Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Heart of It. We would
Speaker 1: like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation,
Speaker 1: the traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects
Speaker 1: to the elders, both past and present. My name's Cam Daddo,
Speaker 1: Mal Daddo. This is fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get to introduce a chat that we had
Speaker 2: with Australian country music Burgeoning on legend.
Speaker 3: Star Casey Barnes's gorgeous wife Michelle, who's also a musician.
Speaker 3: We found now as well when we had our chat
Speaker 3: with them, and you know Casey's music.
Speaker 1: And life story.
Speaker 3: They're so deeply rooted in themes of love and you'll
Speaker 3: really hear that in our chat with them, how much
Speaker 3: they love each other and they love their music.
Speaker 1: They share insights on maintaining a very strong partnership, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and they deal with a lot they've overcome challenges and
Speaker 1: blissfully finding hope and peace through music.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: Casey really turns his personal experiences into relatable anthems and
Speaker 3: we thought that that's why they would make the perfect
Speaker 3: guest for the Heart.
Speaker 4: Of It, right and they were.
Speaker 3: They got to the heart of it in such a
Speaker 3: beautiful way he talks about the proposal.
Speaker 1: Of which is pretty funny. Absolutely, we realize that they've
Speaker 1: got a shared favorite destination on the northern New South
Speaker 1: Wales coast, so you'll hear about that as well.
Speaker 3: And of course we share something with them, our daughters.
Speaker 3: They've got two daughters. We have obviously two daughters and
Speaker 3: a son. But our two girls their love of music
Speaker 3: and they're beginning to well, certainly our youngest is setting
Speaker 3: foot in the music world.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's a great chat. Please enjoy. It's a
Speaker 1: fabulous chat and we loved it. Yeah, yeah, Please welcome
Speaker 1: Casey and Michelle Barnes. Welcome Casey and Michelle to the
Speaker 1: heart of it. How how did you meet?
Speaker 5: Who's going to tell that one we met?
Speaker 6: I used to do a regular Sunday afternoon acoustic gig.
Speaker 6: That's what I started out doing on the Gold Case,
Speaker 6: you know, probably twenty years ago, and I was playing
Speaker 6: this little Sunday afternoon gig and Michelle just happened to
Speaker 6: walk past with a group of friends and you can
Speaker 6: take it from there.
Speaker 7: Oh that's nice, okay, lisas a group of friends, he's
Speaker 7: being very nice. I was actually with my boyfriend at
Speaker 7: the time who and his friends as well, but they
Speaker 7: were just.
Speaker 4: Like, who is this guy? He is so good?
Speaker 7: So we went over and started listening to him, and
Speaker 7: as actually my boyfriend at the time, became Casey's biggest fan,
Speaker 7: so he would make me go to all of these
Speaker 7: gifts with him. But we were definitely not looking at
Speaker 7: each other as boyfriend and girlfriend because I'm five years
Speaker 7: older than Casey.
Speaker 4: So for me at the time, I just saw him as.
Speaker 7: This really great young guy who was super professional and
Speaker 7: greated his job, and we started hanging out and talking industry,
Speaker 7: so we weren't even really looking at each other in
Speaker 7: that way whatsoever. We just became great friends. So it
Speaker 7: was really nice way to start to be honest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when was the tipping point that you both realized,
Speaker 3: hang on a minute, is this more than a friendship?
Speaker 4: Ridgit Jones is diary. That'll do it.
Speaker 7: We went to a movie and we used to play
Speaker 7: tricks and it was really funny. We'd pretend we were
Speaker 7: boyfriend and girlfriend and we'd go to these movies and
Speaker 7: we'd we'd have these little jokes that we'd say at
Speaker 7: the counter, like, you know, make it look like we're
Speaker 7: on this really awkward date or something. So he'd be like, oh,
Speaker 7: so are you going to pay fifty percent? And I'd
Speaker 7: be like, oh, okay, then yeah, I guess so, and
Speaker 7: the person serving us would be just like.
Speaker 4: Oh, this is awkward. And anyway, it was just all
Speaker 4: a joke.
Speaker 7: But then we're being silly and then we're kind of
Speaker 7: walking back to the car laughing, and then he kind
Speaker 7: of grabbed my hand and I was just like oh,
Speaker 7: and then it was nothing. And then yeah, as he
Speaker 7: was leaving that night, we used to always have a
Speaker 7: little cup of tea on the couch at the end
Speaker 7: of the night. We're just such great friends. And then
Speaker 7: he just kind of looked at me and he said,
Speaker 7: I just think I'm going to have to kiss you.
Speaker 7: And I started laughing. I was like what, no, no,
Speaker 7: you And then yeah, so there was like this kiss
Speaker 7: and then he went home and were kind of like
Speaker 7: what happened there? That was like really strange. But then
Speaker 7: once we kind of took the leap, it was just like,
Speaker 7: what were we doing this whole time?
Speaker 4: We are just so meant to be together. Everyone else
Speaker 4: saw it.
Speaker 5: I'm going to But in my version of the story
Speaker 5: is slightly different. As soon as I saw Michelle, I knew,
Speaker 5: you know how you know.
Speaker 6: Like as soon as she walked up, I was I
Speaker 6: was playing the gig and I was selling my little
Speaker 6: independent CD at the time, you know, and Michelle walked
Speaker 6: up just have a look at the CD. But as
Speaker 6: soon as she walked over, I knew there was something there.
Speaker 6: You know, probably not to the scale of where it's
Speaker 6: where it ended up going, but I just knew that
Speaker 6: there was something special about her. And I think the
Speaker 6: fact that we both started out as really good friends
Speaker 6: was the you know, probably the basis it's.
Speaker 7: The best she just I think you when you're dating someone,
Speaker 7: it's kind of like, oh, I better not say that
Speaker 7: because they might not like it, or you know, I
Speaker 7: don't really think you're being your true authentic self in
Speaker 7: that kind of beginning of your.
Speaker 4: Relationship, I guess.
Speaker 7: But for us, we kind of knew everything about each other.
Speaker 4: Like what's and all, so it was sort of.
Speaker 7: Like it was a really nice way to sort of
Speaker 7: start a relationship because there was no pretenses.
Speaker 4: It was just so authentic and real. Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 1: Do you think you're if you think remember back to
Speaker 1: your first impressions, do you think they were right of
Speaker 1: each other.
Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, to the point where I think we're
Speaker 6: both very I guess, very spiritual people people and and
Speaker 6: I'm a true believer on you know, picking up on
Speaker 6: energies of people when you meet them, and you know,
Speaker 6: you can walk into a room and you know how
Speaker 6: you get that first impression, and I really believe in
Speaker 6: that and gut feels. And as soon as I met her,
Speaker 6: I think there was such a deep gut feeling to
Speaker 6: the point where I think I knew subconsciously that if
Speaker 6: this does go to the next level, this is it,
Speaker 6: this is this is the one, This is the person
Speaker 6: I'm going to be with for the rest of my life.
Speaker 6: And it's like, and I think we'd both we'd both
Speaker 6: come out of, you know, different different relationships before we
Speaker 6: met one another. You know, I'd had a relationship that
Speaker 6: didn't in great Michelle had some stories from her previous
Speaker 6: relationship that we both been like before we met each other,
Speaker 6: and so I think we're a bit apprehensive. We wanted
Speaker 6: to take things slowly just so that we didn't want
Speaker 6: to get hurt again, you know.
Speaker 3: So that was Yeah, Michelle, is your ex boyfriend still
Speaker 3: Casey's number?
Speaker 4: One fan or has that changed now. It's a good point,
Speaker 4: I think so. I think he did actually come to
Speaker 4: your show recently.
Speaker 5: He's a really nice guy. He's a lovely guy.
Speaker 3: He's got good chase taste in music and women clearly, so.
Speaker 4: We kind of owe it to him. Really let you
Speaker 4: go otherwise.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, okay, Casey, give us give us the gossip
Speaker 3: on the how you asked Michelle to marry you.
Speaker 4: How was that experience? Funny?
Speaker 5: It wasn't. It was an orthodox it was.
