Interview: Paul Kelly on insomnia, guilty pleasures and a preconcert ritual with Brother Pete
Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, 68, on his insomnia, the benefits of rote learning, saying no and a preconcert tipple ritual featuring ‘Brother Pete’.
Adelaide-born singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, 68, opens up to Andrew McMillen about his insomnia, the benefits of rote learning, saying no and a preconcert tipple ritual.
The first money I ever made was… working at Heyne’s Nursery in Adelaide; after-school work in my last year of school, and a bit into the next year. It was moving dirt and pots around, and putting dirt into pots. That was very exciting, earning my own money. They were good to work for, it wasn’t full-time, it was outdoors and the work was physical, but not too taxing.
At school I realised… if you want to be any good at anything, you’ve just got to put time into it. I never saw myself as a fast learner; I was more of a dogged learner [laughs]. From a pretty early age, I realised, “If I want to know something about something, or if I want to pass this exam, I’m going to need to put in the time”. I couldn’t be a coaster. Rote learning was around when I was at school, and I still use it. Rote learning has been a very good tool for me as a performer, and a writer, and as a reader.
The most under-appreciated song I’ve written is… at the moment, Little Aches and Pains [from 2012’s Spring and Fall]. It’s one of those songs I enjoy playing at home; I like to feel it in my mouth. I don’t get a chance to play it that often in shows – but I will in the Time shows [at Brisbane Festival next month]. So watch out: it’s coming! [laughs]
My routine for warming up before a concert is… with the band, we sing something together, a song that’s got lots of harmonies in it. Then we have a “Brother Pete”, which is a drink Pete [Luscombe], our drummer, made many years ago when we had some Lift in the rider. He made a little drink that’s a splash of Lift and vodka, made like shots. We threw that down before the show, and we had a good show, so now it’s a ritual; now, it’s a shot of gin with a splash of tonic. There’s a few non-drinkers in the band, so we also have a non-alcoholic Brother Pete. We get together in a circle, look each other in the eye and say “cheers”, before we go on.
In my headphones… a podcast called Literature and History, hosted by Doug Metzger. Also, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs by Andrew Hickey, and The History of English. I seem to have picked podcasters who take on a huge task: I started one on James Joyce called Re: Joyce, and Frank Delaney died before he could finish it. They’re these beautiful, infinite things created by people with great communication skills, who’ve done a lot of research. I find them helpful for insomnia, because I often wake up at 3am or 4am, and they help me go back to sleep. There’s a lot of rewinding the next day – or the next night!
On my mind at 3am… they’re not necessarily worries, but more that I’m not able to get the brain still. They’re often things where I think, “I’ve got to do this”, but it’s pretty easily solved. I often get up in the night and write a list of the things that I might want to attend to the next day. But that doesn’t mean I’ll get back to sleep.
My view on “guilty pleasures” is… a phrase I don’t really like. I don’t feel guilty about my pleasures. I think watching [AFL] football is a really good thing to do; in fact, I don’t get to watch it enough. [laughs]
The last time I had to say no was... I say no a lot. A lot. It’s part of my job, saying no: requests and offers come through every day on the email, mostly work-related, and most of it is saying no.
Life at age 18 was… in 1973, which was my second year out of school. I was travelling around different parts of Australia, sometimes with a friend, sometimes not. I had just started learning to play guitar, so that was exciting. I came back to Adelaide for a while, and fell in with a group of people playing music. I wasn’t writing songs yet, but I was learning folk tunes: Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons.
Life at 38 was… I was living in Melbourne with young children, so that’s a bit of a blur. My eldest daughter Maddie was born in 1991, and Memphis in 1993. That was also a time of being back and forth a bit in the States as well, with the kids. Chaos, I’d say.
Life at 68 is… still quite busy; I still battle to try and be less busy. I don’t like being busy, and I don’t think it’s something to aspire to. There’s a rough routine of touring and back home – and back home, the routine is pretty simple. I live near the beach; there’s a bike path, I ride my bike, I swim all year round, and the cold is important to me, because it makes me feel good. I play touch football with my friends, and the oldest of us just turned 70. We’ve got a 70-year-old running around: that’s something to aspire to!
Paul Kelly will perform a themed show named Time at Brisbane Festival on September 6 and 7.
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