Dan Sultan
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Dan Sultan

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When one thing fucks up in the organisation of an artist interview, you can bet that everything following will likely go to shit.

When one thing fucks up in the organisation of an artist interview, you can bet that everything following will likely go to shit. After an aborted interview with Dan Sultan (his fault), the realisation that the second attempt isn’t being recorded (my fault) and a series of choice phrases (we both favoured the f-word; I gave some attention to the c-bomb), we end up talking about none of the stuff we were supposed to be discussing.

Like the fact that he (one of the hottest new musicians in the country) and I (a jaded music writer) are so stuck in old school rock ’n’ roll ways we are a bit out of Melbourne’s new music loop. We agree that we only (for the most part) see new bands on friend’s or colleague’s recommendations, essentially because we’re lazy.

A lot of new bands I just don’t know. It’s not like I know them and don’t go and see them. I’m just a bit slack and a bit breezy like that. I just let it happen,” Sultan says, before pausing for inspiration. “The Hello Morning, I go and see whenever I can. I think they’re one of the best bands going around. You should go and check them out.”

I feel a sense of “going full circle”. Interviewing Ash Naylor a few years ago, I asked the guitarist about this new singer, Dan Sultan, who Ash’s band Even had booked a gig with. Naylor replied: “He’s a pretty amazing singer; you’ve got to check him out.” So I did, was blown away by the show’s energy, saw Dan’s band whenever I could and happily applauded years later when, in 2010, they accepted Deadly Awards for Male Artist and Single Of The Year; Best Independent Artist and Best Blues And Roots Album at the Jagermeister Independent Music Awards and to cap it off, Best Male Artist and Best Blues And Roots Album at the ARIAs for Get Out While You Can. The record could be more accurately described as rock/soul/country – in fact one British online review singled out track Old Fitzroy, gushing that the song was “one of the best country-rock ballads ever written and performed.”

People like that song. I think it’s the story. I grew up around there and I remember seeing [homeless] people hanging out… it makes you think if things had of been a bit different…maybe if they had of come from a nicer socio-economic background, things might have been a bit easier for them, you know?”

I ask if there was anyone in particular that he modelled the songs protagonist off, or if his character was fictional. “Oh, fictional,” he replies. “But they’re real.”

My confession that I get a kick from seeing local band’s video clips shot in my neighbourhood – as the accompanying film for Old Fitzroy was – gets us onto “being starstruck.” For me, it is the musicians I loved as a kid or teen that really get me fluffing my lines but for Dan, who has worked with some huge Australian talent since he came to the attention of Paul Kelly, getting the jitters is a sensation he hopes he never loses.

I think something would be wrong if I didn’t. I even got starstruck seeing The Bedroom Philosopher. I saw him and was like, ‘Oh! There’s the dude from the Number 86 tram!’ You know him?”

Yeah,“ I laugh, “But I don’t know that I’d get too overwhelmed if I met him in the street.”

What?!” hoots Dan. “I think he’s fucking hilarious!”

What about the flipside? Can the now highly sought after Sultan comfortably ride the Number 86 tram in peace these days?

It’s not too bad. People are pretty cool. And you know what it’s like in Melbourne. They see someone they recognise from the paper or from telly and no one really gives a shit,” he laughs.

He’s right, of course, which also reminds me that I have often seen him – and the rest of Melbourne’s music community, mind you – traipsing around the Meredith amphitheatre during the best festival weekends of the season. “Well, Meredith and Golden Plains, they’re pretty much my pick,” Dan agrees. “There’s a lot of little festivals that are cool for other reasons, but as far as the larger ones go, they’re right on. It’s good vibes and everybody’s there to enjoy themselves.”

He asserts that his upcoming festival experience should be similar. In April, Dan, his co-writer/guitarist Scott Wilson and the rest of the travelling Dan Sultan show will join legendary indigenous artist Archie Roach onstage at Bilyana amphitheatre (home of Folk, Rhythm & Life). Set in far north Victoria, alongside the majestic Mount Pilot National Park, the location for this special event – Archie’s first appearance there without true love Ruby Hunter, who passed away suddenly in 2010 – will facilitate a time-honoured touring musician’s activity: the road trip.

Yeah, something like that,” muses Sultan. “I dunno if I’ll be camping, to tell you the truth but it’s gonna be good. Nice river, nice amphitheatre. It’s cool; a beautiful part of the world.”

It also means a lot to Dan to be accompanying Roach for the gig. After growing up listening to his parent’s Archie Roach records and being invited to join Archie and Ruby in the celebrated Black Arm Band, Dan still gets a thrill from performing with a man he respects so much.

When I was young, I went up to him and [nervously] said hello, but even after joining the Black Arm Band, and playing with him for a few years I’m still starstruck by him. I always will be.”

 

DAN SULTAN will join Archie Roach on stage at the Bilyana Festival in Eldorado, Victoria, on Saturday April 9. For tickets and further information, see bilyana.com.