Speaker 6: It could be interpreted in probably two different ways depending
Speaker 6: on where you sit on things, but I wanted to
Speaker 6: do something different, and man, this could also sound like
Speaker 6: you're a super widow stalker. But we were both We
Speaker 6: were both involved in music at the time, and Michelle
Speaker 6: was still singing in a corporate band, and so I
Speaker 6: knew that one particular night she had an event on
Speaker 6: out at the Royal Pines, which is an events based
Speaker 6: here on the Gold Coast, and I knew what time
Speaker 6: the gig finished, and I planned to write a handwritten
Speaker 6: note and put the ring inside her glove box in
Speaker 6: her car, so when she got into the car, there
Speaker 6: was a note that just said open the glove box,
Speaker 6: and there was the ring and then I.
Speaker 5: Come from hiding fromhere and pop the question.
Speaker 6: In hindsight, when I look back at that, there's a
Speaker 6: lot of red flags.
Speaker 5: It does sound a little bit weird.
Speaker 7: And well it was because I'd had this really creepy
Speaker 7: guy that night kind of saying, you know, what are
Speaker 7: you doing after the show, and I was like going home.
Speaker 7: You know, this really weird guy and he kept kind
Speaker 7: of loitering, and so I was walking back to my
Speaker 7: car with one of my bandmates, and you know, then
Speaker 7: I saw this note in my glovebox. Now, logic doesn't
Speaker 7: set in as hard of this guy get in my
Speaker 7: glove you know, in my car to put this in
Speaker 7: my glove box, Like that wasn't even a thing.
Speaker 4: Logic was not a thing.
Speaker 7: So I'm thinking, this crazy stalker guy has put something
Speaker 7: into my glovebox and I'm like.
Speaker 4: Oh, look, it was hilarious. So I was not for
Speaker 4: a minute. He's smart though.
Speaker 7: Because he knows i'd be onto it, Like if he
Speaker 7: books some romantic getaway, I'd be like, what's going on here?
Speaker 7: You know, he knew, so he had to do something
Speaker 7: that was way left field, and it was it was
Speaker 7: just so funny because I was like petrified and he's
Speaker 7: watching it like from Afar, losing it at me, going.
Speaker 4: I don't want to open it. You open it, you
Speaker 4: do it, you know.
Speaker 7: It was just so funny with my girlfriend. And then yeah,
Speaker 7: and then when I saw it, it was just this
Speaker 7: beautiful ring that we had kind of looked at rings
Speaker 7: and I was picking very like low key modest because
Speaker 7: I never wanted to be you know, oh wait about
Speaker 7: that one, you know, but he picked this amazing ring.
Speaker 4: Oh we can see it here.
Speaker 5: It's actually, oh.
Speaker 4: My god, it's gorgeous. Wow, it's really beautiful. It's really unique.
Speaker 7: And I was like, oh he saw that, and he's like,
Speaker 7: what about this one. I was like, oh, don't be silly,
Speaker 7: like that's out of control. And yeah, so I just
Speaker 7: see this ring in the glove box and I was
Speaker 7: just like wow. And then there are years over on
Speaker 7: one knee in the car PA. I was very funny.
Speaker 7: It was so cool because I just did not see
Speaker 7: it coming.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well done, well done, Casey. You went out of
Speaker 3: the glove box on that one.
Speaker 1: Well done.
Speaker 5: It's a little different.
Speaker 3: Michelle, tell us a little bit about you, as we've
Speaker 3: said you know, Casey, we know a lot more about
Speaker 3: but you so you actually are a singer where a singer,
Speaker 3: you're in the music biz too.
Speaker 7: Yeah, look, I'm sure you'll be able to relate to
Speaker 7: this Ali in the sense that you know, you, like
Speaker 7: I had forged like a career doing you know, like
Speaker 7: a lot of stuff in the arts, and then obviously
Speaker 7: when babies come along it it does have to take
Speaker 7: somewhat of a back seat, so you know once, yeah,
Speaker 7: once our girls were born, I kind of I think
Speaker 7: that's sort.
Speaker 4: Of when your career kind of really started to escalate.
Speaker 7: So I just think one of us needed to kind
Speaker 7: of take a step back. And at the time, Casey's
Speaker 7: career was kind of going further ahead and me wanting
Speaker 7: to be home with my babies. It was hard, though,
Speaker 7: Like I will say, it was really difficult because as
Speaker 7: much as you are so so happy to see your
Speaker 7: partner succeed, it is tough sometimes when.
Speaker 4: You do you just have to take that back seat.
Speaker 4: And as much as you want to be doing it
Speaker 4: and you wouldn't have it any other.
Speaker 7: Way, it is difficult when your career is something that
Speaker 7: makes you.
Speaker 4: Who you are.
Speaker 3: That was tough, Yeah, especially seeing as though it's the
Speaker 3: same career. It's not like Casey was excelling in architecture.
Speaker 4: You know, yes, it's your field as well. So yes,
Speaker 4: I had a really funny memory.
Speaker 7: Actually wasn't funny at the time, but Casey, I think,
Speaker 7: called me and he said.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, like I'm front row.
Speaker 7: At Beyonce, like it was part of, you know, something
Speaker 7: that he was doing with work.
Speaker 4: And he's like, I'm front row at Beyonce.
Speaker 7: And I'm in tears at the time because my dog
Speaker 7: had just thrown up my eldest she was only a
Speaker 7: toddler at the time.
Speaker 4: She's crawling through the vomit.
Speaker 7: I'm bawling my eyes out because it was like this
Speaker 7: tipping point of I am just so struggling on my
Speaker 7: own here. And then Casey called, of course, because he's
Speaker 7: so excited. He couldn't believe he had this opportunity, and
Speaker 7: I was so excited for him. But then here I
Speaker 7: am kind of just going, oh, this is just so
Speaker 7: you know, it just was just this moment of and
Speaker 7: that's that's how it is right now.
Speaker 3: You know, we now have a phrase, don't we, honey,
Speaker 3: that we use for those moments that we actually stole
Speaker 3: from Paul Field and his wife.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you use it more than I do, Yeah.
Speaker 3: For sure, Which is we live in two very different
Speaker 3: worlds because I'm in your world, Michelle, and Cams Cam's
Speaker 3: in cases well where yeah, I'll be at home with
Speaker 3: the kids and fixing the dishwasher that's clogged, and Cam's like,
Speaker 3: I'm in the south of France sipping champagne and about
Speaker 3: to get into a ferrari for luxury escapes, and It's like,
Speaker 3: go have a great time, sweetheart.
Speaker 4: I'm just going this is just so removed from where
Speaker 4: I am right now. Different worlds.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, now that you've mentioned the kids of times,
Speaker 1: are they following? How old are they? And are they
Speaker 1: following the musical footprint?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 5: Can I say it's plural? Can I just say on
Speaker 5: that note too? I noticed, is it your daughter?
Speaker 6: Your eldest daughter has just is into music as well,
Speaker 6: plays and just did her first Yes.
Speaker 3: When we saw your daughter, I was like, they looked
Speaker 3: like their sisters number one, and they sound alike. I
Speaker 3: was like I showed I showed the video to Caw.
Speaker 3: I'm like, it looks like body like this is wild.
Speaker 5: They need to become friends.
Speaker 6: I was as well because I saw that and I
Speaker 6: could relate to how proud you both were. And I
Speaker 6: guess we're going through that that same feeling at the
Speaker 6: moment where both of our girls have naturally got into music,
Speaker 6: we've sort of deliberately tried not to push them in
Speaker 6: that direction.
Speaker 5: We've sort of, you know, introduced them to music.
Speaker 6: They've picked up a guitar, and they both got into it.
Speaker 6: But our eldest is she's sixteen, Charlie, and she is
Speaker 6: just obsessed, Like she plays every day and she's just
Speaker 6: getting to the point where she's far far better than
Speaker 6: I ever was at sixteen.
Speaker 5: Put it that way, it's like it's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean I've been saying this about Bodes
Speaker 1: as well. That I mean, when you were sixteen, Casey,
Speaker 1: with all due respect, there was not ultimate guitar and
Speaker 1: YouTube videos and all those I mean incredibly generous artists
Speaker 1: out there now showing how things are done and how
Speaker 1: to do stuff. So body's picking up all the I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, I'm the same thing. She's way beyond
Speaker 1: where I was, as you know, as a teenager playing.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think my mom my mom was the one
Speaker 6: that got me into music. She had a handwritten this
Speaker 6: is how much Things have changed? A handwritten notebook of
Speaker 6: all her favorite songs. You know, it was old Beatles
Speaker 6: tracks and James Taylor and you know, Rolling.
