After a four year hiatus, beloved Australian indie-rock siblings Angus and Julia Stone are finally returning with arguably one of the most anticipated releases of their year; their shiny new self-titled album produced by the one and only Rick Rubin.
Tone Deaf spoke with the utterly charming Julia Stone to get an in-depth backstory to the many twists and turns in the process behind the new record which their new mentor Rubin has since described as “extraordinary”.
Angus & Julia Stone charts the path these two siblings took from splitting the band in 2010 to reigniting their musical kinship. It was a long and winding process with many twists, turns and unexpected emails from legendary producers in the making, and speaking from a phone line in Sydney, the utterly charming Julia Stone takes us through the soul-searching journey she and her brother embarked on for the creation of their new album.
After Going Solo In 2010, Angus And Julia “Didn’t Have Plans At All To Work Together Again”
After the unprecedented worldwide success of their 2010 sophomore album, By The Way,and its ubiquitous main single ‘Big Jet Plane’, Angus and Julia Stone were propelled well and truly into the global spotlight.
It then shocked everyone on the outside looking in when the now prolific brother-sister duo announced their split at what seemed to be the peak of their careers.
While Julia says she and her brother “were actually closer than [they] had been in all the years of making music together”, they both agreed to go separate ways to pursue the solo route they had both travelled on before they formed the band in 2006.
Cut to 2012, both siblings were out on tour with their own respective solo records. And as Julia emphasizes, they “didn’t have plans at all to work together again.”
“It was a hard decision because we had really started to become friends but we just, we always knew we were separate,”Julia says. “Like, we were solo artists and we put our songs together on records. It was this weird thing of working in a band with someone but it’s like, ‘This is your day in the studio, this is my day in the studio.’ It felt like we weren’t in it together – you know, really in it together. And as much as we cared about each other, going solo made sense to us as artists, and where we were at creatively we were ready to see what that felt like.”
They Drifted Apart And Didn’t Speak For Nearly A Year
“The reason we didn’t talk for so long isn’t because we were on bad terms, we’re just not like, especially Angus, we’re not phone communicators. We don’t call up the family each week and check in, and that’s just the way it’s always been. Angus, I mean, he only got a phone like five years ago so for the first five years of being with him you couldn’t contact him if he wasn’t with you. He’s so old school.
“I guess to be honest when we started we were definitely brother and sister and there was like a lot of family friction, and over time that sort of faded out but this time like coming back together we knew the only way this would work and that we were kind of inspired to work together was if we both chose it, and [if] we both were in it –[to] do this together, and write together, and make something that’s more of a collaboration and more of a band.”
… Then An Email From Revered Producer Rick Rubin Changed Everything
“So we got this email from Rick and it was just so out of the blue and unexpected. Rick had heard our music at a party of a friend of his and he contacted us after that.
“He came to a show I played at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in LA and then I spent some time with him in that week in LA. We just hung out and talked and got to know each other, and then Angus played his solo tour in America and Rick came to his show at the Troubadour and they hung out and did some like amazing underwater surf training together. It was just like we were getting to know each other – all of us.
“And at this time Angus and I, we hadn’t really spoken on the phone even for a good nine months or something, and yeah then I guess Rick wanted to make a record with Angus and me back together. That was the beginning of Angus and I talking more.
“I think definitely, like Angus and I have said, if it had been anyone else [or] any other situation we would’ve just gone, ‘Oh you know what, it’s not what we were planning and we’re kind of happy with what we’re doing now.’”
Working With Rubin Put Them In A “Strange” Scenario They’d Never Experienced, Nor Imagined
“[Rick] somehow has this way – I mean he’s so amazing with what he’s worked on and what he’s done, we kind of had to be serious about it, and pay respect to him and to the situation and to each other. It really put Angus and me in this really strange place where we were having conversations that we just never thought we were going to have, and it was pretty brilliant; like a lot of healing and great feelings were coming out of this unexpected situation.
“There were so many things for us because it was such a big decision for us to separate in the first place, and it was so early on in our separation. We’d only been a year apart that it felt like a big kind of like change again, and we move slowly so changing was hard for us, to kind of grow apart and to get back together.
“We were like, ‘Oh, it’s Rick and he’s amazing and we really all like each other and we could maybe do something great but is it right?’ You know, it was like a very confusing time, but it was good, and eventually we realised we had songs to make together.”
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At One Stage They Almost Walked Away From It All
“We had a week in this house in the Pacific Palisades, and we were like chain smoking and we didn’t know what we were doing. It was this really strange time, and I remember just thinking, ‘Fuck, this is a bad decision.’
“It was just so – it felt weird. I felt embarrassed in a way, like we both didn’t know if it was going to work, but we had kind of become so I guess honest with each other that we both knew that this was weird.
“Angus, I remember he came to me at one point and was like, ‘Hey, like I know this feels really strange and it’s kind of confusing,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah it’s pretty weird, I don’t know what we’re doing and I don’t know how it’s going to work,’ and he said, ‘Yeah I don’t know either.’
