Life comes full circle for singer-songwriter Meg Mac this September when she performs at Brisbane Festival's Closing Party.
Just four years ago, Meg was a relatively unknown singer-songwriter playing one of her first live shows at one of the Festival's iconic venues.
“When I toured my first EP, this was back in 2014, I played Brisbane Festival in the Spiegeltent. It was one of my earliest shows and I remember loving that show in the Spiegeltent, it had a great character in the venue,” Meg says.
“Now I'm playing the Closing Party; it's like I'm going back but I've progressed,” she laughs. “It's always nice to look back on the first time I played Brisbane.”
Last year Meg released her debut full-length album 'Low Blows', recorded at Niles City Sound in Texas, and says she's looking forward to returning to Brisbane with a slightly longer set list, including a surprise or two.
“I'm definitely going to play songs from the album, songs from the EP and then I get a lot of requests for the 'Like A Version' I did of 'Let It Happen' by Tame Impala. I get so many messages before a show is coming up from people asking me to do it, so that's one I'm going to chuck in the set list.”
The past 12 months or so have been the most productive for Meg in terms of building her national profile, with 'Low Blows' affording her a more extensive Australian tour to show off the new material. “Probably the biggest thing that came from the album was to do the album tour, and that was the biggest tour I've ever done,” Meg says.
“I got to see so many different cities, not just major cities around Australia and see how the album had come into people's lives, and I really wasn't expecting the response that I got from those shows.”
When Meg released 'Low Blows', she spoke of how the songs were written specifically for live performance and wanting to capture her onstage aura on record. “I prefer to play live,” she reiterates 12 months later.
“The music I make is all about playing in front of people, playing live, playing with a band and bringing it to people in the moment. That's what it's about for me too, so with the album I was trying to get that same feeling that I get onstage in to a recording, in to that process... so the performance everyone is hearing is me in Texas on that day that I did the vocal.”
She goes on say that after having written the songs with the live context at the forefront of her mind and performing them onstage for the past year, they've grown into a versatile collection that can be adapted as per Meg's whims for a long time to come.
“Now after having done the tour, those songs are however I perform them rather than being in concrete,” she says.
“That's why making music is interesting because it's always changing and it's not always the same. I can play those songs forever now, change them or do whatever I want.”
As well as her national headline run, Meg has also been busy on the festival circuit taking her new album to events like Spin Off Festival in Adelaide and Electric Lady on the Gold Coast. “I love playing festivals because you get to be outdoors, they always have such a different energy and you're on a line-up with other people,” she says.
“It's not just your shows, so the build-up isn't just for when you get to come out. I loved Electric Lady, that was so cool – the stage was set up on the beach at the Gold Coast. I love doing festivals because you end up on stages in places where you normally wouldn't get to play.”
Meg also had the opportunity, recently, to reflect on one of her early songs – 'Roll Up Your Sleeves' from her 2014 self-titled EP – on triple j, as part of their 'Under The Influence' segment.
She says the experience allowed her rare insight into how her own creative process and attitude towards songwriting has shifted since those early days. “For me, looking back, I really enjoyed doing that and I dug up hard drives with old demos and tried to find all the bits,” she says.
“It made me realise that when I looked back what was most interesting was my songwriting process because I was really new to writing songs and I recorded 'Roll Up Your Sleeves' before I had a manager, before anything so it was so gritty.
“It was interesting because I feel like now with my songwriting I've discovered how to do it a bit better. Looking back I can see my songwriting and that I was at the beginning back then with how I would piece together things.”
However, the sense of self-progress is somewhat soured by Meg's bittersweet realisation that never again will she be able to write with the naivety and freedom of a creative spirit unburdened by processes and protocols.
“At the same time, I almost wish I had that innocence back,” she says.
“I wasn't scared and there was no pressure because no one knew who I was; there was a kind of charm to those first songs that I had because I didn't even know if anyone would hear them. There was no music industry, I wasn't scared of anything; I wish I could get that feeling back but you're only going to get your first time once.”
After well and truly travelling 'Low Blows' across this big, brown land and back again, Meg says she is almost ready to present the new material she has produced. “I'll be releasing something really soon,” she teases.
“I'm not officially allowed to say the release date, but it's coming up soon so I'm really excited and I'm just getting everything ready for that. Everyone will definitely be hearing something new from me very soon – a new single, coming soon.”
