Jordie Lane has a new album titled Glasselland and he’s about to embark on tour around Australia. KAREN LOWE had a chat to Jordie ahead of his Perth launch at Mojos Bar, Fremantle on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 about Glasselland, Gram Parsons, floppy discs and his Great Grandfather.
First off, you have just come back from America, having recorded your new album Glasselland. How do you feel the recording process went and are you happy with how the album sounds?
Well the recording progress was very makeshift at times and was it sort of organically evolved but, it was very do-it-yourself and myself and Clare Reynolds and we couldn’t be happier.
We worked so hard on it until we were happy with every little bit of it. Not until then did we show anyone the recording which is different for us. We always show people as we go so this is like, inside a little bubble right until the last minute ’til we put every finishing touch on so we are rapt.
Your first single off the new album, Frederick Steele McNeil Ferguson, is hauntingly beautiful. What is the story behind the song?
It’s literally my great grandfather’s name. My dad called him Fergie. He died long before I was born but I was just sitting at the dinner table with my dad last year when I was back in Australia and talking about him and I was just so intrigued and also so detached from the idea that someone, as a 16 year old, lies about their age so they could go off and fight in a war.
It’s such a different era and you know, we’ve been through several world wars now so we know what it entails. This song was about honouring him as a person and what he went through and what all these people unknowingly went through in WW1 and then continuing through several generations and different wars that continued to get fought.
So this is a song for all the people who have a pretty easy, great life – not having to deal with war in their day to day life like myself and so it was me kind of, taking the piss out of myself really for feeling sorry for myself sometimes when dealing with things like in the song, like worrying about getting sunburnt. Just reminding myself that I’ve got it pretty good, pretty easy.
It came about because that name is so huge and powerful. It was kind of ridiculous. It sounds like some sort of, I don’t know, some Scottish/Shakespeare type thing. It was infectious to sing that name over and over again.
A few years ago, you starred in a play about Gram Parsons. What about the role appealed to you and would you ever consider acting again in the future?
That was really happenstance – it was a dream come true really. I got that role just as I released my last album which was made in a place where Gram Parsons always hung out, where he died so getting that role was a really fortunate, lucky thing.
The director saw my video on Youtube and offered me the role and I told him I had never acted before so it was like, hugely challenging and really exciting to do. I would definitely love to do more acting on stage or in film.
I’d never really done much in my upbringing or whatever but it’s a fun thing. I feel like in music, my music, I’ve always played the character of myself and when you get to play literally a different person, it’s a kind of real thrill and you get to imagine up this totally different being.
Did you get right into the role, like, Heath Ledger style?
I was instructed by the director to drink real whiskey on stage and by the time we had half a dozen shows under our belt, he was encouraging me to have like, half a bottle so it really did get kind of raucous and kind of a bit raging by the end of the show which is how Gram was towards the end of his days but I definitely didn’t take it to the point of doing hard drugs like he was.
But you know, all of the physical aspects you know, had to straighten my hair, shave the beard off – all that kind of stuff so.
I guess this new album has been fun, recreating new characters for ourselves as well. That video clip, the Frederick song we talked about we cut all my hair off and it is sort of, a parting of the past and pushing forward with all these new songs.
You have been in the public eye for a long time now, whether it was with your mother, Denise Scott or on your own with your music. Have you felt at any times, having a famous mother hindered you rather than helped your career?
No, I mean, it’s news to me if it has hindered it. I mean, occasionally, there’s the odd person like when I was in high school had, you know, friends in school – competitive friends who would accuse me of being really…coming from a wealthy family and that I had it easy.
It just sort of proves that people are, and I’m guilty of it too you know, you look at something from the outside and you can make up your own idea of it and I can assure people as I did in high school that we were never a rich family.
The one piece of advice from my parents was “Alright, if you want to do music but you’ve seen how it is growing up in this family.” It’s very up and down as far as things are going – when it rains it pours and then there’s real dry spells.
I mean, growing up in this family, you definitely learn about how the entertainment industry works a little bit but still, every day even right now or over the last few hours you’re just learning more and more new things good and bad.
It’s so fickle and weird and crazy so, you know, the one thing I learned about making this new album because we were, because we shut ourselves off from the rest of the world and didn’t involve any kind of industry or business in the process of making it just made me realise how important it is to separate yourself from that.
It’s so easy to get stuck on social media and just the competitive world that is fast paced numbers and everyone fighting for a bit of space or a bit of air.
