Speaker 1: People do things for money most of the time. That's
Speaker 1: the thing that's I think that's a big mistake. They
Speaker 1: make decisions based on money and how they can get
Speaker 1: more money, and they'll work the whole life to get
Speaker 1: more money and then don't really get to use it
Speaker 1: that much. When that promise gods to go and play
Speaker 1: handball with all them and their mates right through to
Speaker 1: when the bell started and they go, you know, so
Speaker 1: by the time I don't have to race off to work.
Speaker 1: That's what I was chasing and that's what I wanted,
Speaker 1: so my success I achieved it.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Sees the YA Podcast. Busy and happy
Speaker 2: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what
Speaker 2: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but
Speaker 2: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than
Speaker 2: one way. So this is a platform to hear and
Speaker 2: explore the stories of those who found lives. They adore
Speaker 2: the good, bad and ugly. The best and worst day
Speaker 2: will bear all the facets of seizing your yay. I'm
Speaker 2: Sarah Davidson or a spoonful of Sarah, a lawyer turned
Speaker 2: fu entrepreneur whos wapped the suits and heels to co
Speaker 2: found matcha Maiden and Matcham Milk bark cz The Ya
Speaker 2: is a series of comfort on finding a life you
Speaker 2: love and exploring the self doubt, challenge, joy and fulfillment
Speaker 2: along the way. Lovely Neighborhood. This week, we have a
Speaker 2: voice in your ears that needs no introduction. His music
Speaker 2: has been a formative part of so many of our lives,
Speaker 2: and I'm pinching myself to have him here for you today.
Speaker 2: I'm talking, of course, about multi platinum selling singer and
Speaker 2: songwriter Pete Murray. My husband Nick doesn't fangirl many people,
Speaker 2: if anybody, but as an OG follower who had Pete's
Speaker 2: very first original independent EP, the only person more excited
Speaker 2: about this interview than I was was Nick. I pretty
Speaker 2: much had to lock him out of the room, and
Speaker 2: that never happens. Pete's incredible career, selling over one point
Speaker 2: two million albums, releasing three ARIA chart topping albums, and
Speaker 2: having seventeen ARIA nominations is no secret, but perhaps even
Speaker 2: more so than any guest we've had on before, it's
Speaker 2: what came before that that's so powerful in reminding us
Speaker 2: all that not only nothing happen overnight, some magic strikes
Speaker 2: later in life. Than you'd expect. While twenty one years
Speaker 2: old isn't old by any normal standards, I would never
Speaker 2: have guessed that this was the first time Pete ever
Speaker 2: picked up a guitar, let alone started writing music after
Speaker 2: his earlier years, showing every indication of a career in sport.
Speaker 2: I loved learning about Pete's younger years, all the stuff
Speaker 2: that you don't hear about as much as his musical career,
Speaker 2: his process for writing songs, how he defines success. He's
Speaker 2: fascinating combination of self doubt and self belief, which I
Speaker 2: think a lot of us can identify with, and everything
Speaker 2: in between. With fresh new music and a new tour
Speaker 2: about to kick off, we had plenty to talk about
Speaker 2: and I hope you all enjoy. Pete Murray, Welcome to CZZA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and nice to be here, Nice to chat.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. I mean, your voice is not new
Speaker 2: to anybody, but it's new to me. For it to
Speaker 2: be in real time. This is such a great privilege
Speaker 2: to be sitting down with you, so I'm so grateful
Speaker 2: for your time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, talk to you as well.
Speaker 2: And as I mentioned, my husband, people listening will know
Speaker 2: he doesn't fan girl many people, but He was one
Speaker 2: of the very, very og followers of yours back in
Speaker 2: I think, as you mentioned, the first independent ep D day,
Speaker 2: and you've been a formative part of so many of
Speaker 2: our lives. So yeah, it's just amazing to be sitting
Speaker 2: down with you. But one thing I heard you on
Speaker 2: the project the other day, and one of the things
Speaker 2: on this show that I love to talk about is
Speaker 2: the fact that now we all know the whole nation
Speaker 2: and people all around the world know Pete Murray, multi
Speaker 2: platinum selling artist, one point two million albums, sold three
Speaker 2: ARIA chart topping albums. I think you've had seventeen ARIA nominations.
Speaker 2: It would be easy to assume you were born with
Speaker 2: a guitar in your hand. You always knew what you
Speaker 2: wanted to do. But it blew me away that you
Speaker 2: didn't start until your twenties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was twenty one or twenty two, I think
Speaker 1: when I first picked up a guitar. I had there
Speaker 1: was a friend. Did I say it on the project?
Speaker 1: I can't remember what we spoke about on the project
Speaker 1: the other night, but yeah, the story goes I was
Speaker 1: living with a made of mine. He was studying teaching
Speaker 1: and I was doing natural medicine, and he just came
Speaker 1: into a room one day was really excited, like, I'm
Speaker 1: going to go get a guitarist and I've always wanted
Speaker 1: to do it, so I'm going to go and do it.
Speaker 1: And I thought to himself, far, that sounds really cool.
Speaker 1: I've never thought about doing that because my whole background
Speaker 1: was kind of sport. I loved being involved in sport,
Speaker 1: and you know, even doing the studies was heading down
Speaker 1: that path of still staying involved with sport. But when
Speaker 1: you mentioned that, I was like, Okay, that sounds really cool.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll go get a guitar. Listen too. So we
Speaker 1: were like, yeah, let's go and do it. And it
Speaker 1: turns out that I did it and he didn't, so
Speaker 1: which was it was the reason that I started, you know,
Speaker 1: And sadly, a couple of years later he passed away.
