Croome was yet to jam out her 1982 song choice, and attempting to push through into a childlike state of sunshine on a gloomy Melbourne day we she chats about the Fringe celebrations. “I’m writing children’s music today but it’s doing my head in a little bit though,” Croome says with her own child-like voice and warm expression. “It’s music to accompany a book by Justine Clarke and she’ll play that while she reads it when she goes on tour.”
Is it the lollipop lollipops or hot potatoes that are driving her crazy? “You just have to be so happy all the time,” she says with a note of exhaustion. “It’s hard to look out the window today in Melbourne and feel happy. It’s pretty yucky, so I’m using all my strength to keep cheerful.”
Croome is a well-established Melburnian these days but growing up, it was when she escaped from the country and into the arms of the Fringe Festival and various other Melbourne cultural events that cemented her plans to move from her hometown. “I grew up in the country in Albury Wodonga so I used to come down every school holidays to feel a part of the city and get some culture and then I’d go back to the country again,” she explains. “I think I always knew, from then, that I wanted to move to Melbourne when I turned 18 to study and so I could be surrounded by that, by the art, and that sort of thing. In more recent years, going to the Fringe Festival and watching friends perform has been something that makes me very excited to be a Melbournite.”
With Croome performing one of her own songs as well as a cover from 1982, her choice for the latter is a little surprising. That element of surprise is something, however, that she very consciously planned. “I’m performing Forever Now by Cold Chisel,” she says. “I wasn’t a massive fan of Cold Chisel growing up so I have to get stuck into the lyrics and make sure I’m on top of it. I chose it myself; it wasn’t assigned. They sent us a list of suggestions and I thought it would be fun and something really different to what I’d normally do.”
Cold Chisel are a band tainted by their audience and misrepresented reputation but it’s hard to argue against the notion that Don Walker is one of Australia’s greatest ever songwriters whose tales of ordinary Australian life were brought to life through the sublime musicianship of the rest of Chisel. Surely, though, Croome is going to approach the song with a Gossling-esque style. “I think I’m actually going to rock out as much as I can,” she says. “Which is something so different to what I normally sound like. When I was first approached to do the project I was excited to be able to do a project that people wouldn’t expect of me as an artist. A lot of people think I’ve got this little gentle voice, that I can’t rip through a song, so I’m excited to perform a song like that where I can show people what I’m capable of.”
Hearing Croome slam out Forever Now is going to be something to behold and it’s these sort of projects that help her escape her artistic bubble and stay motivated. Collaboration and stepping out of her comfort zone keep a smile on Croome’s face. “It actually helps motivate me and inspire me to keep going with music,” she says. “I think if I just did my Gossling stuff all the time I’d get a bit bored and lose track of it and why I love music. I love collaborating with other people and doing projects like this, especially the 360 thing in the hip hop genre, it keeps me excited about music and what I’m doing.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
