Dan Sultan on why it is important to never stand still in the music business

As Dan Sultan prepares to embark on a 44-date solo tour, he explains why it is vitally important to continue changing and evolving as an artist

Dan Sultan

Ever since he burst on to the scene with his 2006 debut album Homemade Biscuits – a blend of country, blues, rock and soul influences – Melbourne singer-songwriter Dan Sultan has done his best to avoid being pigeonholed, but with his most recent album, last year’s ARIA-nominated Killer, he stepped further outside of his comfort zone.

On Killer, Sultan relied more heavily on electronic drums and synthesisers than traditional instrumentation and although it’s a move that may have confounded some listeners, Sultan has no regrets about taking a different approach. and almost a year on from its release, he remains pleased with the results.

“I find if I do something the same for too long I get a bit over it and the motivation’s not there,” Sultan says. “As an artist I need to be evolving and changing things up to keep myself interested and if I change things up and get out of my comfort zone, it’s a lot more fulfilling.”

And after proving he could successfully execute Killer’s eclecticism live with a full band on his acclaimed tour in September last year, Sultan is stripping the songs back to take on the road for a mammoth 44-date solo tour, which includes three dates in southeast Queensland this month.

“It’ll be a couple of sets and it’s just me with a guitar and a piano, singing songs and telling a few stories – it’s a nice way to do it,” he says.

Sultan says he has enjoyed the process of retrofitting Killer’s production-heavy, neo-soul numbers for the solo tour and although many of the album’s tracks started life without any traditional instrumentation, Sultan says a song’s versatility is “how I gauge whether I’ve written a good song or not – whether I can play it on my own or with a band or in a big production in the studio”.

“A good song’s a good song and you should be able to play it with just you, or a big band; I think it should be able to translate regardless of what’s going on around it, instrumentation-wise or production-wise, the song should be able to stand up.

“I’ve always received a lot of support from rural areas and smaller centres and I think it’s important to get out there and put on a show with people and it’s a bit hard to do that with a full band logistically and if I’m honest, financially it can be a bit tough. Doing it solo simplifies a lot of that stuff and I get to get out to a lot of places.”

Sultan has also just released a new EP, Killer Under a Blood Moon, on which artists including Gang of Youths frontman Dave Le’aupepe, Melbourne alt-rockers Camp Cope, indie-pop singer Meg Mac and hip-hop duo A.B. Original – with whom Sultan collaborated on the track January 26 in 2016 – add their own embellishment to tracks from the album.

“I just let them go for it, I basically said ‘make it your own’,” Sultan says. “With (A.B. Original’s) Trials and Briggs I said, just make it sound like you guys, and the same thing with Camp Cope, I just said take it, I want it to sound like a Camp Cope song. Basically, from there, it was about me trying not to stuff it up, just sitting and being a part of it.”

In addition to the reinterpretations of tracks including Drover, My Kingdom, Reaction and Killer, the EP features two previously unreleased songs, Pitchfork and Coming Back, which were recorded during the sessions for the album

“We wrote and recorded quite a few songs and most didn’t get past demo stage, but those tracks we really went for,” Sultan says.

“As I wrote and recorded more songs, the album took a direction that didn’t really include those two tracks … I actually didn’t know whether they’d ever see the light of day. I’m really proud of those tracks and it’s really nice to have them released and out in the world.”

Dan Sultan plays Old Museum Concert Hall Brisbane, June 14; The J Theatre Noosa, June 15; and Redland Performing Arts Centre, June 16 dansultan.com

Originally published as Dan Sultan on why it is important to never stand still in the music business