Jamie Lindsay
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After a stunning 20 years in the Aussie Rock scene, Tasmania born Jamie Lindsay is finally taking it back to his country music roots with his debut, self-produced album, Eleven.
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I had a chat with Jamie to talk about the new album and telling stories through music.
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Congrats on the album release... How long has the album been in production for?
We released the first song at the start of 2019, but some of the songs were written in 2016 and earlier. I made the decision to go back to country music as an artist after pursuing rock for 20 years, so when I was gathering songs for this record I was looking back at songs I had written as early as 2005 when I was in a rock band; country music never left me during this time so it was good to go back and listen to those.
I really wanted this album to be a mixed bag as well, so it's got some country rock, country pop, and more traditional stuff.
Tell us a little more about the production process as a self produced record.
Yeah, some were done in my lounge room, in my bedroom... It's all over the place! But it was all recorded and produced by me, yeah. I think my best songs are yet to be written and produced, and that's my goal! To keep going, keep building.
I'm gonna be around for a very, very long time, and country music is my home. It always was, I just veered off to the rock road, and now I'm back and it feels like I'm meant to be here.
I've had a real roller coaster of a life so far, and I've got some great stories to tell and that's what I plan to do with my music! Tell my stories, your story, tell other people what's happening around me right now so that when people look back in 50 years time they'll say, "Ah! That's what was happening in 2020!" So like with the film clip for my song Start Again, we did it as an isolation-style clip!
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So in terms of gigs, we've seen you perform at a range of places, and you put the coolest spin on a lot of cover songs. What's your favourite to play?
I've been doing this for 20 odd years and I've played a lot of those songs - a lot -, so for my own entertainment I just do it I guess. It's a great question!!
I really go by feel... I don't have a set list planned, I just look at the crowd and start a song, see how it makes me feel and that's always been how I play my gigs. I could mash anything, so I don't really have a favourite.
Your brain has to work so fast to be able to do that!
I guess so...! Again, I've been doing it for so long I don't really think about it. I've played with a lot of really good musicians that's made me life my game more than I would've, so that has a lot to do with it.
If I could give any advice to musicians out there it would be to always play with people better than you. It becomes sink or swim, and you learn as you go and take everything they do on board which improves your own music.
My 20 year old son does shows with me sometimes and is like, "what's the set list?", but there is no set list! I throw him into the deep end with gigs and he comes out of it saying how awesome it was. It makes you a better musician and a better performer.
What has been your favourite gig you've played? Any funny stories...?
Ah man, I have so many. I did a show for Telstra where they flew us to Hawaii and we played a gig on the USS Missouri, and we hired a singer who looked a bit like Cher. So we re-enacted the Turn Back Time video clip which was shot on the USS Missouri as well, and when the singer came out looking like Cher singing that song I think the whole crowd thought Telstra had actually hired Cher for the gig. She sounded like her as well... It was hilarious.
The biggest thing for me is the people I meet along the way; I've made some lifelong friends through gigs. That's more important to me than the gigs themselves. To be able to share music really does feed the soul, as cliché as it sounds.
So you've done a bit of work alongside Tim Farriss from INXS as well as other big industry personalities. What are some of the things you learned from that experience?
Yeah! Tim was the first big artist I ever worked with when I moved to Sydney. I got to do some recording in his house and he was a barrel of laughs, such a cool guy. I learned a lot production wise with him, and then also with Harry Vanda (guitarist/songwriter for The Easybeats), and then him and George Young went on to produce George's brother's band ACDC. I got to work with them too which was amazing.
Mark Feist as well! He was one of the reasons Start Again was written because he pushed me to re-write the lyrics for a song I'd written.
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Your song 'Nashville, Tennessee' names quite a few of your musical inspirations.... Who would you say inspired this particular album the most?
Great question! The names I mention in this song are the people I grew up with, songs my mum used to listen to. It's a bit of a tribute, or 'tip of the hat' to artists who inspired me when I was young. Then in the '90s I was really into Garth Brooks and Keith Urban from the Aussie scene.
I think for this record I just wanted to not sound too much like anything else. With country music, you just have to be honest and real, and so with production I just tried to make it sound the best I could. I'm inspired by everything though. Even Cold Chisel, INXS, Vance Joy... I just love good music.
What's your favourite track off the new album?
Sirius. For sure. It's about my German Shepherd I had to put down a few years ago. That one I'm the most connected to because I'm still very connected to it. I'm still healing, and writing that song is a part of that.
How about a favourite lyric?
Yeah, absolutely. It's in Nashville, Tennessee where I say, "You can take the boy away from the country/But you can't take the country from the boy", and that is me! I grew up so country and although I left the scene for 20 years, it never left me. It's me to a tee.
Finally, if you could have your listeners listen to your album for the first time in any way, how would you like them to do it?
I think you should sit back, put your headphones on, close your eyes and go from start to finish. Listen to the words, hear what I'm trying to put out there. I think my songs are very relatable, I'm a hardworking kind of guy and I think my lyrics reflect that so hopefully listeners will connect with that.
Have a beer or a whisky and just enjoy the music! And stay tuned for a lot more to come! I already have the next album written and am producing it now. So keep updated for more from me over the next 50 years... Haha!