Project Description
Interview with
KELLY DAY and JANE HENDRY
from
BROADS
Interviewer – Dave Bruce
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ABOUT BROADS
Kelly Day and Jane Hendry have an enduring musical partnership spanning well over a decade. As former (and founding) members of vintage vocal pop group The Nymphs, they became known for their a cappella performances on Spicks and Specks (ABC TV), the Marngrook Footy Show (SBS) and the RocKwiz Christmas Show (2011, SBS).
When The Nymphs called it a day, Kelly and Jane decided to create Broads, an acoustic duo strongly focused on dreamy vocal harmonies, influenced by some of their favourite crooners from across the eras – from Elvis through to Scott Walker, from Nina Simone through to Feist – but firmly carving their own path designed not to fit too comfortably into any particular genre or era.
Together, Kelly and Jane have lent their disarming vocal talent to the music of acclaimed artists such as Tim Rogers, Henry Wagons, Cash Savage, The Audreys and Rob Snarski, among many others.
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DAVE: Ok, so, I’m here today with two ladies who are apart of a band called Broads and we are going to talk about stuff so, hello ladies i wonder if you could introduce yourselves.
Kelly Day: I’m Kelly Day
Jane Hendry: and I’m Jane Hendry
Dave: Kelly Day and Jane Hendry about you just you know in 25 words or less express your life up to this day, just basically who are you, what do you do?
Kelly: I’m a musician and in a truer sense, not many people get to play music all the time but its kinda what i do and support it with a bit of graphic design, freelance
Dave: fantastic – music, graphic design. How long has the music been a part of it? How long have you been a musician.
Kelly: forever, i dont remember never not being a musician
Dave: okay so as a child you were doing music in school, and do you both write
Kelly: we both write
Dave: ok, how long have you been writing music?
Jane: writing music, probably 15 years
Dave 15 years, and how has that progressed over the time – how has your writing, is it similar or hs it continued to
Kelly: its come a lot way and its constantly evolving and I feel like every album we put out i fell like song writing gets better. I write about topics that i feel more honestly invested in i think
Dave: beautiful
Jane: I’m a bit more of a Jack of all trades. I sort of do lots of different things. Um but music is again something that is central to who i am and i have been doing music forever as well
Dave: Same school?
Jane: yeah, all the way through and um and I have probably been writing probably about the same amount of time but much less prolifically than Kel, so given I have also pursued a career in another field and I have a small family as well so. A lot less time dedicated to the creative process but I very much enjoy performing and I have been a giving musician for almost 15 years.
Dave: wow, thats long. So you both play instruments.
Kelly: These days… i think we started off playing keyboard and violin when we first started as a due and then got guitars involved and now we play kinda a bit of everything – keyboard, guitar, symph, a bit of saxophone on our last record. we kind of dabble in it all.
Dave: and the same for you Jane?
Jane: yeah so we um, i guess, started off, I’m a violinist and started playing violin, re taught myself to play guitar. Im still working on that and again picked up the piano again after a long hiatus so um been doing quite a lot of keys and that sort of thing so yeah and just enjoying things like when we are doing the recording processes going what would sound good here and so on our last album I ended u playing some double base on a song, which I’ve never played before, so always just thinking about what sound do we want and how can we produce that given the resources that we have.
Dave: terrific. Ok. How did the two of you find each other, how did that come about
Jane: so Kel and i met at uni um, I was not studying music but i was hovering around the music school quite a lot and had joined a choir that was run out of the music school and ah I met Kel through that and through some mutual friends and we immediately were eyeing each other off across the choir rows kinda going hang on a second we have a meeting of mind and sensibilities so um, we joined up with another couple of people from the choir and formed a vocal group and sort of the rest is history i think – we’ve just gravitated closer and closer over the years and um, and now it feels like we’re kind of, somebody asked us the other day if we were conjoined twins at some stage. It kind of feels like we are very close.
Dave: Ok so what I’m going to do throughout the course of this interview is also introduce something, i’ve got a fuck quiz, and this will explain that quickly. I’ve got a belief as a result of that feeling, that you hope out of the train in Austria and the waterfall going over the station and you just get out and go fuck, you know its that sort of thing. Like fuck as a feeling. Because we all use swear words kind of thing and we sort of using it running away from stuff, fear and all sort of stuff, so using that principal as a face what was the time when you were back there and you were sort of saying okay our eyes are eyes, meeting of the minds, all the sort of stuff, do you remember the time that you sort of said wow you know, you finished a rehearsal together or did two shows together or something – it might be different, but when you stepped back and you thought this is gonna, this feels right, theres some moment you sort of can recall? I know its probably a long time ago.
