Jackson McLaren has been a busy man the last couple of years, gaining air-time across the country, spending copious time on the road, and recording with producer and friend Josh Pyke.
Even though he’s about to kickstart his debut album tour today (June 4) in Melbourne, Jackson still holds his home town of Warrnambool close. “I really miss the beach actually. In Melbourne there's so much stuff to do and see, and you're in the middle of everything to do with arts and culture, but there's no beach. There's no water, and I kind of miss that having grown up and being able to walk down to the beach and hanging out with mates and stuff,” Jackson says.
“Being in a country town there's always people around you can just bump into, and I don't think you get that as much in the city.”
Jackson grew up in a musical household, with his parents sharing an interest for the arts; it was an almost natural step for him to pursue career in music. “I started a band in high school when I was about 13 or 14, and we were writing our own material. We were called The Roaring Forties. So I started writing music from a fairly early age; probably 12 years old when I wrote my first song.”
Jackson will be in solo mode on this tour, but will be embarking on additional dates later in the year to give audiences a taste of the full band, comprised of Jackson and The Triple Threat. “[The band] kind of came together kind of organically. I met the violinist, Myles Anderson, through a mutual friend. Then we put an ad in the street press and we got our bass player, Jake Sherry, through that. And our drummer, Mirra [Seigerman], was a mutual friend of Jake who had done some touring with him in Europe in another band. So they worked well together in their rhythm, so it was really lucky to get this unit of musicians working together that already knew each other a little bit.”
The film clip for their track 'Here's A Memory' was also recently released. Featuring stop-motion animation, the video didn't come without hitches.
“We were just using a Canon digital camera, and it was quite hard to get the sequences moving right. It took about three or four thousand photos to get the film clip. We underestimated how long it would take to make. We went out on Monday like 'yeah we'll put in a few hours and knock it on the head' but then it ended up taking several days of shooting with different locations.”
While the name Jackson McLaren may still be fresh on the musical landscape, the lad from Warrnambool already has an indie-pop icon in his corner. "I've known Josh [Pyke] since I was about 17. I met him in my hometown of Warrnambool in Victoria. He came down for a show and I was lucky enough to support him. We got along really well and he was really interested in what I was doing. Josh gave his manager a call to check me out and I ended up signing with them. Josh produced my first EP when I was about 17/ 18, and since then he's been a bit of a mentor for me. We do one or two tours together every year and we keep in contact, he's always interested in what I'm up to.”
With a cutman like Pyke in his corner, Jackson is striding towards a sustained career peddling his guitar around the country. "Josh has really given me a lot of encouragement and enthusiasm and confidence in believing in what I do, and that's been great to have a songwriter as great as Josh Pyke to have an interest in what a young artist is up to and what he can do to help other young artists come up through the ranks. He's a really lovely guy, and I feel very fortunate to have met him."
Written by Daniel Conaghan
Jackson McLaren Tour Dates
Wed Jun 4 - The Melbourne Folk Club at Bella Union (Carlton)Sun Jun 15 - The Bearded Lady (Brisbane)
Sun Jun 22 - The Exeter Hotel (Adelaide)
Sat Jun 28 - Little Features at Hibernian House (Sydney)
Sun Jun 29 - Menagerie At The Welcome Hotel (Sydney)
