Deep in the forested hills of the Natural Bridge, on the edge of an extinct volcano, amidst the speckled light of glowworms, tucked beneath damp and heavy air, hushed by the ripple of the spring fed creek is a cabin with a stone floor that is the home of Louise O’Reilly and Paul Hannan. Herein is the space where flowers in the hair, tapping of the boots, a swaying of the hips has been translated into the sound of the death of 1000 summers. The sounds of Laneway. They’re taking that sound on the road with their new album ,Turn Your Love Up, before heading to Berlin next year as the Grant MeLennan Memorial Fellowship recipients for 2012.
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
Paul: My uncle had a guitar under his house at Natural Bridge. He asked me if I’d like to have a go. I think I was 14 or 15 at the time; in other words years and years ago. I ended up obsessing over it for quite a while and I’ve never looked back; well sometimes.
Louise: I used to do some singing, drama, music – in eisteddfods and what not. I remember being pretty inspired by Rizzo in Grease too.
You must answer this question honestly or we steal your rider. What and where was the first gig you went to?
Paul: The first gig I went to was Dire Straits at the great Boondall Entertainment Centre in Brisbane. The place seemed like a 1000 miles from our home in Annerley. I was a wee lad who saw something in them and it was inspiring, no doubt. Dire Straits ended up retiring because Mark Knophler thought that they were getting to big.
Louise: Mine was a Boondall too. I was at the Paul Simon Grancelands Tour when I was six. Talk about a life impression. It felt like there was a lion in the room. I still get quite moved just thinking about it.
Where did your respective love of country and folk begin?
Paul: Bob Dylan for me and later George Jones. Simon and Garfunkle, the Violent Femmes. But really, folk is rock and roll slowed down a bit, an acoustic guitar, with or without the drums.. Makes me think of the Hard On’s…They’re a folk band with electric guitar and drums. it’s just fast and electrified. Most of these guys make good travelling music. Gillian Welch, gram Parsons. It feels like you might be going somewhere. Along the way you end up hearing anything from Will Oldham to Loreetta Lynne and Joni Mitchell to John Prine and Jimmy Buffet.
Louise: Yes we do like a lot of old stuff. We go through quite long stretches of listening to Dylan. The Band – these are all shared loves. It was at the start of Laneway that we both became attuned to artists like George Jones, Tammy Wynett – country artists that we’d previously not spent a lot of time with. They’re different harmonies to folk or even pop harmonies. You learn a lot listening to them.
Why the decision to release your debut through your own label? Has it made life easier?
Louise: I guess we could have hung onto the debut until a label picked it up. Although we were in a position where we weren’t gigging very much at the time and creatively I think it captured a moment in our lives quite well. I can think of many good reasons to hold off on releases until you have all that backing and support that a label should offer – but for us we had to let it go – as the title itself suggests. Starting our own label was a logical step for us at that stage. It’s certainly not easy – but I don’t have a first hand comparison –
Paul: Running your own label can be a very time consuming endevour, just ask Louie. But in the end we figure that our 3 year old, who is CEO of Crawler Records, will be the right person to take this label somewhere, like going forward…
Louise: Strategically speaking…
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
Paul: I can’t seem to get enough of the Rolling Stones, our boy loves to dance to them. They are very funky. The Stones just come in and out of your life whenever they feel like it, it seems, Motor Head also does it for me lately. A bunch of others artists would be Fingers Malone from Byron who does a sort of two step dance thing, Dog Trumpet featuring Reg Mombassa and his brother Pete, Matt Monroe, The Smiths. I loved Bat for Lashes when they had their moment.
Louise: Peter Coombs gets a lot of play. I enjoy listening to something in the car for weeks on end. At the moment it’s Junip’s album.
As parents, are you guys nervous about a long national tour?
Paul: I imagine there are always nerves on a tour, with or without a child. Even more so this time as it’s our first tour out by ourselves. You know, fretting about who turn ups. In many ways our boy will be a comfort to have around. I must remind myself not to over do the late nights. Kids are up with the sun and ready to go outside. I’m sure we’ll manage fine.
Louise: Nerves probably wouldn’t be the best energy to start the whole adventure. It’s a fairly child-centered affair, really. Of course it has to be – like any long trip with kids – or any family in fact where parenting and work are a balance. We couldn’t actually do any of this without the support of my mum who comes on the road with us and looks after our son when we perform. We’re really lucky for her help.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
Louise: We do curate a festival! Well – it’s sort of a glorified house concert at the moment because that’s all the infrastructure can handle. This year we held the first Red Lantern Festival at our place in the hills at Natural Bridge. We cooked huge vats of veggie curries in the days before. Families rolled into the property in the afternoon, set up a little tent town, went swimming in the creek. It was a 5 band bill – some really beautiful performances. A very long inspired jam. Lots of dancing till dawn.
Paul: How big can the artists be? Can I ask old Bob Dylan? Or more local artists like… Dr Dre?
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
Paul: Paul Kelly, he’d have a bag full of tricks…
Louise: Good one.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
Paul: Cooking the dinner, driving in your car
Louise: Yes – there is something domestic about it. That’s something I get told a lot.
How has incorporating a full band into the fold affected your songwriting, recording and performing?
Louise: We still essentially write as a partnership – the two of us. That’s just sort of how we work. And the recording and performing elements feel like different processes. It’s always fun and interesting seeing how playing with different people affects arrangements and song’s feel. We’re really lucky to have such wonderfully talented people around us. Some very great players helped us make this record – all awesome songwriters too, in fact. And now we just can’t wait to get out on the road and play it live with Fingers Malone and Roan Roebig on stage with us. That’s going to be fun.
For more info on Laneway head to: lanewaymusic.com
