Friday night in Delungra, Northern NSW
Well folks, it's been a little while since the last post here, although a quick check of the facts tells me it was the start of March, so I don't feel too bad.... For the legions of fans who visit this page every day hitting the refresh button I do apologise, it's hard to find time to sit down and churn out inspirational ramblings when you're getting chased by paparazzi through regional NSW. Fortunately for everyone involved, I've found a nice quite cave with free wifi, which means two things - (i) you get to read inspirational ramblings, and (ii) nobody has to see me topless on the cover of the Bathurst Daily Mail.
Now where was I? My thoughts exactly.
In all seriousness, it's been a pretty rewarding few months back here in the homeland. I've travelled a good few thousand kilometers, met a whole bunch of great people along the way, and played music in towns all over the state. Not to mention sampled some of the finest burgers in the land, led out in style I might add by the works burger with the LOT at the ol' Locomotive Hotel in Junee. ("You just get the works here, if you don't want something then you have to ask us to take it off"!). If you're wondering what the works burger with the LOT contains - that would be a XXL beef pattie, lettuce, tomato, onion, mushroom, beetroot, cheese, egg, bacon, pineapple, BBQ sauce, and a few other things I've forgotten, the only thing missing being the burger bun itself, which due to popularity had been temporarily replaced by tip top white sandwich slices (which I might add handled the task admirably). Sandwich bread or not however, it's the contents that maketh the burger, and I must admit that despite the visual evidence in support of a short-term fasting exercise, the WBWTL was a bloody great feast!! And after performing 4hrs in the beer garden, knowing there was another hour to play inside, I was more than happy to risk the heart attack.... Suffice it to say that, in my experience at least, the average vegetarian is going to have a hard time of it anywhere west of the Great Dividing Range.
WBWTL a la Junee aside, I've managed to visit a whole bunch of places I'd scarcely even heard of until this year, and I've still a few more left to get to before I take a break from the road here in Oz. For those of you who don't mind a bit of a hunt around on google maps (which is basically how I find new places to play), here's a list from the last few months - not such a bad little run if you ask me... Greenwell Point, Batemans Bay, Tathra, Mudgee, Tarana, Cronulla, Shell Harbour, Hunter Valley, Port Macquarie, Wyong, Wollombi, St George, Vincentia, Moruya, Milton, Jamberoo, Cowra, Wagga Wagga, Temora, Crookwell, Terrigal, Tamworth, Delungra, Uralla, Brisbane, Bondi, Bodalla, Bathurst, Parramatta, Liverpool, Newport, Gosford, Berry, Nowra, and next up - Bega, Braidwood, Tuross Heads, Bermagui AND, last but not least..... Marrickville! Or Enmore. Depending on which site you're on... But let's say Marrickville.
Hold on a sec whilst I catch my breath...
People often ask me for a highlight and a lowlight with all this travelling. It's hard to nail down any one or two things in particular. I guess the highlight for me, which sort of makes it all worthwhile, is the fact that I'm able to do all of this in the first place. It's a tremendous feeling to know that at any point, I can pack a bunch of gear in a suitcase, throw the guitar and my PA in the back of the car and head out and play music for a living. Actually I don't even need the PA, you could in theory set up on street corners and you'd be fine, although it does help to be indoors with a bit of amplification on occasions... At differing times I've added a surfboard and/or the golf clubs, I've been camping, swam at deserted beaches, watched incredible sunsets over Western NSW, seen the clarity of light change between seasons (a crisp clear Autumn morning here in Australia is, in a word, spectacular), and had the freedom to choose my own adventure the whole way. Which is a blessing. A real blessing.
If I put aside the romance for a minute or two, sure it hasn't all been smooth sailing and sunsets. I've played shows to practically nobody, I've been shoved into a corner next to the poker machines, been asked to play underneath a big TV screening 'The Voice' on a Sunday night, spent 4hrs playing in a dark TAB room only seeing anything vaguely 'audience-like' when people had to walk through said room to use the toilet, and some gigs (eg that last one...!) I've wondered why they bothered paying me to be there in the first place. But you know all of that is just part of the journey I'm on, and in between those experiences there are the people and the places that keep me going, too many to mention specifically here, but all of whom have played a big part in giving me the ability to choose to do this with my life, in a sense stoking the fire inside me that wants to explore, wants to extend my boundaries, wants to make a connection with new audiences, even if I have to play a few gigs to nobody to make that happen. And there are times when it's lonely, there are times when I'm exhausted, when I've just spent 7-8hrs in a car and I know I still have to play for 4, and they only wanna hear Flame Trees, Brown Eyed Girl and Sweet Home Alabama. But hey I know those songs, and if that's what I need to do, then that's what I'll do, and we'll all have a beer and a laugh at the end of the night.
The covers argument is a long one, and the philosophies behind playing or not playing covers are many, indeed there is a 'badge of honour' mentality amongst some musicians who don't play covers gigs, almost like they have a right to view artists like myself who choose to do that as a lesser form of creative being, because we've sold out etc etc. And if I'm being honest, that really shits me, because I've spent time writing and releasing albums for the past 10yrs, made the effort to head out and play shows all around the world whilst many of them have been paying premium rates for vintage cowboy shirts at suburban op-shops, and I hate that there's a need to justify your existence just to fall within a certain boundary of expectation that someone else says is "cool" or "dignified" or something stupid like that.
And I don't mean to rant but you know what, I don't mind playing cover songs from time to time. Actually a lot of the time I quite enjoy it. That doesn't necessarily mean I want to do that forever, that I'll feel the same way in 5yrs time, even this time next year perhaps. Who knows. It doesn't mean I don't want to write better original material, keep recording new albums, keep looking for new audiences, better rooms, different opportunities. It doesn't mean I don't aspire to reach a level where I'm able to play my own shows, in nice venues, selling tickets, performing to people who have come to see me rather than people who happen to be there on a Saturday night after the footy. It's just the nature of the marketplace that there's only so much room in the public sphere for new music, and whilst your writing songs, releasing things, learning, improving, trying to find those little stepping stones that are gonna give you a bit of a leg up along the way, well you just have to do what you have to do, and you have to enjoy that process for what it is. That's a choice I've made, and a path I've been happy to take, and that's why at 10am on a Monday morning I'm able to wind up here.... As far as 'day jobs' go, I haven't got a lot to complain about.
And I think on that note I'll sign off for the time being. Feeling satisfied, pretty blessed, and also a bit excited, not just because I'm looking forward to the rest of the year, but also because today I just became and uncle for the first time. That's right, my younger brother Matt and his wife Belinda have just had their first baby boy - Rocco George Field. How about that. And even though Matt might have first dibs on his son's musical instrument of choice, he being a drummer since the age of 5, I'll be sure to make myself available should the young fella ever wish to learn the guitar. And I'll teach him whatever he'd like to know, even if it's Flame Trees or Brown Eyed Girl...
Love to all, see you soon,
Renny
PS - I'll put the shows etc in the next post, pretty sure this one is long enough....!
