Now 53-years-old, Dalton’s life has slowed down somewhat, especially compared to the heady days when he was traversing the planet with Elvis Costello and Simple Minds. He settled in Melbourne three years ago and quickly became involved in the country’s biggest outdoor music event, the St Kilda Festival. His introduction to Melbourne culture actually began with the festival.
“I came to Australia exactly three years ago,” he says. “I’d only been here for about two days and I went to my first St Kilda Festival. I flew in, and my friend AJ said, ‘You should get down to St Kilda. They’ve got a free festival.’ So it was my second day in Melbourne, and it was like, ‘Fucking hell, this is great.’
“Then the Monday was Australia Day, or Invasion Day or whatever you call it, and everyone’s partying and drinking beer, and I’m like, ‘Wow. What a great idea it was to come to Australia.’ Then Tuesday morning hit, and we all had to go to work. So this is my third festival.”
Dalton’s main role at the festival is coordinating Live N Local week – a showcase of the vast array of incredible new talent Melbourne has to offer. This job has brought home just how much amazing music there is down here.
“I think it speaks volumes about Melbourne as being one of the great music cities, if you can assemble 70-odd bands, all of which are super talented, to come and play on your Live N Local stage. I’ve lived in most of the world’s great music cities over the last 36 years. I’ve lived in Nashville, I’ve lived in Liverpool, I’ve been around the Bay Area in San Francisco when I was working with Faith No More. I actually think Melbourne is the new star on the block for turning out new talent. We’re a destination city, we’re a music city unlike any other music city. The amount of talent in this city is scarily good, and I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Live N Local runs for seven days and nights in the lead up to St Kilda Festival’s closing bonanza, Festival Sunday. During this time several local venues will welcome punters in for a series of free live performances. Live N Local also includes a number of music related workshops aimed at educating all manner of musicians about everything from A&R to production.
“I’m doing three sessions myself,” says Dalton. “I’m really excited about them. I’m doing a record producer panel, because obviously I’ve been a record producer for about 36 years. I’m the really old fart on the panel. We’re going to have a really good old chat about the role of a record producer. And right at the end of the festival, I’m going to be doing a workshop on A&R. We’ll get an old demo or audition video, throw it up on the wall, have a talk about it and give some clues. Then we’ll throw it open to the audience for 30 or 40 minutes, brainstorm it and see what we can come up with.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
