Define your genre in five words or less:
Feel-good folk.
If you could assassinate one person or band from popular music, who would it be and why?
James Blunt. So whiney!
What part of making music excites you the most?
There’s no downside to making music. You get time with your best mates, you get to tour in the sunshine and have a free holiday while you’re at it, it’s great therapy and you can indulge in all your favourite beverages at any given time (which of course is a balance between cuppa tea time and cider – all of which make me a happy kinda Kelly). But the best part is sharing the songs and getting people smiling. And I keep my day job to keep my music financially free, so I can enjoy the best parts of it and not have the stress of money hindering the creativity.
What part of making music discourages you?
The part where you lose sight of how you want to live your life in return for working hard to achieve success. Making music should be fun, not time-consuming or stressful.
Describe the worst gig you have ever played.
Before I knew what I was doing booking tours I booked a gig at what I thought was The Palais in St Kilda – having done no research on how big the venue was or how I could possibly actually fill the venue (surely you could just stick 50 posters up around town and people would come to the gig, right? Silly me at 17).– only to find that after flights were booked and we’d arrived in Melbourne, I’d actually booked The Palais in Hepburn Springs. Only a two-and-a-half hour drive and hire car involved. Needless to say the band weren’t too happy with me that weekend.
What’s the strangest place you’ve ever played a gig, or made a recording?
I find the best recordings are the iPhone videos the morning after a big night: when you’re in your PJs, hair a mess, singing silly covers of songs, usually still drunk from the night before, and no care for what people are thinking before you hit the ‘upload to YouTube button’. It’s music in its purest form being enjoyed without the stress of what you should look like or how you should act when you’re “working”.
How do you balance making and playing music with your other commitments?
It’s a bit like balancing your beverages. At gigs, after the fourth cider it’s probably best to switch to cuppa tea time (with loads of honey of course) or there’s no chance of recovering the next day. And when teaching at my day job (I teach one-on-one vocals and guitar), after the fourth cuppa tea time, if you’re still not relaxed when the kids are driving you nuts it’s certainly time to go home and switch to cider! Mostly I try to get as much sleep at night Sunday to Wednesday as possible, and try and keep fit and eat mostly natural food to keep up with the crazy workload and excess of beverages. And in summer I spend the days in the sunshine. Sunshine fixes everything!
What advice would you give to bands that are new on the Melbourne music scene?
Come to Adelaide already! The folk scene is a-buzzin’.
What’ve you got to sell CD-wise?
My EP Smile, It’s Free (out August 31).
When’s the gig and with who?
Saturday September 1, at 303. With Little Wise and Lauren Glezer. 8pm and $8 entry.