And social media is a great thing but it can be a really bad thing too…
Yeah it’s, it really is – in a good way, it’s like a getting on a piano and playing it and making heaps of noise that resonates through your body and stuff that sends you crazy and if you make a crazy piece of music that’s awesome but same with the social media. It starts vibrating through your body and you just can’t stop. You’re checking all the different things, how many likes someone’s getting and you go into this frenzied mania.
It’s like “nobody liked my post? Do they love me still?”
I mean, yeah, it’s funny, we are living right now in a revolutionary change of how we communicate with the world.
I remember in Grade 6 at school, we were just starting to get computers and I think maybe, email had just started and yeah, it’s just so different. It’s so crazy. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in another 10/20 years.
I am from the generation where we had floppy discs…
I remember touching a floppy disc. They were awesome. I heard someone the other day talking about their kid being excited about buying CDs because they’re vintage and this dad was like ‘OMG I’m getting old if my kid is saying CDs are vintage.
I mean, we just made vinyl for the first time for our new album so I’m super excited about that. That’s cool that there’s a resurgence for that. If I am going to spend money on making a physical thing, I think that’s an awesome one to do.
You performed Rubber Soul/Revolver last year around Australia with other great musicians. Did you feel nervous taking on one of the most well known bands or feel any pressure to do the best job that you possibly could?
I felt like, the idea of getting on a big stage for big audience who are lovers of The Beatles – that was a little daunting when it came to crunch time when you are trying to make sure you’ve learnt all the lyrics and you actually know what you are doing.
For most of the time it was just a joy learning the intricacies about how The Beatles songwriting and melodies work, and those two albums, especially Revolver was one of my favourites growing up and then the gang of those guys, Husky, Marlon Williams and Fergus from Kingswood.
I was already friends with Marlon and Husky so I knew I was going to have fun with them and Fergus was great. It was a pretty awesome thing to do. It’s a dream job.
I am ashamed to say that it was the first time that I had heard about you and Marlon Williams but you guys were great…
Oh that’s awesome! I imagine a lot of people, not that we were dressing up as The Beatles or pretending to be them but they went there, heard The Beatles songs, they went home happy (hopefully) and that’s it but it’s nice to know that someone like you heard us and Marlon’s like killing it – yeah it’s awesome.
You are about to head off on tour with The Sleepers. What do you love about touring and what do you miss most while you are on the road?
I love touring because it gives me a sense of peace. I know that sounds ironic but I get, kind of, this peacefulness because it grounds me into knowing that all I can do that day is what is asked of me – get out of bed, get on the plane, get to the gig, make it sound good, do the gig, get some sleep.
Even though it’s crazy, it’s not the same routine every day of the tour, just that mindset of like, having set times and places to go and actually physically moving – getting in a car or a plane – it makes you feel like, relaxed. There’s not any other time that I’m wasting, just feeling bored or restless or anxious. That’s what I love most about getting on the road.
What I miss most? I think, just having good sleep-ins because most of my life when I’m off the road and not in a release or tour cycle, I do have the opportunity to sleep in quite a bit. I’m kinda used to that and cruising into the day late and staying up late at night. You don’t get a chance to do that while on tour.
Especially when the hotel staff come in and say you need to be out of here now…
Yep and this case with the whole band, ironically named The Sleepers, I’m probably going to be the one who’s holding everyone up.
That’s what it’s always been in the past so I am really excited to try and like, prove – well there’s only really one band member that I’ve actually ever been on the road before so he’ll be expecting me to sleep in but I want to try and prove him wrong.
You know, just be up, go to the gym, swim, breakfast – that’s my dream to be a morning person.
If you get up early enough, you can go down to the beach in Fremantle?
Oooooh – that would be awesome. I almost feel ashamed to say I don’t know if I’ve been to the beach in Fremantle ever. I have been to WA nearly 10 times now but I don’t think I’ve been to Fremantle.
We’ve got a few days in Fremantle this time. We’ve got the church show for the festival and one night in Mojos so hopefully I will be able to get out.
You have toured many places now and several different countries. What’s the one place that you haven’t toured that you would really love to get to one day?
Japan. I really want to tour Japan and I do have, my old bass player is married to a Japanese woman and they have a child and they go to Japan a couple of times a year.
He’s just there now and he’s like “Dude! Got to get you here! It’s the most amazing place to play shows.” The food as well yeah – I would love to do that.
If it’s the right kind of show…yeah. They have bands for every type of thing so they’ve got massive, crazy fans of rock ‘n roll and blues and everything.
