Speaker 1: Check one too. I'm a little bit horse today because
Speaker 1: this is the day after the show.
Speaker 2: What his voice sounds like in the mid afternoon From
Speaker 2: The Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front.
Speaker 2: I'm Claire Harvey. It's better to burn out than fade away,
Speaker 2: sings Neil Young in the song hey Hey My My
Speaker 2: ironic given the fact he's still performing after sixty years
Speaker 2: in the music biz, I guess it's a more romantic
Speaker 2: idea to spectacularly flame out in love and life than
Speaker 2: to just endure. There's not many songs about consistency or perseverance,
Speaker 2: but staying relevant and experiencing longevity in any artistic career
Speaker 2: is a huge achievement. Today we look at Australian singer
Speaker 2: Sarah Blasco's enduring career and how it's small towns the
Speaker 2: Australian bush that have helped keep Blascow's flame burning bright.
Speaker 1: So everybody's setting up their instruments and I'm standing my
Speaker 1: outfit with the in house stammer.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is the rock and roll lifestyle, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Earlier this year, our audio producer Jasper League got
Speaker 2: an email from Sarah Blasco with an offer. Sarah was
Speaker 2: on the hunt for a bass player for her regional
Speaker 2: tour promoting her new album I Just Want to Conquer
Speaker 2: This Mountain. With shows booked for weekends falling neatly around
Speaker 2: his work schedule, Jasper jumped at the opportunity to work
Speaker 2: with one of Australia's best singers. He packed his bass
Speaker 2: and gig outfits, along with a microphone and a camera
Speaker 2: to interview Sarah and shoot some video and record some
Speaker 2: audio along the way.
Speaker 1: To my memory, I started doing regional tours probably on
Speaker 1: my second record, and I've always done it. I get
Speaker 1: the feeling that that matters to people. If you consistently
Speaker 1: go to their place and the people at the venue
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, welcome back, and they appreciate that you're
Speaker 1: doing that. And then yeah, but I just love playing shows,
Speaker 1: so I wanted to play as many as possible, And
Speaker 1: if you just played the cities, you'd literally be playing
Speaker 1: five shows each time you put a record out, which
Speaker 1: to me feels disappointing.
Speaker 4: I'm only looking forward, I don't look back. And when
Speaker 4: you hear something by someone new, like you first hear
Speaker 4: at Tcheran or as a goal in Australia called Sarah Blasco.
Speaker 4: And whenever you hear something new that inspires you from
Speaker 4: the young, it makes you feel I'm going to do that.
Speaker 4: I want to do it. Once you stop, you die.
Speaker 2: That's the voice of Elton John in a segment of
Speaker 2: James Corden's Couple Karaoke. Neatly articulating and instinct shared by
Speaker 2: artists all over the world. The need to create, record
Speaker 2: and perform and to do so for as long as possible,
Speaker 2: no matter what.
Speaker 1: Recently, I have to sit down and listen to my
Speaker 1: first record a lot because I'm putting it out on
Speaker 1: vinyl for the first time. And as I was listening
Speaker 1: to it, I could sense from what I was trying
Speaker 1: to do with the artwork and the songs of the
Speaker 1: sentiment was to sort of show that I wanted to
Speaker 1: do this.
Speaker 4: For a long time.
Speaker 1: So I was kind of in a way, kind of
Speaker 1: proud of myself that that was what I wanted, and
Speaker 1: I was kind of trying to set that up. So
Speaker 1: for me, it was just about that I would have
Speaker 1: loved to have had a song that was huge, or
Speaker 1: to go on like David Letterman or like all those
Speaker 1: sorts of things were like, oh, that be amazing to
Speaker 1: have an international career. In fact, it was quite brutal
Speaker 1: at one point where I kind of realized, oh, that
Speaker 1: wasn't going to happen. Then you regroup and work out
Speaker 1: you know that those things aren't actually career goals as such.
Speaker 1: Like the music, the projects are the actual making of
Speaker 1: the music. I always have to think, well, how can
Speaker 1: I make the most of what I have? So this
Speaker 1: is one of the things I have. I have these
Speaker 1: small pockets of people who want to come and see
Speaker 1: me play all over the place, which is actually a godsend,
Speaker 1: really like, it's really very fortunate. And then you realize, yeah,
Speaker 1: not everybody does have that.
