Daniel asks Aidan:
What is your earliest memory of Tubular Bells?
Driving in my Dad’s van to visit my grandparents on the Central Coast of NSW, in the early ’80s. I remember Dad had two cassettes that he had on repeat, Paul Simon’s Graceland and Tubular Bells. I was fascinated by Tubular Bells as it seemed to inform my view of the landscape as we drove through the Hawkesbury… but I would hide my ears from the “bugbears” as my brother called it, the section we now know as Piltdown Man and now here I am screaming it through a microphone every night. Some form of personal childhood exorcism perhaps?
We’ve been performing Tubular Bells for nearly five years now. How do you keep it feeling fresh for yourself?
Every performance is a different experience – we’ve both spent so much time and energy getting to know the piece, and the insanity of actually performing the thing with just the two of us never seems mundane. Sometimes I’m carried away on a meditative journey and I remember pieces of my childhood, images of the past… and sometimes I’m so stressed that it literally becomes a survival exercise, like going to the gym. It’s never boring, I’m sure you would agree with me on that.
What do you do when you’re not playing Tubular Bells?
I write and record records under the name The Maple Trail, which channels my folk influences and is the main vehicle for my songwriting. Sometimes I do theatre scores or music for short films also, and I do a lot of recording and performing with other people – I’ve been touring with my good friend Lanie Lane for a few years now.
What do you find most challenging in the show?
The Piltdown Man section. Hands down, one of the strangest and most challenging musical experiences of my life.
Where is somewhere we haven’t played that you would you like to perform at?
I’ve never performed in Ireland. I cannot wait to be there this year, and I’d like to try to muscle into as many late night pub folk jams as possible, to exercise all the demons that Tubular Bells can’t.
Aidan asks Daniel:
What do you love about Melbourne?
The coffee.
What do you love about Tubular Bells, musically speaking? And why do you think it was such a hit?
I love that it has many subtle compositional techniques that I’m still discovering all these years later. I think it was a hit because Brandon knew that audiences are much more sophisticated than most record companies assume.
What other projects have you been up to during the life of this show?
I’ve been writing some albums, putting together a new band, writing music for television documentaries, and playing cricket.
What is your favourite memory/experience relating to the show?
Flying across the Northern Territory.
What’s next?
Off to Europe for quite a while.
