. Then I pace around the room with my acoustic guitar and read/sing/say/scream different lines and then branch off them and see what grows into what. It’s a funny old process that results in a lot of jibberish, but you know, jibberish can make a lot of sense if you read between the lines. How does it sound different? I haven’t figured that out yet. I’ve been writing on the piano a lot. And listening to a lot of Nina Simone. Then there’s the songs with big filthy distortion and fuzz and wrath. Then there’s the kind of song you’d hear in an elevator in a kind of upscale hotel in downtown big city. The sound is always dependent on the mood of the story, and my mood is always changing, I’m a moody person. always brooding on something.
Q: What’s the favorite song on your debut album and why?
A: My favorite song on that album is "Small Poppies." I had the riff for years but couldn’t put words to it. Then, a funny thing happened that filled me with so much uncontrollable anger and sadness that this raging river of fury poured into the notebook and I felt okay. Whenever I sing that song I feel angry and then okay. It’s cheap therapy.
Q: Where did the title of your debut album come from? What inspired it?
A: It was/is on an old poster at my grandma’s house. Since I was a little kid I always thought it was an interesting saying. Around the album-writing time I visited my grandma for lunch (we had soup) and i saw it again, and I thought it sounded like a perfect meditation on life. I reflected upon it, how often I wrestle with my own thoughts, doing anything and everything to distract myself instead of just feeling a feeling and owning it.
Q: To you, what does your debut album sound like?
A: It sounds like a sentimental cacophony.
Q: What was your last Amazon purchase?
A: I think I ordered M Train by Patti Smith from Amazon. Is that the place where you order books from if you want to sell them from your bookshop? I love the opening line of M Train… “it’s not so easy writing about nothing.” I was transfixed by the nothingness, the routine, the dreaming.
Q: What album has been in constant rotation for you lately?
A: Gillian Welch – Time (the Revelator). We just saw Gillian and David Rawlings in Melbourne last week and it totally blew my mind. Now I’m deep in the GW catalog, discovering and rediscovering. You know what song I really love? "Everything is free now." Such a classic. They are livin' legends.
Q: What is your all-time favorite movie?
A: The Blues Brothers. Hands down. Dad used to put on the VHS every Christmas Day. Aretha, Ray, James Brown! Holy hell.
Q: What TV show or series have you been watching most?
A: I’ve been watching "The Americans." I love a good mind-numbing spy/detective thriller, with underlying questions of ideology and faith. I’ve decided next I’m gonna watch the entire "X-Files" 'cause I kind of missed out on that as a kid, and I recently watched "The Fall with Gillian Anderson" and she’s so good. Before that I watched "The Jinx," woah. I know television is supposed to be entertainment but everything just reminds me how f*cked the world and the system is. I don’t have a proper TV though, that’s the devils work. I just watch series on my computer.
Q: What was the highlight of the past year for you?
A: It’s been a big year… releasing my album was a pretty big highlight. And then the chaos that grew around it snowballed into a lot of really fun moments. Touring, festivals, meeting some musicians whom I really admire, being part of Girls Rock Camp Canberra, climbing Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park.
Q: In your segment from "The New Yorker Presents," you’re hanging out at a gallery showing of your own art—who is your favorite artist?
A: My friend Celeste Potter – she is always creating, everyday. I admire that because I have a real lazy tendency as an artist/writer to wait for inspiration instead of just creating. Pete O’Doherty and Susan O’Doherty. I really like Anthony Lister he’s a street artist, I seem to see his stuff in every town I go. Brett Whiteley, I always admired his work, especially his sketches. Marina Abramovic, I first discovered her through The Artist Is Present doco. I’ve always been an Andy Warhol fan. I just bought my first piece of art, a painting by Mick Turner called Thylacine. I love it. I just sit and stare at it. Hockney. Nan Goldin. Keith Haring. Reg Mombassa. Sidney Nolan. Jeffrey Smart. Frida Kahlo. Diane Arbus. Jenny Holzer, I have a list of her Truisms stuck on my wall for inspiration.
Q: What’s in your pocket right now?
A: A Stanley knife (I’ve been working at the Milk! Records warehouse).
（参加格莱美是一种怎样的体验
A: It was pretty funny and weird and exciting to be a part of y'know? Like the Rock Eisteddfod at school, but with TV cameras and famous people. It’s not completely my scene but we had a real good time. I kept thinking, “Man, what if I win? What will I say? I hope I don’t win.” Then I would think, "That’s a crazy thing to wish for: to NOT win a GRAMMY when you’re sitting there with a nomination." I’m terrified of public speaking, you see. I just can’t do it, it’s not in my blood. I’m sure it dates back to the debate team in high school. Everyone was so poised and eloquent. I guess it’s a pretty surreal situation when Patti is sitting to your left, then Kendrick is sitting 5 meters to your right and 2 minutes later he’s slaying on stage being a legend and then next minute you’re going for tacos and champagne and a couple of rounds of bowling with your best friends.
