Michael Waugh The Weir Interview

Michael Waugh's new album 'The Weir' reaches up from the dried, cracked heart of Gippsland's irrigation reservoir - Lake Glenmaggie - asking what it means to grow up Australian. It is family 'carguments' on long holiday drives to see the big things of Australia, mozzie-bitten itches of first summer loves, Meldrum-fuelled familiarity of Aussie rock classics, and the lived-in love of dinner with your partner in front of Neighbours. But it is also about what lies underneath – our underbelly laid bare by the drought; the distances that drive us apart, the economic devastation of rural communities, the death-wish of boys in country towns, the spectres of colonisation, racism and homophobia.

'The Weir' is Michael Waugh's third album. It follows 'The Asphalt & The Oval' (winner 2018 The Age Music Victoria Awards 'Best Folk and Roots Album') and 2016's 'What We Might Be' (Golden Guitar Award nomination 2017) and is Michael's third studio project with multiple ARIA and Golden Guitar winning producer Shane Nicholson.

Michael Waugh gives a profound new voice to the Australian experience. His insightful storytelling cuts to the heart of everyday life. It is honest, emotionally brave and compelling in its beauty. His insightful tributes to friends, family and parenthood are simultaneously deeply personal and nationally recognisable; audiences see their own brothers, parents, pubs, rivers, struggles and joys reflected in the faces of those characters who live large in Michael's songs.

You can catch Michael Waugh at one of his upcoming shows:
Saturday 12th – Saturday 19th October – Cruisin Country 2019
Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd November – Maldon Folk Festival – Maldon, VIC
Saturday 16th November – Humph Hall (w/ Gretta Ziller) - Allambie Heights, NSW
Sunday 17th November – Illawarra Folk Club show (w/Gretta Ziller) – Kiama, NSW
Saturday 23rd November – Burke and Wills Winery – Heathcote, VIC
Saturday 30th November – By the Banks Festival – Albury, VIC
Thursday 5th December – Lost Ones Basement Bar (w/ Gretta Ziller) – Ballarat, VIC
Wednesday 11th December – The Lomond Hotel - East Brunswick, VIC

Interview with Michael Waugh

Question: Can you tell us about your third album, The Weir?

Michael Waugh: Well, it's produced by Shane Nicholson – so that's a dream come true for any artist!

The record is inspired by Lake Glenmaggie and the Weir. Meredith O'Shea's cover photograph for the record shows the cracked patina of red dirt at the thirsty heart of Gippsland's Glenmaggie Weir – the irrigation reservoir serving dairy farmlands throughout the Victorian town of Maffra, 220 kilometres east of Melbourne, and its surrounds. In the photo on the cover, the weir is at 13% capacity. There's a distant suggestion of water on the horizon and the promise of rainclouds overhead.

One New Year's eve, I received a picture on Facebook that had been taken at 2am. It was a picture of a group of men sitting on fold up camp chairs around an esky and a camp fire. The caption to the selfie was 'listening to Michael Waugh songs at the Weir'. This picture is the inspiration for much of this record; what other music were these guys listening to? What is their story? What are their connections to this place?

In a sentence, the album is about growing up Australian. So, we talked about this opening track as capturing that Australian sound that had been developed through the RSLs and pubs and garages of Australia when we were growing up – and then shared with little country kids, like me, by Molly Meldrum on Countdown. The drums in the title track are modelled on Michael Barclay's drumming (on Paul Kelly's 'Dumb Things') and the guitars of The Saints (in 'Just Like Fire Would').

When we went to record the backing vocals, I said to Shane that I wanted one of those great backing vocal sounds that I associate with Australian rock like the McGarrigle sisters or Rose Bygrave and Marcia Howard from Goanna. When Shane suggested Lyn Bowtell and Felicity Urquhart I was very excited. These women just know each other's voices so well and created this magic sister-sound. Their vocals shine in six of the thirteen songs on the album.

In the title track, in the bridge of the song, I sing:
Remember that awful drought
When the weir dried up and we took the Fairlane out
Drove across the dried up mud
To the rotten farm house that stood there before the flood
And I wonder how many summers I'd swam
Over that roof not knowing what lies underneath
I wonder how many people there'll be skimming rocks over ghosts
at the places that I used to be

If I was to sum up this album in one visual it would be this; driving to the middle of the dried up Weir – and realising that, far below the surface of that reservoir - where you used to swim, and get towed around on a tractor tire, and throw tennis balls in for the dogs to retrieve - there is the rotting ghost of the history of that place. It is a picture of a place that is integral to our being – buried in the DNA of who we are – but we discover that there is something older that lies underneath it. It is humbling, because you realise in that moment that you, too, will one day be a part of a forgotten and buried history; others who come to this place that is a part of your being won't every really know how important it was to you – or who you even were. Place is bigger than us.