“And he said we make an agreement: we try. We go into the studio and we try and write together. We go into a room with organs and instruments and electric guitars and we just jam, and we see what happens. We’ll try and write songs and create sounds together, and if at any point it feels like it’s not working or it’s not right, we walk away. We walk away from this whole thing; from Rick.
“And I was like ‘Yeah, okay, so no bad feelings if it doesn’t work’ and he was like ‘No bad feelings – if it doesn’t feel right it doesn’t feel right, regardless of the consequences’. And I mean it had been a big ordeal to like sign a deal and all that shit and we knew it would be like a nightmare to get out of it but we just agreed, regardless of what that meant.”
Lead Single ‘Heart Beats Slow’ Was The Moment It All Came Together
From there, Julia describes that talk as “a weight off both our shoulders” that paved the way for the album to come to life. “Once that happened we started writing and ‘Heart Beats Slow’ was kind of the first sign for us that making this record was the right thing. When we first rocked up to LA we had about four weeks before we first got into Shangri La with Rick, and we had no idea what we were going to do. We hadn’t even shown each other songs, or hung out at all – like at all.
“But then once we started writing ‘Heart Beats Slow’ was one of the first things that happened. It felt so fun and cool like the way we were singing together; Angus would sing a line and I’d sing a line and we’d just sing and jam on ideas for half an hour and then try a new thing.
“Everything was this back and forwards and a lot of, I don’t know, just a lot of trust with each other that hadn’t been there in the past. Like, both of us were not afraid to say ‘fuck that sounds rad’ or ‘I’m not sure about that.’”
“I feel like especially me I can say that when Angus suggested an idea I just was so happy to hear it and in the past I think I’d be more resistant, like ‘nah nah, my idea’s the way it’s gonna be’. I didn’t feel like that anymore. I just felt like, ‘God he’s amazing and I’m so lucky to work with him, fuck, sick, great idea, let’s try it.’”
Julia Says Rubin’s Magic Comes From His Listening Ability
Stone describes Rubin’s influence over the new album as “profound” – not only in the way he essentially brought the pair back together but also in changing and evolving their sound. The begging question, then, is how does Rubin do it?
“I would say it’s because he feels everything, like he’s really in his body and you can see it when he listens to music. He moves with the music, his eyes are closed and he’s there inside it. With Rick, he knows not with his mind when something sounds good or sounds like a cool sound. He doesn’t think like that; he just feels it, and when he feels it and when he feels like it’s grooving, that’s the take or that’s the song.
“And I think that is his magic: he is one of the best listeners I’ve ever met, and that’s a rare quality for someone to truly listen. And I don’t mean just with the music – he listens to you when you speak. He hears what you say, and he responds to what he feels from what you’re saying, not necessarily the words that you’re saying. That’s an incredibly unique gift and I think that’s what makes him so extremely talented.”
Hearing Rick’s Praise Has Given Angus And Julia Stone A Newfound Affirmation
Since working with Angus and Julia, Rubin has had nothing but glowing praise for the duo, describing them as “truly unique musicians… authentic and pure people who do things from the heart. I’ve never worked with anyone like them before.”
When Julia is reminded of the words Rubin gushed about her and her brother, she says it’s simply “crazy”.
“I mean it’s just, I don’t know what Rick sees, you know, I feel like me –the me that I am –doesn’t feel like that about myself. I think it’s really nice to hear that, it makes me feel like I’m glad I’m doing what I’m doing and that I’m on the right path, and if Rick believes in us like that, I feel like then it’s not a waste to be here making music.
“I think we all get frightened sometimes that we might waste our life doing the wrong thing or not contributing, and I feel lucky that people are supportive and believe that what you do is worth something.”
Angus & Julia Stone is out August 1st through EMI/Universal.
Angus & Julia Stone Australian Tour
Fri 12 Sep –Thebarton Theatre Adelaide SA
Tickets: http://www.venuetix.com.au or http://www.thebartontheatre.com.au
Sat 13 Sep –Llewellyn Hall Canberra ACT *
Vancouver Sleep Clinic will not play this show. Support TBC Tickets: http://premier.ticketek.com.au
Sun 14 Sep –Sydney Opera House Sydney NSW
Tickets: www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Wed 17 Sep –Civic Theatre Newcastle NSW
Tickets: http://premier.ticketek.com.au
Thu 18 Sep –The Tivoli Brisbane QLD
Tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au
Sun 21 Sep – Arts Centre Gold Coast QLD
Tickets: http://www.theartscentregc.com.au
Tue 23 Sep –Perth Concert Hall Perth WA
Tickets: http://www.perthconcerthall.com.au or http://premier.ticketek.com.au
Fri 26 Sep –Palais Theatre Melbourne VIC
Tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au
Sun 28 Sep – Powerstation Auckland New Zealand
Tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au
