Stanthorpe born singer-songwriter, 17-year-old Georgia Marcus has been performing at local events, restaurants and bars for the last couple of years.
With a relaxed style of acoustic folk/ pop and indie music, Georgia has recently written and performed her own music. Oh, and her father, while also a musician, moonlights in an industry that usually frowns upon the antics of musicians.
With a father who is the local inspector of police, what's the most rock & roll antic you've tried to do?
I probably shouldn’t answer that question at risk of incriminating my father – because he was usually ‘supervising me’. However, probably playing in pubs – well past my bed time – since I was 15 [just like him] is pretty ‘School Of Rock’. It’s a pretty cool thing to do when you’re 15.
Your dad is also a musician with Whisky Gully… how has he shaped/ moulded your music career?
All of my favourite music is the stuff that I grew up listening to and that he plays with Whisky Gully. The band often practices at our house and it is just normal to have very loud, 1980s Australian rock thumping through the house: AC/DC, The Angels, Hoodoo Gurus, but I have also grown up with the more soulful sounds of Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and Kev Carmody.
I’ve always been a singer and only picked up a guitar in the last couple of years. One of the guitarists in Whisky Gulley, David Hume, has also been my guitar teacher for the last couple of years – and encouraged me and plenty of other Stanthorpe youth to perform in public.
You're completing your Year 12 studies at the moment; has your music been a nice distraction from the education stresses?
Spending Friday and Saturday night’s gigging isn’t your typical teenager, part-time job – it feels more like being paid for something I enjoy and that I’d be doing in my spare time anyway. Picking up the guitar has been my greatest source of relaxation and procrastination from study. Having people connect with your music is the greatest compliment you can ever receive.
Have you spent any time in a studio recording?
Not very much at this stage, although I did record three covers at Soular Music (Tuxedo Junction) with Andy Wilmot through a Youth Music programme. I’ve also done some backup work. It’s amazing to be in the same booth as some really famous songwriters – but it’s a bit of a local secret. This has given me a taste for recording, but I haven’t yet recorded any of my original music in a studio, but have uploaded a few rough live tracks. I know everyone does their own recording in their rooms now but I guess I was born too late – I love being in a massive studio with all the richness of history.
When you are on stage, do you feel like you're in a different world?
Normally my live performances are at restaurants and pub gigs, and although mostly this is background music, it is fantastic when I realise the crowd have put their knives and forks down and are really listening and appreciating what I’m doing. But recently I played where people came specifically to listen to my original music – that was a really different experience. I loved it, and I want to make it part of my everyday life.
Who is your ultimate dream act to perform on stage with?
It’s so difficult to choose between bands, but I would probably have to go with Coldplay who I saw live in 2012 with my family. I’ve always been a huge fan of their music and style. They’re able to seamlessly mix their easy-listening slow tunes with rock. I also saw Ed Sheeran in Brisbane in the pouring rain. I play a lot of his music – I love the work he does with the looper, and am learning to do some of this. I’d love to have him invite me to play with him – one ranga with another! It would be a dream come true to record with his label.
Stanthorpe Rocks… why should the city slickers head west for the weekend?
I’ve gone to the past two Stanthorpe Rocks festivals – and played at both of them in the chillout zones. But when I wasn’t playing, I was dancing five metres from the acts with the sun setting in the vineyards right behind the performers. It is a unique experience. Imagine having thousands of people in the same space all dancing, singing and getting along. It is great to hear the songs that my parents always listen to. Country people are great – city slickers will come here and feel like one of the crowd.
Of the bands on the bill, aside from Whisky Gully, who are you looking forward to seeing the most?
The line-up this year is excellent! Last year I saw Eurogliders perform and am really looking forward to seeing them again. But also Jon English – I heard him and Peter Cupples do an unplugged gig in Stanthorpe in 2010 as part of Italian week festivities. He has been in the industry for so long, and has such a unique voice and look.
In five years’ time what will Georgia Marcus be doing?
Well, hopefully I will be finished studying physiotherapy, and was able to earn some money to put myself through uni playing gigs around Brisbane and the Goldie. With any luck, I will have found someone to advise me further on how to advance my music and get it out there. Hopefully, in five years’ time I’ll have developed and released an album or two, and more than a few people know my music.
I know there isn’t the money in it like there used to be. I saw a sticker recently which said something like ‘A musician is someone who puts $10,000 worth of gear into a $500 car to drive 400 kilometres to play for 3 hours to get $200 pay’. If I didn’t love it – I wouldn’t do it.
Georgia Marcus is part of the local music programme at Stanthorpe Rocks 14 November.
