A-list Confidential: Pete Murray shares baby joy at 51
Byron Bay singer-songwriter Pete Murray has shared his excitement as he reveals he is expecting his fourth child.
U on Sunday
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Singer Pete Murray and his wife Mira are excited to be welcoming a new child into their family.
The Brisbane-raised musician, 51, who now lives in Byron Bay, said the couple will welcome their new addition, his fourth child, in June.
Murray has two teenaged sons, Charlie and Pedro, from a previous marriage and he and Mira share a three-year-old daughter, Saachi.
“It’s exciting having another child and we’re all excited about it,” Murray said, adding they were keeping the sex of the baby a surprise.
“I never have (found out) and I won’t do it either. I just like that surprise.”
“I’ve got two boys and a girl, so it doesn’t worry me what we have now.”
The family live on a 0.8-hectare property in the hills behind Byron Bay where Murray records his music in a home studio.
His new EP, The Night, which is inspired by his family, was released this month.
“I’m getting really good feedback on it at the moment, so it’s been really nice to hear that,” Murray said.
“A lot of fans and even close friends - and friends are pretty honest - are saying it’s some of the best stuff I’ve done ina while so it’s good to hear.
“It’s a really nice piece of work that I’m really happy with so it’ll be nice to get out and play the songs live. That’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
Murray recalls his most memorable show was at Bar Broadway in Sydney after the release of his Feeler album in 2004, when he thought the line wrapping around the outside of the venue was for someone else.
“I remember thinking, ‘Damn, someone else must be playing down the road and we’re not going to get anyone’,” he said.
“We rocked in there and the place was packed, it was incredible. I remember I said to the guys, ‘I’ll just do a little solo song’. I sang the last song on the Feeler album called Ten Ft Tall, which I thought no one would know so I’d get it out of the way now.
“Everyone in the crowd sang word for word and I couldn’t believe it. The band was looking through the curtain. You’ll never experience that again, that first moment the crowd sings your lyrics back to you.
“I’ve had better shows and to bigger crowds, but that was the moment that gave me the hope that things might actually happen.”
Murray will perform at Sandstone Point on Saturday before joining the line up of Bluesfest Byron Bay on April 5.
JOEL’S HOMECOMING
After six years in Los Angeles, singer Joel Adams is back in Brisbane and has linked up with fellow local hit-maker Conrad Sewell.
Adam, 24, who moved to LA at 17 and has worked with One Republic’s Ryan Tedder and Grammy-winning songwriter Ester Dean, returned to Brisbane last year due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life in the US.
He’s now writing music with Sewell, who similarly returned to Brisbane after many years living in LA.
“We bonded over that,” Adams said. “We became pretty good mates … and we’re talking about a couple of things we’ll do in the future.”
“I think a lot of people who go over to LA have mixed reviews. For me it was like I was ready to leave.
“It was a surreal experience but after a while it drained me.”
In his first year in LA, Adams had run out of money trying to chase his music dreams and was working as a labourer in 2015 when Please Don’t Go was released.
The song became a global viral hit, streamed more than 500 million times, and landed Adams with new management in the US, which he shared with One Republic.
“Naturally I was always asking if I could meet them because I was a huge fan,” Adams said. “We (Adams and Tedder) got along really well and started writing songs together.”
He released a single Fake Friends, with Tedder, who then recruited him for a reality show called Songland in 2019 during which he wrote a song alongside Dean, a songwriter for Rihanna.
“The biggest thing I learned from them is do it over again until you get it right,” Adams said. “Successful people just keep going. It’s a numbers game.”
“The way they write a melody or build a song, there’s a shape to it. And you learn how they come about their lyrics.”
Adams will perform at Miami Marketta on the Gold Coast on March 26 and The Zoo in Brisbane the following night, before he releases a new EP next month.
BY DESIGN
An emerging Brisbane designer who uses fashion to confront his depression has caught the eye of a top fashion week.
Joash Teo was one of ten student designers selected from across the country to take part in the Melbourne Fashion Festival’s National Graduate Showcase on Friday, a distinguished development runway that shines a light on Australia’s next-generation design stars.
The 23-year-old, who started his label Joteo as part of his degree at QUT, designed his collection as a physical representation of his struggle with mental health and depression.
