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Angus & Julia Stone
The brother and Sister duo from Sydney's Northern Beaches are up for six ARIAs this year. We chatted to the charming Julia.
You're up for six ARIA's this year! How does it feel?
"It's a real trip. The record started out as a bunch of songs recorded in a couple of lounge rooms. It has ttaken us on such a sweet ride - it's like the cherry on the cake to have the album nominated."
You're living in the UK at the moment.
"Yeah. We rent a little place in Hackney, East London. So it's the boys, being Mitchell and Clay, who play drums and bass with us, and Angus and I, and our Aunt Cath who manages us. It's pretty out there. We all get around on bikes and try to keep out of the city centre. We're like the bmx bandits- we ride around all day solving the crimes..."
What do you miss about home when you're away?
"The ocean..."
Do you find British audiences different to Australian ones?
"Not really. I mean they are all really into music over here, just like Australia. The people we have met along the way on the road have been brilliant and always make us feel like we are at home."
Are all your songs about personal experience?
"I suppose so... you know, the thing is I don't really think about what the songs are about until someone asks me. Mostly the songs are written on a feeling. I suppose a way of explaining it might be like when you feel tired and you know you are going to sleep and dream... I get a feeling like, I feel like I want to sing... and I know when I sing I will make music..."
Illustration features a lot in your work - on your album cover, in your film clips. Do you have a passion for art?
"We've been fortunate to meet some really great artists... Caroline Pedler, who illustrated all the artwork in the album, and sketched all the drawings for the animation on The Beast and Just A Boy, is extremely gifted. I'm passionate about almost anything. It can be a cup of tea or a good book. It can be a television series that I force everyone to watch. It can be fly fishing or skydiving. I suppose all those things can be art."
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Can you tell us about the song Just A Boy?
"That song was written by Angus. He has said it is about a girl he met at a festival... She was pretty sweet I guess."
Who were your idols and influences growing up?
"Mum and Dad were both really strong personalities. Mum was never embarrassed to sing at the top of her voice when she felt like it, or get up in front of people and make speeches. She was a big influence, a very powerful woman in our community. Dad was also a really a strong advocate for the public school system and for the importance of music as part of the education system. So growing up with them, certainly inspired me to find confidence and to be passionate about life... I think I have always idolised drummers. They were always the ones who kept the time in the school bands and always seemed to be super cool. Our band conductor would always call them the bus driver. I thought it might be nice to be the bus driver some day... to be the timekeeper..."
If you both hadn't decided to pursue music, what would you be doing as a job?
"Angus would be a carpenter I think. I mean he might say something else, but he was always building things at home. When we were living together after school at Dad's place, we had all sorts of ideas on how to improve the house. We wanted to have a greenhouse on the roof to grow our own vegetables and herbs. So when Dad was at his girlfriend's house Angus built a full greenhouse on the roof. It was all going well until Dad found out and told us to pull it down because the whole thing was making the roof of the house sink. It was so funny. And me... I like the idea of running a live music venue where we grew up [Sydney's northern beaches]. A music venue that serves mulled wine... maybe I would do that..."
Angus & Julia Stone's album A Book Like This is out now.
You're up for six ARIA's this year! How does it feel?
"It's a real trip. The record started out as a bunch of songs recorded in a couple of lounge rooms. It has ttaken us on such a sweet ride - it's like the cherry on the cake to have the album nominated."
You're living in the UK at the moment.
"Yeah. We rent a little place in Hackney, East London. So it's the boys, being Mitchell and Clay, who play drums and bass with us, and Angus and I, and our Aunt Cath who manages us. It's pretty out there. We all get around on bikes and try to keep out of the city centre. We're like the bmx bandits- we ride around all day solving the crimes..."
What do you miss about home when you're away?
"The ocean..."
Do you find British audiences different to Australian ones?
"Not really. I mean they are all really into music over here, just like Australia. The people we have met along the way on the road have been brilliant and always make us feel like we are at home."
Are all your songs about personal experience?
"I suppose so... you know, the thing is I don't really think about what the songs are about until someone asks me. Mostly the songs are written on a feeling. I suppose a way of explaining it might be like when you feel tired and you know you are going to sleep and dream... I get a feeling like, I feel like I want to sing... and I know when I sing I will make music..."
Illustration features a lot in your work - on your album cover, in your film clips. Do you have a passion for art?
"We've been fortunate to meet some really great artists... Caroline Pedler, who illustrated all the artwork in the album, and sketched all the drawings for the animation on The Beast and Just A Boy, is extremely gifted. I'm passionate about almost anything. It can be a cup of tea or a good book. It can be a television series that I force everyone to watch. It can be fly fishing or skydiving. I suppose all those things can be art."
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Can you tell us about the song Just A Boy?
"That song was written by Angus. He has said it is about a girl he met at a festival... She was pretty sweet I guess."
Who were your idols and influences growing up?
"Mum and Dad were both really strong personalities. Mum was never embarrassed to sing at the top of her voice when she felt like it, or get up in front of people and make speeches. She was a big influence, a very powerful woman in our community. Dad was also a really a strong advocate for the public school system and for the importance of music as part of the education system. So growing up with them, certainly inspired me to find confidence and to be passionate about life... I think I have always idolised drummers. They were always the ones who kept the time in the school bands and always seemed to be super cool. Our band conductor would always call them the bus driver. I thought it might be nice to be the bus driver some day... to be the timekeeper..."
If you both hadn't decided to pursue music, what would you be doing as a job?
"Angus would be a carpenter I think. I mean he might say something else, but he was always building things at home. When we were living together after school at Dad's place, we had all sorts of ideas on how to improve the house. We wanted to have a greenhouse on the roof to grow our own vegetables and herbs. So when Dad was at his girlfriend's house Angus built a full greenhouse on the roof. It was all going well until Dad found out and told us to pull it down because the whole thing was making the roof of the house sink. It was so funny. And me... I like the idea of running a live music venue where we grew up [Sydney's northern beaches]. A music venue that serves mulled wine... maybe I would do that..."
Angus & Julia Stone's album A Book Like This is out now.
Story: Elise Pitt