Question: What's the main message you hope the album spreads? What motivates you most when writing music?

Michael Waugh: I grew up with these amazing stories about parts of America in story songs by artists like Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. But I didn't hear songs and stories about the pubs, rivers, towns and people of Gippsland. I think that they are inspiring. I want everyone to know about the strength, humour and beauty of that place. That's what I most hope.


Question: What inspired the track, Big Things?

Michael Waugh: 'Big Things' nearly didn't end up on this album because a Scottish friend of mine was one of the first people to hear it – and he didn't understand it. I showed it to Shane and I remembered apologising to him saying, 'I don't know if this one works'. I'm so glad that Shane believed in this song because it is one of my favourites on the record. I think it is a uniquely Australian experience to go on the car trip to see the 'big things' of Australia. I think that many of us first met our country while sitting in the backseat of a car, copping a corky from an annoying little brother, and blaming him for your farts. I associate those car rides with a 'cargument' (the argument that you have while driving in a car) and of the absolute family meltdown that happened when dad tried to tow a caravan through Sydney without having to travel across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (which Sydney's one way streets conspired to do) while mum kept turning a roadmap upside down to read it.

Being the son of a dairy farmer, we rarely took holidays, because we were always milking or always broke. We have family photo albums full of pictures of us standing in front of one roadside attraction or another when mum finally convinced dad to drive us to Queensland.
This song is also about the rocketship playground equipment that was in the Lion's park in Maffra. It isn't there anymore. Mind you, it was a rusting deathtrap when I was growing up – so I'm sure that it was a good thing that they removed it. It had three different levels that you would climb up and slide down from. At the top you could see such an amazing view of the town through the bars. I was obsessed with Doctor Who growing up – so the rocketship was my favourite thing to play on.

I might have seen many big things around Australia but, by far, the most impressive of them was the big skyrocket at the Lion's park in Maffra.

This song is also about the things which you don't realise are big until you see them from a different perspective. My dad was a member of the SES. He used to milk and care for the farm – and in his spare time, he used to volunteer to look after people in trouble. I distinctly remember my mum's bravery during the fires that nearly took our home in Newry. I remember her trying to save her precious carpets in the loungeroom when the Macalister river (one of the tributaries of the Weir) flooded – a kitchen broom from K-Mart was her only defence against the flood. I also remember being overwhelmed by the number of casserole dishes that would turn up to the house from friends and neighbours at a time of illness or a time of a death.

They might build fruit out of fibreglass up in Queensland – but us Gippslanders have some pretty big things of our own.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Michael Waugh: They are very different experiences. Recording with Shane is extraordinary. It's like a masterclass in sound textures, rhythm, arrangement and harmony. I spend a long time writing my songs but I really feel like Shane teaches the songs back to me. I also love the intimacy of the studio experience; because I trust Shane so much, he's allowed me to be quite vulnerable and to search hard for truthfulness in what I do. He also is a very funny man – so I spend a great deal of time laughing.

The performance experience is also very special to me. I love sharing these stories with others – because the response is usually so clear. And after, people share their own stories with me, inspired by the stories that I've told in my songs. Again, my songs feel like they take on new life. I feel that they start to remind me of other peoples' stories. I love that; it feels like I've taken these really personal parts of myself and shared them with other people, who then share more back with me. It reminds me of the goodness of people.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Michael Waugh: I love performing 'Heyfield Girl'. It always takes me by surprise emotionally, in the same way that it did when I first wrote it. I love that it usually inspires a story from someone in the audience. It is a very intimate and personal song for me.


Question: What should we expect from your upcoming tour?

Michael Waugh: Lots of stories! I also get to share the stage with some of my best friends – I've already done some shows with Shane. I'm also playing with Gretta Ziller, Scott Cook and Rich Davies. Music brought these amazing performers into my world and I can't wait for people to hear how incredible they are.

Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Michael Waugh: My mum and dad. All of these songs are inspired by them.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Michael Waugh: William Crighton. What a writer!


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Michael Waugh: Molly Meldrum. He gave me permission as a little kid to dream about being like one of those heroes on Countdown. For that I'll be ever grateful.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Michael Waugh: Paul Kelly. What an amazing legend of Australian music.


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Michael Waugh: Sharing my music with others.


Question: Can you share your socials?

Michael Waugh: www.facebook.com/michaelwaughfm
www.michaelwaugh.com.au/
YouTube
Spotify


Interview by Brooke Hunter