Speaker 1: It was only thirty two at that stage. I was
Speaker 1: twenty two, so we were really good mates for a
Speaker 1: couple of years there and then he passed away. But
Speaker 1: I can't you know, I really believe in fate and
Speaker 1: I believe I was meant to meet him, and he
Speaker 1: was the guy that sort of got me on this
Speaker 1: journey and I named my first son after him, Charlie
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: So well, I'm a big believer in fate as well,
Speaker 2: and the fact that even if you start off on
Speaker 2: a path that maybe isn't the one for you, it's
Speaker 2: really hard when you're in that moment to believe that
Speaker 2: it will all work out. And I think that's why
Speaker 2: I love going back to the very beginning of people's journey.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned that like you had a whole life
Speaker 2: plan for yourself before you even knew music, that you
Speaker 2: even had talent, let alone the talent that you ended
Speaker 2: up having. And I love to go through the very
Speaker 2: early bits to remind people how many years you didn't
Speaker 2: know that was going to happen before. So, like, let's
Speaker 2: go back all the way to Chinchilla, Humble Chinchilla, the birthplace,
Speaker 2: moving to Brisy. Like you said, I was reading your
Speaker 2: school years and none of it was music. It was
Speaker 2: all sport. You played club rugby like you were going
Speaker 2: to do sports medicine. You had this whole other pathway
Speaker 2: And it just is so fascinating to me that you
Speaker 2: don't have to wake up when you're five and know
Speaker 2: what you're going to do.
Speaker 1: Oh, No, life changes you know, and that's the thing
Speaker 1: that I guess I tell my kids and a lot
Speaker 1: of other people too, like, you know, you don't have
Speaker 1: to do the same job or you know, your whole life.
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of life. You change, I think from
Speaker 1: twenty to thirty it's such a big change from who
Speaker 1: you start at twenty a week who end up, you know,
Speaker 1: as at thirty and every decade you seem to kind
Speaker 1: of change a little bit. But early life was just yeah,
Speaker 1: I was brought up swimming in athletics. Athletics is probably
Speaker 1: my real big passion when I was younger than I
Speaker 1: played started playing a bit of football later, but as
Speaker 1: I left school, I really sort of still followed athletics
Speaker 1: for a while. I had goals of running the come
Speaker 1: off Games or Olympics, and I kind of got to
Speaker 1: the age where I was twenty one, I think, and
Speaker 1: I was at that point of like, you know, either
Speaker 1: I keep doing athletics, but it was a really hard slog.
Speaker 1: There's no money unless you want to go on my Olympics,
Speaker 1: and I was running eight hundreds was kind of my race,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just there was a lot of
Speaker 1: work involved in that, and I thought I don't really
Speaker 1: have the passion for it any more. So I went
Speaker 1: back and played rugby for a bit and loved playing footy.
Speaker 1: That was that was great. It's more social. You can
Speaker 1: have a beer afterwards and you can have some fun.
Speaker 1: So that was kind of my life, a sport, you know,
Speaker 1: and music just happened to be fall into my lap.
Speaker 1: And you know, even when I had had three lessons,
Speaker 1: I didn't learn much from those lessons because I knew
Speaker 1: nothing about it. But I borrowed the guy's book back then,
Speaker 1: because there's no internet, I borrowed the guy's book, the
Speaker 1: teacher's book, and I learned taught myself how to play,
Speaker 1: and then traveled overseas and met buskers and learned more.
Speaker 1: I told I came back home, I was really enjoying
Speaker 1: playing music and just playing covers on the guitar. Really
Speaker 1: And before I came home, I was living in a
Speaker 1: two better inflat in London with nineteen other Aussies. What
Speaker 1: that's what we kind of did when you're backpacking. No
Speaker 1: one had any money, so we were just were sleeping
Speaker 1: on floors and chairs and mattresses, and it was myself
Speaker 1: and Angus McDonald from sneaky sound system where were mates
Speaker 1: and bed by mates from you know, rugby days and
Speaker 1: thanks is always always done music for you know, his
Speaker 1: whole life and learning how to play and write his
Speaker 1: own stuff, and I just kind of started late. So
Speaker 1: we would have this one night where he was playing
Speaker 1: one of his original songs and I'd play a cover
Speaker 1: and you played original play cover, and one of the
Speaker 1: girls that was living there with the said, well, plays
Speaker 1: one of your songs. I was like, I don't write songs,
Speaker 1: and she said why not, and I said, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just don't and she said, well you should. That
Speaker 1: was the first time where okay, well maybe I will.
Speaker 1: So that's really the first time I started to think,
Speaker 1: well maybe I should. So I tried to do that then,
Speaker 1: and that's when I came back home became a little
Speaker 1: bit more passionate about it. But I was still just
Speaker 1: doing the covers thing for a while. So you know,
Speaker 1: that's just faked how things kind of happened, and you
Speaker 1: know you got to, I guess, listen to the signals
Speaker 1: and where you should be going.
Speaker 2: Totally. I'm a big believer in like the sliding doors
Speaker 2: moment and how you can't necessarily bring them on. You
Speaker 2: don't know when you're going to meet that person or
Speaker 2: when that opportunity is going to come up, but you
Speaker 2: just have to be ready for the fact that when
Speaker 2: it does, you don't let it pass you by because
Speaker 2: you didn't have to listen to any of that advice
Speaker 2: or explore that new interest in you. And I think
Speaker 2: the really big thing that happens to a lot of
Speaker 2: people is they think it's too late. That's kind of
Speaker 2: the ongoing narrative. It's too late. I didn't start on time.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be able to catch up.
Speaker 1: I don't think age should get in the way of anyone,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean physically, Yeah, there's some things you
Speaker 1: can't do physically, but you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: things you can achieve. Doesn't matter how old you are.
Speaker 1: You can really just set your mind. If that's what
Speaker 1: we want to do, we go, because you're going to
Speaker 1: get one life. Well we might get multiplized, you know.
Speaker 1: I'm still you know, who knows.
Speaker 2: The jury is still out on that one.
Speaker 1: There's probably another chance you might come back, but not
Speaker 1: as us, you know, So this is a life as
Speaker 1: we are now, and you've got to make the most
Speaker 1: of that and make sure that that you're doing what
Speaker 1: you want to do and not and you're not unhappy.