Kelly: I feel like the first time we all sang, so it was us two and two other girls, at. gig and i think it was the first actual gig that I’ve actually sung at really – and we were singing back up vocals for a hip hop band which is just so awesomely different from what we do now, but sort of testament to the kind of different opportunity we’ve had over the years singing vocals to so many different genres. But we sang to this kind of punk, hip hop band and just got off afterwards like , “Yes!”, fuck, we have to do this all the time how do we just make this happen – find other opportunities find more hip hop bands – whatever we have to do!
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Dave: is that a mutual thing or did you find some other?
Jane: definitely, but i probably had another one, further down the track where um, kind of just more about just the two of us and I have always been a fan of Kels writing, her songs are beautiful, and so I would go and see Kel doing solo gigs, so after our quartet had sort of come together and we started doing shows, Kel was then doing some solo shows in tiny little bars and little cafes and i would go along and sit in the front row with a tear rolling down my cheek and eventually, kind of, sidled up to her one day and said could i sing the backing vocals for you and so thats kind of when the duo sort of started and we, I cant remember, if it was a rehearsal or just a gig and we did it, and it was just that feeling oh fuck yes this is really good, so yeah definitely agree with Kel’s, that first gig as like wow we have got something really special here and having that feeling again in. a more intimate sort of setting with just the two of us later on.
Dave: wow, and thinking about that, thinking about the 15 years, there must be you know must, peaks and troughs and all that sort of stuff? Have you had many times throughout that period where you’ve sort of said you know, I’ve got to give this away, family, more responsible, I’ve got to think about this or I don’t have time? Or is it predominately all gone, you know, we’re going to keep doing this forever because we can and we just manage how we’re going to do that?
Jane: I think theres never really been a moment where I’ve thought this is enough or this is to difficult and I’ve got too many competing responsibilities or whatever, i always have moments when I’m like this is alot and i have a lot of competition responsibilities but i have to find a way to, you know, make it work, because this is like central who I am so its really important. So it just becomes not an if but a how if that makes sense.
Dave: Kelly, is it similar?
Kelly: Yeah, this is what I do, if i didn’t do it, I would feel very vacant and I don’t know what i would do – i feel like its actually invigorating doing music when you get to the end of the long day and I’m exhausted and you go ah I cant handle a rehearsal but then as soon as you get there and you start singing, it gives you so much energy – its actually the thing that makes all the other stuff easier to do.
Dave: I get that, people say I’m leaving amplify or something and i said look no one should ever leave amplify because we are a unit. So basically regardless of what we’re doing we’re always going to be the sort of people who are going to say – you just said that now and now you’ve said that and its a bit inconsistent, like we’re personal coaches or whatever. So you always feel like theres a reason for turning and I can understand that in, surfing – why would you give up your surfboard if you are going to be in the surf.
Dave: so really quickly, what did you listen to growing up and how did it effect you. Just a little bit of you know, special artists might be one or two you say bang still listen to him today, or them.
Kelly: I listened to the Beatles obsessively, and still kind of do, and I think i still like a lot of music that sounds like the Beatles.
Dave: for writing inspiration or predominately for just the music itself
Kelly: bit of both, its kind of weird, you can’t hear it in the music I write, but its there.
Jane: I listen to a whole range of, really eclectic things that my parents had in their record collection so but the sort of stand outs are nana mouskouri, still love, nana mouskouri so much.
Dave: unbelievable, most people wouldn’t even know who you’re talking about.
Jane: like you know hey day, an extraordinary singer, and um then lots of like we listened to daddy cool a lot at home and then you know as I kind of got a bit into the hip, you know or not so hip, the top 40, as a young teenager i really started getting into RNB, you know like its really eclectic but i think theres a constant but everyone listens to the Beatles right?
Dave: ok how would you describe your sound? following on from that, how would you describe your sound
Kelly: umm, melancholic but luscious.
Jane: yeah melancholic and luscious is about right, so its um, the arrangements and the tones and the sounds are around this kind of you know lush almost cinematic, really kind of washes over you, feels really warm but the, subject matter and the way we sing is tapping into the sort of melancholia and i think, theres something about melancholia that its not sadness and its not being depressed, its like, its wistfulness and theres a hint of sadness but theres also hope in there, so its this really nice mixture.
Dave: and therefore the resonation that people have in music comes from …. what do you think they sit there and they clap and the love it and all this sort of stuff, what is it? Is it that sort of melancholia, is it the tone.
Kelly: I feel like its very honest, there are a lot of voices these days that are affected and i think our delivery is actually very honest or you know not in that affected honesty. You know, strange accents and..
