STACK #141 Jul 2016

NEWS MUSIC

INTERVIEW

JIMMY BARNES T he beloved Barnsey has crested the Australian charts for the 15th occasion in his career - we spoke to him about his new covers album Soul Searchin' .

I t's a grand month for pop-punk: Blink-182 release California , which shares a producer with Good Charlotte's triumphant Youth Authority , which in turn features a cameo from

dreamboat vocalist Simon Neil of Scottish group Biffy Clyro, who are giving us Ellipsis . So, almost a three-part pop-punk ouroboros, if you like. If you don't like, there's plenty more to choose from, including a gorgeously ethereal Album of the Month. Don't punch a gift horse in the face. Zo ë Radas (Music Editor) OH PEP! E qual rations gutsy, charming, intricate and smart, Oh Pep! are a Melbourne two-piece who have enchanted STACK over the last couple of months as tracks from their debut INTERVIEW

Q1/ Sifting through all the possible soul songs you could have recorded, which perhaps lesser-known track are you most proud to have brought to the fore with this collection? I think the tracks that were originally recorded by Lee Moses: Bad Girl and If Loving You Is A Crime . I love his voice and the fact that he is quite mysterious. There aren’t many photos of him or a lot of information out there about him. As soon as I heard his voice I became a huge fan. They are desperate lyrics with a lot of tenderness. He sounds like a wounded soul. I hope people go and listen to his versions of these songs and anything else of him they can find. Q2/ You’ve surpassed The Beatles’ record of 14 #1 albums, with Soul Searchin ’ marking your 15th. Did the milestone surprise you, or are you very involved with the numbers side of things? I know exactly how many records I have done and where they chart. As an artist I am very proud of all of them, including the ones that didn’t make it to number one. If I can make a record and get to say what I wanted to say on it, or sing it the way I wanted to, to release the emotions that I needed to release, then I think the records are a success. So being number one isn’t the be all and end all of making music. But in saying that I am very proud of the success of these records. Not just for myself but for all the people involved, from the producer through all of the team at the record company who worked really hard to make them successful. Q3/ For this month's tour, have you prepped material from across your entire oeuvre or do you need to be very efficient and have setlists set in stone long before rehearsals start? We have put together a list of contenders that have been drawn from all four soul records and we will learn all of them and then decide on the set on the night. The band are all great players so we are more than capable of pulling anything we want out on the night. So don’t be afraid to yell out. We will see what we can do.

Peter Garrett [see our review on pg 18]

double stops, and then I discovered Andrew Bird – the way he plays is fearless, because you don’t see [violin] so much in pop music. And he does it without question and he does it so well.” The pair’s lyrics and their delivery by (primarily) Olivia end up like a story of linked maxims; advice offered ironically, or maybe too late, or with earnest, honest conviction. “I guess it’s always like a note to yourself, even if the song’s about someone else you know,” says Olivia. “Little reminders, or

MUSIC

album Stadium Cake have floated into the ol’ inbox. Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs met at the Victorian College of the Arts and quickly began to combine the former’s guitar and the latter’s violin and mandolin with their shared songwriting talents, coming up with gems that are musically fascinating and lyrically astute with a distinctive alt-pop-folk mien. “Our whole premise behind songwriting is that we write tunes that we find interesting to play,” Olivia says. “That’s what I always listen out for in other people’s music – stuff that keeps me intrigued.” For Oh Pep!,

things I have heard from other people that have taken a little while to sink in.” “My dad’s a classic for the advice one- liners,” she adds, explaining that one of her pop’s favourite phrases for when he didn’t want to help her with her high school homework – ‘Let me help you help yourself’ – made it into a track, for which her dad will be forever proud. But it’s heart-skinning

Stadium Cake by Oh Pep! is out now via Remote Control.

slogans like ‘I know what I want, but it’s not what I need’, and ‘When I let it out, don’t let it in’, and even ‘Oh my goodness, here comes His Highness, followed by my friend the air hostess,’ that are going to lodge themselves into the most emotional pockets of your brain. They're touring in August, so keep an eye out.

those bits come in the form of time signature shifts, agile melodic twists and Pepita’s inspired and unconventional approach to the violin. “I think having grown up playing classical music, you tend to explore a lot of different techniques,” Pepita says. “There’s a lot of plucking stuff and you’re using harmonics and

Soul Searchin' by Jimmy Barnes is out now via Liberation.

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