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Pete Murray.
Two years ago, roughly 30 music media and retailers gathered upstairs at The Archer to see a showcase by a new singer-songwriter. Countless tours, six times Platinum sales, five ARIA nominations and millions of fans later, Pete Murray's set to release the follow up to 'Feeler'.
It's Murray's thoughts on the way he's perceived that interest me most. Musically, he's barely removed from the likes of Missy Higgins or Jack Johnson - yet where they're darlings of the indie set, Murray is considered a commercial artist.
"I can probably understand how that can happen. I think that
the last album was a very safe-sounding album, which was something
I didn't like about it. I think you've got to be very careful
with videos as well," he says carefully. "The So Beautiful
video maybe... there's certain things now that come down to
controlling how you want to be perceived. I've got new management
now, and they've said 'look, this is what we need to be careful
of because the album's not a commercial album at all, but we've
had so much commercial success that you've got to be careful'.
"The first single [Better Days] is probably the
most commercial sounding song on the album which was a very
big concern to me, putting that song out as the first single,
because everyone will be going 'here's another commercial song,
boring, boring, boring', you know, all the indie guys, and I
can totally understand that. But a lot of people listen to the
album, or listen to the radio, or watch 'Video Hits' [and] that's
the only side they'd see. They probably haven't come and seen
us live, and I think the live show's much more dynamic than
what the album is. Once you get into that commercial area too,
mate, I've got no control. And it just takes off and the really
hard thing is to try and maintain that, and you don't want to
offend anyone either. But it's hard to manage that commercial
side that just takes off out of the blue, and you've just gotta
watch a few things that you do and be careful."
This is an artist talking through his position in the musical spectrum, and being particularly candid as he does so. "I think Missy had the Triple J Unearthed thing behind her as well and she's been heavily supported there. I don't know mate, I'm definitely aware that in a lot of people's eyes we're perceived as a very commercial act. Hopefully they'll hear a few new songs and that might change.
"It's really interesting, no-one's ever sort of talked to me about this, and I find it really interesting because I think of it constantly. I think this time I'm doing it my way now. Sony were great. This album, they didn't step in at all. They heard the demos, and said 'you just go and do it'. And they have to listen to me, because I know how it should be done and where it should go, I think they're aware of that too. I wasn't happy with 'Feeler' and it wasn't an album that I really..." he takes a deep breath, "...for two years I've struggled to actually say good things about it, you know? It's been hard. So this time, I've done the album that I want - I like it a lot. I'm not saying that 'Feeler' is a bad album, but I knew it would be perceived as very safe and quite commercial sounding, and that was my biggest concern once that was released. I had issues and tried to get a few things changed, but that wasn't going to happen because I was a new artist and they didn't want to spend any more money, we'd reached our budget. So those issues I've been dealing with for the last two years, so let's hope now we can keep the credibility there if we can, and we'll just keep working at it. That's probably the hardest thing in the industry, like I said, when you get a lot of commercial airplay you need to get someone steering the ship, because the ship can just take off in the wrong direction, you know?"
Too soon our time is up. "That was the most interesting interview I've done for a long time," says Pete Murray.
You're a credit to yourself, sir. Thanks for your time.
Wade Howland
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'See The Sun' is out now through SonyBMG, and Pete Murray & The Stonemasons play Thebarton Theatre on Sun 9 Oct with Carus.
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