Speaker 5: Stones and Elton John.
Speaker 6: And she would loan me the notebook and her acoustic
Speaker 6: guitar and I'd sit in the room in my room
Speaker 6: and try and teach myself how to play, and you know,
Speaker 6: read the lyrics and the chords above every lyric, and
Speaker 6: that's how I learned.
Speaker 5: That was before before the internet and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Were you one of those guys that actually, I mean
Speaker 1: I sat next to the record player and I would
Speaker 1: have the have the lever that flipped the needle up
Speaker 1: and down, and I'd knock it back and I'd listen.
Speaker 1: I'd listen about what's he doing there, Like what's James
Speaker 1: Taylor doing there? Or Jim Croche, what's happening there? And
Speaker 1: then I'd knock it back again and I put it
Speaker 1: down and play it and try and redo it. And
Speaker 1: their tunings were always different, and I'm like, god, this.
Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely absolutely, And there's so many weird, serendipitous things
Speaker 6: that actually, like it's getting a little off the topic,
Speaker 6: but I remember one of the first CDs I got
Speaker 6: as a teenager was was Brian Adams's Greatest Hits. It
Speaker 6: must have been for Christmas, and I sat and the
Speaker 6: bedroom exactly the same thing, learned how to play every
Speaker 6: song note for note, and always had this vision and
Speaker 6: dream of one day that's what I wanted to do.
Speaker 6: And I think I knew that from a younger age.
Speaker 6: But funnily enough, fast forward to I think it was
Speaker 6: two thousand and five. It's a long story, but the
Speaker 6: first big break that I got in music was opening
Speaker 6: for Brian Adams, and it was the spin out that
Speaker 6: that actually happened, you know.
Speaker 1: That's what was.
Speaker 4: Even the biggest spin out about that.
Speaker 7: Yes, he picked me out of the audience, Like I
Speaker 7: was just I've been selling all the cases merch and
Speaker 7: I just walked as I was walking in, he chooses
Speaker 7: a girl out of the audience to sing the song
Speaker 7: that he did with Sporty Spots.
Speaker 1: So he's just going, oh, yeah, it's a great song.
Speaker 4: It's a great song.
Speaker 7: Yeah I knew it too, but he's just like you,
Speaker 7: and I just was, like I was like Courtney Cox
Speaker 7: out of dancing in the dark, and then all the
Speaker 7: security came over and they're like lifting me up to
Speaker 7: the stage.
Speaker 4: I was like, what, this is crazy and yeah.
Speaker 7: And then it was funny because we were in Mudgie
Speaker 7: at the time. It was like Day on the Green
Speaker 7: in Mudgie. And and then he said, oh, where are
Speaker 7: you from? And I said I'm from the Gold Coast
Speaker 7: and the whole crowd just booed. I was like, oh,
Speaker 7: I'm thinking moving the mudgy yay. And then they said, well,
Speaker 7: what do you do for a living? And I thought, oh,
Speaker 7: if I tell them I'm a singer, it'll just be
Speaker 7: so I said, oh, I'm a legal secretary.
Speaker 1: It just just happened to karaoke, and I do know
Speaker 1: the words when you go, and.
Speaker 7: He said and as I started singing, because they normally
Speaker 7: have the MT they have it quite the mic quite
Speaker 7: low because often no one can sing that gets up.
Speaker 4: And then I started and of course I'm singing the harmony. Yeah,
Speaker 4: He's like, he looks at me and he goes legal
Speaker 4: secretary my eyes. Yeah.
Speaker 7: It was really really cool, so we both got our
Speaker 7: our moment with Brian.
Speaker 6: It was very cool and she actually freaking nailed it too,
Speaker 6: which is it.
Speaker 5: Was so fun.
Speaker 4: It was like it was life changing.
Speaker 5: I loved it.
Speaker 3: What's what's it like at home for the four of
Speaker 3: you then? Or on road trips? Did the four of
Speaker 3: you singing together all the time?
Speaker 5: Or at home at home? It's constancy.
Speaker 6: It's like I'll walk in if I've been out for
Speaker 6: the day and it's it's the best, it's the best
Speaker 6: environment to come home to. I'll walk in and open
Speaker 6: the door and I can straight away here Michelle singing
Speaker 6: and Charlie singing and playing the guitar and Emmy singer
Speaker 6: and sometimes you know, they'll get into like a three
Speaker 6: part harmony thing, and I don't know.
Speaker 7: We're not the Partridge family who sit around, you know,
Speaker 7: with the guitar and sing together. It's kind of like
Speaker 7: just little moments of we're off doing our own thing.
Speaker 7: But yeah, it's cute, it's nice. It's like, I feel
Speaker 7: very blessed that we could all sing, because it's like,
Speaker 7: if there was just one that was really tone deaf,
Speaker 7: it'd be really it would really suck for them.
Speaker 3: Sadly, that's me, Michelle one in the family. I can
Speaker 3: dance to the singing, but I cannot. I'm just like
Speaker 3: I ruined.
Speaker 1: Him, she's the biggest fan. Lotus, lotus and body just start.
Speaker 1: One of them starts singing something, the other one throw
Speaker 1: a third harmony over the top of it, and it's
Speaker 1: sibling sibling harmonies are.
Speaker 4: That makes me cry.
Speaker 6: It's just like you need to reenact that scene out
Speaker 6: of is it Step Brothers where they're in the car
Speaker 6: and the family's all doing the harmonies. But and you
Speaker 6: can get up ally and just say singing lessons not
Speaker 6: paying off.
Speaker 1: That would be Michelle take This question usually goes to
Speaker 1: the artist, but I want to ask you this, Michelle,
Speaker 1: take us into the life of a country music star
Speaker 1: in Australia as a partner. What do you see your
Speaker 1: your man is having a lot of success and how
Speaker 1: how from your perspective, what is that like?
Speaker 7: Gosh, you know, it's been hard. It's been really really hard.
Speaker 7: I mean it's not like the US, where I think
Speaker 7: they really get behind their artists.
Speaker 4: Like Casey.
Speaker 7: You know, he was he was having a career for many, many,
Speaker 7: many years and it only really sort of I would say,
Speaker 7: like twenty years into it is when he was acknowledged
Speaker 7: as a new talent. So it's been a really long,
Speaker 7: long journey and one where you know, I'm amazed at
Speaker 7: his tenacity, you know, to just keep going has been remarkable,
Speaker 7: and I think, you know, I've always been of the
Speaker 7: opinion with him, you know, it's just like, oh yeah,
Speaker 7: but if you stop now, this could be the moment,
Speaker 7: you know, like something might be just around the corner.
Speaker 7: So I've always kind of really tried to back him
Speaker 7: in that sense.
Speaker 4: But yeah, look, it's been really really hard.
Speaker 7: But once I think, you know, he became managed by
Speaker 7: really blessed to become managed by Michael Chugg, who is
Speaker 7: i mean, one of he's just royalty in Australia with music.
Speaker 7: And I feel like once that happened, I think people
Speaker 7: really started to go, Okay, this guy's behind him.
Speaker 4: We really need to get behind him.
Speaker 7: So it's been really wonderful since Chug he's been on board.
Speaker 4: But in the daily life of a country artist, I mean,
Speaker 4: it's just.
Speaker 7: Him working so hard, Like I think people just imagine
Speaker 7: it as you just you know, you go and do
Speaker 7: a gig and it's great and that's all you do
Speaker 7: kind of thing.
Speaker 4: But he is on email all.
Speaker 7: Day every day, He's rehearsing his you know, it's a
Speaker 7: constant constant slog He's never clocking off, that's for sure.
Speaker 6: Casey, you agree with all that she got it right, well, absolutely,
Speaker 6: But I think the other thing is, you know, there's
Speaker 6: absolutely no way that I'd be here doing this and
Speaker 6: would have kept doing it for so long if it
Speaker 6: wasn't for Michelle, and they've been I literally just just
Speaker 6: wrote a song which will hopefully be on my next album,
Speaker 6: which is literally telling the story of.
