The McMenamins

The McMenamins

Highly acclaimed alt-folk sibling duo The McMenamins are proud to announce a high profile national tour to celebrate the launch of their stunning fourth album, Sand and Stone. The tour - which stretches from Melbourne to The McMenamins' home region of Cairns, Queensland and across to Fremantle in Western Australia - will also include the duo's debut at the Byron Bay Bluesfest.

'We're very excited," says one half of the duo, Fleur McMenamin. 'It's such an honour to be playing at Bluesfest because of the amazing calibre of the other artists in the line-up. It feels like a real acknowledgement of our music and a kind of validation for all of the work over the years." And that it is. In fact, the duo was invited to perform at Bluesfest after their showcase last year at Brisbane's BIGSOUND music industry conference. The McMenamins comprise Fleur and her brother Simon. Since they started working together a decade ago, the pair have crafted an extraordinary repertoire of melodically bold and lyrically affecting music, memorably described by music mag Rolling Stone as 'rock-solid folk".

The duo's fourth album Sand and Stone is due for release in March and contains eleven new songs. 'The album is built around expressions of our experiences over the past three years," says Fleur. 'That includes stories about our families, our travels, what we've seen and what we think about the world and the human condition. The songs are heart-felt expressions of how we feel. I guess we are lucky to be able to express ourselves through music."

Critical acclaim came thick and fast for The McMenamins from the moment their self-titled debut album was released in 2005 and was followed by a whirlwind national tour supporting heavyweights Missy Higgins, Ben Lee and Ray LaMontagne, which put them in front of crowds of as many as 15,000. Momentum only increased with the release of follow-up, In This Light in 2007, and saw them invited to showcase at the prestigious Canadian Music Week in Toronto, which pushed their music into the North American market, while back home they were tapped to support homegrown alt-folk superstars The Waifs.

The contrast between the sibling's idyllic quiet home life in Far North Queensland and their musical commitments became sharply defined in 2010 when third album, Long Time Gone, set tongues wagging and feet tapping in folk and roots circles around the world. In the last 18 months they have completed two tours of the USA, including an Official Showcase at the Folk Alliance 2012 in Memphis Tennessee, performances in Nashville, Oregon and Austin Texas, along with extensive appearances on US TV, college radio play and campus shows. For Fleur and Simon, life involves striking a delicate balance between the private and the professional, the local and the global.

'In some ways it can be difficult," says Fleur. 'I live in a rural community [Babinda], so there's a lot of travel involved for performance and management – and a lot of time online. Mostly, though, I feel like it is a good balance. We feel very connected to our community – there's a strong sense of place, and of pride in where we live, and where we come from. I think our music reflects that."

Indeed a sense of being anchored, of having firm and sustaining roots, forms much of The McMenamins' music. It is a sense that extends beyond mere geography and extends into time. 'I'm inspired by the concept of young and old," says Fleur. 'I am always aware of the people who came before us, and the ones who will come after us. I want to be present now, but I also know we are a product of the past and a part of the future."

In Australia, The McMenamins have shared stages with a dazzling array of luminaries, including Angus and Julia Stone, Jason Mraz, Toni Childs, Kate Miller-Heidke, Tim Rogers and Bertie Blackman. They were also invited to perform at many of the country's most popular festivals, including Woodford, Tamworth Country Music Festival, Festival of the Sun, Peats Ridge, Nannup, Sydney's Great Escape, and Brisbane's BIGSOUND. In 2011 their song Umbrella Town – about Babinda – won them a Queensland Music Award, while 63 Years took out the Oz Song International Songwriting Competition's Folk and Country category.

The McMenamins' national tour kicks off in March to launch the new album Sand and Stone. All the venues announced so far are large, serious music rooms – which pleases Fleur no end. 'We've really tried to get into some more fitting venues for our music on this tour," she says. 'I'm really looking forward to playing these rooms. Some of our music is really intimate and we'll be able to play those songs this time around – I feel like we've well and truly paid our dues belting it out in corner pubs."


