It’s pretty well known that Brodie comes from a musical family – his brother is Chris Brodie and his dad was a muso too. Growing up in that kind of family, Brodie was probably destined to be a musician, but today, he wants to get something straight.
“Well, it was good, but we certainly weren’t the sort of family sitting around the fire and playing guitar,” he reveals. “The two worlds were quite separate – Dad wanted to keep a line between the music industry and family, but he was always playing guitar around the house. Also, I was encouraged to pick up a musical instrument. I played the piano from a young age.”
Interestingly, for a time Brodie was attracted to the idea of being a lawyer. For our sakes, thank God he didn’t do it – think of the music we would’ve missed out on. In hindsight, it makes sense though.
“I have lots of friends who are lawyers,” he laughs. “From an academic perspective, it’s all about use of words and meaning – it’s just not as creative as music though. I missed out on law by quite a few marks. By the time I got to uni, I could probably have worked hard and got there, but music had already gripped me.”
On the topic of cancer, Brodie is unflinching and without self-pity. “I think I was a prime candidate,” he reflects. “I smoked for 20 years and stressed. I was making use of every single one of those 24 hours – musically and socially. When I was diagnosed, I felt very much ‘just get on with it’. I’m pretty fatalistic. There’s that line: how do you make God laugh? By telling him your plans.
“And thinking about this,” he continues, “the multi-million dollar health and vitamin industries can go and get fucked. If people want to drink and smoke, they should fucking well be allowed to. What’s that thing the Greeks used to say? It’s all about balance.”
At least one thing has changed as a consequence of his diagnosis. “I try not to associate with arseholes anymore,” he puts bluntly. “My arsehole and bullshit-o-meter has definitely gone up.”
Brodie’s had some time now to consider his excellent alt-country release, Deep Deep Love. The album came out in 2013, just before health-wise it all kicked off. Nearly all of the songs touch on love and many of them speak of weariness. This too makes sense in hindsight.
“Looking back I was getting really sick at that time, really tired”, he recalls. “Recording that coincided with the beginning of cancer. I think that’s where the weariness came from. The love stuff though, I don’t know. I could have called the album Deep Deep Sleep. In fact, in some ways I wish I had.”
Brodie has always expertly straddled alt-country and indie rock. It’s a vexed question for him. “I actually think about that a bit”, he muses. “I like both styles. I love music in the broad sense of the word. Paul Kelly and Tex Perkins have straddled the two in their careers. It’s particularly difficult in Australia though – we just don’t have the population to support it. If you go too far one way you can go from playing [in front of] 1000 people to 100. You can do all styles, but don’t expect to make a living out of it … but fuck it, you do what you do.”
Brodie is very much looking forward to the spate of gigs scheduled as part of the Leaps and Bounds Festival. “I’d play every night if I could,” he states. “This year’s been quite a write-off in terms of recovering, but it’s onwards and upwards from here. I’m just going to try and stay alive. I really love that quote from Lemmy – something like, ‘What’s the secret of your success? Not dying’.”
BY MEG CRAWFORD