Speaker 2: And I think that's even more why this show is
Speaker 2: called Sees the AA and not Seize the Day, is
Speaker 2: that there's so much of just trying to seize opportunities
Speaker 2: without even knowing if you care about them or if
Speaker 2: they if you enjoy them at all. And I love
Speaker 2: that you, Yeah, you stumbled upon this new passion and
Speaker 2: then able to turn it into something amazing. And a
Speaker 2: lot of people wouldn't learn a new instrument kind of
Speaker 2: in their twenties, let alone then learn to write music,
Speaker 2: which is an entirely different thing, and then turn it
Speaker 2: into a career is like a whole new a new level.
Speaker 1: Falling on from what you're saying there, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to learn an instrument and play and write songs, that's
Speaker 1: one thing. But then I was getting to the age
Speaker 1: where I was I was thirty and I was recording
Speaker 1: my first independent album. Like that's pretty old, you know,
Speaker 1: when you're in the music industry and you're doing your
Speaker 1: first independ album. And I remember that was a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on myself to go, what am I doing?
Speaker 1: And like this is I should be going back and
Speaker 1: finishing my studies and getting a real job. But I
Speaker 1: thought I've always been a big liver in doing what
Speaker 1: makes you happy and what you wanted to really, not
Speaker 1: sort of going and doing something that you know you
Speaker 1: don't want to be doing. And for me, even the
Speaker 1: natural medicine would have been great, but it would have
Speaker 1: been a lot of time probably in a room working
Speaker 1: on people's injuries and things like that. So I just
Speaker 1: didn't want to be doing that. I wanted to find
Speaker 1: a job that would take me around the world and
Speaker 1: give me different experiences, and that's what I was looking for.
Speaker 1: So it was a lifestyle choice.
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh my gosh. See I love this because I
Speaker 2: think we do spend, particularly in our early years, time
Speaker 2: making decisions not based on the lifestyle it involves. It's
Speaker 2: just the title you mentioned, like what you should do
Speaker 2: what society thinks that you should do. Obviously, if you
Speaker 2: show prowess in Australia in sport, it's sort of like, well,
Speaker 2: of course you do that. Why would you go into
Speaker 2: the arts, which is it's so hard to make it,
Speaker 2: you know, the odds are so small and it's really
Speaker 2: hard to listen to your inner voice that's telling you, actually,
Speaker 2: I think I could do something with this. But one
Speaker 2: of the things we talk about a lot on the
Speaker 2: show is the concept of like self doubt and imposter syndrome,
Speaker 2: even if you're not a late comer, so to speak,
Speaker 2: in your industry. And I've heard you say that even
Speaker 2: though FeelA has become an album that is not only
Speaker 2: like a multi million copy selling album but formative for
Speaker 2: it's ironic that you talked about your twenties and thirties.
Speaker 2: I think it's been formative for so many of our
Speaker 2: twenties to thirties. It's that you didn't re listen to
Speaker 2: it for eight years because you didn't think it was good. Like,
Speaker 2: how's that for imposter syndrome?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's something that can happen when you're very
Speaker 1: close to your own music, because you're too busy pulling
Speaker 1: it apart and going what I don't like about it
Speaker 1: rather than going what do I like about it? And
Speaker 1: I think it was a very difficult time because I
Speaker 1: just couldn't listen to it. I didn't think it was
Speaker 1: going to work. I thought it was going to fail,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh, this is I've bomb my chance
Speaker 1: of trying to do this, you know, and I was
Speaker 1: very I was shocked when things started to work and
Speaker 1: I couldn't hear the beauty of that album until eight
Speaker 1: years later, and I got a text from Darren Middleton
Speaker 1: from Powderfinger, going, mate, just listen to feel like, what
Speaker 1: a great album. And I'm thinking, is it you know, Like,
Speaker 1: so I'm sitting here, going, I'm confinding myself it must be.
Speaker 1: It must be someth good about this because people love it,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's just it's been around the world
Speaker 1: and it's done its thing. I've just got to listen
Speaker 1: to this and let it play from start to finish
Speaker 1: and don't stop it, because I'd always stop it and go,
Speaker 1: I don't stop working. I don't like it, and I'd
Speaker 1: get frustrated. And so I sat there and I put
Speaker 1: it on and was like, I don't turn it off,
Speaker 1: headphones on. I listened to it start to finish, and
Speaker 1: I was so surprised. I went, Wow, that's actually a
Speaker 1: really good album.
Speaker 2: It took you like a decade.
Speaker 1: Yeah, almost a decade to do that, And you know,
Speaker 1: I felt sorry for Paul mccursher, who produced it, because
Speaker 1: I think I just struggled with it, you know, and
Speaker 1: I just struggled, probably even praising him for what he did,
Speaker 1: you know, but he really did a great job on
Speaker 1: keeping that album how it was, and keeping that from
Speaker 1: start to finish how it should have felt, and getting
Speaker 1: that feeling in it. And I talked to him about
Speaker 1: that to go, look, man, I'm sorry, but I couldn't
Speaker 1: hear it. It's great, and then he did a really
Speaker 1: good job on that.
Speaker 2: It's one of the very few albums that you can
Speaker 2: actually play from start to finish and there's no lull,
Speaker 2: there's no sort of banger at the start, banger at
Speaker 2: the end, and then this random babble in the middle
Speaker 2: where you're kind of skipping through them. It's just brilliant.
Speaker 1: I've just I'm an independent artist now and I've just
Speaker 1: recorded my second independent album because my first in an
Speaker 1: album is The Game back in two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: So with the new album, the people that have heard
Speaker 1: that are really excited. It feels it sort of feels
Speaker 1: like feeler from starting to finish. It's so solid with
Speaker 1: the songs, good songs. I feel really happy with it.
Speaker 1: So I'm really interested to see what people think of
Speaker 1: it when it comes out and everyone's saying the same thing.
Speaker 1: It's from start to finish, there's just great song up,
Speaker 1: the great song. It's really solid. So hopefully you will
Speaker 1: be saying the same thing about that one when you
Speaker 1: hear it.
