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CAITLIN IN WONDERLAND
Sad songs say so much. "I do write lots of sad songs," admits
Caitlin Harnett, Howzat!'s favourite Sydney female artist.
"Don't be mistaken, I am very, very happy. The sad ones
are just the easiest to write because they come from a different
place." Caitlin's new EP, All In The Golden Afternoon, opens
with the heartbreakingly sad Before Now. "You tell me this
is dying," Caitlin sings, "Well, I've been dying for too
long now." Later in the EP, Caitlin confesses: "And it's
just like me to go on ahead and ruin a perfect thing."
Howzat! once asked Tim Finn why the world was filled with
sad songs. "It's simple," he replied, "when you're sad,
you've got nothing else to do but write a song. If you're
happy, writing a song is the last thing you want to do.
Also, happy songs are harder to write - they usually end
up sounding trite and clichéd." Caitlin says extreme emotions
bring out her best songs. "I write when I'm either really
sad or really happy. But even my happy songs have some twist
of sadness. I can't help it." So what's Caitlin's favourite
sad song? "At the moment it's Maybe We Were Both Born Blue
by Richmond Fontaine. Ah, his voice breaks my heart."
Caitlin took the EP title from the opening poem in Lewis
Carroll's Alice in Wonderland: "All in the golden afternoon,
full leisurely we glide …" "I have loved Alice in Wonderland
since I was a child, so much so that I would tell people
my name was Alice! It caused some confusion when Ma and
Pa were told that their daughter Alice was a lovely girl."
Is afternoon Caitlin's favourite time of day?
"Autumn afternoons are my favourite - when the trees are
bare, it's just a little chilly and my backyard is literally
covered in leaves."
On All In The Golden Afternoon - which is being launched
at the Edinburgh Castle tomorrow (Thursday) - Caitlin thanks
her dad "for being my best friend and for putting music
in my heart". "When it comes to music, my dad and I are
basically twins," Caitlin smiles. "He instilled music into
my brain and soul since I was very little. I remember driving
home from school and mum and dad would play It's A Shame
About Ray for me. I would sing along and ask my friends
if they knew the song and they would just look at me and
shake their heads. I was a strange little eight-year-old.
Mum and dad are the best when it comes to music. They're
always paying for my tickets to gigs because I'm always
broke, and they were always trying to educate me musically
rather than make me do school stuff."
A RUMBLING REVIEW
"All you do is follow the leader," Henry Wagons sings on
his band's fifth album, Rumble, Shake and Tumble (out Friday
on Spunk). But he ain't no imitator. There's never been
an Aussie act like Henry Wagons. He's a cosmic cowboy, blazing
his own trail of twisted revelry, with his hot gospel voice.
He has the best "Ooh!" in the business and also manages
to pull off a nifty whistling solo in Life's Too Short.
And the live fave Willie Nelson showcases a band that's
both exuberant and expressive. Rumble, shake and tumble,
indeed. As Henry sings, "it's sizzlin', cracklin', smokin'
and fizzling". Wagons launch the album at the Forum on July
16.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF DAVE GRANEY
It's a golden age of Australian music memoirs, according
to Rhythms book reviewer Des Cowley. With thanks to Howzat!'s
good buddy Christopher Hollow, our most recent rock 'n'
roll author, Dave Graney, provides these reviews. Don Walker's
book: "Haven't read it." Mark Seymour? "I loved his book.
He's a very odd and sensitive character and his book is
like that. There's a part where he talks about writing that
song I don't really like - Throw Your Arms Around Me. He's
very tender how he writes about it, I loved it. I knew him
at the time; I remember sitting with him and his girlfriend
and I was mocking him for the three places, asking him drunkenly
which ones they were, in my stupid way." Paul Kelly? "Haven't
read it, but I think I'd enjoy that. I read Billy Thorpe's,
which I loved. I'd have loved to have met him." Stephen
Cummings? "I enjoyed his book and Renee Geyer's. I think
they were written with more commercial pressure than mine."
Dave might do a reading from 1001 Australian Nights when
he launches his new album, Rock 'n' Roll Is Where I Hide,
at the Northcote Social Club on Saturday.
TALL BUILDINGS, BIG ACCIDENT
The Most Courageous Player award must go to Tall Buildings
bass player Julie Baynes. "Words cannot express how happy
I am to be here," Jules said at the band's album launch
at the Grace Darling last Thursday. Jules was forced to
do the gig sitting down after a drunk driver ran a red light
and crashed into her car the night before. "I'm amazed she
was able to play so well," drummer Danny Tulen told Howzat!
"She's a trouper."
CHART WATCH
Just two Aussie singles in the Top 40.
From The Music THE POTBELLEEZ (number 26)
What Happened To Us JESSICA MAUBOY (37)
Damien Leith's Roy Orbison tribute spends a second week
in the Top 5.
Roy DAMIEN LEITH (number five)
Rrakala GURRUMUL (seven)
The Life of Riley DRAPHT (12)
Weekend Detention CONTINUOUS CALL TEAM (19, debut)
Kosciuszko JEBEDIAH (20)
I Want That You Are Always Happy THE MIDDLE EAST (26)
Birds Of Tokyo BIRDS OF TOKYO (36)
HOWZAT! PLAYLIST
Before Now CAITLIN HARNETT
Vampires TALL BUILDINGS
Man On The Make DAVE GRANEY
Dressed Sharply AN HORSE
Willie Nelson WAGONS
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