Speaker 2: There's something very rock and roll about the way she's
Speaker 2: living out her art now, which is not to curl
Speaker 2: up in a ball and be sad that she didn't
Speaker 2: end up playing Madison Square Garden or the O two
Speaker 2: Arena that she's playing the be a Chuka Town Hall, a.
Speaker 3: Chuker Paramount Theater, which is actually a cinema. We were
Speaker 3: playing in theater I while the latest Hollywood blockbus that
Speaker 3: was playing in the theater next door.
Speaker 2: It's so cool to embrace that be proud of that
Speaker 2: and throw herself into it being a touring artist in
Speaker 2: the way that she can. She's not giving in to
Speaker 2: the disappointment that she's obviously felt at some points in
Speaker 2: her career that she's not Lady Gaga.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Growing up in Australia, so many young artists have
Speaker 3: these aspirations of going overseas and it's almost like the
Speaker 3: size of the venue is somehow the best barometer of
Speaker 3: how your career is going. But I guess the nature
Speaker 3: of dreams is that they do evolve over time, they
Speaker 3: do change, and they mature. And she's arrived at this
Speaker 3: point in her career where instead of looking around and
Speaker 3: thinking about the things that she doesn't have, she's grateful
Speaker 3: for the things that she does have. I think it's
Speaker 3: a real antidote to bitterness. And what she does have
Speaker 3: is something that has eluded so many artists, and that
Speaker 3: is longevity. She can rock up to pretty much any
Speaker 3: talent around our country and a couple hundred people are
Speaker 3: going to come out to see her. That's a significant
Speaker 3: achievement and is the byproduct of a lot of hard
Speaker 3: work and consistent output.
Speaker 2: Regional venues face an inherent challenge which comes down to
Speaker 2: money and geography, securing high quality acts that attract audiences
Speaker 2: big enough to keep venues operating. Some venues struggle to
Speaker 2: bounce back after COVID lockdowns, and it's estimated more than
Speaker 2: thirteen hundred Australian live music venues have closed since the
Speaker 2: pandemic due to increases in public liability costs, rising rents
Speaker 2: and energy prices. So who's helping these places stay afloat?
Speaker 5: Made muchical.
Speaker 1: The vibe in a lot of those places is very
Speaker 1: different because a lot of the people are volunteers, so
Speaker 1: there's definitely a different energy.
Speaker 3: It's not there.
Speaker 1: Job as such, it's kind of more, you know, something
Speaker 1: that they're trying to foster in their community. The theater
Speaker 1: draws people that maybe they want to see from the
Speaker 1: city to that place. If you're into the arts, or
Speaker 1: you're you know, you love music, or who you want
Speaker 1: to get out one night a month or whatever, then yeah,
Speaker 1: you would put your energy into it because you probably
Speaker 1: know that you know that's your lifeline in that place,
Speaker 1: and it creates an atmosphere in the community. Like I
Speaker 1: really felt that in the Brunswick Kids Place, there was
Speaker 1: a couple of people that were hanging around at the
Speaker 1: end that were clearly just in the community, but had
Speaker 1: made friends with the owners and come to things there
Speaker 1: all the time, and you can feel that they're invested,
Speaker 1: Like they were wearing their Brunswick Picture House T shirt
Speaker 1: and they're keeping it alive.
Speaker 3: I did manage to ask a couple of volunteers why
Speaker 3: they did do that, and their motivations were almost always
Speaker 3: for the benefit of their community. They understood what these
Speaker 3: concerts brought to their community, the sort of the enriching
Speaker 3: nature of these concerts, and that's something that was important
Speaker 3: to them and that they wanted to continue to contribute to.
Speaker 3: I almost likened it to like people who retire and
Speaker 3: end up working for the rfs or community radio stations
Speaker 3: or something like that. You know, these people are community
Speaker 3: minded and they understand the value that these venues bring
Speaker 3: to their communities.
Speaker 2: Coming up how Blasco's childhood in the church is shaping
Speaker 2: her musical present. Sarah Blasco's latest album, I Just Want
Speaker 2: to Conquer This Mountain, her seventh studio album, is Honest
Speaker 2: and Raw. It's produced by Blasco with Nords to Nigel
Speaker 2: Godrich's work with Beck and French group air, and though
Speaker 2: there are large ensemble moments, it's largely driven by the
Speaker 2: piano and Blasco's incredible voice. The album is also autobiographical.
Speaker 5: Okay, Out of the Marriage one Roz only twenty six
Speaker 5: a Ladda Novo Giller Mosa the Wog.