Speaker 5: What it's been like and having the support from Michelle.
Speaker 6: And it's called The Woman That You Are, and and
Speaker 6: it sort of touches on many many times where I've
Speaker 6: you know, had those conversations of I don't know if
Speaker 6: I can keep doing this. I don't know if I
Speaker 6: can keep writing this emotional rollercoaster of the highs and
Speaker 6: the lows and the knockbacks, and then you'll get this
Speaker 6: lucky break that'll keep you going, and then there'll be
Speaker 6: another little setback.
Speaker 5: But I've been very, very lucky.
Speaker 6: As Michelle said, you know, since you know, getting Chuggy
Speaker 6: on board, which sort of started as a joke in
Speaker 6: a studio when we were recording one of my previous albums.
Speaker 6: The boys sort of said, you know, we think this
Speaker 6: is your your best album yet you really need to
Speaker 6: get the right team behind you. And who would you
Speaker 6: if you had your wish list? Who would be at
Speaker 6: the top of your wish list? And jokingly at the time,
Speaker 6: I said, well, Michael chug he'd be He'd be at
Speaker 6: the top of my list. And we talked about it,
Speaker 6: and the boy said, well, why don't you flick him
Speaker 6: an email and send him some of the songs And
Speaker 6: it started out as a bit of a joke and
Speaker 6: I send it, sent some tracks through to Chuggy and
Speaker 6: long story short, here we are now and it all
Speaker 6: paid off. But a lot of this is to do
Speaker 6: with Michelle and all the time she said keep going,
Speaker 6: and she's given me ideas and strategies and things that
Speaker 6: I should try, and she's just always believed in me
Speaker 6: and believed in what I'm doing and maybe seen a
Speaker 6: bigger picture.
Speaker 5: And yeah, I'm super grateful, very lucky.
Speaker 3: Yeah, in those moments of writing the Rollercoaster.
Speaker 4: And you're on the.
Speaker 3: Downward spiral, what did you think that you were going
Speaker 3: to need to go do? Like if you were leaving
Speaker 3: the music industry, were you like, I'm just going to
Speaker 3: go be a postman or like, what did you have
Speaker 3: any other alternative of this?
Speaker 1: Was it?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 6: Really, this is always been it for me, and I
Speaker 6: think for any young artist that's looking to get into
Speaker 6: this as a career. You know, I see a lot
Speaker 6: of you know, friends and colleagues that are wanting to
Speaker 6: get into the music industry and they've sort of got
Speaker 6: one foot off the cliff and one foot on and
Speaker 6: they haven't made the full jump, and that's probably half
Speaker 6: of the reason why they're not going to that next level.
Speaker 5: And I think, if you really want to have a crack,
Speaker 5: you've got to do it.
Speaker 6: You've just got to step off the ledge and take
Speaker 6: that risk and know that maybe it's not going to
Speaker 6: happen overnight. But you know, I remember sitting down with
Speaker 6: my mum and dad twenty years ago, and I was
Speaker 6: still working at Flight Center at the time as a
Speaker 6: travel consultant and doing that in the day and then
Speaker 6: doing pub gigs at night time. And then the pub
Speaker 6: gigs started to take off, and I was wanting it
Speaker 6: hard to balance doing both, and I sat down with
Speaker 6: mum and dad and I said, I think I want
Speaker 6: to give this music thing a crack full time. And
Speaker 6: both of my parents have always been incredible, and they said,
Speaker 6: you know, that's what you want to do, that's what
Speaker 6: you should do, and you can always go back to
Speaker 6: Flight Center if you want to. And thankfully, here we
Speaker 6: are twenty years later, I've never had to go back.
Speaker 6: I've been lucky enough to make a living out of it,
Speaker 6: and you know, things like that, and then other little
Speaker 6: serendipitous things that have happened. I remember doing a pub
Speaker 6: gig here on the Gold Coast around the same sort
Speaker 6: of time. And you know, one of the best bits
Speaker 6: of advice I got given when I started doing music
Speaker 6: was whenever you do a show, no matter how big
Speaker 6: it is or how small it is, just play the
Speaker 6: gig with the attitude of you never know who's sitting
Speaker 6: there in the crowd listening. It's such a good piece
Speaker 6: of advice and it's always paid off on times when
Speaker 6: I've least expected it. And this one night I was
Speaker 6: doing this pub gig, and it might have been you know,
Speaker 6: midnight or coming up to one o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 6: and there was a guy that was at the bar
Speaker 6: and he was just really I could tell he was
Speaker 6: just really enjoying the gig and he was listening and
Speaker 6: came up to me in one of my breaks and
Speaker 6: he said, have you got five minutes, you know, I'd
Speaker 6: love to have a quick chat to you. And he
Speaker 6: ended up giving me this incredible pep talk and a
Speaker 6: kick up the backside and just said, what are you
Speaker 6: doing wasting your time here on a Tuesday night playing
Speaker 6: other people's songs? Why are you not writing your own music?
Speaker 6: And why you're not playing your own shows? And it
Speaker 6: was just this incredibly perfectly timed chat and kick up
Speaker 6: the bum and I said, well, yeah, I do want
Speaker 6: to do this. And he said, well, what's going to
Speaker 6: set you apart from everyone else? And I said, well,
Speaker 6: these are the reasons why I think, you know, I'm
Speaker 6: better than you know other people out there doing it.
Speaker 5: And he said, well, you've got to go out and
Speaker 5: do it.
Speaker 6: And as it turns out, his name was Clint Bog
Speaker 6: and he was the lead singer of a rock band
Speaker 6: up in Brisbane called The Butterfly Effect, and he ended
Speaker 6: up getting on board and being a real motivator at
Speaker 6: the time, and it was just one of those things
Speaker 6: where it was exactly what I needed. And yeah, just
Speaker 6: funny things that happened along the journey.
Speaker 3: You know, isn't that great. They're kind of like those
Speaker 3: those angels. Yeah, the guardian angels that just step in
Speaker 3: and give you that key piece of information or whatever
Speaker 3: it is that just needs you to push yourself to
Speaker 3: that next step.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 3: We lived in the States for twenty five years and
Speaker 3: you know, Keith Urban was massive, like he was, you know,
Speaker 3: just winning all the awards in America and everything. And
Speaker 3: we moved back here and it was almost like people
Speaker 3: knew him, but like, oh on, Nicole Kidman's husband, and
Speaker 3: it was really kind of interest. I mean, of course
Speaker 3: people know him, but it was kind of this interesting
Speaker 3: thing of like, this isn't this isn't Aussie who's done
Speaker 3: unbelievable stuff in America and he still almost didn't feel
Speaker 3: like he was getting the kudos of what he deserved
Speaker 3: in Australia and being so proud of him. What is
Speaker 3: it about country music in Australia that you feel doesn't
Speaker 3: quite get the push or the experience or the love
Speaker 3: that it's.
Speaker 4: So so deliciously.
Speaker 3: Deserves, because we've got some incredible country stars here with
Speaker 3: voices of just absolute angels.
Speaker 6: It's a good question. I think I think it's starting
Speaker 6: to change. I think there's been a huge shift, especially
Speaker 6: in the last couple of years, where this new generation
Speaker 6: coming through have actually gone, you know what, country's cool,
Speaker 6: And it's really exciting to see the shift. And I
Speaker 6: think it's a it's a combination of a lot of things.
Speaker 6: I think some of it's to do with commercial radio
Speaker 6: starting to play a little bit of country and the
Speaker 6: listeners going, you know what this is? Actually these are
Speaker 6: actually good songs. And I think there was a misconception
Speaker 6: out there for a lot of years where when you
Speaker 6: talk to Australians about country music, they thought it was
Speaker 6: just a specific sound and.
