While she was in Sydney to promote her new solo album, Larry Heath sat down with Adalita Srsen – best known as the frontwoman of Magic Dirt. The two have a long chat about the solo record, the Magic Dirt shows at Big Day Out (which doubled as a tribute to Dean Turner), her favourite Sydney band The Laurels and a lot more…
Welcome back to Sydney. I understand you’re doing Good News Week tomorrow, that’s what brings you up?
Yeah I am, yeah. Should be interesting.
Do you know what you’re doing yet?
I’m doing like, I have to do a cover.
<b.Yeah, I think that’s what they normally get you to do. And then do you get to do your own track later as well or?
No, I don’t believe so. It’s just like a cover and yeah. That’s fine. It’s TV.
Yeah, there you go. Should be fun anyway. Something different.
Yeah yeah. Yeah TV.
And you just announced that you’ve got a tour coming up?
Yes, I have. I start late March, start in Queensland and then might go to Perth. Then come back up to Victoria, then New South Wales which I thought I was gonna finish the tour at but I’m going to Tassie and Adelaide. So finish around early May.
Ticking all the boxes.
Yeah, yeah. And Canberra. The only place I’m not going to is Darwin.
Well the weather hasn’t been too good up there lately…
Yeah, right. Cyclones.
Yeah I think the other day they had – it was another cyclone hit. And even though it wasn’t a category five it was the largest downpour in history.
Really?
In one day.
Whoa, in Darwin?
I think it was in Darwin. I could be making it up. I think I read that – it was around there anyway. It’s just crazy up there.
Yeah.
Well congratulations on the new album and you have toured around a little bit cos you were supporting Blondie when she was down here. How did you find those shows went, what was the reception like to your material?
It was good, I mean I was relatively unknown with the solo stuff so I’m really just going out there and giving it my best shot, not really expecting a hell of a lot really. So it was nice to be on the tour, it was an honour to be asked. Met Debbie Harry and she was amazing, luminous, beautiful. Very gracious. Just this sort of icon, just standing in front of me, glowing.
It was like ‘what the hell is going on, how did I get this job?’. Um, but I did um when I got asked to do it I had to ring back to double check ‘are you sure?’ so and then you know, Pretenders was amazing. It was really, well it blew my mind. It was really a luxurious tour to be on, it was like a little Big Day Out it was huge. It was really, kind of rockstar treatment.
Like with Big Day Out, you’re on stage for half an hour and you can relax backstage the rest of the time and get to see some amazing music.
Yeah, and Little Red played as well and I’ve never seen them so kind of befriended those guys and saw a few of their shows. Yeah it was really good, it was really nice.
They’re doing pretty well for themselves, number two on the Top 100 which I don’t think anyone saw coming, that was brilliant.
Which song was it again?
I think it was “Rock It”, that was the single.
Yeah I know that one. Yeah it was good. It was a good tour.
Sounds like it was fun, and were you performing by yourself or did you have a backing band?
No just by myself. Just with electric guitar.
I feel like, you know I listened to the album for the first time last night, and I really kind of pictured you sort of in J Mascis mode. In terms of sitting there with your electric guitar, just looping shit, and I love that sort of intimate feel of that album. I know you do have other people guesting on that album, and I know Amaya Laucirica has a guest vocal spot on it which is wonderful. How did she get involved, how was she introduced to you?
Oh, I just met her through a rehearsal room wall, I heard her band. I heard the music and went over and said hi, that was a few years ago and we’ve been friends since then.
She’s supported Magic Dirt with her band before and we’ve kind of always hung out and sometimes we duet together – very rarely, but we have done so. And I just wanted her on the record, we did a nice female vocal. Her vocal’s quite different to mine so I thought the textures would work. And I got J.P Shilo who played in Roland S. Howard’s band while Roland was still here. And he’s from Hungry Ghosts, this three piece instrumental band from Melbourne so he can play anything. He just got in there and I let him loose in the studio and he was great.
So it’s just a similar aesthetic, he’s on the same page, he understands me, knows what I’m about what I’m trying to do. And Raul from Magic Dirt he also plays on an instrumental, and it just fit. It just fit well.
Despite that, it really does feel like it’s just you though. There is that feel of intimacy and just picturing you jamming away on everything, and I know you did play quite a few instruments on the album. Is there anything that you hadn’t recorded before? Any instruments that you hadn’t put on record?
No, no I kind of tinkered with a bit of everything but yeah I think it’s just you know it’s just kind of… not that I wanted to do everything myself but it was just easier and I didn’t feel like bringing in that many people. Didn’t have time to jam with drummers or… I just, it was just simpler to do it on my own and I just didn’t want to force a band you know? I was just going with the flow and it felt right, so yeah. But violin and stuff I can’t play that stuff, so I just get J.P to do it.
Leave it to him, haha. And talking abuot the intimate nature of the album, lyrically it feels like it’s very close to your heart, just from the first listen. Do you feel that it’s a very personal record in that sense?
I think I’ve always just written… I get that a lot. I guess I’m not really aware that it’s personal. But people do say that a lot, that it’s personal, it’s private, it’s intimate. I don’t know I’ve kind of just always written that way.
How long were you working for the album for?
I think I started it in 2008, started writing. And I finished mixing it last year. So like two, two and a half years?
It’s quite a long process behind it.