Speaker 2: Oh, I can't wait to hear it, and that Actually,
Speaker 2: it's really interesting to me that you're the way you
Speaker 2: even word that, saying I hope that when it comes
Speaker 2: out people enjoy it. It's interesting that, as with FeelA,
Speaker 2: you didn't know before it came out that it was
Speaker 2: going to go well, Like it's so fascinating that you're
Speaker 2: not sure, like it's come out of your brain and
Speaker 2: you're not sure how good it's going to go. So
Speaker 2: I'd love to go back before we get into the
Speaker 2: new album and the tour, just sort of at the
Speaker 2: very beginning. Obviously, when you did start writing songs, you
Speaker 2: knew there was enough talent there to keep going. Whether
Speaker 2: or not you knew you could do it full time,
Speaker 2: something must have come out of your head and you
Speaker 2: were like, oh, I can actually write a song, like
Speaker 2: do you hear the lyrics first? Do you hear the
Speaker 2: tune first? And then how do you know you're onto one?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think a lot of times it's music and
Speaker 1: melody first and then you put the lyrics to it
Speaker 1: after that. But I just remember thinking, you know, getting
Speaker 1: a few close friends' opinions when I started to write
Speaker 1: some songs and they started to read the lyrics and
Speaker 1: a few things. I remember, you know, So Beautiful was
Speaker 1: one of the songs i'd just written, and a friend
Speaker 1: of an at the time came over and the lyrics
Speaker 1: were just there, you know, and they read it and
Speaker 1: went who wrote this? And I was like almost embarrassed
Speaker 1: to go, oh, this is it a positive thing or negative?
Speaker 1: I was like I did, and they're like, wow, that's
Speaker 1: really good, and I'm like, okay, so I think it's
Speaker 1: your conference bills when you get a bit of confirmation
Speaker 1: on some other people saying yeah, look this is good,
Speaker 1: you know, and it starts to build yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: And so, for example, so Beautiful it's a song that
Speaker 2: like everyone's heard it. How long does it take to
Speaker 2: form in your brain? Like do you get like a
Speaker 2: little earwig and then you sort of pick at it
Speaker 2: and then it takes like does it take you months?
Speaker 2: Is it weeks?
Speaker 1: Is it a day that was reasonably fast? I had
Speaker 1: the music parts kind of down for that for the verse,
Speaker 1: I think, and then I and a bit of the chorus,
Speaker 1: so kind of the music there. And then I remember
Speaker 1: I did a gig in the valley in Brisbane and
Speaker 1: I was meeting some friends at just a hotel down
Speaker 1: the road and a group of really arrogant, pretentious people
Speaker 1: came in and I just don't have any time for that,
Speaker 1: and it was like I was so annoyed us waiting
Speaker 1: for a friend. I just couldn't even wait for the friend.
Speaker 1: I had to leave because it just annoyed me. And
Speaker 1: I basically got home and just started writing these feelings
Speaker 1: that I had, you know that from meeting those people.
Speaker 1: And the first and second verse came out that night,
Speaker 1: and then the chorus I think pretty much was half done.
Speaker 1: I finished about three am and then went to bed.
Speaker 1: And then the next day it was the friend came
Speaker 1: around and went, you know, the pad was still open.
Speaker 1: I was writing the lyrics and I was like, who
Speaker 1: did this? That was that? And then so I might
Speaker 1: have taken another couple of weeks to sort of put
Speaker 1: the rest together, just to all final touches, but it
Speaker 1: came relatively quickly and some of the good songs come
Speaker 1: relatively quickly. They just seemed to work that way. It's
Speaker 1: when you're struggling with this song, then it's not me
Speaker 1: probably not good enough. It takes a long time to
Speaker 1: get that together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so fascinating, I mean so interesting to hear
Speaker 2: the process and then once you did sort of start obviously,
Speaker 2: I think now it looks like becomes so easily to you.
Speaker 2: It's so easy to assume everyone's an overnight success. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously it took you eight years to even realize that
Speaker 2: the incredible, incredible album that everyone else had already caught
Speaker 2: on too, that you still weren't on board with it,
Speaker 2: with it being as good as it was. What helps you,
Speaker 2: like in those early days when you were just like,
Speaker 2: am I going to make it? I'm sure? Like it's
Speaker 2: not financially rewarding immediately, Like it takes a little while.
Speaker 2: What keeps you going when you're like, I've just got
Speaker 2: to stick at it, it will get bigger because I
Speaker 2: think people give up really early.
Speaker 1: My sporting background and the determination that I had from
Speaker 1: sporting background, I just took that into this and just
Speaker 1: went like, this is something that for me to make
Speaker 1: this work. It's going to have to happen, you know,
Speaker 1: like I've got to just keep working out otherwise it's
Speaker 1: not going to go. And I believe that there's a
Speaker 1: self belief that you know, this is going to work
Speaker 1: to some degree, even though at times you do doubt
Speaker 1: that you're going you know, appecially as the longer it
Speaker 1: goes on and you're not getting that success and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe this isn't going to work. You know, you doubt it,
Speaker 1: But there's part of me that always believes that, yes,
Speaker 1: this is going to work, and what I'm writing is
Speaker 1: good enough. And there's some you know, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of really good songs that other people connect to,
Speaker 1: and I try to do that. So you write these
Speaker 1: songs that people can connect to them and they part
Speaker 1: it becomes part of their life opportunities and we talk
Speaker 1: about the opportunities and that that song in particular is
Speaker 1: just lyrically just connected to people. So I think you
Speaker 1: know in your mind that some things are good, but
Speaker 1: whether it's going to happen till you don't know, like
Speaker 1: it's really hot, you know, I do say a lot
Speaker 1: of times when you think you've got to hit you
Speaker 1: don't and you don't think you've got to hit you
Speaker 1: do you can't tell you, you can't tell what people
Speaker 1: Like I said before, I hope you like the new
Speaker 1: album when it comes out. You know, I think it's
Speaker 1: really great. But that doesn't mean you're going to but
Speaker 1: you know, you'd like to think that you will, but
Speaker 1: people to have different tastes. Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2: So once Feeler came out and then it just you know,
Speaker 2: propelled onto the sort of global stage, how did your
Speaker 2: definition of success change? Because I think there's a really
Speaker 2: interesting relationship between happiness and success. That's a big part
Speaker 2: of the show. That we chase success for a lot
Speaker 2: of our lives and then suddenly you realize it doesn't
Speaker 2: actually make you happy. It's like it's a good metric,
Speaker 2: but it's not the only one. How did you sort
Speaker 2: of you know, you got success and then did it
Speaker 2: make you happy? And then were you sort of like
Speaker 2: what's next?