Dave: and also, a lot of people go out there with a purpose and other people just go out there to share whatever is going on. and i think that you know, you see Ed, you look at that photograph video of him growing up and you can’t help but smile at the fact that you know he had such a supportive life and you just want to be Ed Sheeran cause the family have taken videos all the way through it just looks like a fairy story so honesty is very attractive i think you’re right.
Dave: New music, what the latest new music you’ve had. when was it and what is it.
Jane: so we released an album this year, in late august, its called “Stay Connected” and we are um, we’ve been touring it around Australia and we’re just about to finish that tour here in Melbourne, and thats tomorrow night. 16th of November in common rooms in Melbourne which is the old Bella union, if anyone remembers Bella union. Kelly’s written all the songs on this album and she’s knocked it out of the park.
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Dave: signature pieces? too hard, all of it?
Kelly and Jane: all of it!
Dave: ok and favourite track and favourite tracks you like to perform?
Kelly: I’m really excited about “No Love Required”, because we haven’t really performed it yet and we’re gonna be doing it for the first time hopefully tomorrow and its got a couple of saxophone parts and we’re gonna have a saxophonist for the first time playing with us.
Dave: thats great to support another person.
Both: two more sax players
Dave: excellent.
Jane: i think in terms of a favourite track, my favourite tracks always change you know over time as i relisten and we rehearse and perform. But, “No Love Required” was an early favourite of mine and has continued to be this kind of slow burn, just really special song and i think its because as what Kel was talking about before, it has this kind of raw honesty about it without being kind of raw and out there its just a contemplative and really just honest song. Its really beautiful.
Dave: and if they come out tomorrow they can obviously, march they can buy and you will sign it and sign their forehead.
Both: yep!
Dave: I encourage people to do that. If you could perform with anybody, alive or dead do you have any
Jane: so hard! There’s so many!
Kelly: I would love to sing with Aretha Franklin in like a gospel choir. That would just bring so much joy.
Dave: and after 15 years what is the best thing about performing live to an audience, what do you get out of it. Because obviously you’ve performed before active audiences and inactive audiences, large audiences and small audiences, you know you’ve hit it out of the park.
Jane: I think for me like, we were having a conversation earlier it doesn’t matter if its one person or if its a thousand people, you know you’re just doing your thing giving something and sharing yourself, sometimes it is those where there are fewer people and you can see peoples faces and you can see people’s reactions and um, you know the other night we played to one person in a radio studio, so obviously people were listening but there was only one person in front of us and the look on her face when we were playing was just, like thats a really great thing, to see someone enjoy what you’re doing. Um, its really lovely.
Dave: whats next in the longer term future.
Kelly: i think its going to be writing the next album
Dave: and when do you intend having that out by
Kelly: best not to give it a deadline
Dave: any longer term touring, festivals or overseas or any of that sort of stuff, especially with the family is that a potential or is that
Jane: theres always potential, its just how you can make it happen. So, i think that we would love to tour internationally, that would be amazing but you know we’re a long way a way from anywhere, here in Australia.
Dave: I’ve got a friend in America who is really cool and she is used to tour through Ireland, so you can do those back blocks, head straight over. She’s don’t lots of stuff for twenty odd years, so it is possible. Just got to work it out.
Dave: so I’ve got some short questions that we will finish on, but i’ve got two questions before that. Again, based on the fuck principle, one moment, if you talk about yourself musically, whats one moment that you can think of, that you sort of say this is what I’m gonna do. You know this is why I’m here, is there one when you sort of said to yourself, one moment where you know what feeling is about because you do it all the time, you get on stage and feel, one moment where you just had that feeling that sort of this makes sense.
Jane: I think, its going a long way back, a long long way back, like childhood and being its probably not one specific moment, but being a choir or being in an orchestra and performing and being like yep, this is my drug. So um, i just like I’ve always wanted to do it. Its just, like i was the kid in the front row in choir who was leaning so far forward because she was so into it, she almost fell over.
Dave: and that continues obviously, so thats a continuous sort of thing that gets reinforced all the time, you keep doing it. and Kelly?
Kelly: um, yeah i think you know that you think you have to go right back because when you’ve been doing it forever its because you’ve decided really early on that thats, its something that you want to persue, i don’t even remember but apparently i came home from primary school like grade one or two and some kid had played piano at assembly and i came home and according to my Mum, and she’s a grand exaggerator when it comes to my skills as a child, she said “you just came home and you played the piece on piano and you said mum I want to learn this piece and i was piano lessons” and i said theres no way that happened, i probably just hit my hand on the piano a couple of times but i was adamant that i need piano lessons. She’s like oh great, okay this is going to be expensive but to start this young, i just knew really early that i had do it.
