“Completely different in every way,” Adalita says on each LP’s lead-up. “I can’t begin to describe how different it was. Obviously I didn’t have Dean [Turner, Adalita’s Magic Dirt bandmate and producer of her first solo LP] there, which was the main thing. I was the main dude, the central figure. I had to organise everything, coordinate everyone, plus organising song choice and deciding who to work with, who was in the studio band. So I had to manage everything in that respect and be the leader of the project. So that took up all my resources and a lot of my energy. Every second of the day, even when I was sleeping, I was thinking about every detail and how it was all going. I was putting on a lot of different hats, which I’ve never really had to do. But I sunk my teeth into it. I was really up to the task. I knew it would be hard, but you don’t know how hard it’s going to be until you’re thrown into those situations. I feel satisfied that the decisions were good.”
The fleshed out full band sound on All Day Venus is the biggest distinction between the two solo LPs. The task of gathering like-minded musicians proved to be a difficult one at first. “I didn’t really know who I’d get, so I had to audition people. That was hard for me, having to turn people down. I didn’t enjoy that,” Adalita states. “But you can used to anything, and it’s the way you do it. With hindsight, I could do it a bit easier now. It took a while to find a drummer, but then I found Lee Parker. That started the ball rolling, he was great and brought a new element to the songs. Then I ran into Hugo Cran from The Devastations, and [Dirty Three drummer] Jim White was also in town. The bass player, Matt Bailey, I’ve known for a long time. He was always in the back of my mind. Luckily he said yes when I approached him. It’s always a gamble and you don’t know how people are going to go, but he’s a good fit. I was very much the leader this time around, I wasn’t just part of a team. It was a real challenge to coordinate. I was putting on a lot of different hats for this album. It was very much a trial by fire – I feel exhausted but extremely satisfied. There was a lot going on that I had to wrangle, but I feel really good. It was definitely a team effort, I couldn’t have managed it without everyone.”
At this stage in her career, Adalita can be just as informed by her own back catalogue as compared to other artists when it comes for finding a source of inspiration. “I think I’ve always been influenced by my own music. The timeframe varies. Back in the Magic Dirt days, I’d always been influenced by what I’d done prior. With the writing process, I’ve always existed in a bubble. I love music, and I love listening to other bands and I’m influenced by other artists – ‘inspired’ would probably be a better term. When it comes to creating my own music, I shut everything out. There’s no reason for it, I just seal myself off so I can concentrate on the writing. When I write the next record I always think about the one prior to it. My main thought is that I want to write something better. I don’t think what I’ve done is not good, I just can’t wait to write the next one. I did a good job there, I want to do a better job there. It’s a path that I feel like I’m on, and I’m continuing on from the records that came before me.
Though All Day Venus is only fresh out of the oven, Adalita is already preparing for the next chapter. “I definitely felt like I could write a record as soon as I was finishing this one,” she assesses. “But I felt like I was in too much of an intense mood, like I had to get out of the storm and get into a more detached, calmer state. But I have thought about it, where I’m going to go aesthetically. I haven’t got a clear idea yet, but it’s definitely brewing.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