Speaker 1: I grew up in the church, and like in the
Speaker 1: Pentecostal church where everybody would kind of make up all
Speaker 1: of these songs. As much as I kind of turned
Speaker 1: my back again on the on the church, there was
Speaker 1: something really beautiful about that experience and performing live, I
Speaker 1: just love the community of it. I think as well,
Speaker 1: like there's something about the way that when everyone is
Speaker 1: interacting and playing together, you you're not necessarily looking at
Speaker 1: each other or it's just a very intangible, magical kind
Speaker 1: of feeling.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 2: There's something very evocative about these little venues. They feel
Speaker 2: a bit like church halls, don't they. And they feel
Speaker 2: a bit like church meetings with people who are not
Speaker 2: your normal necessarily rock and roll crowd sitting in chairs
Speaker 2: or on pews, you know, looking up at the stage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's such a good way of looking at it.
Speaker 3: And I hadn't seen the overlap between these regional venues
Speaker 3: in the church. But you're absolutely right. Probably the biggest
Speaker 3: thing that they have in common is that they function
Speaker 3: as community hubs as much as they do anything else.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously they're set up as music venues, but
Speaker 3: it's almost like the music is an excuse to get
Speaker 3: the community together. And this isn't to take away from
Speaker 3: any artists that manage to draw a crowd in the country,
Speaker 3: but the reality years there's less to do in these places.
Speaker 3: And we actually played a place called Brunswick Picture House,
Speaker 3: which is a converted cinema up in Brunswick Heads on
Speaker 3: the Northern Rivers, and there was a huge sign outside
Speaker 3: that venue that said get off the telly, come to
Speaker 3: a concert. Something like that. Artists like Sarah who breathe
Speaker 3: in and out of these towns, they sort of act
Speaker 3: like magnets really for those local communities. But another way
Speaker 3: it's reflected is the age spread and the diversity in
Speaker 3: the crowds. It's not like a concert in the city
Speaker 3: where certain bands draw a certain crowd that all dressed
Speaker 3: the same or have similar haircuts. Some of these venues
Speaker 3: that we'd go and play, you'd have three generations under
Speaker 3: one roof.
Speaker 2: That sign about getting off the telly and getting out
Speaker 2: to a live show. I mean, that's relevant for all
Speaker 2: of us, isn't it, especially when the best television that
Speaker 2: has ever been made is available for us all every night.
Speaker 2: What do you think about that idea that we have
Speaker 2: sort of an obligation to go out and experience entertainment live.
Speaker 3: I think the obligations on everybody. I think the obligations
Speaker 3: on audiences for being honest with yourself and thinking, hey,
Speaker 3: have I gotten a bit sort of stuck in my ways?
Speaker 3: Maybe I should make more of an effort to go
Speaker 3: out and support the arts in whatever form that might be.
Speaker 3: But there's a responsibility on performers and musicians in this
Speaker 3: case as well to entice people off the couch. And
Speaker 3: I think Sarah does deliver that she has a gift.
Speaker 3: She's an incredible singer. To see her sing and to
Speaker 3: hear her perform her music is a really attractive alternative
Speaker 3: to another night of watching Love Is Blind or Maths
Speaker 3: in my case, So.
Speaker 2: How has Sarah Blasco enticed people off the couch and
Speaker 2: built a national audience?
Speaker 5: Kids A drive inside just bus meby.
Speaker 1: I used to get played on Triple J and that
Speaker 1: had a huge effect on my touring and playing festivals
Speaker 1: and everything.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it's probably just been that period of time
Speaker 1: where I've just kept going at this point, so people
Speaker 1: might know the name or know my cover of Flame
Speaker 1: Trees at the very least.
Speaker 4: The Choshnus.
Speaker 5: Bless makes.
Speaker 2: Sarah Blasco performs for the last two shows of her
Speaker 2: tour this weekend in Hobart and Lawnceston and Jaska will
Speaker 2: be there. You can watch tool video called Longevity at
Speaker 2: the Australian dot com dot a you right now thanks
Speaker 2: for joining us on the front this week. Our team
Speaker 2: is Jasper League, who produced and edited this episode and
Speaker 2: composed our music regular producer Kristin Amiot, Stephanie Coombs, Tiffany Dimack,
Speaker 2: Joshua Burton, Leat Sammagloo and me Claire Harvey.