Speaker 3: Slim dusty type country.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and we love slim dusty and we love Lee Kernighan,
Speaker 6: and there's so many greats that are that have been
Speaker 6: around for a long long time. But the beauty of
Speaker 6: country music that I think Australians are just starting to
Speaker 6: realize is there's a huge variation in styles of country
Speaker 6: music and there's something for everyone. And and you know,
Speaker 6: when you've got the likes of Luke Colmb's coming out
Speaker 6: now and filling stadiums and three nights in a row,
Speaker 6: it's ridiculous and you watch the fans and you see
Speaker 6: country come to the Big Smoke and like we we
Speaker 6: went and saw his show in Melbourne a couple of
Speaker 6: weeks ago and it was just so cool to see
Speaker 6: all of these people that have come from regional parts
Speaker 6: of Australia come into town. You know, they filled Marvel
Speaker 6: Stadium and it's just so exciting and it's it's blowing up.
Speaker 5: It's really really, really exciting.
Speaker 6: So I think there's a bit of a shift and
Speaker 6: it's probably a great time to be a country artist.
Speaker 5: You know, it's been a struggle, but it's starting to
Speaker 5: turn around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good, it's great. Can I just take you back
Speaker 1: just to one thing. Australian idol is on TV at
Speaker 1: the moment, and I know you have a relationship to that. Casey,
Speaker 1: when you say you've got you see the young artist
Speaker 1: and they've got one foot on the cliff and one
Speaker 1: foot off the cliff, what would you say to those
Speaker 1: guys you know who are there? They are there's a
Speaker 1: there's a country guy on there, you know who's obviously
Speaker 1: you know, very well established in the country world. Anyway,
Speaker 1: come his name escapes me at the moment. But what
Speaker 1: does that mean to step off the cliff?
Speaker 6: It means there's no safety net. It means that you know,
Speaker 6: don't don't be afraid. I think one of the things
Speaker 6: that that stops everyone in life, doesn't matter what they
Speaker 6: want to do, what their goals are, is the fear
Speaker 6: of failure or embarrassment or ego or whatever it might be.
Speaker 6: And I think, you know, if you can let go
Speaker 6: of that and realize that there's going to be times
Speaker 6: when it's going to be tough, there's going to be
Speaker 6: times where it's not going to always go the way
Speaker 6: that I want it to, but I'm going to learn
Speaker 6: from it. I'm going to grow, I'm going to try
Speaker 6: and get better every day, and you know, you don't
Speaker 6: necessarily need to rush things. I think that's where I'm
Speaker 6: lucky to have that little bit of wisdom behind me now,
Speaker 6: even from going on Idle. When I was on the show,
Speaker 6: I was probably a little bit older than a lot
Speaker 6: of the contestants in the Top twelve the year that
Speaker 6: I was on, and it was this funny little bubble
Speaker 6: that we lived in while we're on the show, where
Speaker 6: it wasn't really what reality was going to be like.
Speaker 6: You know, we were pretty lucky, you know, we were
Speaker 6: living in this when we're on the show. We were
Speaker 6: living in this beautiful mansion and you know, on the
Speaker 6: water down in Sydney there, and we had a full
Speaker 6: time chef and bodyguards and luxury. Limo has taken us everywhere,
Speaker 6: and I think some of the contestants got into this
Speaker 6: idea of well, this is what life's going to be like. Now,
Speaker 6: this is this is it. It's never going to be
Speaker 6: the same. And and then there was this massive reality
Speaker 6: check of coming off the back of the show, of realizing, Okay,
Speaker 6: well now I'm back in the real world and now
Speaker 6: this is when the real work starts. And I think
Speaker 6: I was lucky enough to have that little bit of
Speaker 6: wisdom to know that, you know, that was a great
Speaker 6: opportunity and I made some new fans and I learned
Speaker 6: a lot of stuff. But now I've got to dig
Speaker 6: in and do the work and try and make the
Speaker 6: most of this opportunity. And yeah, that's that's a big thing.
Speaker 6: But yeah, it's for anyone that wants to have a crack.
Speaker 6: You've just got to know that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: Sometimes I'll have parents of you know, kids that are
Speaker 6: super talented reach out to me online and ask for
Speaker 6: some advice and you know, sometimes it's not the advice
Speaker 6: they want to hear in that give it time. You
Speaker 6: don't want it to happen too fast, because if it
Speaker 6: happens really quick and you're young, it can disappear really
Speaker 6: quick as well.
Speaker 3: Interesting, Michelle, how are you guiding your daughters with the music?
Speaker 3: You are? They like gangbusters for sort of we want
Speaker 3: to be putting out records. I mean a use sort
Speaker 3: of being the mumma jo as they say already, Look.
Speaker 7: I think I'm the one kind of yeah, really looking
Speaker 7: at it from the nuts and bolts in the sense
Speaker 7: that I'm like, Okay, what will it take if this
Speaker 7: is what you've chosen to do. I'm being quite you know,
Speaker 7: logical about it and going, okay, well, I think you
Speaker 7: need guitar lessons, So you know, this afternoon I'll be
Speaker 7: driving and taking the girls to guitar.
Speaker 4: Lessons and developing that way.
Speaker 7: And I think that also will then determine do you
Speaker 7: really want to do it? Because if you love it,
Speaker 7: you'll do whatever it takes.
Speaker 4: To, you know, to get there.
Speaker 7: And you know, I want to make sure that they
Speaker 7: want to do it, like I did not at all
Speaker 7: say to them. You know, you should get guitar lessons,
Speaker 7: but I would suggest it like, oh, maybe, now that
Speaker 7: you've started your music course at school, you know, did
Speaker 7: you want to maybe get some lessons or you're happy
Speaker 7: not to.
Speaker 4: Oh no, I'd like to do that. You know.
Speaker 7: So there's been no from either of us. He's been
Speaker 7: zero pushing either of them into that field. It's just
Speaker 7: been let's see if it organically goes there, which it has.
Speaker 7: And so now it's kind of like, all right, I
Speaker 7: think they are really taking it seriously, so let's try
Speaker 7: and get them some lessons. And you know, I'm looking
Speaker 7: at a pink acoustic guitar currently.
Speaker 4: Our eldest is very keen.
Speaker 5: On is it birthday soon or is it coming up soon?
Speaker 7: So I'm like, oh, maybe you know, it's okay, you're serious,
Speaker 7: let's get.
Speaker 4: You a real guitar. Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's definitely navigating it in the way that letting
Speaker 7: them organically choose it. I mean my parents were very
Speaker 7: much like that, Casey's parents were very much like that.
Speaker 7: There was never a you know, show mum behind either
Speaker 7: of us going Okay, you know, it's been very organic,
Speaker 7: and I think that's the way to do it.
Speaker 6: And you guys would be the same. Just that how
Speaker 6: proud you are of your kids. It's just that's the
Speaker 6: best feeling when you just sit back. Sometimes I'll just
Speaker 6: you know, I'll just hear Charlie or any in the
Speaker 6: bedroom playing something and I'll just sit and listen and
Speaker 6: just go, that's just so cool, you know, it's awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think we both feel the same way. Me,
Speaker 3: I'm going to say me slightly more, only because because
Speaker 3: I have no musical talent. For me, it's just like
Speaker 3: this magical thing that's happened to our kids that just
Speaker 3: really blows my mind. That they can sing as well
Speaker 3: as they.
Speaker 4: Do, and they all musical, all the kids they are.
Speaker 4: They are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that our son, he's the middle. He's got a
Speaker 3: beautiful voice. He doesn't use it. He's actually more he's
Speaker 3: creative on the food side. But our two daughters very musical,
Speaker 3: really beautiful voices.
Speaker 1: I think Riv got dragged to enough of my gigs
Speaker 1: in La too. Know the amount of times I'd be
Speaker 1: playing there and then River would be front row and
Speaker 1: he'd be crawling on the floor. He'd be lying under
Speaker 1: the chairs, laying on his mum's lap asleep and he
Speaker 1: was like, Nah, I don't want to watch.
Speaker 5: Career that you have.
Speaker 6: You'd have some stories to share of your time in LA.
Speaker 6: I'm sure it's. Yeah, I've been lucky to spend a
Speaker 6: bit of time. And actually one of the when I
Speaker 6: wrote this song about Michelle, I wrote it in La
Speaker 6: with Funnily enough, another girl who was in the top
Speaker 6: twelve on Idol with me.
Speaker 5: Her name is Hayley Warner, and she's gone on to.
Speaker 6: Become a really prolific songwriter based in LA and she's
Speaker 6: written for some huge artists. Perry, Yeah, I really really
Speaker 6: love LA.
