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Monday, 31 July 2006 |
 The release of the new Music, People, Cities, Lights & Darkness mini-album caps the end of an eventful three years for roots duo DIRTY LUCY, including relocation to Melbourne and an operation on lead singer Nicole Brophy to remove vocal nodules. Fiery electric violinist JODI MOORE reflects on these events with BRETT COLLINGWOOD.
It's been a long time since your first album Dark Green – how have the past three years influenced the creation of the songs on the new mini-album?
Dark Green was written mainly on the road. When we moved to Melbourne it was good to stop and have somewhere to have a your own space. The last few years have been a very different lifestyle and life. Living in the city, earning a living outside of Dirty Lucy came out in the songs. I think there's an undertone of freedom – craving it, getting it. Music, People, Cities, Lights & Darkness – you get the idea.
How did the recording process differ from last time? Was it more enjoyable?
Yes, more enjoyable this time. Dark Green was our first go at recording our songs, so it was a good learning experience. We had more dollars to throw around because we'd saved more last time (from a stack of duo pub gigs – three-hour gigs in smoky venues started Nicole’s nodules) and we'd won 20K for a Nescafe BigBreak, so everything was very lush and came out very polished. This time round we've tried to capture the essence of our live sound, which is more defined now. Syd Green's been playing drums with us for about 2 1/2 years, so all the feels have been more deliberate or at least rehearsed.
I imagine the discovery of Nicole's vocal nodules and the surgery and recovery that followed would have been pretty frightening for you both – how did you cope during this time?
It’s been coming for a long time so we were both pretty relieved when she finally got it done and recovered and the tone of her voice hadn't changed. The rest of the time was just stress. The operation itself was scary but the lead-up was more stressful. Nicole's voice not working at gigs was shit for all concerned. It made touring very anxious and she was understandably pretty highly strung at different times.
Take us back to the beginning – how did the two of you first meet and what made you decide to make music together? What musical background did you each have before you met?
We met at a high school music course that happened once a month in Sydney. Nicole got a gig on a cruise ship and invited me – that was our first go at doing gigs together and they went down a treat. And so did getting paid to cruise around Noumea with a mate!
In terms of our musical background, Nicole grew up on old-school country: John Prine, Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and a childhood of small-town country music festivals. I grew up on violin and piano lessons out on a property removed from pretty much any recorded music until I was a teenager.
Out of all the things you've achieved with your career so far, what are you most proud of?
I don’t know about pride – I think we've been very fortunate in the past with getting to play overseas, do some big supports etc, but I’m most excited about this recent recording.
Dirty Lucy play The Zoo on Thursday; the SoundLounge on Friday; Joe’s Waterhole, Eumundi on Saturday; and the Great Northern on Sunday. The Music, People, Cities, Lights & Darkness mini-album is out now through Fish Dirt/MGM
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Last Updated ( Monday, 07 August 2006 )
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