Project Description
Interview with
JACOB DIAMOND
Interviewer: Ella Fox-Martens
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Perth alt-folk act Jacob Diamond creates music as complex and textured as the city he grew up in. Lyrically rich, with repeating motifs and subtle narrative movement, his songs combine universal themes and poetic detail. His 2018 debut album Goodbye Gondwana was an accomplished exploration of change, metamorphosis and place, and was deservingly nominated for Best Album at the 2018 WAM Awards. After a busy year touring around with Stella Donnelly and Methyl Ethel, Diamond has managed to find time in April to squeeze in a national tour.
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You just got back from touring with Methyl Ethel. What’s different about touring solo versus touring with a band? Is there one you like better?
Well kind of. Obviously there’s good and bad things about both. The camaraderie is good with a band, and having others to share the load, as it were. But it’s a little simpler when you just have yourself to worry about. I’m a pretty badly organized person, so when I’m on my own I can deal with that way better than when I’m with a band. But with Methyl everything is different. So I like touring with buddies but I also like being responsible for myself.
Is it nicer playing your own music? Things that you’ve written yourself?
It’s similar I guess; there’s advantages and disadvantages to both. When I’m playing other people’s music it’s like exercising a different muscle for me. It’s more of a work-out for the technical player in me, so it’s challenging in its own way.
But you’re more emotionally removed from it?
Yeah, I would say. And Jake from Methyl, his lyrics are quite cryptic so sometimes I can’t fully connect with the emotional side of that, whereas I can pretty well connect with my own.
On tour, do you find it an invigorating process or can it be quite draining? I know a lot of musicians would be on tour 24/7 if they could be.
That’s right; there is that type of musician. At this stage I’ve been touring pretty heavily now for only one year, and I’d say I’m not sure if I am one of those musicians. It can be a little bit challenging for me. But it’s an amazing thing to do, obviously.
But there is something to be said for community.
Yeah, that’s true. And when you’re in another city, you really have to work hard at pulling the show together. Especially when you’re doing it alone. Whereas in Perth it’s a lot easier.
You’ve been playing with some pretty talented people- not only Methyl but Stella Donnelly too. Has that been inspiring for you?
Absolutely. It came at such a perfect time for me. I’d been working so long on my own, just on my personal projects and albums, and was just bombarded by my own stuff. So when the opportunity came to play with Methyl and Stella it was so perfect, because as far as W.A music goes, those were two projects I really loved. And as I said before, it’s like exercising a different muscle, and I was so glad to not have the attention on me or be so focused on myself for a while.
And then when you come back to your own projects you have a different perspective.
Totally. And not only musically, but in other ways too. Like all last week and even this morning I’ve been organizing my own tour, and now I know more about how to make it not suck. I feel more prepared for this one.
Was it kind of nerve-wracking at first?
Touring? Yeah, totally. I started doing it I guess because I thought ‘oh, this is what people do’ and it’s great but for a long time nobody comes to the shows. Or maybe a couple of my cousins would come, or the support act would come. Slowly that starts to change, but it’s all still a work in progress.
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In terms of your songwriting, how much of a role do you think place plays? I’ve heard a lot of artists- not just musicians- say that the south-west of Australia is a very inspiring part of the world.
It’s quite vital. I think it’s inevitable that it leaks into your writing. And sometimes I will literally mention places, but it’s on a less obvious level too. So much of where you are and where you grew up forms how you approach things.
Do you see yourself as a pretty West Australian artist?
I think so. I feel having travelled a bunch now, I’m always stoked to come back here, and that’s a feeling that you can’t control. I think I will always feel a bit of a magnetic draw back to Perth.
I noticed a lot of Biblical imagery. Is religion important in your writing?
Yes. I grew up around so much of that vernacular and I feel like those were the laws that were established for me as a young person. Now I’m not involved with religion at all, but that imprint is so permanent. Also I love the way the Bible is written. The way it was translated into English is so interesting.
The language is gorgeous.
Yeah, it’s quite distinct, very matter-of-fact but descriptive. There are so many lines that are stuck in my head and they just come out. I wasn’t one of those kids who loved to read and I think that was the most common text that I heard and was around. I feel like it left such a mark, like sometimes I’ll be writing lyrics and be like ‘oh wow that seems like an interesting, creative line’ and it’s two thousand years old.
Did I detect some musical theatre influences too? Not only technically, but thematically as well. The line ‘a lie has life in the theatre’ particularly stood out to me.
