After the recent release of his newest single, 'The Hills Have Eyes', Canberra musician Jack Biilmann is mid-way through a 22-date tour.
The roots/blues singer-songwriter has already built a solid back catalogue with the release of two, full-length albums. But with 'The Hills Have Eyes' Jack has deviated into new sonic territory. “[I'm] moving forward to some different sounds and I think this is a really cool track to start that off,” he says.
“If you listen to my older stuff, it's more singer-songwriter vibes. They're more stripped back with acoustic instruments.
“This is more of a breathing single for me. I'm going to go down the blues/ rock sort of road. More electric-sounding stuff rather than acoustic. But if I go there, I couldn't just jump straight there so this is a good, breathing single for that.
“We ended up with more rhythm and just some cooler and newer elements that I haven’t used before. This is what I had in mind [compared to] what I release. It's perfect. I'm really stoked with how it all sounds.”
In early May, Jack set out on an east-coast Australian tour kicking off in Canberra. Currently at its halfway point, the tour will finish up mid-August.
“For anyone who has seen me perform, you'll know that I really enjoy the banter,” Jack explains about his live show. “I sort of break the stereotype sometimes because I am a bit of a larrikin and I have a lot of fun with it.
“Those who have the same, silly sense of humour tend to really get drawn to my shows. There's always a lot of fun going on in the crowd.
“All these people are really emotionally connected to what they do and sometimes people can think I don't take it very seriously but I do. I take it so seriously. You could say that I have that Australian banter down-pat.”
Despite moving back into a band-based performance, Jack thoroughly enjoys his solo gigs. “I have sort of developed a one-man band set-up as well for my solo shows. This includes a harmonica miked to an amp which sounds really cool. [Also a] stomp-box, tambourine and a snare drum sound on my feet, plus a guitar that goes to two channels; so very clean.
“I'm moving into band mode again soon which is great fun, but the beauty of the solo set-up and gigs is that I only have myself to rely on.”
Jack Biilmann Tour 2018
Sat 4 Aug - The Vic (Wagga Wagga)Sun 5 Aug - The Bended Elbow (Albury)
Fri 10 Aug - The Captain Cook Hotel (Sydney)
Sun 12 Aug - Hamilton Station (Newcastle)
Sat 18 Aug - Rad Bar (Wollongong)