Dave: ok now, based on the same sort of principal, one person, is there one person throughout the course of your life – could be an artist, could be your dad who kept pushing you down music lessons, is there one person that you can say that you could hold responsible for me being here now doing what i love playing music its….
Jane: um, probably my mum. yeah, she’s a music teacher, piano teacher, and so I was surrounded by you know mum always had lessons with her students at home so its just always music and she was practicing alot, there was always music in the house.
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Dave: its not hard to surf when you watch surfing from the day youre born. And Kelly
Kelly: its my dad, as well. He’s a writer and he’s been kind of independently juggling doing writing his whole life and always talk to me about how its possible to be a creative and to create your own path and you don’t have to lock yourself into a job if you don’t want to if you have a passion you follow it, he’s still writing, he’s like 70 and he’s still writing every day and that is constant inspiration for me, you know he makes it work, its not always easy to juggle things.
Dave: being a father and a new grandfather, only four months, I am wrapped that family has been so pivotal. Because you know, its what we all hope that we influence people in a particular way and I’m with my grandchild now and I actually see him and i think of how good a father i was, and i don’t think i was a good father at all cause i was doing this and doing that and moving this and moving that – so thats really great.
Dave: So this is just to finish off – some pretty simple questions, most people hate answering them because their favourite this or favourite that but this is my interview so bad luck. Ok so, do you want to do them all one person or go backward forth.
Dave: Favourite album
Jane: im gonna say, the white album by the Beatles
Kelly: im gonna say, ok computer by Radiohead
Dave: Favourite artist
Jane: im finding this one really hard
Kelly: the Beatles
Dave: Jane?
Jane: um…..
Dave: Broads
Jane: haha i’ll say the Beatles as well
Dave: not a bad answer. favourite movie?
Jane: I’ve got a silly answer and a proper answer. My silly answer is the three musketeers with Keith Sutherland, Charlie Sheen etc etc, its ridiculous and really good. I think my sort of sensible is probably the Piano, Jane Campion’s film, its just such a stunning film. Its Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin and Harvey Keitle and Sam Neil. What a cast!
Kelly: so many but i’m just gonna say Jaws, its definitely up there in my top 5, its so good. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”
Dave: that was such a good movie. OK favourite place to visit, could be here!
Jane: Im going to sand Anglesea, its where i had all my childhood summers, its just a beautiful place – i love.
Dave: my brother had a house down there, and he’s always been spiritual christian, this is my older brother, and so he had this house down there and on the top floor he had the whole view of the whole thing and the whole beach and so it was magic, and ah the only thing he had trouble with was down there, there was this massive tree on the property next door and it sort of blocked that view, and he kept on saying to me as this christian and you know he said i think I’m going to chop down this tree, so this conflict between this christian guy and this bloke, he was gonna chop down this tree so he could see. So Anglesea is magic.
Kelly: Cambridge.
Dave: As in England?
Kelly: as in England, thats where i was born and left when i was 5 and because i was so young its just like its locked in this magical childhood nostalgia
Dave: and you’ve been back?
Kelly: yeah i used to go back alot, and every time you go back its so beautiful.
Dave: and you’ve been to the university? Steeped in so much history.
Kelly: well i was born in student accommodation, my dad was studying.
Dave: there could be something, connecting about the fact that you were, you’ve got some genetic connection that you don’t even consciously know about.
Dave: ok, favourite venue to play
Jane: this is a really tough one, I think we’ve always had really great shows at the old bar.
Dave: favourite food. If someone said to you, you’re one more meal this is your last one, what are you going to have.
Jane: Im probably going to have like sourdough toast with peanut butter
Dave: you can get anything off the top shelf, and sourdough and peanut butter – its good.
Kelly: super super top grade sushi, sashimi like really melt in your mouth, expensive
Dave: favourite drink, almost done
Jane: favourite non alcoholic drink would be coffee and favourite alcoholic drink would be a nice glass of shiraz
Kelly: my favourite drink is a dirty martini, alcoholic or non alcoholic its still my favourite drink
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Dave: favourite person in history, who’s someone that you sort of think about, quote, we spoke about Mandela. Lennon has been gone for 40 years and he’s still a legend
Jane: im gonna go out on a little bit of a limb, i think um, probably in terms of um, things that i think are really important at the moment – is reconciliation and aboriginal and Torres strait islander and inclusion and self determination and that sort f thing and i think, a critical proponent in all that history is Eddy Mabo and i studied law at uni and so we looked at Mabo and at that time of history had you know the Wick 10 point plan. Eddy Mabo.
