Comprising covers, long lost demos and instrumentals from film scores, David Bridie's new album, by his own admission, is anything but.
“‘New Record’ is probably not a good moniker for it. I wouldn’t put a cover of ‘Love Really Hurts Without You‘ on a new record!”
But somehow, the album, titled ‘Take The Next Illusionary Exit’, hangs together well. “It comes from various different sources. It’s not all from the same recording session but I think it works as a record … this just had a different path. There are film soundtracks and some old demos that I really like and thought ‘why did I never do anything with that?’, and this was a chance to do something with it.”
In 2013, David released his last album proper, ‘Wake’ . “I'm certainly not saying ‘hey look here’s the new David Bridie record as a follow-up to ‘Wake’’. It’s more of an accomplice piece to it.”
‘Wake’ contains several songs in which controversial political issues are confronted head-on. ‘Delegate’ criticises Australia’s immigration policy, which would in David's eyes be an abrogation of responsibility not to address. “I feel strongly that the Australian government, unfortunately with the acquiescence of the majority of Australian voters, is quite mean-spirited and cold-hearted about the issue of asylum seekers.”
The role of musicians to tackle key issues in a public forum is one that fits into the bigger picture. “I'm not for one minute saying that a song I’ve written has changed things. I wish it had. But if someone reads a newspaper article, sees a documentary on TV and sees it referenced by a few different bands, then they are all parts of a jigsaw puzzle that comes together.”
David shares the anti-establishment stance of many of his musical heroes. “The best bands kick against the pricks. I love The Clash for that. I love The Sex Pistols for that, and The Talking Heads. Music is best when it’s a little bit on the outside; it’s not part of your shopping malls or your informercials, and the best records say 'that stuff's fucked' – that’s the spirit of rock & roll.”
Another subject that David has a strong passion is the promotion of the music of Melanesia, Indigenous Australia, and its surrounding islands — so much so that ten years ago he founded Wantok Musical Foundation. “Wantok was set up to release the work of artists from that part of the world and give them more recognition internationally while maintaining their cultural strength … people know a lot about African music and South American music, but here's a place that wasn’t on people’s radar and has all these different cultural groups with all these different languages and forms of music.”
While the Foundation suffers the same difficulties of any organisation trying to succeed in the modern music industry, the artists carried on the Wantok label are still in high demand. “There is interest in these artists playing festivals, because they not only sound fantastic but they look fantastic too. For example, we have a group of women from Vanuatu who play all these rhythms on water. Big festivals love them because it’s something totally unique.”
David's projects for the next six months are as diverse as they are numerous. “There’s a big expo in Melbourne in November [AWME] and we are launching Frank Yamma’s record, Radical Son’s record and a DVD by the women water drummers from Vanuatu. There are a couple of other little projects on the edge; I’m doing a score for a film and some recording in the studio — so a lot of things to keep me occupied.”
‘Take The Next Illusionary Exit’ is available now.
Written by Nicholas Atkins
David Bridie Tour Dates
Fri 3 Oct - New Globe Theatre (Brisbane)Sun 5 Oct - The Vanguard (Sydney)
Fri 31 Oct - Grand Poobah (Hobart)
Sat 29 Nov - Astor Lounge (Perth)
Sun 30 Nov - Mojo’s (Fremantle)