Q: Are you working on new material for the follow-up to Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit? How is its sound different from the songs on your debut album?
A: Yep, always scribbling away in my notebook. Then I like to take some of my favorite lines and type them out on the typewriter and stick them on the wall in my writing room. Then I pace around the room with my acoustic guitar and read/sing/say/scream different lines and then branch off them and see what grows into what. It’s a funny old process that results in a lot of jibberish, but you know, jibberish can make a lot of sense if you read between the lines. How does it sound different? I haven’t figured that out yet. I’ve been writing on the piano a lot. And listening to a lot of Nina Simone. Then there’s the songs with big filthy distortion and fuzz and wrath. Then there’s the kind of song you’d hear in an elevator in a kind of upscale hotel in downtown big city. The sound is always dependent on the mood of the story, and my mood is always changing, I’m a moody person. always brooding on something.
Q: What’s the favorite song on your debut album and why?
A: My favorite song on that album is "Small Poppies." I had the riff for years but couldn’t put words to it. Then, a funny thing happened that filled me with so much uncontrollable anger and sadness that this raging river of fury poured into the notebook and I felt okay. Whenever I sing that song I feel angry and then okay. It’s cheap therapy.
Q: Where did the title of your debut album come from? What inspired it?
A: It was/is on an old poster at my grandma’s house. Since I was a little kid I always thought it was an interesting saying. Around the album-writing time I visited my grandma for lunch (we had soup) and i saw it again, and I thought it sounded like a perfect meditation on life. I reflected upon it, how often I wrestle with my own thoughts, doing anything and everything to distract myself instead of just feeling a feeling and owning it.
Q: To you, what does your debut album sound like?
A: It sounds like a sentimental cacophony.
Q: What was your last Amazon purchase?
A: I think I ordered M Train by Patti Smith from Amazon. Is that the place where you order books from if you want to sell them from your bookshop? I love the opening line of M Train… “it’s not so easy writing about nothing.” I was transfixed by the nothingness, the routine, the dreaming.
Q: What album has been in constant rotation for you lately?
A: Gillian Welch – Time (the Revelator). We just saw Gillian and David Rawlings in Melbourne last week and it totally blew my mind. Now I’m deep in the GW catalog, discovering and rediscovering. You know what song I really love? "Everything is free now." Such a classic. They are livin' legends.
Q: What is your all-time favorite movie?
A: The Blues Brothers. Hands down. Dad used to put on the VHS every Christmas Day. Aretha, Ray, James Brown! Holy hell.
Q: What TV show or series have you been watching most?
A: I’ve been watching "The Americans." I love a good mind-numbing spy/detective thriller, with underlying questions of ideology and faith. I’ve decided next I’m gonna watch the entire "X-Files" 'cause I kind of missed out on that as a kid, and I recently watched "The Fall with Gillian Anderson" and she’s so good. Before that I watched "The Jinx," woah. I know television is supposed to be entertainment but everything just reminds me how f*cked the world and the system is. I don’t have a proper TV though, that’s the devils work. I just watch series on my computer.
Q: What was the highlight of the past year for you?
A: It’s been a big year… releasing my album was a pretty big highlight. And then the chaos that grew around it snowballed into a lot of really fun moments. Touring, festivals, meeting some musicians whom I really admire, being part of Girls Rock Camp Canberra, climbing Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park.
Q: In your segment from "The New Yorker Presents," you’re hanging out at a gallery showing of your own art—who is your favorite artist?
A: My friend Celeste Potter – she is always creating, everyday. I admire that because I have a real lazy tendency as an artist/writer to wait for inspiration instead of just creating. Pete O’Doherty and Susan O’Doherty. I really like Anthony Lister he’s a street artist, I seem to see his stuff in every town I go. Brett Whiteley, I always admired his work, especially his sketches. Marina Abramovic, I first discovered her through The Artist Is Present doco. I’ve always been an Andy Warhol fan. I just bought my first piece of art, a painting by Mick Turner called Thylacine. I love it. I just sit and stare at it. Hockney. Nan Goldin. Keith Haring. Reg Mombassa. Sidney Nolan. Jeffrey Smart. Frida Kahlo. Diane Arbus. Jenny Holzer, I have a list of her Truisms stuck on my wall for inspiration.
Q: What’s in your pocket right now?
A: A Stanley knife (I’ve been working at the Milk! Records warehouse).
