How to make Gravy? Just add anyone who turns up to sing

Just add flour, salt, red wine... plenty of us know Paul Kelly’s recipe for the perfect Christmas gravy by heart. We also know that How to Make Gravy is in part a recipe for surviving Christmas separated from loved ones - something plenty of Australians have done for the past couple of years.

But this time, as we prepare to push the tables further back, we can also gather en masse to celebrate Gravy Day in full chorus as part of a public choir at Fed Square.

Phia Exiner and Joshua Teicher and the Indie Voices choir rehearsing at the Schoolhouse Studios in Coburg. Credit: Eddie Jim

On Wednesday, Gravy Day - because December 21 is the date Kelly’s “Joe” writes the letter that is the song to his brother Dan - anyone can join with Melbourne Indie Voices choir, with Ella Hooper as the guest artist singing the lead. The pop-up singalong will be known as the Gravy Day choir, it is part of the Pillars of Light Festival, a six-day program of talks and celebrations for Hanukkah, which runs until December 22.

Headed by Phia Exiner and Josh Teicher, Indie Voices is a choir based in Coburg, open to all-comers, with or without singing experience.

“There’s something so melancholy at the heart of the song, but when we all sing it together, there’s a connection and I don’t think people think of it as a sad song,” says Exiner. “That’s the line that Paul Kelly walks.”

“It makes me think about how often our nostalgic memories are of our childhood Christmases, that we can’t get back to. I was thinking that maybe jail is a metaphor for our childhood experiences that we can’t get back to.”

Phia Exiner and Joshua Teicher are the names behind Melbourne Indie Voices.Credit: Eddie Jim

Christmases in which families and loved ones were forcibly separated during the pandemic lent the song an even greater poignancy; Youtube featured a version last year featuring people singing along, some with signs and messages to loved ones around the world.

Indie Voices first sang the Gravy song, as it’s known, at a Christmas gig in Fed Square in 2019, when between 500 and 800 people turned up and Clare Bowditch was the guest artist. Then, like, now, it’s part of the City of Melbourne’s Christmas Festival.

“It all happens in an hour, you can turn up knowing nothing,” Exiner says. “I’ve arranged some backing vocal parts, so I will split everyone up into three parts, and we’ll go through it and once we’re feeling good we’ll invite Ella to join us on stage. It’s kind of like creating a great piece of art.”

In the song, Kelly taps into a collective experience, putting the roast on despite extreme heat, the family driving down from Queensland, someone’s latest new boyfriend.

“Sometimes when you really talk to people about Christmas, you might have mixed feelings about it, people aren’t there who used to be there... Somehow the Paul Kelly song taps into that, it’s not totally straightforward,” Exiner says. “That’s something I find with choir, when you sing something together, it makes you feel less alone. And I think he certainly does that.”

“It’s so interesting that it’s through this prism of the brother in prison, which you might not think would be relatable, but somehow that adds something.”

“It feels important to me to stress that it’s a really accessible event. I know that a lot of people get told in primary school or high school that they can’t sing, and that’s just not true.” It’s bad messaging, she says, adding that she believes everyone can sing.

The choir is designed for first-timers and old hands alike. “We’re handing out lyric sheets, not sheet music, I’m teaching the song by ear. I don’t want people to think you have to be able to read music,” Exiner says.

“One of the beautiful things about singing in a big group is that you get carried, both in the sense that you might miss that line but the person that stands next to you gets it. But then you’re also swept away by the sound. That’s one of the best things about singing in a choir is it doesn’t all rest on your shoulders.”

The Gravy Day choir is at Federation Square from 7.30pm-8.30pm on December 21. 

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