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 A nostalgic DARRAGH MURRAY chats to legendary children’s singer-songwriter PETER COMBE about his career resurgence and the current state of affairs within his industry.
Back before The Wiggles juggernaut, the quirky tunes of Peter Combe dominated Australian children’s music. Those born after 1980s who owned television capable of receiving the ABC are likely to be instantly familiar with the work of Combe, whose songs such as Newspaper Mama, Spaghetti Bolognaise and Juicy Juicy Green Grass defined the genre of children’s music. While this generation is now grown up, it’s clear they still retain a taste for the artist’s work.
“I did this gig about 18 months ago at a great big private party – a 21st birthday party – and when I did that part of Mr Clickitty Cane that goes ‘belly flop in a pizza’, this guy stepped out of the crowd with this giant-sized pizza, placed it very carefully on the floor, took off his shirt and actually belly flopped into it. I was so impressed, people just loved it,” Combe says.
Combe is fascinated by his popular resurgence amongst children and their parents as well as those who grew up listening to his songs, a phenomenon that has seen the singer-songwriter sell out all ages matinees and 18+ shows throughout the country over the past few years.
“My career’s taken an interesting turn,” he says, “What’s happened for me in the last four or five years is that my original audience is now in their mid-to-late ‘20s and they come out to these evening shows in big numbers and they have a fantastic time.”
Combe states that he still tends to appear solo when performing in front of his younger audience but emphasises that his evening shows are inclined to focus on the contemporary tastes of his older fans.
“[The two shows] are similar in that I do a lot of the well known songs at both, but the evening show is for the Newspaper Mama band and we play quite loudly! It’s a rock show whereas the morning matinee is much gentler.
“What’s fascinating is we have these parents that bring along their little kids and the parents know the songs better than the kids do.”
Our conversation turns towards the state of children’s music in present day Australia, Combe reluctantly admitting that overwhelming success of groups like The Wiggles and Hi-5 hasn’t exactly been conducive for would-be children’s performers.
“To be absolutely frank, it’s fairly unhealthy because there are far less people doing it. I mean The Wiggles absolutely dominate television. I don’t mean to be critical but people say that they dominate to the extent that they exclude everyone else so any other people who aspire to be a singer-songwriter have a hard road to hoe.”
And despite being known primarily for children’s music, Combe still manages to find time to keep track of popular trends in contemporary pop and rock.
“I like a lot of Radiohead – my son really likes them – and I’m a big fan of Norah Jones. I’ve seen her twice in concert and she’s wonderful.”
PETER COMBE indulges Brisbane with two shows on Saturday May 14 including an all ages morning matinee at The Old Museum and an evening 18+ show at The Globe. Tickets for both shows are available through OzTix. Check out www.petercombe.com.au for more.
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