Interview with Jordie Lane : Music Interviews

After the success of both his solo act and side project Fireside Bellows, it’s fair to say that Melbourne folk-star Jordie Lane is on the verge of something special.He inhabits what is a vibrant scene of both traditional and highly progressive folk music, and he doesn’t look like stopping any time soon. And with Jeff Lang waiting at his side, on offer for musical guidance, who knows what he is actually capable of. Yet, first things first…What makes a young boy already interested in music shy-away from the ‘guitar-gods’ and get into folk-music?

I don’t think I’ve got the right persona to be a ‘Slash’. I had my friends at primary school who got me into stuff like the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Then his influences like Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams…
So it was them who drilled that into me. And then they moved into the rock stuff and I stayed behind with the folk stuff. It kind of spoke to me. It’s a really straight to the point art form. You can really tell a story with that style, especially with just with a guitar and a voice. And that’s what I’m in too.
I suppose my family were an influence. My mum being a story-teller with her comedy and stuff like that. That really made me want to say something in my music, and it felt like it would be getting lost if there were too many riffs going on. That’s not to say that I don’t like rock ‘n’ roll – it all comes from the same music anyway.

Have you always considered yourself a story-teller? Is that perhaps something that drew you to this music?

I think it’s something I’ve always wanted to be. I’ve always loved seeing others do that, or anyone in general. It takes me on a journey. I don’t know really. I think it’s something you’ve gotta work at. It started out as simple little heartbreak songs. And that album last year looked more at other people’s stories. So they really did feel like real folk songs about people on the road that I meet.

Are these songs on Sleeping Patterns based on real stories or just your imagination running wild?

A bit of both I suppose. I don’t think I’m that creative to make everything up in my imagination. They all start from a real story and build from there. Not letting the truth get in the way of a good story is a good thing. I think nearly all the stories on that album have come from actual experiences that I’ve had or that these people have told me. Whether the stories they’re telling are true or not, I’m not sure.

The folk genre as a whole is largely based on story telling, and Jordie Lane can tell a story as good as any – his debut album Sleeping Patterns is evidence of this. One peculiar track that caught my attention was album opener The Publicans Daughter. At first it appears as a simple cautionary tale, yet as the story unfolds on further listens, the basis of the ‘story’ becomes as much a part of the intrigue as the song itself. Needless to say, my mind oozed with unabashed curiosity.

Well I can’t tell you too much, sorry. But it started out when I was on tour with a guy going up the east coast. He told me to be really weary when playing these outback towns because there will always be girl working behind the bar. I think he was mainly referring to the fact that he had a bad experience in not getting paid. He didn’t want us to not get paid. It was his caution to me. Other people told me more extreme stories. I got really into researching it along the way. We sort of worked on this idea together. And then he came up with this song that was completely different. It was a little more happy. But I tend to take the darker side of things.

How much time do you put into you guitar technique? I find that folk guitarists tend to have their playing overlooked a little.

Well a big influence that I didn’t mention was Jimi Hendrix. I just wanted to be a great guitarist. I would be playing 5 hours a day in my early teens. But the last few years have been taken up with all the business side of things. So now I get really angry with myself because I can’t do al the thing s I use to be able to do on the guitar. I see it as a really important thing. I don’t want to just chug along on the guitar. I’ve always been use to playing solo. So I’ve needed to do everything on the guitar. I definitely don’t work on it as much as I should.

Playing a genre of music that prides itself on its tendency for collaboration and long-lasting relationships, Jordie was keen to discuss the importance of his various musical endeavours.

Well, Fireside Bellows came out of nowhere. We were both really excited and surprised about writing those songs together completely different to how we approached our solo music.
It was a lot more like a fun experiment and a lot less precious. When you wrie as a duo you have to be a little less internal and personal with what you’re writing. You have to come to a group consensus about what you’re writing. It was almost a relief for both of us to do that kind of songwriting and have a bit of fun with it and explore that Americana bluegrass elements of American folk music that we felt wasn’t right to do in our solo repertoires.
So collaborating and co-writing – performing with others definitely teaches you from falling into that complacent area which can happen pretty easily all the time. That’s wahat music feels like – a bit of a battle between feeling completely on a high about what you’re doing, and then feeling completely low about it. That’s what I love about it. It’s really unpredictable for me – when a song is going to come. I don’t sit in an office like Nick Cave and write everyday. I wish I did. I’m going to do that in April – set aside the month.

What are you planning to write?

I’m going to lock myself in a room. Hopefully I’ll have another album ready to record. There are a lot of songs half-written. I’ll just have to sit down and work out where they sit.

Is this solo or Fireside Bellows material?

Mostly solo stuff. But we’re [Fireside Bellows] definitely going to get together and do some more stuff. We’ve got quite a few songs that didn’t make it on that first record. All these things take a long time, so we don’t want to rush them.

So you don’t have a finishing date in sight for either?

Nah, I’m incredibly disorganized.

Jeff Lang was pretty pivotal on the last record. Are there any plans to work with him?

That would be great. He’s such an awesome player. It was great to work with him on Sleeping Patters. But he’s pretty busy so it was kind of hard to get us together in the first place. Nothing is slotted in but we may well do something in the future.

Coming to the end of our meeting and I had just one more question – arguable the most important of all! What’s the one song in history that you wish you had of written?

It’s THE most cliché song imaginable…Like a Rolling Stone. Give me a bit of time though. I’ll come up with something else!

Jordie Lane’s debut album, Sleeping Patterns is currently available. He’s playing the Between The Bays festival this Saturday 2oth March.Click here for more details…