Kid Mac performs this Thursday, October 2 at Mojos; Friday, October 3, at the Prince of Wales, Bunbury; Saturday, October 4, at Settlers Tavern, Margaret River and Sunday, October 5, at the Indi Bar. BOB GORDON reports.
Kid Mac made a return to the stage after a little while off the boards in Thredbo the other week. It was a welcome return.
“To be honest I was a little nervous getting back out there,” he says, “it had been over than four months since I hit the stage. I also had a lot of time while travelling to reflect on my music career and where to take it when I got back.
“Getting back on stage instantly reminded me of how much I love performing. I like to go off my instincts and my feelings on these things and this set the tone for another music-fuelled year and beyond.”
His second album, Head Noise, was released late last year and while it was something of a stylistic change from his debut, No Man’s Land, it’s a positive step forward.
“Yeah the reception has been great,” he says. “There have been some diehard fans question the direction from the first record to this with it being more electronic sounding, but it was an initial and natural reaction. After seeing the live shows and understanding my reasoning behind it, they too were convinced and pleased.
“I love performing this album live which is why I made it a lot more upbeat. The response from first-time listeners to it around the world on stage has been awesome too where they hear it live, then experience it through the album and dig it. In saying that, I still feel that not enough pairs of ears have heard Head Noise and it still hasn’t reached its full album life cycle which is why I want to keep releasing videos and tours around it.”
Nine year-old skateboarder, Sabre Norris, the first female skateboarder (and third in the world) to land the 540 vert halfpipe trick, features in the new video clip for Mac’s single, Higher. She takes inspiration from Mac and it obviously goes both ways.
“Yes. She reached out to me when I was on tour in Singapore – she had just landed the 540 trick that weekend and wanted to thank me for inspiring her through my music. She wrote some thoughtful and funny stuff to me that made me gravitate towards her character. She was brutally honest and wore her heart on her sleeve. And for me, these are traits in people that I admire. She is tenacious and ridiculously driven for a nine-year-old and she pushes her siblings to strive as well.
“This world needs more positive people like that and Sabre is part of a young generation coming through that will help keep that positivity going so maybe one day I will have kids that look up to champions like Sabre. This inspires me!”
With Mac is keen to tour overseas in support of Head Noise, he’ll have to work that around the release a documentary he directed called The Battle Of Cape Fear and production for season three of his TV series, The Crew. One wonders if this Maroubra boy has any time at all to surf?
“Yes, but not nearly as much I’d like to,” he says. “I stay very conscious about making sure I hit the reset button out in the ocean as much as I can with all that’s going on around me. But I need to do it more!”
