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BUSBY MAROU Musical Gambles

Busy Marou

“I’m really enjoying this tour; it’s a very relaxed show and unrehearsed. We’re not writing a setlist, we just turn up and do what we want.”

For Thomas Busby and Jeremy Marou, leaving behind their jobs to pursue a musical career was a gamble many of us would be unwilling to take; but now, five years after receiving a ‘Breakthrough’ Federal Government Grant, the duo are releasing a special edition of their hit album, Farewell Fitzroy. AARON BRYANS speaks with Jeremy Marou ahead of their WA shows on Thursday, November 27, at Mojos, and Friday, November 28, at the Prince of Wales, Bunbury.

Busby Marou has seen its fair share of success, supporting huge international and local acts as well as achieving success on their home soil with their sophomore album Farewall Fitzroy reaching number five on the ARIA charts.

However, the decision to leave their lives behind in support of their music wasn’t an easy one.

We played for five or six years before we ventured out into this music career that Tim and I now have,” Marou says. “At first it was about working full-time and earning a bit of extra pay on the weekends. We were earning $1,000 a week just to play cover gigs around town. Then we decided to do it as a career. Tim pushed me to take the gamble and quit our jobs and we got signed to a major label.

The ‘Breakthrough’ grant was pretty good. That gave our career a massive boost, without it we would’ve struggled. Like any industry or any sort of work you need some sort of kick to get you going.

At the end of the day if you haven’t got the mainstream following you can’t really make a career out of it. We love doing music and we’ll always do it but we also take the business side very serious. We love music but we’re also writing what people want to hear. If they want a country sound we’ll have a country sound, if they want a pop sound we’ll have a pop sound. We look at it like a job and respect it.”

The duo has showcased their flexibility across the country, being able to switch between an acoustic duo and full band routine, keeping shows fresh and unique.

It’s pretty cool. It’s how we started off. Ultimately, we still are a duo, we just get carried away with a band. It’s basically stripping it back to a two-hour grass roots show. We’ve had a ball thinking why haven’t we done this before.”

At the end of the day we’re probably going to make a lot more money just doing the duo, we wouldn’t have to pay a full band and the crew to come with us; but there’s something special about the band. There’s nothing like playing in front of 2000 people in your hometown with your full band rocking out. In the same way there’s something special about sitting in a room with 100 people telling stories about your songs. I’m really enjoying this tour; it’s a very relaxed show and unrehearsed. We’re not writing a setlist, we just turn up and do what we want.”

Having the opportunity to tour with some highly influential bands has given Busby Marou unique experiences that have helped shaped their live sound, which they will be bringing to WA at the end of November as part of an acoustic duo tour.

Funny enough, the biggest thing that I’ve noticed is the bigger the artist we support, the more down to earth they are,” Marou reveals. “Dolly Parton was amazing, James Blunt was a recent tour that we did which was also amazing. Even some great Aussie acts like Pete Murray and Birds Of Tokyo, we’re pretty lucky that we’ve got to do some amazing supports.”

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