Speaker 1: Success is different for everyone. So for me this I
Speaker 1: mentioned to you earlier. I did this for lifestyle. So
Speaker 1: because when I was eighteen, my dad died. He was
Speaker 1: forty seven, and I saw him work his whole life
Speaker 1: and he sold his business. Is what to make a jeweler,
Speaker 1: sold his business, worked for the guy who he sold
Speaker 1: the business too, literally finished working for that god just
Speaker 1: to sort of asical he transitioned with him over and
Speaker 1: help him out. For that twelve months, Mum and dad
Speaker 1: bought a caravan. We're about to travel around Australia and
Speaker 1: just enjoy the time together, you know, and have a
Speaker 1: bit of a holiday and probably going to live up
Speaker 1: Unshine Coast and you know, kind of semi retire up there.
Speaker 1: That was their goal. And before that could happen, he had,
Speaker 1: I think a month after he'd finished the work, he
Speaker 1: had a heart attack and died. So for me, I
Speaker 1: was like that was a massive lesson for me, and
Speaker 1: I thought, that's not going to happen to me. What
Speaker 1: I want is time, and I want a lifestyle that
Speaker 1: I don't work my whole life doing something that you know,
Speaker 1: like it's I mean, Dad still enjoyed his job, but
Speaker 1: you know, I want something that I want to enjoy
Speaker 1: it now whatever the job is. So it's not a
Speaker 1: job you know and travel the world and what is
Speaker 1: this job that I was going to fight and know
Speaker 1: what it was at time, But for me that was
Speaker 1: really important to have lifestyle and have time. It wasn't
Speaker 1: about money, it wasn't about being the most fake, it
Speaker 1: was nothing about fame, to be honest, It's just about
Speaker 1: time and obviously being financial enough that you had time.
Speaker 1: So the work that you're doing was fun, you loved it.
Speaker 1: There's no question about, Okay, I want to do something
Speaker 1: else because it sucks. And having that lifestyle that I
Speaker 1: have time with my kids so that we have a
Speaker 1: lot of time together and they're growing up and I'm
Speaker 1: part of their life. Because Dad was always working for me.
Speaker 1: It was always in the shop working and we didn't
Speaker 1: forget to hang out much. And I was I just
Speaker 1: had my eighteenth birthday two months before he died. It's
Speaker 1: the first time I really got to know him a
Speaker 1: little bit as a as a friend or as an adult.
Speaker 1: You know. Before that was just he was always busy
Speaker 1: working and we just didn't have that. We had a
Speaker 1: good relationship, but just didn't know him that well, you know.
Speaker 1: So for me, I was like, this is lifestyle I
Speaker 1: want to have. I want to grow up with my kids.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that we I'm part of
Speaker 1: their life, that I'm going to go to all their
Speaker 1: events and just I used to go to school with
Speaker 1: boys who are a bit old, and our Charlie turns
Speaker 1: twenty one soon and Pedro seventeen. When that PRIMI school,
Speaker 1: I used to go and play handball with all them
Speaker 1: and their mates right through to when the bell started
Speaker 1: and that go, you know, so that I had time
Speaker 1: to do it. I didn't have to race off to work.
Speaker 1: That's what I was chasing, and that's what I wanted.
Speaker 1: So my success, I achieved it and I've still achieved it.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing that I have a lifestyle. I
Speaker 1: don't have to go and work as such on an
Speaker 1: hourly rate for someone else, you know, to try and
Speaker 1: go and get that done. And that's where I had
Speaker 1: a conversation with dad early on. And you see, when
Speaker 1: I just lef school, he said, what do you want
Speaker 1: to do? And I just wasn't too sure at that stage,
Speaker 1: or I hadn't left scholled, this stage wasn't too short,
Speaker 1: and he said, we'll just make sure you work for yourself,
Speaker 1: because that's better. If you work for someone else, it's
Speaker 1: just hard to sort of get what you're doing. Work
Speaker 1: for yourself, your own you're your own boss. You can
Speaker 1: do what you want, and it was just good advice
Speaker 1: to do that. So so for me, that's that was
Speaker 1: my success, you know, and fame couldn't care less about it.
Speaker 1: This is something that you know, I used to get
Speaker 1: invited to all the openings and the red carpets and things,
Speaker 1: and I just didn't want to go to them, you know,
Speaker 1: it just wasn't I'm happy not to sort of be
Speaker 1: that person.
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry that you lost your father at such
Speaker 2: a formative age in your life, and obviously it's such
Speaker 2: a time where you just started a really beautiful relationship.
Speaker 2: But it's beautiful how that lesson came to you about
Speaker 2: time being the commodity that's far more important than anything else.
Speaker 2: Money is important to buy your time or to change
Speaker 2: the quality of your time. That you got it so
Speaker 2: early in life, because I think people do take a
Speaker 2: very very long time to kind of reach that realization,
Speaker 2: and often it is too late. They've made decisions that
Speaker 2: maybe they regret.
Speaker 1: People chase money, people do things for money most of
Speaker 1: the time. That's the thing that's I think that's a
Speaker 1: big mistake. They make decisions based on money and how
Speaker 1: they can get more money. And I'll work the whole
Speaker 1: life to get more money and then don't really get
Speaker 1: to use it that much, you know, and it's the time.