You’re totally right. There’s heaps of references to the theatre. Something about the music I’ve been writing up until now has been a lot about the general performative nature of being a person and figuring yourself out. I spent a lot of time around the theatre so a lot of that language and imagery has probably leaked in.
I was going to ask about literary influences but you kind of shut that down with the whole ‘don’t read’ thing.
Hah! Since I have grown up I have gotten a lot more into that stuff. There’s heaps of writers that are great, but I’m playing catch-up a little bit. I love Brave New World and Steinbeck. And I love Tim Winton. I like that approach to writing where it’s kind of bizarrely put together, but you’re left with such a vivid impression. There’s a lot to like about that kind of style. For me, that’s what I try to do with my own music. Be non-traditional but convey a message really well. I think when all of that comes together for me, with the theatre and the Bible and everything else, it results in a song that has a little bit of an arc.
I was going to say that. Obviously not a whole book-style narrative, but I definitely hear a kind of movement in your songs.
I think writing a song with an actual straight narrative would be a huge challenge for me right now. I would rather have a song start in an emotional place and then have it end up in a different place at the finish.
A lot of people tend to think that everything you’re writing about you’ve personally experienced. There’s an imaginative aspect to songwriting that people don’t seem to get.
You’re absolutely right. I actually get uncomfortable when people assume that what I’m singing about is automatically something that comes from my own experience.
I guess coming back to the nature of the theatre, you tend to believe what you’re told.
Exactly. But having said that, it’s easy to go too far in that direction. Personally, as I’ve learned in the past, you really need that hook of personal experience.
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Do you write everything yourself or do you collaborate?
Up until now I’ve written everything myself. I’d love to collaborate but I’ve found it’s such a personal, long slow process and I think other people would get frustrated. I don’t want to call myself a perfectionist but…I have co-written before, and they get really excited about an idea I’m not so excited about, and that just really stresses me out.
Are you writing now?
I am actually, yeah. I am about four or five songs into what is hopefully a fifteen song LP. I don’t know what I’ll end up releasing but I’m hoping just to write as much as I can. It’s definitely the time for me now. I have a lot of energy in that regard and a bit of time here and there.
Is there anything you’re drawing from?
For me I think it’s always about change, for want of a less corny word. Now, literally, it’s more about changing where I live. A little bit about removing myself from where I lived, but also an older version of my life. And drawing on the specific imagery of what’s around me now in Fremantle.
The things you’re writing now- has there been any significant changes in substance or style?
I would consider it to be different. I think I’m just trying to be as focused as I can about it, and that yields different results. I am quite critical of the things I’ve done in the past, just like any artist, and I think what it really takes for me is care. And that means that things are sometimes more detailed lyrically or melodically, or on the flipside, I need to do less. And sometimes I think my tendency in the past has been to fill the song with lots of stuff. It’s all about economy: doing as much as possible with as little as possible.
When you play something personal to an audience, does it change how you feel about the songs?
Good question. I think so. I have a new song that I’ve just started playing, and it’s probably the most candid and direct one that I’ve written. I’ve only performed it twice, and both times it’s been really intense for me personally. It was intense to write, but all of a sudden when it’s quiet and there’s a bunch of people listening, it’s in a whole other place.
On the other hand, if you’ve played something a long time, does it lose that emotional impact?
Short answer: yes. I think emotion doesn’t change too much, and I can always access it. I get more bothered by the craft. Like if I feel like I’ve moved on in the way I write something.
If you’re always changing as an artist, you might look back at something and cringe. But you’re locked into that being part of your discography.
It’s kind of scary, being prefaced with a song forever. And I was releasing music when I was eighteen. I mean, I just recommend to everyone to avoid it. It was bad. Of course it was bad. And that’s what makes me afraid for all these young people given such a huge platform, because I just think if the music I was making at eighteen was what I became known for, I would be devastated.
What are you listening to now?
I am so deep into Kate Bush right now. And Big Thief. Some West African music as well. I studied jazz for a while, which sort of ended up destroying my love for it, but I think enough time has passed that I’m slowly coming back. And there’s a South African artist I found a while ago on Song Exploder called Nakhane. He’s amazing.
And lastly, just quickly, the Perth music scene is so vibrant right now. Any acts you’re excited about?
I love Grievous Bodily Calm a lot. Heaps of great acts on my booking company, like Your Girl Pho and Demon Days. Gazey are amazing too.
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