Alex Lloyd is currently on the road performing a set of intimate shows under the title 'An Evening With Alex Lloyd'.
With shows in Sydney and Melbourne recently, Alex speaks warmly about the receptive audiences; he was particularly impressed by not having to prompt the audience to sing-along. “In Melbourne, it's so funny, usually I have to encourage people to do sing-alongs in these shows, but lately people just sing anyway. In Melbourne and actually in Sydney as well, in the last show we did in Sydney, which was in Cronulla, it was amazing, the chorus was just being sung for me, I could have almost not been singing,” Alex says.
When chatting with Alex, it's apparent he's enjoying playing these smaller, more intimate shows. “I've been doing the songs off all my old records to be honest with you and I've done two, independent releases and I do a few songs off my latest record. 'Urban Wilderness'. I do them acoustically... sometimes people request things that I actually can't remember how to play,” he laughs.
“Someone asked for 'Aliens' the other day and I was like, ah I actually would have to sit down and work that out before I could do that. If you gave me 20 minutes I'll come right back, but I can't really do that in the middle of a show. But I have been doing what people ask for essentially, I do the best I can.”
This is the second, national tour Alex has done since moving back to Australia after spending five years living in London.
The main reason for returning home was so his four children could have a relationship with their grandparents. “That's pretty much the main reason for coming home and I guess also, London is quite an indoors place, which I kind of liked, but I think for kids it's important to have wide-open spaces and if you can allow that that in their life, then why not,” Alex says.
It was during this period living in the UK that Alex seemed to disappear from the local music scene. He was still busy making music, but had decided to try something a little different. “I kept making music, I had a studio there and I was doing a lot of writing for other artists, I did some writing for a lot of different European artists and up and coming American artists and in particular I did some writing for Passenger; I wasn't really thinking about my own music I guess, I was sort of sitting around with other people and kind of trying a different career path for myself as a writer and producer.”
Although he's not certain how his time in London may have influenced his music, he's certain that different places provide a lot of inspiration for his songwriting. “I think that your environment is everything and what you see and hear is definitely going to influence your music.
"And some of that experience, you know, you might have an experience but you might not reflect upon it for a year or two you know, the memory of it might be stronger than the actual experience as far as being an inspiration for a song. So I think that as you accumulate different experiences over time, sometimes they just pop up into your head and there's a song.”
Written by Mardi Reason
Alex Lloyd Tour Dates
Wed 7 Oct - The Gov (Adelaide)Thu 8 Oct - Settlers Tavern (Margaret River)
Fri 9 Oct - The Rosemount (Perth)