Speaker 1: Like a friend who is as a barrister, and I
Speaker 1: was talking him one day and talking about this exact thing,
Speaker 1: how I had time and I spent my time with
Speaker 1: my kids. I'd spent so much time with my kids
Speaker 1: and I still love doing it. He started crying. He
Speaker 1: had tears. Andy's eyes going, you know what, You've really
Speaker 1: hit a nerve there, Like he said, I'll go to
Speaker 1: work at seven and I don't come home toil like
Speaker 1: nine o'clock at night time. My girl's now turning twenty
Speaker 1: and twenty one, and I've missed most of the life.
Speaker 1: I was like, like, well, time to think about that change,
Speaker 1: isn't it, you know, like you and people miss it
Speaker 1: because they's kind of doing you know, they're caught up
Speaker 1: in work and it works like I don't want to work.
Speaker 1: You know, Look this is that's not like you want
Speaker 1: to do something of the life. I think we've got
Speaker 1: it all wrong the way the whole thing's set up
Speaker 1: and can't change it now. It is what it is.
Speaker 1: But and there's another story. A guy I knew how
Speaker 1: to boat went over to Balle and was met one
Speaker 1: of the locals there on the beach, and the guy said,
Speaker 1: you know, you guys have got it all wrong. You
Speaker 1: guys work your whole life and whole life and then
Speaker 1: you don't still don't have much and you die and
Speaker 1: that's it. Well, we don't have much, but we have
Speaker 1: this life that we just live and we enjoy. And
Speaker 1: there's something in that, you know. I mean, every day
Speaker 1: these guys aren't wanting more and more and more, and
Speaker 1: when they're just like happy doing their own thing and
Speaker 1: they're living their life where how many people go jump
Speaker 1: on a train, sit there for a while and get
Speaker 1: off and go to work and sit in the same
Speaker 1: office for forty years and just like, you know, that's it.
Speaker 1: And I remember reading something else that a lot of
Speaker 1: men the biggest regret they had on their deathbed was
Speaker 1: that they didn't spend enough time with the kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so interesting. I used to be a merchants
Speaker 2: and acquisitions lawyer, so I had that exact realization, and
Speaker 2: I feel very lucky that I had it before I
Speaker 2: became a mum, so that by the time I did
Speaker 2: get to this stage of my life, i'd kind of
Speaker 2: reorganized my priority so I didn't miss a minute, and
Speaker 2: I had learned that you can't take it with you, like,
Speaker 2: what's the point in waiting. I'll enjoy it when assuming
Speaker 2: that you get time, but you don't know how long
Speaker 2: you have. So I love that lesson and it seems
Speaker 2: like you. I mean, now, I've seen you playing music
Speaker 2: with your son, so I love that you've got this
Speaker 2: beautiful family kind of weaved into your passion, which is
Speaker 2: also your job. It's this beautiful mix of everything.
Speaker 1: It is good. Yeah, I mean, look, my goal would
Speaker 1: be to have We've got four kids now, so have
Speaker 1: them all playing in the band one time.
Speaker 2: You know, are they into music?
Speaker 1: What Charlie elst one is Pedro seventeen year old, not
Speaker 1: yet so hopefully will we but not yet. He hasn't
Speaker 1: any sort of got into it. And then the two
Speaker 1: girls kind of they love singing, dancing, and so I
Speaker 1: think that they will. Now every time we get the
Speaker 1: guitar out there strumming it and trying to play it,
Speaker 1: and so I feel that they will. But yeah, it'd
Speaker 1: be pretty cool to have it like the Muzzer Band.
Speaker 2: I think Charlie maybe was in the audience at the
Speaker 2: project and you somehow embarrassed him with some corny photo
Speaker 2: or something. Do they know how famous you are? Like
Speaker 2: do they have a bar of you or not?
Speaker 1: Well, as a kid, they don't. They don't realize really
Speaker 1: much about it. But I do remember Pedro when he
Speaker 1: was a little wild time and I was somewhere and
Speaker 1: I just had people kept up going, we must be
Speaker 1: at the footy somewhere and people can come, so can
Speaker 1: they get a photo? Can you sign this? That's right
Speaker 1: signing stuff? You can sign this, sign that. And then
Speaker 1: Pedro said to me, Dad, why do people want you
Speaker 1: to squiggle on a piece of paper for me? And
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know some people like that. He
Speaker 1: just you thought that was a weird concept. Here I'm
Speaker 1: just scribbling on a piece of paper. So they don't
Speaker 1: really As they get older they understand it, of course,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think that that. You know. The
Speaker 1: girls are six and three, so they've been to a
Speaker 1: couple shows now and they'll sort of watch and then
Speaker 1: just sort of color in beside stage and then but
Speaker 1: I did one show in West australiaere they both came
Speaker 1: out and I held them both up and the crowd
Speaker 1: love it, you know, like it was, and I'd love
Speaker 1: the two LEAs that have come out waves of the
Speaker 1: crowd and stuff, so they get a bit of a
Speaker 1: buzz out. Yes, I think they know that I'm a
Speaker 1: singer and performer and stuff, so yes, it's it's good fun.
Speaker 2: It's funny to think that you're like, you know, have
Speaker 2: long been part of the definition of cool and that
Speaker 2: you have kids that know that you're famous. But I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm sure the boys are just like, oh, Dad, like, don't.
Speaker 1: Never been like that?
Speaker 2: Really, that's so nice.
Speaker 1: They're all like, yeah, it's kind of nice because they
Speaker 1: don't see me as that uncool person. I guess, uncol Dad.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're Pete Murray, you are pretty cool.
Speaker 1: But I treat them like, you know, my kids, but
Speaker 1: with respect and we have fun together. And I've had
Speaker 1: that close with them too, you know, so you know,
Speaker 1: I guess they were just close. So there's never been
Speaker 1: anything where and I'm pretty cool, like in the way
Speaker 1: that I don't lose it if they do something wrong
Speaker 1: because they've got to learn from that, you know, and
Speaker 1: they probably know they can get away a few things
Speaker 1: with me. But there's a limit. There's a limit that
Speaker 1: you know what I will put up with as well. Well.
