ALBUM OUT NOW!Veteran rockers are giving the new breed a run for their money, writes Craig Mathieson.
Veteran singer-songwriter Richard Clapton has recently been preparing for two special gigs at Sydney’s State Theatre next month, where he’ll play his 1977 album, Goodbye Tiger, from start to finish. The first show sold out in 90 minutes and everything was in hand until Clapton had an odd realisation: the album has tracks he’s never considered performing live.
Goodbye Tiger has songs that I’ll perform at every show I’ll ever play, like Deep Water and Down in the Lucky Country, Clapton notes, but there are some I have never played live even once: Wild Child, Out on the Edge Again and Hiding From the Light. It’s going to be an interesting experience to play them after all these years.
Clapton’s problem is a pleasant one but it does illustrate the unexpected issues that crop up for this country’s heritage artists.
Many of these acts, some with timelines that stretch back to the 1970s, are once more touring heavily, striking a chord with audiences and filling rooms. Flick through the gig guide and you’ll find a roll call of artists who were topping the charts decades ago John Farnham, Ian Moss, Mental as Anything, Jimmy Barnes and Kate Ceberano, to name a handful (see box). Given tickets are selling well for shows at large venues such as the Enmore Theatre and State Theatre, there is clearly a demand.
Former Cold Chisel guitarist and solo artist Moss will spend two months on a national run this year, promoting his coming album Soul on West 53rd.
Like most artists, he’s well aware of just who is in his audience. There’s a great age variety. You’ll find there’s a lot of parents out there who’ve played Chisel, or the solo work of Chisel members, to kids from when they were very little and they’ve grown up with it and come to love it, Moss explains.
It’s kind of biblical: the children of the children shall pass it on …
It’s also kind of Triple M. The network’s conservative playlist means that, at times, they still sound like they’re broadcasting from 1980.
But if artists pander to that mindset, they’re simply appealing to nostalgia. Mindful of that, most try to balance the old with the new, while also trying to show how they’ve matured as musicians.
I went into it quite reluctantly but the whole acoustic-unplugged thing has been a blessing, Moss says. It forced me to re-look at guitar playing, because I’d been thinking I was going to play a Stratocaster my entire life through a Marshall amp backed by bass and drums.
“Solo acoustic, you have to be the band in one instrument, which forces you to look at the song, and especially the lyric, from a new angle.
While larger markets, particularly the US, have always had strong touring potential for veteran acts, only in recent years has the market distinguished itself in Australia, rising above the traditional RSL dinner circuit.
Artists are increasingly also featuring in other mediums.
Ceberano won a season of Seven’s Dancing with the Stars, while Barnes hosts his own series, My First Gig, on cable music channel MAX.
It’s important that the older acts embrace new technology and changes in the business, explains Ceberano’s manager, Ralph Carr, who is overseeing her retrospective 25 Live Australian tour.
But experienced artists have stayed around because their back catalogue is so strong.
“I think people revisit good songs and unique artists who still perform them, he says.
Richard Clapton believes Australians are finally starting to embrace their musical heritage. Television series such as SBS’s Great Australian Albums and artists as diverse as Clapton and Died Pretty performing classic albums in full as commemorative events mark an acknowledgment of past successes.
There is definitely a change and it’s something that really pleases me.
“I do believe that Australians are now happy to accept what is a huge part of our cultural heritage, Clapton adds.
It’s really gratifying that people want to look back and help celebrate an album like Goodbye Tiger.
Many of those distinctive records were premiered in venues that no longer exist.
In the early 1980s, recalls Clapton, he would play six nights a week in Sydney, with a plethora of pubs hosting bands.
But it’s not just the venues that have changed, it’s also the thinking and somewhat loose licensing laws behind them as well.
At a certain point people didn’t want to go into a pub that’s built to accommodate 500 people and yet has 2000 people squeezed in without ventilation, Moss recalls.
I’ve stood on the stage at one hotel on the lower north shore it’s not there any more and thought: ‘This is a disaster waiting to happen.’ The venues now cater more to a mixed audience. People can enjoy music no matter what their age.
And beyond the passing years, the new media and revived rooms, one thing does endure that’s helped make 50 the new 30: People still want to be transported to a place outside their everyday lives by music, Clapton says.
RICHARD CLAPTON
September 4 and 5, 8pm, State Theatre, city, 9373 6852, $85.
Blasts from the past
Kate Ceberano Celebrating 25 years on stage, beginning with I’m Talking and then solo, Ceberano is currently touring the country with her 25 Live retrospective tour, which reaches the State Theatre tonight (see page 5). kateceberano.com
Richard Clapton The singer-songwriter will play his 1977 album, Goodbye Tiger, in sequence at two State Theatre gigs next month. richardclapton.com
Mental As Anything Thirty-two years after their first gig at East Sydney Technical College, the Top 40 mainstays from the ’80s are back on the touring circuit. Catch them at The Brass Monkey on August 28. mentals.com.au
John Farnham The lure of performing proves too much for Australia’s King of Pop, who returns to the stage from early next month with a 12-night stand at Star City’s Lyric Theatre. johnfarnham.com.au
Ian Moss With his new album, Soul on West 53rd, scheduled for release in October, Cold Chisel’s former guitarist has announced a two-month national tour. ianmoss.com.au
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