Kelly: Im going to go on a completely other tangent, I don’t know his name, but there was this amazing like eccentric inventor he decided to reinvent the parachute in the early 1900s and he made this thing its kind of like a flying fox costume that you wear and he was absolutely sure it would work, he tried it on a couple of dummies and it didn’t and he was like no no, it just needs a real human in there it will work totally different so he just put everything he had behind it, wore this weird bat costume and jumped off the Eiffel tower and i didn’t work.
Dave: it didn’t work, so he died
Kelly: it didn’t work
Dave: he jumped to his death
Kelly: and theres footage, theres really early film footage, because everyone was like okay we will come and theres just a film out there of watching him jump off and hitting the concrete.
Dave: I am going to tell you – i talk to people about the fact that, forget about describing about anything just walk into and think where is the opportunity, what am i going to do with this so on that basis that is just another experience, so if you are adventurous and you’re jumping off the Eiffel tower testing a parachute, that to me is the greatest, you know..
Kelly: I love it, he had so much confidence
Dave:… you jump in and you’re moving into whatever, you come back as s dog or a tree or whatever you come back as but you know that energy is what makes all of it. Because without that we would be no where, where would still be hitting rocks in the stone age. So thats fantastic, i love that.
Dave: this is a stupid finish to this, tattoos. Do you have any tattoos or anything, the only reason i added that is because I think we live in a world where unique is really important and for to long we did conformance and especially women, a lot of women get their power from putting some sort of power by putting some sort of mark on their body and walk out and show themselves. and much as they might not think that its giving them power, you can just see the way that they strut uniquely as a result of you know marking themselves. So i think its a step towards that sort of focus, so do you have any tattoos or any interest in getting one.
Jane: i do, i have 1, 2, 3 ,4… 5 tattoos, um and three of them are actually Kel’s designs so um, yeah, its I don’t know why, I always wanted one and it was always kind of unusual for me because well from what of other people thought of me because I was you know, kind of straight lace, well to do kind of high achieving student at school and never stepped out of line all that sort of stuff and then as soon as I left school it was straight into the tattoo parlour, got my first one which is a dreadful tattoo but anyways – and then i think a lot of people have said once you’ve got one its kind of like well, where do you stop kind of thing. But yeah, i’ve got three designs by Kel that all relate to music projects that I’ve been involved in either with Kel or sort of tangentially with Kel, so yeah.
Dave: and they are expressions of you uniquely or they’re just you know flip in sort of moments, drunk moments,
Jane: no no they’re expressions of my feelings about those experiences, being in those bands and how important those experiences that connection through music has been for me.
Kelly: i dont have any
Dave: no interest?
Kelly: um, i thought about it, I’m too picky with my own stuff i find it really hard to commit to one Dave: waiting for the perfect one
Kelly: so im happy designing other peoples
Dave: and you’ve done a few designs, i presume
Kelly: just for Jane, really
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Dave: ok this is the last question. So its like, you’ve won the academy award, you’ve won the ARIA, its your moment its your one moment in time when you’re going to stand up in front of a group of people, not so much a thanks, you’re going to say something, that leaves an impact. its your one moment, well someone says well that was inspiring. who is that girl, whats that all about? Because you know most of us walk around as part of a crowd, but most of us have you know, that wisdom inside of us, we just don’t know that its there or we don’t let it out or whatever.
Jane: really simply – Be Kind. Thats it.
Kelly: I feel like if we’re up winning some massive award, that it doesn’t mean anything and we don’t know better than anyone else, and that anyone getting an award is as good as everyone else.
Dave: you know I thought exactly that, I was at the Aria launch a month or two ago and one of the guys got up, it might have even been Nicky Bomba from SKA, he’s a superstar, and he got and he was gracious, they picked up an award, and i thought to myself if i was picking up an award what would i say, and i would probably go up there and i would say “You know what, everyone of us has a moment, so this is just as much yours as it is mine, because you’re having your moment there looking at me and I’m having my moment here looking at you – and we’re all the same, there is not difference between us. Celebrate yours, i’ll celebrate mine”
Dave: so thank you very much! Jane, Kelly – i really appreciate the conversation its been a long one, its usually 10 -15 minutes so i apologise for how long it was. I’m really appreciative of the fact that you sat there and from my perspective it was a really lovely warm conversation, obviously you know your music, I’m going to go out and listen to your album and I hope I’m not disappointed.
Kelly and Jane: laughter
Kelly: it doesn’t sound like the Beatles
Dave: thank you very much.
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