Speaker 2: You sound very well adjusted. So the new single, wouldn't
Speaker 2: It Be Good? Is the first independent single in twenty years,
Speaker 2: and you're about to go on a national tour. I
Speaker 2: think you're doing some amazing regional visits as well. I
Speaker 2: would love to know when do you know it's time
Speaker 2: for a new album? Like when are you? Just like,
Speaker 2: I've got enough in my brain for a whole new
Speaker 2: release and we're going to get on the road this.
Speaker 1: Album coming out. I definitely felt like we needed some
Speaker 1: new music. I think they had two EPs that came
Speaker 1: out during COVID, and I think it just kind of
Speaker 1: COVID was a tough time to really get your music herd.
Speaker 1: It was difficult, so and I think that just kind
Speaker 1: of slipped under the radar, the two EPs. I remember
Speaker 1: talking to some people that are going, we didn't even
Speaker 1: know you had something come out.
Speaker 2: It's like, wow, my bad.
Speaker 1: Some great songs on those EPs, which I did turn
Speaker 1: into an album anyway, But definitely felt like I needed
Speaker 1: some new music. And I've been, you know, playing the
Speaker 1: old songs for a long time, so I still play
Speaker 1: those songs, but I definitely felt like we needed some
Speaker 1: new songs out there that I was definitely due for
Speaker 1: a really good album. That's what I felt, and so
Speaker 1: i've you know, I've had some of these songs have
Speaker 1: been self started writing and about twenty fourteen and demoing
Speaker 1: and sort of you know, there's some older ones there
Speaker 1: that've been hanging around for a while that just needed
Speaker 1: to be finished off. But sometimes that happens. You know,
Speaker 1: some things aren't ready for a particular album, and you
Speaker 1: know at the right time they will be. So there's
Speaker 1: some real sort of a bit of nostalgia I think
Speaker 1: in this because this is reminds me of Feeler in
Speaker 1: the way that feel It took time to write Feeler.
Speaker 1: I did The Game and then you know, plenty of
Speaker 1: demoing in that period, and then when I got signed,
Speaker 1: we took five songs off The Game and put on
Speaker 1: to Feeler. So this album as well, has been pretty
Speaker 1: much done over ten years. If I go back and
Speaker 1: look at all the songs, because I keep all the songs,
Speaker 1: and when it's the right time for the right album,
Speaker 1: I think I'll put that out, then they'll be there.
Speaker 1: So there's a body of work there over ten years.
Speaker 1: That's what makes this new album great. I think that
Speaker 1: you've just got It's not just written in two years
Speaker 1: and thrown out just because I need to get one
Speaker 1: out there. Yeah, there's nostalgia in this stuff, and there's
Speaker 1: some good songs and it feels great. So yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: right now I'm due, And now I've got a lot
Speaker 1: of other stuff just backed up that I'm just going
Speaker 1: to keep putting stuff out. I've actually re recorded some
Speaker 1: of the old songs now too, because I can do that,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to put them out again. So my
Speaker 1: versions of those so pulling a swifty I call it,
Speaker 1: you know, like a tailor. Swift has done that, so
Speaker 1: she's led the way, and I think it's you know,
Speaker 1: for me, I wanted to record I guess how I
Speaker 1: played those songs now out lives. There's a little bit
Speaker 1: more energy in some of them, and you're just over time,
Speaker 1: you just start to do things a little differently, so
Speaker 1: they're still similar than what the old versions are, but
Speaker 1: they're just got that fresher sound to them.
Speaker 2: I love that you use the word nostalgia as well,
Speaker 2: because I feel like one of the reasons why so
Speaker 2: many of your songs do hit people in the fields
Speaker 2: is because you hear them and it transports them to
Speaker 2: a time in their life that's so significant, and you like,
Speaker 2: there's so much feeling in it that you remember everything
Speaker 2: you felt in that moment. I have songs, and a
Speaker 2: couple of yours are like this where I almost can't
Speaker 2: turn them on if I'm not emotionally in a good spot,
Speaker 2: because they're so it's like a visceral reaction. You just
Speaker 2: get so overwhelmed by that nostalgia. Like I've always wondered
Speaker 2: and I've never had the chance to ask anyone. I
Speaker 2: can imagine it's so much more intense when you wrote
Speaker 2: the song, Like do you hear those songs and it
Speaker 2: transports you back to who you were when you wrote them?
Speaker 2: And are there moments where you're like, I can't even
Speaker 2: listen to that song?
Speaker 1: Oh look, it's incredible now, because you know, I've played
Speaker 1: a festival of a couple weeks ago called Handpicked down
Speaker 1: in Adelaide, and virtually it's like a bunch of twenty
Speaker 1: year olds. They're like the younger generation, and so I
Speaker 1: was like a little bit nervous. I've done two shows,
Speaker 1: which has been kind of the twenty year old crowd.
Speaker 1: There was one in New Zealand last year, of course
Speaker 1: snow Machine, and then hand picked a couple weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and that younger demographic from my fan base. I guess
Speaker 1: that have grown up with me. I was kind of nervous, thinking,
Speaker 1: will they know me, will they know the songs? Will
Speaker 1: they be kind of going, who's this old fellow? You know?
Speaker 1: So I just didn't know, like it's just twenty year olds.
