Zan Rowe wanted one guest on Take 5. They finally said yes

Death is a common thread through the third season of Take 5 with Zan Rowe, the ABC’s intimate music interview program in which performing artists share the five songs that tell their life stories.

Bill Bailey, in his London studio, talks of his raw grief for a lifelong comedian friend. In Neil Finn’s Auckland studio Roundhead (with Paul Kelly incidentally in the process of recording an album upstairs), while listening to a treasured family song, the Crowded House singer has a realisation about his late father. And in the legendary Bakehouse Studios in Melbourne, where Missy Higgins was interviewed in the first season, Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning explains how the loss of a family member influenced his career.

Zan Rowe with Dannii Minogue, who shared some painful and joyous times in her life and named Robbie Williams on her playlist.

“There are a few discussions of death in this series, but in a beautiful way,” says Rowe. “It’s quite moving. When you’re unpacking the inspiration of some of the soundtracks to your own life, and then all of a sudden realising, ‘Oh, that’s why he did that’, it has a whole lot more depth.”

In the first episode, Dannii Minogue, whom Rowe has been trying to lure into the listening booth since season one, opens up about a loss for the first time. “Dannii told stories that she hadn’t spoken about before,” says Rowe. “She spoke about things that were incredibly personal. That was the most teary episode of the series.”

In the record room of lush, rose-hued Melbourne venue Her, where previous Take 5 interviews with Tony Armstrong, Mark Coles Smith and Guy Pearce were conducted, Minogue shares some painful and joyous times in her life, prompted by her playlist, which includes Kids, Robbie Williams’ duet with her famous sister; Olivia Newton-John’s Hopelessly Devoted To You; and Selfmade by Swedish singer Agnes. Noticeably absent from the discussion, which centres around the theme of “Catalysts”, is any mention of her 14-year-old son, Ethan, with her ex-partner, English model Kris Smith. Rowe insists nothing was specifically off the table. “There was no no-go zone.”

British comedian Bill Bailey with Zan Rowe.

An interviewer who is well liked and trusted within the industry, having met almost anyone who’s anyone in the business over the two decades since her original, radio version of Take 5 has been broadcast on Triple J, Rowe isn’t one to ask the hard questions. Instead, she lets the guest’s favourite music press their nerves. That’s why, she believes, guests open up to her in ways they haven’t before.

“People know I’m not going to stitch them up,” she says. “We’re here to explore a story together, and that trust goes a long way.”

After an uplifting session with “no nonsense” actor Claudia Karvan at Pleasure Club in Sydney, Rowe wrapped the season with singer Casey Donovan inside the ornate State Theatre in Sydney.

“Casey can be a hard nut to crack,” says Rowe. “She’s someone who has had to put up boundaries for good reason, because her story has often been taken out of her hands. Sometimes she can be hard to get inside of, but she really let go.”

Like Minogue, Donovan shares new stories on Take 5. “Going in with an open heart and not thinking you know where everything’s going to lead will give you the best answers and discoveries,” says Rowe. “And some of the best surprises of the series.”

Describing herself as “musical, but not a musician”, Rowe says her “best instrument and talent are my ears”.

“One of my great loves is having deep and fulfilling conversations,” she says. “So I plan to continue unpacking people’s lives with them, and sharing that with as many people as possible because as we turn more inward and feel more fractured, being reminded that we’re all kind of the same, that we all come from a similar mindset, and we’re all here for a similar reason – to survive, to connect, to live and to celebrate living – any opportunity to do that in a joyful way, I want to take.”

Take 5 With Zan Rowe returns on Tuesday, October 1, at 8.30pm on the ABC.

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