Sand and Stone Tour Dates

Sunday 24th March 2013: The Vanguard, Sydney at 7pm With special guests Amy Vee & Sam Buckingham
Wednesday 27th March 2013: The Glasshouse, Port Macquarie at 7pm
Saturday 30th March 2013: Bluesfest, Byron Bay at 1.15pm
Monday 1st April 2013: Bluesfest, Byron Bay at 2.45pm
Thursday 4th April 2013: Burdekin Theatre, Ayr at 7.30pm
Saturday 6th April 2013: Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns at 7.30pm With special guests Laneway
Thursday 11th April 2013: Fly By Night, Fremantle at 7.30pm

Interview with The McMenamins

Question: How would you describe your music?

The McMenamins: I would describe it as an expression of how I feel about what I experience, the world around me, storytelling set to the sounds of acoustic instruments…


Question: Tell us about Sand and Stone:

The McMenamins: Sand and Stone is an album made up of these stories and expressions of what we experience, what we feel and think about the human condition. It is an album made up of songs about our travels lives and loves…


Question: What are you looking forward to on the upcoming tour?

The McMenamins: I am looking forward to playing every single venue on this tour – they are all such beautiful rooms to play and audiences will really be able to hear our more intimate songs and the intricacies of our instrumentation. But I must say I am very excited about playing Byron Bay Bluesfest for the first time – and seeing the other incredible acts in the line-up this year.


Question: Do you write your own songs? What's your inspiration?

The McMenamins: I feel very connected to where I come from – the people who came before me, my children and theirs to come. So I am inspired to carry on our stories and our culture. I am inspired by other people's stories and music too – you know, when you hear something so beautiful or so meaningful to you - it hurts – that is something I want to achieve through making music too – making others feel something they never would have felt if it wasn't for that song – that music at that moment.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

The McMenamins: So many different artists there are too many to mention – everything from Patty Griffin to Radiohead. I am a big fan of Mia Dyson, Gillian Welch, Ray LaMontagne, Tom Waits, to bands more like The Vaccines, The National – as I said there are just too many to name…


Question: What's next? Tour/Album/Single?

The McMenamins: all of the above….


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

The McMenamins: So many! Especially when you are on tour overseas and missing your family and young kids so much – that makes things hard. But as I said this making music and continuing a cultural endeavour and making beautiful meaningful music – it really means a lot to me and I guess I can't let it go – or it won't let me go maybe...


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

The McMenamins: Performing live… but in saying that I love recording too – it's just a very different thing... making music in a room and playing with someone else and creating something unique to that place in time – there is something magical about it.


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

The McMenamins: Listening to my mums records when I was a little girl and being moved by the music and the stories so much – it was the most powerful feeling & I think it always stayed with me as something important – worth doing.

Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

The McMenamins: The biggest challenge I think is really somehow being able to stick with it. As an independent artist – we have had to do everything ourselves from management to finding the funds to get the music out there… that can be really hard. It takes a long time and effort to continue making the music while trying to pay the bills and all.


Question: What's a typical day like?

The McMenamins: Crazy… totally crazy busy.


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

The McMenamins: Feeling like I am a part of a global musical / artistic community – creating something that will last beyond my time here, creating something that is somehow beautiful or important in some way to someone out there.


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

The McMenamins: Patty Griffin


Question: Do you have a website fans can visit?

The McMenamins: www.themacswebsite.com


Question: Can you tell us five things required for a happy healthy & enjoyable life?

The McMenamins: Love, art (& by that I mean all forms), family, good food and wine.


Question: What message would you like your music to say to your fans?

The McMenamins: Maybe to look around you – really see where you are what you are doing – what you are living & let yourself feel what you feel.


Question: What is the story behind the band's name?

The McMenamins: It is our Irish Surname – we are brother and sister - nothing else seemed to fit.


Interview by Brooke Hunter
Photograph credit Larisa Chen