Speaker 1: So and came on and played the set and they
Speaker 1: sang word for word. They were like so pumped up
Speaker 1: and it was incredible. So it's on my Instagram of
Speaker 1: people going and check it, which is Pete Murray Music,
Speaker 1: Go and check out that. There's there's some footage of
Speaker 1: those young crowd, like just belt in the lyrics out
Speaker 1: said songs like Opportunity, better Days, so beautiful. They're just
Speaker 1: singing these songs because these were the songs that really
Speaker 1: meant something to you know, their parents or their older siblings,
Speaker 1: and they've grown up with these songs now. So you know,
Speaker 1: when I was walking back from stage to the green room,
Speaker 1: you have to go past the crowd, So everyone was
Speaker 1: coming up the fence and they going, look, this is
Speaker 1: so good. To see you play, and we grew up
Speaker 1: with these songs. You know, these songs, they're pretty much
Speaker 1: mean as much to these guys as they do for
Speaker 1: their parents and older siblings. So it's kind of like,
Speaker 1: I guess it's a sign of a good song that
Speaker 1: goes down in generations and stays with people and still
Speaker 1: have that same feeling. And hopefully these guys will grow
Speaker 1: up in the next ten years and still come to
Speaker 1: more contents and just you know, get into that. So
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see, but it's been great to see.
Speaker 2: That before we finish. Though. One of the big things
Speaker 2: about happiness, I think is that even if you love
Speaker 2: your job and it doesn't feel like work like for you,
Speaker 2: music is obviously something that doesn't feel like going to
Speaker 2: an office and sitting down. I think you stay fresh
Speaker 2: and passionate if you have hobbies or passions that are
Speaker 2: outside of that. So when you're not playing music, like
Speaker 2: maybe in between albums downtime, when you're not listening to
Speaker 2: other people's music, is there anything you love doing that's
Speaker 2: just like your guilty pleasure? Like do you crochet? Do
Speaker 2: you surf?
Speaker 1: Like? What are you?
Speaker 2: What are your things?
Speaker 1: Look grabbing that much of chances. I do like surfing,
Speaker 1: but having that much of chance to serfl because just
Speaker 1: the kids have been two young kids against something. So
Speaker 1: at home quite a bit, I like hanging with family,
Speaker 1: you know, and hanging out with the kids and just
Speaker 1: doing that stuff. For like going to the beach. I
Speaker 1: like being outdoors. That's really nice. Going to the beach
Speaker 1: and hanging out there is quite nice. And just going
Speaker 1: out with those guys and playing in the park, and
Speaker 1: you know, that's kind of a nice thing because really,
Speaker 1: like you know, doing music is I get a lot
Speaker 1: of enjoyment out of that. So you go on tour
Speaker 1: and play with her mates. It's really I'm blessed that
Speaker 1: I can do that because that's fun for me. It's
Speaker 1: it's really just once again, you know, it's doing those
Speaker 1: things that my dad missed, you know, like being with family,
Speaker 1: being with kids and doing those things that's really important.
Speaker 2: Oh that's so beautiful. It really comes through that being
Speaker 2: a dad is such a big part of your life
Speaker 2: and it's not like work is two percent and then
Speaker 2: everything else has to fit in like the ten percent
Speaker 2: that's leftover.
Speaker 1: So wrong that people do that and one or.
Speaker 2: Two guilty pleasure questions for me is just what's your
Speaker 2: two favorite songs that aren't your own, two or three
Speaker 2: from any era?
Speaker 1: Yep, okay, Neil Young Bob Dylan. So they're two my
Speaker 1: favorite artists. Bob Dylan positively Fourth Street. I love that
Speaker 1: track the way he sings it, and it's just having
Speaker 1: to go with all the people that have had to
Speaker 1: go with him over the time. He does it lyrically,
Speaker 1: it's fantastic. Neil Young. There's probably heaps of Neil Young songs.
Speaker 1: I could mention, Oh, do you hard to pick one? Gosh,
Speaker 1: there's so many. Expecting to Fly is a really nice
Speaker 1: song that people have made not know, but it was
Speaker 1: something that when dad died, I remember listening to that
Speaker 1: song quite a bit, very powerful song. And Third, I've
Speaker 1: always said, you know a song that I wish I
Speaker 1: could write was ever Long by the Food. Oh, that's
Speaker 1: just a great song.
Speaker 2: I love it so much.
Speaker 1: Melody. That's the song that people said, what if you
Speaker 1: could have written a song, what was it like? Well,
Speaker 1: that would be That's just such a great song.
Speaker 2: Is there anyone that you would love to play with
Speaker 2: at any point in your life? Do you do? Have
Speaker 2: you ever released a joint single like a jewet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, but there's a song, a new song that's
Speaker 1: coming out actually has a bit of a country flavored
Speaker 1: to it and do that with maybe a female country singer.
Speaker 1: So we just we're just kind of looking for for
Speaker 1: that at the moment. I probably did like my own
Speaker 1: version anyway, but have another version where we can do
Speaker 1: like a duwet thing with the country female artists.
Speaker 2: Yeah, amazing. Well, Pete, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2: I'm so so excited for the whole new album. Where
Speaker 2: does it come out? When can we get it?
Speaker 1: It'll be out in the bed October next year. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of songs kind of you know, every
Speaker 1: six weeks or so, will be coming out singles. The
Speaker 1: first one's out now, the second one comes out on
Speaker 1: the sixth of February, and then after that it'll be
Speaker 1: sort of every six weeks. We'll probably low you know,
Speaker 1: thybe six songs coming out before the album drops.
Speaker 2: Well, A'll be listening along keenly, wouldn't it be good?
Speaker 2: Is out now?
Speaker 1: Guys?
Speaker 2: I will include a link for you to listen along
Speaker 2: and get a taste of what is to come. Pete,
Speaker 2: congratulations and thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and i's to talk to you as well.
Speaker 2: Honestly, Pete's songs transport me so vividly to parts of
Speaker 2: my life. What an absolute dream to chat with him
Speaker 2: about how it all unraveled, and such an amazing reminder
Speaker 2: for all of us that it is never too late
Speaker 2: to stumble upon something new that you love, that you
Speaker 2: never knew that you loved, or that you were good at.
Speaker 2: As promised, I will pop links to everything in the
Speaker 2: show notes, of course, share the episode and tag at
Speaker 2: Pete murray music as well if you enjoyed to let
Speaker 2: him know what you think, maybe tell him your favorite song.
Speaker 2: And in the meantime, I hope you're all having a
Speaker 2: wonderful week and are seizing your yaman femmininmon