Grant McLennan vocals resurface in Tyrone Noonan’s new single
He died nearly 15 years ago, but this Brisbane music icon has been resurrected in a tasteful tribute by another well-known artist.
Entertainment
Don't miss out on the headlines from Entertainment. Followed categories will be added to My News.
As the frontman of one of Brisbane’s most successful bands, george, and with his mother and sister both acclaimed singers, Tyrone Noonan is Queensland music royalty.
But it’s another local luminary he’ll be paying tribute to at tonight’s National Live Music Awards, in a performance live-streamed from The Triffid in Brisbane.
Vacations, Mike Elrington, The English Rain: Latest album reviews
Tyrone Noonan brings Palimpsest to Tanks Arts Centre
Noonan will showcase his latest single Snow White, featuring the last vocal recording of Go-Betweens legend Grant McLennan, who died of a heart attack in 2006 aged 48.
“It’s something I sat on for years; just couldn’t really deal with it – it was a bit too sad and haunting,” Noonan says.
“It felt almost like aurally opening up a coffin. The vocals that I got from him were literally recorded a few weeks before he passed.
“The original plan we hadn’t really decided; it was potentially going to be some kind of duo concept, maybe it was going to come out under his name, who knows?
“It was just a new direction for him. He was really excited that with the more recent advancements in computer technology, that he was able to start to realise what he called the symphonies in his head – to actually be able to hear them back, instead of having to expensively hire an arranger and then musicians.
“It’s pretty amazing when you think about it, what computers have allowed musicians to achieve now, which previously was impossible without big budgets and gatekeepers giving you access.”
Noonan says the new gatekeepers are streaming giants such as Spotify.
“The thing that I hate about Spotify is that you have to be pretty much ‘genre-fied’ to be successful,” he says.
“And that doesn’t really work for me because my music is really like a hybrid.”
Noonan had trouble promoting his previous single Black Dog, for instance, because it didn’t fit into a specific genre, featuring elements of country, roots, folk and pop.
“But then I found out Spotify found a genre for me that I thought is just hilarious, and I thought, yes! This is my new genre, this is what I am now.
“And it’s called ‘stomp and holler’,” he says in an exaggerated American accent.
“It’s like urban hipster folk, not that I consider myself a hipster, but that’s everyone else who comes under that umbrella, like Mumford and Sons and those kind of bands.”
Black Dog, the first single from his new album Utopia? (out on Friday), was a response to the high rate of middle-aged-male suicide in the entertainment industry.
“Sadly often these middle-aged men are leaving behind partners and kids too,” he says.
While he’s never been diagnosed with depression himself, Noonan says the song is written from the perspective of someone who’s been through it, helping someone else who’s struggling.
“It’s still honest about the journey, but also more hopeful that you can actually get through it,” he says.
The album Utopia?, though, is not limited to the aforementioned genres and includes rock, pop and electro/hip-hop vibes.
Noonan recently performed some suburban pop-up shows for the pandemic-affected Brisbane Festival.
And he said while the lockdown had derailed his original plans – he would have been touring the second single by now – the silver lining was that Aussies were finding a new appreciation for homegrown artists.
“It’s not like every man and his dog from America arriving on jet planes every week, competing for our cultural spend,” he said.
“So I think maybe people are looking a bit more local, appreciating the local talent a bit more.”
After george’s 20th anniversary performances in 2016-17, fans will be heartened to hear the band may re-form again.
“It’s our 25-year anniversary next year, so there is talk of something, but again with uncertain times we’re just not sure,” Noonan says.
“But yeah, there’s definitely a chance we’ll do something again, for sure.”
National Live Music Awards, 7.30 tonight (Qld time), nlmas.com.au
Utopia? out Friday, reviewed this weekend at couriermail.com.au/music