Speaker 5: I think it's a great place.
Speaker 6: But I've got probably more of a connection now with
Speaker 6: Nashville because of the country scene.
Speaker 5: But yeah, LA is definitely one incredible place.
Speaker 1: How often do you go there to the US and
Speaker 1: do you both go there or do you just go?
Speaker 4: Do you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I stay I've got a business back here and the
Speaker 7: girls obviously being in a really kind of important time
Speaker 7: with high school and everything, I stay home.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I've started to go a lot more frequently now,
Speaker 6: I guess over the last four or five years since
Speaker 6: signing with Chuggy and we were lucky enough to get
Speaker 6: my one.
Speaker 5: Visa, which means I can go back and forwards and work.
Speaker 6: And we've had, yeah, we've had a few little lucky
Speaker 6: breaks over the last couple of years. It's funny like
Speaker 6: certain festivals and stuff that we're on the vision board
Speaker 6: or the you know, one day I want to tick
Speaker 6: that off the bucket list. We finally have got to
Speaker 6: do a few, and in particular, there's a huge festival
Speaker 6: called Stagecoach.
Speaker 5: Which.
Speaker 6: It happens in California the week after Coachella, and I
Speaker 6: wanted to play it for a decade and it's just
Speaker 6: again one of those going way back to that bit
Speaker 6: of advice of play every show as though you never
Speaker 6: know who's in the crowd.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 6: So twelve months before that, we were playing CMC Rocks,
Speaker 6: which is our biggest country music festival here, and I
Speaker 6: didn't know any of this was happening in the background,
Speaker 6: but we're playing our set on the main stage and
Speaker 6: Chugg he's off to the side, and someone, actually a
Speaker 6: lady came over and just said, who is this guy?
Speaker 5: I really loved what they're doing.
Speaker 6: And as it happens, she's the promoter of the booker
Speaker 6: for Stage Coach and Chuggy and said, well this is
Speaker 6: Casey and anyway, cut a long story short, we ended
Speaker 6: up getting our spot on stage.
Speaker 5: Coach, congratulations. It was just so good.
Speaker 1: Have you done it yet? Did you play the stage yet?
Speaker 5: We did? We got to play main stage. Only was
Speaker 5: you to do that?
Speaker 6: And it was just a dream come true. You know,
Speaker 6: it was incredible. I could talk to you for half
Speaker 6: an hour about all.
Speaker 5: The worries about that.
Speaker 6: But but that's where, you know, doors have started to
Speaker 6: open up, and I'm going back and forwards to Nashville
Speaker 6: a lot a lot more now too, and starting to
Speaker 6: make some inroads.
Speaker 5: And you know that's the next that's the next big goal.
Speaker 5: You know. Talking about Keith, he's been great, Like I
Speaker 5: got to.
Speaker 6: Meet him on his last tour and we got to
Speaker 6: go backstage and have a chat to him, and I
Speaker 6: couldn't believe he actually knew my name. And he came
Speaker 6: and gave me a hug, and you know, he said,
Speaker 6: congratulations that we just won an Aria, the first time
Speaker 6: I ever won an Aria, And he gave and gave
Speaker 6: me a haga and said congratulations and gave me some
Speaker 6: really awesome advice of you know, what to do, and
Speaker 6: so that's that's the goal, you know, that.
Speaker 5: Is the big goal hopefully is to get over there
Speaker 5: and do more.
Speaker 1: So with all that travel, how do you guys stay connected?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a good it's a good point. We've just
Speaker 4: been so lucky in our relationship. Like honestly, I just
Speaker 4: I don't know how we do it.
Speaker 7: Because yeah, I mean, look, we've definitely had periods where
Speaker 7: you know, we've had to sit down and have a chat.
Speaker 4: You know, there's definitely been it's not been all roses.
Speaker 6: But trust is probably the biggest I think when either
Speaker 6: of us are away from each other, you know, there's
Speaker 6: never ever a seed of doubt in either of our
Speaker 6: minds that he might be getting up to mischief or
Speaker 6: she might be or it's always this incredible feeling of
Speaker 6: trust and knowing that you know, that's not even ever
Speaker 6: going to come into the equation.
Speaker 7: But I think maybe two, it is helpful that I
Speaker 7: lived not not to the degree of Casey, but I
Speaker 7: lived that life myself. And the perception of what you think,
Speaker 7: like the external world thinks happens on tour, and I'm
Speaker 7: sure it does. Like, don't get me wrong, there's plenty
Speaker 7: of artists that do live that kind of life. But
Speaker 7: if you could see his green room, it's comical. It's comical.
Speaker 7: It's like cups of tea and it is not rock
Speaker 7: and roll in any way shape. So yeah, and look,
Speaker 7: I think, you know, as we talked about having that
Speaker 7: foundation of a relationship that was just so solid as
Speaker 7: a friendship, for someone to be able to come in
Speaker 7: and mess that up, I just wish them luck because
Speaker 7: it's you know, what we've been through together. Yeah, I
Speaker 7: don't know that anyone could ever really come and rock
Speaker 7: that in any ways.
Speaker 4: It's a it's been a journey, you.
Speaker 7: Know, We've been through a lot as a couple, and
Speaker 7: I think, yeah, just that solid foundation that we had,
Speaker 7: but we do try and our connection, our thing is
Speaker 7: every night that we are home together, we sit on
Speaker 7: the couch, just the two of us and we have
Speaker 7: a cup of green tea every night that we are
Speaker 7: home together and we talk.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Nice, that's how we.
Speaker 5: Keep It's pretty wild.
Speaker 4: You are wild and crazy, you right, But.
Speaker 6: I think the fact that you know, you do those
Speaker 6: sort of things, and I'm sure it's the same with
Speaker 6: you guys.
Speaker 5: You've just got your own sense of humor as well.
Speaker 6: And we get one another where you know, we're both
Speaker 6: we're both stupid, and we both like to have have
Speaker 6: fun and.
Speaker 4: Send each other memes from one.
Speaker 5: And the other not take life too seriously.
Speaker 6: And I think the older we get, the more we
Speaker 6: start to get what life is all about.
Speaker 5: And I don't think it's about taking it too seriously.
Speaker 6: I think it's like taken every day as it comes
Speaker 6: and going with the flow. And I think that's that's
Speaker 6: a really important thing. And yeah, as I said, we're
Speaker 6: just super lucky that we've got that friendship that we've
Speaker 6: built everything on.
Speaker 4: You know, it's really beautiful.
Speaker 3: You do write songs, Casey from the heart and some
Speaker 3: of the experiences that you had in your life. For you, Michelle,
Speaker 3: how how do you feel when you hear Casey sing
Speaker 3: a song that reflects a piece of your shared journey.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's actually the biggest one for me, which was amazing,
Speaker 7: was when my dad passed away. He wrote a song
Speaker 7: about his own feeling on that, which I guess when
Speaker 7: you're going through that yourself, you don't really stop and
Speaker 7: kind of think about how they would be dealing with it.
Speaker 7: And I still remember, actually Chris Martin writing Fix You
Speaker 7: which was about Gwyneth when they were married at the
Speaker 7: time when her mother was her.
Speaker 4: Mother passed away. I think I think her.
Speaker 7: Dad her dad, Yeah, yeah, but him trying, wanting to
Speaker 7: fix her but not being able to, you know. And
Speaker 7: it is a really like grief is such a massive
Speaker 7: and poor Casey like he's had to go through that
Speaker 7: with me a lot.
Speaker 4: I've lost a lot of immediate family.
Speaker 7: And yeah, just for him to be able to pen
Speaker 7: that from his perspective and then for me to hear
Speaker 7: that song was just so amazing. And then you know,
Speaker 7: filming the music video down in my hometown, which is Yamber,
Speaker 7: which I think can ye, well.
Speaker 3: His favorite place on the planet.
Speaker 4: Let me tell you, we knew when the Dado Boys
Speaker 4: were in town.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we did that every September every year.
Speaker 7: It was a time for Yeah, all the girls in
Speaker 7: our area, we all knew when you guys are holiday.
Speaker 1: And had no idea, absolutely no. I have heard that before.
