Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier are bringing the perfect balance of old and new
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12.06.2019

Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier are bringing the perfect balance of old and new

Photo: Robin Sellick
Words by Augustus Welby

It’s been a busy year for Deborah Conway. The Words of Men, the Melbourne musician’s latest collaborative album with husband Willy Zygier, came out in February.

Conway and Zygier are now conducting the EPIC tour, playing The Words of Men and Conway’s 1993 record, Bitch Epic, in full.

“You want to give the people what they want and then you want to keep fresh and make sure you’re not setting yourself in aspic by not doing anything new,” Conway says. But if I can entice people into the show by presenting them with an unbeatable package like the little trip down memory lane with Bitch Epic, that’s good enough for me.”

The audience interest is still there, but that hasn’t stopped Conway worrying.

“As a self-employed person, you need to occupy yourself with all aspects of the business. Composing is one of them, recording is another one, performance is another one and getting bums on seats is another one,” she says.

“I’ve been in the business for 40 years now, almost. All the facets of what I do have their difficulties, their intrigue, and their joys. It keeps a somewhat restless mind occupied. Otherwise, god knows what I’d be doing.”

The Words of Men is Conway and Zygier’s tenth collaborative album; Bitch Epic was the pair’s first. They started working together in 1991 and have shared joint billing on every album since 2004’s Summertown.

“I employed him to go on tour with me, on the String of Pearls tour,” says Conway. “So that’s how we met and then we fairly rapidly started a very 360 degree relationship. We collaborated on every level.”

String of Pearls, Conway’s 1991 debut solo record, followed two LPs with Do Re Mi in the mid-to-late ’80s. It features her biggest solo hit, ‘It’s Only the Beginning’. The EPIC tour is modelled after Conway and Zygier’s 2016 tour where they played String of Pearls alongside that year’s Everybody’s Begging.

“It was a really successful tour and people absolutely loved [Everybody’s Begging], but they loved hearing the nostalgic stuff as well,” Conway says. “So I thought all we have to do is write a new record because Bitch Epic’s 25th anniversary is coming. We wrote it very fast. It was an intense creative period and I think we’ve made a really excellent record. I’m really proud of it.”

The Words of Men includes the same band that appeared on Everybody’s Begging and has a similar organic feel. Stylistically, the album includes uptempo folk numbers, blues ballads and a hint of jazz.

“We haven’t really played electric instruments since 1999 when we recorded Exquisite Stereo,” Conway says. “We wanted to get back to the sound of wood and strings and air. I think the more I listen to modern music, the more I dislike how much it’s being played by machines. Human voices don’t really sound like human voices anymore.”

Bitch Epic and The Words of Men are distinct from one another tonally, stylistically and sonically. The show is divided into two halves, but there is some synergy between the two albums.

“Willy has to strap on an electric guitar, which I think he secretly quite likes,” Conway says. “The band are just amazingly energetic. We’re playing with extraordinary musicians and they’re not just playing the written music. They’re stretching out, they’re interpreting, they’re standing on the edge and they’re dancing on it.

Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier stop by Hamer Hall on their EPIC tour on Sunday June 16. Grab your ticks via the Arts Centre Melbourne website.