“I now see my life as divided into two parts – pre and post Hermannsburg,” he says. “It wasn’t just an artistic re-awakening I found there, it was quite a strong personal one too.”
Nicholson has been a fixture on the Australian music scene for more than two decades, both behind the mic and behind the scenes. He started small, recording songs in his Brisbane bedroom, but he’s since gone on to release numerous critically-acclaimed albums – two of them with ex-wife Kasey Chambers, including 2008’s ARIA winning and chart-topping Rattlin’ Bones. However, despite his success, the singer/songwriter remains refreshingly down to earth. “When I read my own bio – which is not often, I promise – I think, ‘Oh that sounds kind of cool’,” he says. “But then it just makes me feel like I’m getting old, you know?”
As an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, it’s no surprise Nicholson also feels at home in the producer’s chair, and has been named producer of the year by the CMAA on three occasions. However, in 2013, after the breakdown of his marriage to Chambers, he found himself staring into the creative abyss, unable to do what had formerly come so naturally.
“Before that trip to Hermannsburg I hadn’t written a song for six months. I was producing albums for other people at the time, but inside I felt all music-ed out,” he says. “I didn’t really feel like writing, although I had a lot to write about. I couldn’t get my head in the right space.
“Then a friend of mine, Warren H Williams the indigenous country singer who I’ve known for many years, started calling me,” he continues. “He kept insisting I come to stay with him out there. I think he saw that I needed a change of scenery and some perspective, with everything that was going on in my world at the time. So he just dragged me out there [laughs], and it was quite incredible. I think he knew all along that I’d get something from it and I totally did – that trip kicked started the whole album. Something magical happened and I wrote the song [Hermannsburg] sitting next to the church. Then I wrote two more songs that week. It was like the floodgates opened and I couldn’t stop writing. It was a truly pivotal time for me.”
The guitar-driven hooks on When the Money’s Gone are another result of Nicholson’s time away. “That was one of the songs that came out in a bit of a gush,” he says. “It’s essentially a song about knowing who your friends are, who’s on your side, and taking stock of things in your life. In Hermannsburg everything around you is so vast, it’s impossible not to get some sense of perspective about your life back home. I enjoyed the simple things like sitting around a campfire drinking black tea and just talking about nothing in particular. It was really special.”
It’s abundantly clear that a little time to sit back and reflect was exactly what the ARIA winning songwriter needed to fuel his creative juices. Though, as a devoted dad, his son Ario Ray and daughter Poet Poppin were never far from his mind, providing the inspiration for the touching ballad Single Fathers.
“That song was directed towards my children,” he says. “Although, I was in two minds about including it on the record, because I was concerned that it could be taken the wrong way because of the line, ‘There’s no mothers/ like single fathers’. It’s not anti-single mothers, it’s pro-single fathers, and I just wanted to highlight the fact that each parent offers something different in the nurturing of a child. I wanted to say that and I felt it needed to be said.
“My kids have heard the song,” he adds. “They know it’s about them and they sing along. My daughter actually thinks the line is ‘There’s no mothers/ like singer fathers’, because I’m a singer. It’s very cute.”
Sounding content as he chats about his kids, Nicholson adds, “I really am quite proud of this record, more than I’ve found myself to be in the past. I’m not even sure why, I’m just really satisfied.
“I feel like Hell Breaks Loose is a turning point,” he continues. “Like the other albums I’ve done have been practice runs. This one seems like a line in the sand from an artistic level and I feel like I’m finding a new voice after twenty years.”
BY NATALIE ROGERS
