|
|
 |
|
Bedroom Philosopher
 Justin Heazlewood, better known as the Bedroom Philosopher, is at a career crossroads. He's in the middle of recording what he describes as "The difficult second album"; an as-yet-untitled follow-up to his 2005 album, 'In Bed With My Doona'. The big news is, he's changing his focus. He's going high-brow.
"I'm trying this high concept, 'Magical Mystery Tour'-type, over produced follow-up album, with sitar and trumpets," he says. "I've sort of made this controversial call; like when Dylan went electric, the Bedroom Philosopher went music, instead of comedy. I'm sort of leaving the comedy circle a bit, much to the initial berating of many of the comedians going, 'You're nothing, you're a hack, you need us! You're nothing without gags'."
It's not the first time Heazlewood has touched on the more serious side of things. He notes that, while attending the University of Canberra, he had two bands - one serious, one a comedy act - but decided to focus more on the humour after landing a segment on Triple J's morning show.
"I pushed myself," he explains of the decision. "I went, 'Surely you've got to go where the momentum is going'. And as someone who had dabbled in both, for the funny stuff to be getting all the attention, I thought, 'Well, I'd better give that a shot then'."
Following that, his single I'm So Postmodern found its way into the Hottest 100 for 2005, after a wave of support from the youth network's Super Request show; the only song by an unsigned, independent artist to do so that year. He's also appeared at multiple Falls Festivals, as well as three Melbourne International Comedy Festivals. However, he likens this latest change to that of a child actor moving into more serious roles in order to prolong their career. "This is like my 'Good Son'," he says, referencing Macaulay Culkin's 1993 thriller, "because Melbourne Comedy Festival was like my 'Home Alone'."
That's not to say that Heazlewood is moving into dead serious realms, though. These songs, he suggests, will simply have more of a sense of balance between humour and music instead of the previous focus on the former. "If they can be deemed comedy songs, which I don't necessarily think they can, they're a lot more subtle and a lot more sneaky. They're sort of like a clown...in a bear suit," he says hesitantly. "Underneath, they're probably being quite ironic and satirical, but on the outside, they're coming across as well crafted pop songs. The bear represents...uh...pop aggressiveness."
Heazlewood pauses, seemingly somewhat unsure of what point he was trying to make, before continuing. "They're trying awfully hard to be good songs, despite their lyrical content. At one point we were listening some of the stuff on the new album and I kind of joked, 'Oh, maybe I should just change all the lyrics to serious ones and be the next Josh Pyke or something', but ultimately, I want to exist in the strange Ween-like nether-genre. The line between irony and earnestness is up and down like a stereo equaliser," he concludes sagely.
Though he is aware of the dangers of alienating his previous fans, he laughs that he doesn't imagine "People sitting by their radios waiting for what's going to come after I'm So Postmodern.
"I still think I'm in a pretty good position to come along with something a little more meaty and have people make the connection and go, 'Oh, right...'," he muses. "It's a bit like Dana Lyons following up Cows With Guns with 'The Bends'. Something like that.
"Being hideously self-aware and hyper-aware to the point of never being able to sleep comes at an advantage, because I've pretty much covered every base of the criticism I'll get for the new album," he continues, chuckling. "There'll be maybe a wave of annoyed 15 to 16 year old girls, who just complain, 'Oh this isn't as funny as I'm So Postmodern' and my MySpace page will be shut down with angry spamming from all these kids on their lunch break at school. Then I think there will be a whole bunch of indie music purists - the cynical, ex-uni students - who sort of go, 'All the music's really good, but you've ruined it with your lame, dated self-parody'.
"And, well," Heazlewood grins, "if there's anyone left who doesn't fit into those categories..."
The Bedroom Philosopher plays at the Garden Of Unearthly Delights as part of the Fringe Festival from Mon 19 - Wed 21 March
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
