Despite seven Grammy nominations under their belts and a whopping 12 million albums sold over the last two decades, Indigo Girls never really quite hit the mainstream.
Despite seven Grammy nominations under their belts and a whopping 12 million albums sold over the last two decades, Indigo Girls never really quite hit the mainstream. Nevertheless, when it comes to their audience half a world away, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers admit they have something of a cult following in Australia – Saliers especially citing Melbourne as her favourite destination of all.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve been back, I think,” claims Saliers. “We’ve been to Australia about four times now. As much as I like all the other places we go, Melbourne is my favourite city because we have so many fond memories of that place. It’s a little bit bittersweet because it’s the place we love the most, but it’s so hard to get there. I also love Perth, which is even further away!” she laughs.
“I love the fact that I can tell my friends that I’ve actually touched the Indian Ocean – it’s quite exotic.”
Following the Indigo Girls’ Australian jaunt this month, Saliers claims it’s destination Nashville as the duo hit the studio for their as-yet-unnamed album and follow-up to last year’s Holly Happy Days. Uniquely, according to Saliers, the pair never collaborate when it comes to songwriting – it’s only after their tales and songs have come together that the ‘Girls get together in the studio and put them down on tape. As Saliers claims, it’s an approach she and Ray pride themselves of being able to pull off.
“It’s definitely a different way of working, especially for a duo,” she admits. “Typically, I love everything that Amy writes, so we trust that process.
“I think it’s because we’ve been together for so long that even if we’re not immediately taken by one another’s song, we’ll grow fond of it over time. When we’ve got our songs together, she’ll come to my house or I’ll go to her house and we’ll sit down in a room and get our instruments out and jam the ideas. We brainstorm, then whoever wrote the song gets the final say.
“We’re about three-quarters of the way to finishing this new album,” she adds. “It feels like a very simple, organic record and the song are so much more simple in their content than anything we’ve done before. Amy wrote a beautiful song about a mariner, which is very obscure-sounding and I just love it,” she burbles, “it definitely stands out for me already. I also wrote a song about a neighbour of mine out in the country, so it’s a country-pop track. It’s quite a rootsy album.”
Interestingly, Saliers also claims that the Indigo Girls hardly ever spend down-time together apart from when it comes to their music-making process. It’s a formula that’s worked for the past 20 years, as Saliers points out, and is not a reflection of the duo’s personal relationship.
“We considered each other to be family so it’s not like you have to hang out every single day,” explains Saliers. “We have very different personalities as well and our interests are quite different. But we’ve stuck together through thick and thin over the years and even our families have known each other for a very long time.
“We’ve been through all the milestones of our lives together – from death to birth to marriage – and we have a deep respect for each other. It’s just that we only see each other when it’s time to make music.
“It’s probably the best way to go about it anyway,” she claims, “because by the time we come together we constantly surprise each other with the quality of the songs we’ve come up with in the meantime.”
Indigo Girls’ die-hard Aussie fans are about to get a surprise or two as well as Saliers and Ray gives us an exclusive taste of what’s to come on their new record. Think acoustic and think totally stripped-down, warns Saliers.
“We’re actually going to cover songs as far back as our first record, all the way up until the last one. I’m pretty sure Amy really wants to play some of the new material, so we’ll probably do a couple of new tracks. I personally would rather not just because I like to wait to give people the whole thing at once, but the truth is that I’m just as excited about seeing what you guys think of the new stuff.
“It’s just Amy and me, we’ve got our acoustic instruments, it’s a very organic set and I hope you like it.”
INDIGO GIRLS play BLUESFEST in Byron Bay over the weekend of April 22-26. Tickets from bluesfest.com.au. INDIGO GIRLS then make their way down to Melbourne to play The Palais Theatre on April 29 – tickets from ticketmaster.com.au and 136 100. Holly Happy Days and Staring Down The Brilliant Dream are out now.