Yeah, it came together quite quickly compared to Magic Dirt’s records which sometimes take like three or four years to do. But yeah I mean, the last sort of half of doing the record did drag a bit, the artwork and stuff. But yeah, it doesn’t magically appear you kind of have to work really hard.
It seems like there was a lot of effort put into the actual album material as well in terms of the booklet and that, which isn’t done too often these days. You’ve got the lyrics in there, I was chatting to someone the other day, I was complaining that you never get the lyrics in there anymore so that was great to see.
Yeah I don’t know, I just wanted it to look beautiful and something to go with the music and I wanted it to have a cinematic kind of feel, almost like it’s a movie or something. I like visuals with music, I really dig it, I like video clips and artwork and photos, I like the illustrative aspect of music. I did agonise over every aspect of the artwork so that did take probably longer than recording and mixing actually. But it’s worth it, I’m happy with how it looks.
When you tour are you gonna be doing anything like having visuals in the background or something like that?
It’s an interesting idea, I haven’t thought of it for this tour though. But I think yeah, it’s an idea that I’d definitely explore.
And had you done that with Magic Dirt in the past?
Well we never… we always liked it sort of stripped back and made do with what we had. We weren’t really into any kind of gimmicks or pondering over that aspect too much and just do a really good kick ass live show and rock out and that’s kind of what we were all about.
And obviously the last time you guys performed was Big Day Out. What was it like with those shows? It would have been very different.
Yeah, it was definitely different. They were hard shows I was very ill, I had chickenpox.
Yeah I remember you took the second Sydney show off?
Yeah well we didn’t want to, I didn’t want to I just wanted to keep going, but the organisers said no you can’t do it… I didn’t, I think it was pretty gnarly to keep going cos if I had done that show I think I would have been in some serious trouble so they just stopped me and said no. So we just went okay. Got some disappointed fans but I think I was in a very bad state so. Yeah so if the chicken pox wasn’t there I think I would have had a better time, but that made it very difficult on top of all the emotion stuff going on as well. But they were good shows to connect with the fans, they had a good opportunity to say goodbye to Dean or see us play and just connect on that level. But it was really nice of the Big Day Out too, they called us, they organised us, it was a Big Day Out that was a tribute to Dean. Vivian in particular wanted to make it happen.
I know you were there since the early days with those tours.
Yeah, we’re part of the family, probably either the band that’s done it the most times or we’re equal frst with another band. I think it’s Powderfinger. So I think we hold the record with Powderfinger or one of us has done it one more.
How important do you think Big Day Out is for the Australian music community?
Oh, it’s part of the history now, it’s… I don’t know. I think everyone’s been to Big Day Out now.
It’s almost a rite of passage.
Yeah definitely. And you know whenever we get them you know we just jump up and down and Dean would be so stoked. You just get that phone call “you’re going to the Big Day Out” woo! Your whole year is just so much better when you get the Big Day Out. I remember seeing Mudhoney and I was tripping out on acid and it was back in like, the very very early days like 1994, seeing Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth. Great memories, such a unique festival. And it’s really given rise to the whole festival circuit in Australia. It’s kind of the mother of all festivals.
There’s been a million imitators but there’ll never be one quite the same.
True.
And so the rest of this year I imagine is very much gonna be devoted to promoting and touring the new record?
It is, yeah definitely. I’ll just kind of tour and see how the record’s received. Wanna get some more shows and keep playing and then see how that goes, and start writing the next record in between whatever’s happening later on in the year.
It’s a new record but really the material’s sort of starting to date for you creatively.
Yeah definitely, I sort of feel inspired to write something new and see where it takes me.
It’s funny as things have become easier from a technological sense, it just takes longer for material to come out. You look in the sixties and seventies and The Beatles would release at LEAST two albums a year. And you think how long it takes, even if with all your energy into it it still can take two or three years for something to come out.
I know, why is that? It’s so weird.
Who in the Melbourne community, who do you feel is the artist to watch? Do you pay much attention to what’s going on? Do you get to go out and see many shows?
No, no I don’t get to go out. I don’t really get to do anything, I just work all the time so I don’t really have the opportunity. But I actually really like The Laurels from Sydney. They’re my favourite band at the moment.
They’re friends of mine so they’ll love to hear that.
I saw Pierce and Luke, they came tot he Blondie/Pretenders show and I saw them there, we just hung around and pissed or whatever. I’ve heard some of their songs and I know they’ve got an upcoming record they’re either making or trying to make… I just want that. I just wanna get it.
It’s gonna be fucking amazing, and I’m just so excited by the music. Finally yes, something I can sink my teeth into. It just feels real and sounds real and they’re the real deal. It’s just my kind of music, that’s what I wanna hear.
As they’ve always said you know, we’re not just gonna put a record out for the sake of it we’re gonna spend our time and… because they’ve always been a live band so translating that into an album is never gonna be an easy step. But from what I’ve heard it’s shaping up to be pretty damn good.
I reckon. Yeah just go for it, it’ll sound excellent no matter what. Yeah. Really like them. So glad they’re Australian.
Yeah cos they could almost come from anywhere.
Yeah they could, yeah. So that’s exciting.
Well thanks so much for taking the time today. I know it’s a pretty hectic day, flight delays and phoners and…
Yeah it’s all good, just talking about myself. It’s fun. It’s easy.
When does the album actually release? </b.
March fourth.
Well best of luck on the release I think it should… I don’t see why it won’t go fantastically well for you, it’s a beautiful record. So hopefully everyone gets behind it, pushes it for you.
Thank you.
