Angus Stone talks of life on the farm and his next musical venture

Angus Stone stays grounded on his farm but is preparing to hit the road again.

Angus Stone at home on his farm in the hinterland of Byron Bay, NSW. Picture: Jane Dempster

It would be easy to file Angus Stone’s home life under the banner of rock ’n’ roll excess. Maybe it’s the pagoda overlooking the lily pond, or the one-hole golf course, or the golf buggies in which the 30-year-old musician gets around the vast expanse of his farm just outside Byron Bay in northern NSW. All of those accessories bear some resemblance to the world of guitar-shaped swimming pools, rock stars getting their “to the manor born” on in gumboots, and parties that go for days rather than hours.

That’s not Stone. He does like the occasional party, but his farm is a working one — and he likes to work. When he bought it five years ago it had no running water or electricity, no buildings other than a run-down shack and a few storage sheds. Now he has 50 cattle, the shack serves as his recording studio and any new structures on the property, such as the pagoda, he built himself, with a little help. And above it all, on top of the hill overlooking the vast expanse of countryside, is a yurt, Stone’s home within a home.

It’s from that lofty spot Stone plotted his latest venture, one that runs in tandem with his other, slightly more famous musical outlet with sister Julia, who as we speak is in the converted shack, called Belafonte Studios, adding vocals to what might become part of the next Angus & Julia Stone album. Part of the grand design of having a farm, says Angus, was to be able to retreat from the hectic lifestyle that the siblings have found themselves in since releasing their debut album, A Book Like This, in 2007.

“We started young and it snowballed quite quickly,” says Stone, looking out over the pond from one of the structures he built, complete with easy chairs and a bar, but no walls (“I like to get the breeze”). “We got record deals and moved to London and Europe and then moved over to the States,” he says. “Trying to remain grounded in all that you can start to feel yourself thinning out a bit. It’s too spread out. That‘s how it felt at the end of Julia and [my] last record cycle. It’s always at the end. You’re sitting in an airport and looking at each other and thinking ‘F..k this. We just have to get back home.’ ”

That last, self-titled, Rick Rubin-produced Angus & Julia Stone album in 2014 went to No 1 in Australia, as did its predecessor, 2010’s Down the Way. Both siblings have also enjoyed success on their own. Angus’s albums Smoking Gun (2009) and Broken Brights (2012) did well locally and overseas and he’s hoping that his latest venture, a project called Dope Lemon, will do equally well.

Dope Lemon is a collaboration that has a history. The album, Honey Bones, was recorded in a three-week period two years ago, in and around Byron Bay, with a crew of like-minded musos that includes drummer Matt Johnson (also in Angus and Julia’s band), Elliott Hammond from the Delta Riggs and Sydney guitarist Rohin Brown. It is, says Stone, a jam band from which has emerged a batch of songs with titles such as Marinade, Uptown Folks and F..k Things Up.

Stone’s way of working with this ensemble was to go into a recording facility and record everything that happened.

“It’s the way it has always been,” he says. “The song is hammered and we record everything. Sometimes the recording will go for four hours, with people rolling joints or having a beer.”

Other local musos floated in and out of the sessions, encouraged by Stone’s laissez-faire approach to making music, and indeed to life. To say he is chilled would be an understatement.

“There were moments on the record when we were under the influence,” he says, matter-of-factly. “There were guys coming in I didn’t know. We’d shake hands and have a beer. I saw a guy in town the other day and I realised he played on the record. I think his name’s Grant.”

Months after the initial recording, Stone began the lengthy process of working his way through the tapes to find out what he had.

“There are ups and downs to that,” he ­admits. “It can melt your brain listening to things over and over again. You’re collecting the little treasures and magic moments; the ­nuances that you couldn’t find if you were playing too methodically.”

The title of the album is just a phrase Stone likes. “It’s buttery,” he says. “It’s nice to say.” The title track was the last to be recorded for the album, by which time the participants had burned themselves out.

“We were all pretty over it by then,” says Stone. “It was the end of the session. We didn’t need to say goodbye.”

Down at the shack, Julia and a sound engineer are discussing the take she has just done. There’s hardly room for two more people in the tiny space. Outside is a caravan full of equipment and a van littered with sleeping bags. There is a primitive charm to this approach to recording, which is a little different from Angus and Julia’s last venture. Their self-titled effort was recorded at Rubin’s Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu, California. Stone is grateful for that experience, however.

“That last record we did with Rick, it made us evolve a bit in the away we write songs,” he says. It also served as a way of keeping the siblings together professionally at a point when they were seriously considering going their separate ways.

“We were looking at each other thinking that maybe we’d get together when we were older,” he says with a smile. “Let’s go our own way for a while. Then he called out of the blue and he changed the whole jig up.”

It’s clear from their current collaboration that there will be another Angus and Julia cycle in the near future, but for the moment Stone is happy to fly with Dope Lemon. He’s hoping to take it overseas as well as touring extensively in Australia.

“I want to step into Dope Lemon,” he says. “To me it’s the most powerful stuff I’ve written and I really want to get behind it. We’ll start with Australia and if we get offers to go overseas, we’ll do that.”

And his day job should keep him busy. He likes the routine and the industry of being on the farm.

“I get up at 8am, have a coffee, cook some eggs,” he says. “I have two mechanics and a couple of chippies. My plumber lives next door. I’m the labourer and they are the proper tradesmen. I’m loving it because I’ve always wanted to be a carpenter.

“When I came off tour last time I was straight back into it with the cows and the structures and the solar system.

“I enjoy that change of work. It’s quite the polar opposite to music, where you’re in a different city every night and people want to party and talk music, music, music. Suddenly you’re back here and the lights switch off and you wonder, ‘what am I doing with myself?’ But I kind of like that.

“I’m a lot more grounded than I ever was. I’m happy to be where I am. I like to share things. I have this philosophy now — nothing really exists until you share it.”

Dope Lemon will be sharing Honey Bones, via EMI, next Friday.