Speaker 1: And Ali and I were there a little what was
Speaker 1: last year or so, and I was I swam from
Speaker 1: a convent beach across to the surf beach and did
Speaker 1: that did that swim, which to me was always a panic,
Speaker 1: Like you know, holy crap, because I definitely saw Noah's
Speaker 1: arcs out there when we were surfing.
Speaker 5: Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1: But anyway, someone in that swimming group said the same thing,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what what are you talking about?
Speaker 4: You know, we were obviously very polite about it.
Speaker 1: Clearly, it's still my still my most favorite place. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So where I digress, Yamby Yamby, Yamber.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7: So we filmed the music video down there, and my
Speaker 7: dad was a deep sea fisherman, so yes, he saw
Speaker 7: plenty of those. But yeah, so we filmed it and
Speaker 7: it was all on a trawler and it was just
Speaker 7: it was the most amazing experience. It was just really
Speaker 7: special to me, and I guess through Casey writing that
Speaker 7: song and that whole experience was was just the most
Speaker 7: healing thing for me.
Speaker 4: It was beautiful.
Speaker 6: I'll try and give you the short version of this
Speaker 6: story too, but again, you know, without getting too out there,
Speaker 6: that song and how it came about was still to
Speaker 6: this day is probably one of the most trippy things
Speaker 6: that has ever happened to me. And when Ted passed away,
Speaker 6: we had the service down in Yamber and one of
Speaker 6: his favorite songs of all time was desperado by the Eagles,
Speaker 6: So we organized for a friend who's an incredible pianist
Speaker 6: to come along, and he came along and sang that
Speaker 6: song at the service, and shortly after that, I was
Speaker 6: organized to go down to finish off the album that
Speaker 6: I was recording at the time, and we sort of
Speaker 6: talked about should I go, should I stay, and that
Speaker 6: Michelle said no, you should go, And then I was
Speaker 6: in the studio with the boys and they said, how
Speaker 6: do you feel about writing a song, you know, about
Speaker 6: what you've just been through? And I just sort of
Speaker 6: said at the time, I don't know if fucking go there.
Speaker 5: It's pretty raw. I didn't know at the time.
Speaker 6: And we tried to work on something on the day
Speaker 6: and it just didn't happen. It wasn't flowing, it didn't
Speaker 6: feel natural, and it didn't feel right. So we left
Speaker 6: it and we parked it for the day and came
Speaker 6: back the next morning and we were both sitting around
Speaker 6: the studio with a cup of coffee having a chat,
Speaker 6: and Michael Painter, who I do a lot of writing with,
Speaker 6: had no idea of that backstory at all, and he
Speaker 6: sat down at the piano just to noodle and start
Speaker 6: playing with some ideas. And the first song he started
Speaker 6: playing was Desperado and I just lost the plot, like
Speaker 6: I just lost it, and the boys like, what's going on,
Speaker 6: and I just said, you just don't You don't understand.
Speaker 6: That was Ted's favorite song and this song then just
Speaker 6: happened and it wrote itself, and it's a song called
Speaker 6: set Sail, and it's all about when it's your time
Speaker 6: to go. It's your time and you can't fight against
Speaker 6: the current. It's a really deep song and it was
Speaker 6: nearly like Ted was getting a message through the song
Speaker 6: through me to get to Michelle and Michelle's mum Chris
Speaker 6: to go, It's okay, it's all right. You know, I'm
Speaker 6: still around. I'm going to keep an eye on you.
Speaker 6: It's it was my time to go. And it's just
Speaker 6: a really really deep song and.
Speaker 4: I meant so much to a lot of people.
Speaker 5: Exactly.
Speaker 6: I don't play it at every show because it's it's
Speaker 6: a it's a tough song to play, but when I do,
Speaker 6: without fail, there's there will be someone that will come
Speaker 6: up at the end of the night and share a
Speaker 6: story of you know, I can remember what we were
Speaker 6: on touring in the States, and a guy came up
Speaker 6: to me at the end of the night and he said,
Speaker 6: I wasn't meant to come tonight, but I did.
Speaker 5: My father just passed away, you.
Speaker 6: Know, two weeks ago, and I was but I must
Speaker 6: have been meant to be here to hear that song,
Speaker 6: and you know, it's it's just yeah, it's sort of
Speaker 6: grown legs and it's just one of those songs.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Casey's and we lost a baby as well, and
Speaker 7: Casey wrote a song about that as well, and.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's a it's a great way I
Speaker 4: think for men.
Speaker 7: You know, women were probably a lot better at being
Speaker 7: able to talk about our feelings and go through those experiences.
Speaker 7: I mean I went and sat in support groups when
Speaker 7: we lost our baby, you know.
Speaker 4: But Casey, I mean music was his way.
Speaker 7: Of being able to express his grief. I guess, so's
Speaker 7: it's nice for him to be able to do that.
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry to hear that. That's that must have
Speaker 3: been heartbreaking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it just feels like such a lifetime ago.
Speaker 7: There's been there's been so many different losses that you
Speaker 7: just you just go through it, don't you, with life
Speaker 7: like it just all of these different different losses and then,
Speaker 7: you know, Ali, you are just such a big part
Speaker 7: of my life in the last.
Speaker 4: Few years because I went through early menopause.
Speaker 7: Okay, so yeah, without you, I don't think I have
Speaker 7: got through that time. Honestly, I just felt like no one.
Speaker 7: I couldn't relate to anyone talking about it. Yeah, and
Speaker 7: then I saw you, who was someone that I idolized.
Speaker 7: You know at the time you know that I probably
Speaker 7: was was checking cam out in the amber.
Speaker 4: I was just as big a fan of yours. And
Speaker 4: to hear.
Speaker 7: This, you know, beautiful woman who had this successful partner
Speaker 7: and her own career kind of navigate that time just
Speaker 7: meant the world to me because I finally felt like
Speaker 7: I could identify with somebody going through it. So, you know,
Speaker 7: I felt like I kind of went through so many losses.
Speaker 7: I lost my brother he was thirty nine, We lost
Speaker 7: our baby, My dad died suddenly when he was on
Speaker 7: his way to our house.
Speaker 4: You know, it just was like bang, bang bang.
Speaker 7: And then hitting this perimenopause menopause time was just like
Speaker 7: are you joking? Yeah, and trying to you know, still
Speaker 7: be present as a mother and a partner and all
Speaker 7: of that staff was just so so hard and we
Speaker 7: got through it.
Speaker 4: It's just but thankfully.
Speaker 7: Yeah, having someone by my side who actually was willing
Speaker 7: to ride that way with me.
Speaker 4: Was Yeah. I feel so lucky.
Speaker 1: It sounds like Casey, you had your your music is
Speaker 1: your cathartic release.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 6: It's it's weird blokes find it a little bit harder
Speaker 6: to get stuff out, but for some reason, you know,
Speaker 6: I can go to a whole different place when it
Speaker 6: comes to writing and performing. You know, There'll be times
Speaker 6: where I'll sing those songs and I'll just be off
Speaker 6: in another world. But it's it's because I'm connecting to
Speaker 6: the deeper meaning of the song and what that's probably
Speaker 6: doing for me. Yeah, definitely has helped a lot, that's
Speaker 6: for sure. And that's one of the reasons that I've
Speaker 6: just love music in general so much, because the connection
Speaker 6: that you get, you know, through the songs and through
Speaker 6: through your music and a crowd, and that that energy
Speaker 6: that you can exchange through performing is just hard to beat.
Speaker 5: You know, it's the best, the best thing.
Speaker 7: I've only just learned an interesting thing about because I
Speaker 7: sang for a living and I sang every day, and
Speaker 7: I only just learned how unbelievably beneficial singing is for
Speaker 7: your nervous system.
Speaker 4: Yes, and your vagus nerve and all of that.
Speaker 7: I had no idea that it's I mean, I guess
Speaker 7: it makes sense because meditation, you.
Speaker 4: Know, is the hum and all of that.
Speaker 7: That humming and that sound and the vibration is actually
Speaker 7: a reset of your nervous system. So it's no wonder
Speaker 7: people find music and singing so cathartic and like a
Speaker 7: really amazing therapy.
Speaker 4: I guess it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and I always say, you know, I've
Speaker 3: never been a church goer, but my church is live music.
Speaker 3: That's when I am most connected to people around me.
