Mick Harvey isn’t really into entertainment.
For all his decades of live performances and international tours, including as a former member of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, he prefers roles out of the spotlight where he can drive the music itself rather than whip up the excitement of a crowd.
“I’ve never really been the entertainer,” Mick said. “I leave that up to other people. I like to concentrate on the music. It’s where my strength lies. I have an uneasy relationship with ‘entertainment’, but it can be enjoyable if you stay true to the music you’re playing.”
St Kilda Festival’s Big Sunday
- Sunday 19 February 2023
- 72 artists led by Confidence Man, Hoodoo Gurus, Yothu Yindi, Genesis Owusu
- St Kilda Foreshore and surrounds
- stkildafestival.com.au for more info
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Far from a background role, the drive Mick puts behind the music has made him something of a prolific overachiever even among multi-instrumentalists. His work spans everything from the dark alt-rock of Bad Seeds to film soundtracks, multi-volume collections of Serge Gainsbourg songs, solo originals and an upcoming collaboration of duets with Mexican singer Amanda Acevedo – not to mention his impressive discography as a producer.
He also doesn’t normally play festivals, but he’s making an exception for St Kilda.
“I tend to avoid playing to large crowds and those situations,” Mick said. “But they offered and I thought it’d be interesting. I usually play difficult, slower material, in smaller theatres or venues that accommodate that kind of music, where people can concentrate. Even when I’ve played festivals, I get invited to play boutique-type festivals, either with a fairly large entourage, or solo with a guitar. With a lot of festivals, the event becomes more important than the artists at the event, which is at odds with trying to make your music significant and meaningful to them. When I play a festival, I get up there and present my music and let people enjoy it.”
Mick will be one of the headline acts for the Sunday, 19 February, supported by his band of usual collaborators: J.P. Shilo, Glenn Lewis, Hugo Cran and Julitha Ryan.
“I’ve never really put together a five-piece band to play a selection of my solo material, so this gives me the option to try something different with the set,” Mick said. “A lot of my songs are complex and rambling, so it can be difficult to get that concept across to a festival audience. Even in the Bad Seeds, sometimes the festival shows would work, other times there was too much subtlety in the songs. But there’s enough material across my different albums. We’ll just make it as lively and enjoyable as possible.”
As a multi-instrumentalist, Mick has always been adaptable to the needs of an ensemble or live performance.
“Historically that’s been kind of strange,” Mick said. “With the Bad Seeds, I kind of moved around. I started as a drummer, then we found a drummer, so I moved to guitar for one tour, then we needed a bass player, so I moved to bass. I was very often playing the part of the jigsaw we were missing. I’ve usually felt more comfortable in the rhythm section, with keyboard or guitar. It’s quite funny, I was playing bass in Bad Seeds for quite a few years, and people were saying “you’re wasted playing the bass”, and I didn’t agree at all. It’s about being in the team and working. Now when I’m actually singing the song, I’m usually playing rhythm guitar or keyboard. So, I can make that musical contribution.”
Unsurprisingly for a musician with such a varied skillset and flexible approach to the demands of music, Mick’s output is varied, even eclectic. But it wasn’t necessarily by intent or design.
“All the variety just happened kind of organically,” Mick said. “I’m not searching for a big variety, it’s what came around. Working with different people creates that variation, too. You get to do different things. I got involved in film soundtracks back in the late 80s, and Gainsbourg is a different zone again. Aside from the Gainsbourg work, most of what I do has a common feel or atmosphere around it. I feel like I’m working on the same thing.”
Translation, or interpretation, are the terms Mick uses for his four albums of Gainsbourg songs’ – emphatically not covers.
“First of all, the Gainsbourg songs are translations from French, and you can’t call a translation a cover,” Mick said. “What I do is change the song. I’ll change words, chords, structure and arrangement. In Europe, there’s a way of referring to this kind of musician as an ‘interpreter’. For me, interpretations are just as important on an album as original songs. I’m not really a writer, so it’s kind of important for me to find something valuable in that interpretive work.”
Mick’s upcoming album comprises original songs. But as these duets are a collaboration with Mexico-based singer Amanda, the new material won’t find its way into the St Kilda Festival set.
“It just started by exchanging ideas,” Mick said. “I was in contact with Amanda, she was a friend and a fan, and she wanted to do a song together. She did the demo with a friend and sent it over, and then I really enjoyed working on this song with her. By the end of the year we had three songs and we continued working together and we wrote 19 or 20 songs. There wasn’t a master plan, it just happened naturally and evolved by itself.”
Mick will be touring Europe with Amanda later this year for the release of the album – adding yet another touch of translation to his works.
“She does sing in Spanish on a few songs,” Mick said. “And in one of them I do a running translation like at the United Nations – it’s a fun, silly idea. She came out from Mexico late last year and we did shows together, presenting mostly our unreleased duets. I hope she’ll come out here after the September dates. She really wants to, and it just sounds so nice when we sing together.”
Mick Harvey will play St Kilda Festival’s Triangle Stage (18+) on February 19 with Jen Cloher, Phoebe Go, Thndo, Asanti Beats, Folk Bitch Trio and Loren Ryan.
St Kilda Festival 2023 runs from Saturday February 18 to Sunday February 19. Check out the full lineup and find out more information at the St Kilda Festival website here.
This article was made in partnership with St Kilda Festival.
