With 2017's 'Camacho', ARIA-topping Pete Murray’s first album in six years, Pete kept his cool, felt the groove and forgot the past.
It is an approach that has led some fans to tell him they like his new stuff better than his old stuff, and he is enthusiastically riding those waves of positivity.
Pete’s major label debut, 'Feeler', in 2003 has sold over half a million copies. It’s smash single, ‘So Beautiful’, with its Crowded House-style acoustic strum and anthemic chorus, became a cultural phenomenon.
For an artist with only an independent release, 'The Game', under his belt at the time, such instantaneous and enormous success inevitably defined his songwriting for the next decade and a half.
On ‘Camacho’, Pete believes he finally let go of the stifling expectations that his debut brought. “'Feeler' was such a big album and nothing afterwards has compared to that. Every album I’ve done, I’ve tried to get a 'Feeler', but I just couldn’t do it.
“This one, I kind of forgot about it and [said] 'I’m just going to do what I want to do, and it’s going to be different'. And it’s been the best reviews and the best feedback that I’ve had since 'Feeler'; so much so that I’m getting some fans that are saying that this is their favourite album and that they didn’t think they would ever like one of my albums more than 'Feeler'.”
On each of the three albums since his debut, Pete has experimented with his songwriting process. But when he entered the studio, he remained wedded to a traditional approach.
He explains how flipping his recording routine on its head led to growth. “I was very influenced by Neil Young and that style of recording of the old-school way of doing it; you have the whole band in the studio, you have a real drum kit, you play together, you jam it.
"You wouldn’t have a click track on, you’d have more of a live feel. That changed with this album.”
Instead of laying down tracks in their entirety in the studio, Pete has utilised the post-production and remixing skills of some of the nation’s finest to add layers to his compositions.
While 'Camacho' is the Spanish word for cool, the Australian name synonymous with coolness in recent years has been AB Original.
Pete raves about the influence that one member of the Adelaide hip hop duo, Trials, had on a few of his new tracks.
“Working with Trials, sending him some loops and beats, or even writing songs to loops and beats and sending those beats down to Trials to fatten up for me or to enhance and try and get his hip hop beat and sound on there was really exciting to me; it was probably the most exciting thing about doing the album was having those different influences.”
After amassing a loyal following in his 15-year career, Pete was initially concerned by how this new approach would be received. Heartened by the initial response, he has further embraced the spirit of exploration by collaborating with PNAU’s Peter Mayes on a remix of his single ‘Heartbeats'.
While he is still passionate about his origins as an artist, this new twist has been reinvigorating for him. “I still love acoustic guitar and electric guitar and that’s what I do, but adding those extra flavours of electronica and the beats is really keeping it fresh for me.”
The fascination with electronic grooves is not a sudden occurrence. Oddball-indie genius Beck’s genre-defying single ‘Loser’, from 1994’s 'Mellow Gold', was always an inspiration for Pete.
He even worked with Beck’s producer, Tom Bothrock, on his 2011 release 'Blue Sky Blue', but wasn’t quite ready to integrate the Bong Load Records owner’s suggestions.
“We did some acoustic demos and he put some beats to those demos and he said that we could make a really great, acoustic album here with the same beats and loop going through the song and I said 'no, that sounds a bit boring' and that we need to change it up and have a verse groove and then a chorus groove and then you have to change again for the bridge.
“I was still really old-school with that approach. On the new album, the approach was just to have that one groove, which I really dig.”
By opening the creative floodgates, Pete sees a world of new possibilities; possibilities that include hip hop and electronica collaborations, but also opportunities at the other end of the spectrum.
On a new venture, 'Movement & Music Escapes', Pete performed with his old friend, Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother (click here to read our recent interview with Andrew).
He explains this connection and where it could lead. “Andrew’s a good mate of mine and his studio is just around the corner from my place [in Byron Bay], so I’ve known him for years.
“I spoke to him and said maybe we should think of doing something together. And there’s a song that I’ve just written lately which is like a Led Zeppelin song, and you wouldn’t think I would be writing a song like that. I was playing it and thinking, 'mate, I sort of need to have the backing band of Wolfmother playing to this track'.”
While he is clearly enthusiastic about creating new material, he is still enamoured with presenting 'Camacho' to fans across Australia. His upcoming run of dates will be a stripped back three-piece acoustic tour.
“We’re going to do an acoustic version [of the album] but still with some loops and beats and also some real loops and beats where we’re going to make it up on the loop pedal and also just having a stomp there.”
The loops and beats are just one component in the 'Camacho' soundscape though. Melodious organs and trumpets also weave their way through the ten new tracks.
He plans to deliver the full album experience again too before the end of 2018. “At the end of year I’d still like to do another bunch of band shows because the band I’m playing with is just on fire mate, everyone who’s seen us is blown away.”
This winter, Pete will devote two months to traversing the country, starting in Perth at the end of June and culminating in Canberra during the last days of August. It is an opportunity for devoted fans to give Pete their love.
Pete Murray Tour Dates
29-30 Jun - Rosemount Hotel (Perth)Sun 1 Jul - Roebuck Hotel (Broome)
Thu 5 Jul - Villa Noosa (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 6 Jul - Twin Towns (Gold Coast)
Sat 7 Jul - Redland Bay Hotel (Brisbane)
Thu 12 Jul - Highfields (Toowoomba)
Fri 13 Jul - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Sat 14 Jul - The Corner (Melbourne)
Sun 15 Jul - Grand Hotel (Mornington)
Thu 19 Jul - Shoal Bay Country Club
Fri 20 Jul - The Entrance Leagues Club (Central Coast)
Sat 21 Jul - Narrabeen RSL
Sun 22 Jul - Marlin Hotel (Ulladulla)
Thu 26 Jul - Gateway Hotel (Geelong)
Fri 27 Jul - York On Lilydale (Melbourne)
Sat 28 Jul - The Commercial (Melbourne)
10-11 Aug - Norwood Hotel (Adelaide)
Thu 23 Aug - Macquarie Inn (Dubbo)
Fri 24 Aug - The Cube (Sydney)
Sat 25 Aug - Station Resort Jindabyne
Sat 26 Aug - The Basement (Canberra)
