Bigsound 2014 - part 3

So it turns out that Bloody Mary's, even virgin ones, are only palatable when seriously hung over.

Blerrrgh!

That was the start of my final day of Bigsound. Don't get me wrong, I was exhausted if not technically hung over, but that did not help. The weirdly vegetarian version of a bacon and egg roll, with a hash brown instead of bacon and some sort of delicious sauce, definitely helped though so bonus points to that. I did hear though that those who pulled themselves out of bed a little late only managed to score gluten free bread and bacon so I guess I had it pretty good.

Peter Noble - though we couldn't quite figure out what warranted the first 3 rows being cordoned off, or the numerous police officers in the auditorium, Peter Noble's keynote was a worthwhile and entertaining start to the final day. Covering pretty much everything from being mates with Bon Scott to his religion (Buddhism) and his views on drug use (which may have been why the police were there but that seems extreme...) he was engaging and dare I say it, adorable. Adding the wild card goal of playing Bluesfest to my list after that one. Hey, if they can book Mariachi El Bronx this year....

Mick Harvey - I'd happened upon Mick playing with Jess Ribiero the night before so I was interested to hear about his career and experience in the music industry. He seems to be a very self-effacing person. Maybe it's the old-school aussie mentality but there always seems to be something about these musicians that makes them feel like they just happened upon this path. Or at least that's how they tell it. Somehow I just don't buy it. I just can't see how you can "accidentally" spend 20+ years quite successfully making a career out of music if you didn't really try, didn't work hard and it just "happened to you". I'm sorry but I call bullshit. Maybe you don't want to admit it but you worked for it, you earned it, so just admit it because quite frankly it makes those of us that are in the midst of working for it feel absolutely despondent at the idea that you just lucked out when we're being told what we need to do is the complete opposite.

20 Questions - I missed the first part of this, I was having a second breakfast of pancakes, as you do.
Some of the interesting things that came out of it for me though were that everyone agrees Australia has shit internet, Bigsound is a fantastic event (duh) and I want Ali Hedrick to be my booking agent because when asked what she wants to see in the industry in the future her response was "good, fast punk rock".  Hell yeah!

Last up for the day was Funemployed with Justin Heazlewood (The Bedroom Philosopher). I'm pretty sure it wasn't the exhaustion making me a little hysterical, but either way this panel was great. Raw, honest chat about what it's like to be an artist in Australia with the likes of Russell Morris, Tim Shiel, Evelyn Morris and Megan Washington all weighing in.

Thus ends this years adventures, I caught up with and said good bye to many new pals, crawled into bed early (but not before writing a new song) and caught a mid-morning flight back to reality Sydney.

Thanks Bigsound, you were great!

x

The previously mentioned pancakes