Speaker 3: There's a spirit that just rises in my body that
Speaker 3: I'm like in tears listening to music that I love.
Speaker 3: It's just there's nothing like that experience of that.
Speaker 6: Agreed thank God that AI can't take that away, cannot
Speaker 6: It's a scary time, but you know, you cannot, you
Speaker 6: cannot replicate that feeling.
Speaker 5: I don't think if it's it'll be tough to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for Alliot's Mumford and Sons, Lumine Ears and we're
Speaker 1: coming to see Casey Barnes. When down to get up
Speaker 1: on the seats, mate, take Cam up for a song. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll do that. Hey a question then, I mean you've
Speaker 1: mentioned challenging times, and I reiterate what Al said. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry that you did lose a child and we
Speaker 1: all we all go through our version of different challenges.
Speaker 1: What advice do you have any advice for couples or
Speaker 1: people that are having their challenges right now?
Speaker 4: Hm?
Speaker 7: Oh gosh. I think it's just talk to each other,
Speaker 7: you know. I think that's the biggest mistake. Everyone makes.
Speaker 7: You go through your own personal hell, but you don't
Speaker 7: talk to each other, and I think that's that's the
Speaker 7: biggest thing. I mean, some people do find it difficult,
Speaker 7: but I think that communication is just everything because you
Speaker 7: really don't know.
Speaker 4: What each other are really feeling. Deeply, I think it's just.
Speaker 6: So and everyone's on different trajectories and timelines of when
Speaker 6: they're getting through stuff like That's one of the things
Speaker 6: that you do learn is that you know when it
Speaker 6: comes to grief, especially when you lose a family member.
Speaker 5: For Michelle, that doesn't go away.
Speaker 6: It's not like you just click your fingers and go, well,
Speaker 6: hang on, shake that off.
Speaker 5: Now, let's get back into life. It's always going to
Speaker 5: be there.
Speaker 6: So I guess you just need to roll with the
Speaker 6: punches and have you know, as much compassion as you can.
Speaker 6: And you know, also, nobody's perfect. And I can look
Speaker 6: back on different times, you know, like when Michelle lost
Speaker 6: her brother, which was the first big loss we had,
Speaker 6: there were times in that where.
Speaker 5: I wished I could have handled it a little bit better.
Speaker 4: Well, you'd never experienced loss before. So that's the thing.
Speaker 7: It's very difficult to know how to help somebody if
Speaker 7: you've never experienced it, and until you have, you really
Speaker 7: don't know the enormity of what that.
Speaker 4: Person is going through. So you can't beat yourself up
Speaker 4: over that because you didn't know. You didn't really know.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't until probably my dad passed away.
Speaker 7: Because Casey had a very close relationship with my dad
Speaker 7: and we lost a baby, he was equally.
Speaker 4: And where he really felt that enormity of loss.
Speaker 6: And you know, man, we get so deep into this. Yeah,
Speaker 6: it's it's really interesting. Like I'm in a unique situation too.
Speaker 6: I grew up with a parent who I'm very very
Speaker 6: close to, my mum, but she suffers from mental illness
Speaker 6: and so she's had bipolar since I was a baby,
Speaker 6: and there's been a lot that's a massive can of
Speaker 6: worms open there, And there's been a lot of stuff
Speaker 6: that I've gone through growing up where I've had to
Speaker 6: learn coping mechanisms of how to deal with that, and
Speaker 6: times where my mum's just gone. It's not the person
Speaker 6: that I know, and I've had to build up this.
Speaker 6: I don't like a lot of that, feeling like I've
Speaker 6: built up this barrier of numbness sometimes to its horrible
Speaker 6: stuff that's happened because that's my only way growing up
Speaker 6: I can cope with it, and I don't like that.
Speaker 6: I wish there was a way to magically fix that.
Speaker 6: But sometimes when you do go through, you know, stuff
Speaker 6: that happens in life that will come back, that habit
Speaker 6: will come back because that's.
Speaker 5: Sort of what you've been used to.
Speaker 6: But you know, that's everyone's got their own their own story,
Speaker 6: and I think the more compassionate we are for each
Speaker 6: other in general, it's everyone's got stuff going on, that's
Speaker 6: for sure.
Speaker 4: That's exactly right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a phrase that I've heard where what what
Speaker 3: you did to survive your childhood can sometimes destroy you
Speaker 3: as an adult, so it's you know, you had to
Speaker 3: do that to survive, you know, your childhood. And you know,
Speaker 3: I understand that from my perspective. You know, you compartmentalize
Speaker 3: things so you can keep moving ahead. As a kid,
Speaker 3: you don't know you're doing it, but come to an
Speaker 3: adult and I'm like, WHOA, why am I having this
Speaker 3: experience and being so triggered by that. It's like, ah, well,
Speaker 3: now I know where that came from, you know.
Speaker 4: So yeah, And.
Speaker 5: It's funny with my mum.
Speaker 6: You know, I was only literally only talking to her
Speaker 6: on the phone yesterday, and and you know, even though
Speaker 6: we've gone through some horrific stuff over the journey and
Speaker 6: it's been tough, but I could not love my mum anymore.
Speaker 6: And we've got a super super close relationship. And even
Speaker 6: with her own challenges with her mental health, she's she
Speaker 6: is one of the wisest, most.
Speaker 5: She's just tapped in.
Speaker 6: She gets so many things, and she's she's always teaches
Speaker 6: me a lot of stuff about, you know, letting go
Speaker 6: and not not trying to control things as much as
Speaker 6: we all try and do in life, and just letting
Speaker 6: things flow. And she's taught me a lot. You know,
Speaker 6: which I'm grateful for. So it's it's interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, guys, thank you so much for coming in and
Speaker 1: speaking with us. And yes, our podcast is the heart
Speaker 1: of it and you've you've given us a lot of
Speaker 1: heart and so thank you so much. We would ask
Speaker 1: one thing before we go. We do. We have a
Speaker 1: rapid fire heartbeat and put the pulse on you. So
Speaker 1: we've got a couple of questions. Just keep your answers short.
Speaker 1: How about that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're going to ask you both the same ask.
Speaker 1: You both answer the same question. You go first, right, What.
Speaker 3: Brings you joy?
Speaker 5: Music? Family?
Speaker 4: Exactly the same?
Speaker 1: Okay, one time you'd like to revisit.
Speaker 5: I would.
Speaker 6: I would like to redo when your brother passed away,
Speaker 6: if i'd love to redo that.
Speaker 7: The immediate thing that came to my mind was the
Speaker 7: moment I saw both of our babies faces for the
Speaker 7: first time. Yes, that will never ever, I don't know
Speaker 7: anything can ever top it.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 3: That what do you miss when you're not together?
Speaker 1: Green tea on the couch?
Speaker 4: Thank us?
Speaker 5: The little things, just our sense of humor and banter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one word to describe each other.
Speaker 4: Powerful, everything, so gorgeous.
Speaker 1: I love that, Love that question and what the responses
Speaker 1: but we've had it's so amazing, but.
Speaker 4: It was not rapid. It was like, really, we had
Speaker 4: to think about that.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, thank you both so much. We actually had
Speaker 3: so many more questions for you. We could have spoken
Speaker 3: to you for another hour. You've you've really been open
Speaker 3: and vulnerable with us. So thank you so much for
Speaker 3: your wisdom and for your love and just sharing who
Speaker 3: the both of you are with us.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I just wanted to say also add something, Michelle,
Speaker 1: thank you for reminding me of Yamber, because it does.
Speaker 1: It is a joyous place for me. And one of
Speaker 1: the memories I guess this would be tied up with
Speaker 1: your dad. One of the great most peaceful memory. He's
Speaker 1: the best things for me to do in Yamber it
Speaker 1: is to sit on the cliff on Ocean Street and
Speaker 1: watch the trawlers come in at sunrise.
Speaker 4: Probably one of them was Michelle's.
Speaker 1: Daddy, maybe you know, watching all those trawlers line up
Speaker 1: and in they come, and and same when they go
Speaker 1: out through the through the through the wall at the
Speaker 1: end the late afternoon. It sure is. It's unique.
Speaker 4: It's just great.
Speaker 1: So thank you.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. Guy, thank you