“My biggest struggle was boiling it down to a narrative … and saying ‘This is why I’m sad’. I’m not great with words but I’m fantastic with clothes,” Teo said.
“It’s giving my depression a physical avatar so I could look at it and confront it.
“I love workmanship, silhouettes and the manipulation of fabric. There’s a superposition between formlessness and form. There’s liquidity and tailoring.”
“It represents being afflicted with those conditions, you try to anchor yourself as best you can.”
Teo, who moved to Brisbane from Singapore when he was eight, showed his collection in the opening digital runway at Brisbane Fashion Month in October and graduated from QUT last month.
He hopes to use the National Graduate Showcase to help him create an established designer label in Australia.
Past participants have gone on to work for some of the world’s most prestigious design houses including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Versace, while others launched their own labels and designed for international stars such as Lady Gaga.
“I have grown up idolising Melbourne Fashion Week. I thought one day I’ll make it, but never thought I would,” he said. “I remember doing collections, making gowns for the school fashion parade. It’s a dream come true.”
THAT’S A WRAP
Action thriller Black Site will wrap filming on the Gold Coast tomorrow after six weeks.
The American and Australian co-production, backed by Screen Queensland, stars American actor Michelle Monaghan and Australia’s Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke as well as Uli Latukefu, Todd Lasance, Lincoln Lewis and Logan Huffman, the American husband of The Veronicas’ Lisa Origliasso.
Australia’s Sophia Banks returned from the US to direct the film, about a group of officers based in a top-secret Five Eyes black site fighting for their lives against a brilliant high-value detainee (Clarke).
“Filming Black Site on the Gold Coast with this amazing cast and crew has been the best experience. I’m soaking up every last moment working with (cinematographer) Don McAlpine,” Banks told Confidential.
“I feel so lucky to have shot my first feature with Don, Jason, Michelle, Jai and all our talented and fun collaborators. Can’t wait to share the film with you later this year.”
It comes as crew positions open for Queenslanders on Ticket to Paradise, starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, which will film in the Whistsundays later this year.
10 QUESTIONS WITH... Matt Shirvington
1. Who was your teen idol/ crush? My teen idols were Kelly Slater and Tony Hawk. I loved to surf and skate as a kid, so they were my all-time idols growing up. The fact they are still competing today is phenomenal.
2. Who are your three ideal dinner guests? Muhammad Ali, Leonardo da Vinci and
Cathy Freeman.
3. What’s your worst date experience? When I was in my early teens I went on a date to the movies and didn’t realise how bad my feet were smelling! I was training a lot for athletics but didn’t realise how bad my sneakers stunk until I got stuck in the two-hour movie. We didn’t go on a second date.
4. What’s the movie that made you cry? The Dig. It’s a period film about an archaeological discovery with a unique relationship storyline that makes it very emotional. Perhaps it’s not the most exciting movie ever but it is one that feeds the soul.
5. Which song do you sing in the car? Anything by Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge is a good go to. I do think I am Anthony Kiedis in a second life.
6. What’s your favourite movie or TV series you never admit to loving? I am a massive Star Wars fan; I’d say secretly obsessed; OK I’ll admit I’m a full Star Wars nerd.
7. What’s the most sentimental thing you own? My athletics medals, Commonwealth Games and World Championship.
8. What’s your favourite memory from your athletic career? Without a doubt walking into the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. There were 111,000 people cheering on Team Australia in a stadium 30 minutes away from where I grew up. It was just enormous.
9. What’s your most embarrassing moment? I’ve been up the street with blood-soaked bits of toilet paper on my face after shaving without knowing, running into people in the supermarket – that’s kind of embarrassing
10. What’s on your bucket list? To be an extra (or if anything even a bigger role) in a Star Wars film would be on my ultimate bucket list.
Matt Shirvington hosts Ultimate Tag tonight at 7pm on 7Flix.
EVENT OF THE WEEK
Brisbane’s movers and shakers were given a VIP look at the new Gabba Grounds function room on Wednesday night. Guests wereescorted on a bar hop through the different venues at The Gabba before being introduced to the new GG, which was completewith sushi and ice cream stations.
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