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1.) We’re excited to have some time today with acclaimed indie music artist Garth Adam; greetings and salutations, Garth! Before we mosey down the musical Q&A pathway, how has your summer of ‘23 been treating you?
Being from Sydney Australia not so good. It’s pretty cold down here but still nothing like Canada.
2.) Major congratulations on the freshly-minted EP Say You’ll Come With Me! How did this incredible new EP come about? Is there a VH1-Behind the Music story you could share with our ever-inquisitive readers about its origins?
This was an EP I wanted to do in 2021 but due to Covid I couldn’t cross the country from Sydney to Perth where my producer Melvin Tree lives. Once the state border opened, I arranged to fly to him which is like flying from LA to NYC in distance. My friend Dave Kelly who drums and sings on the EP was travelling around Australia in a campervan with his partner, so we all decided to meet to Perth and record at my producer’s studio in Perth Western Australia. I had written a bunch of songs in 2021 I wanted to record, but as I wrote better ones including all of the ones on the EP in 2022, I ditched the 2021 songs.
It was a lot of fun. We sat around in a circle and just played through the songs until we go them right. Melvin played keys, I played guitars and Dave drums. I was super lucky because I was in Perth I could have Lisa and Keely O’Brien sing the back vocals for me.
3.) Can you introduce us to some of the talented musicians that lent their own unique musical alchemy in helping bring to fruition Say You’ll Come With Me?
Dave Kelly on drums and vocals, Melvin Tree on bass and keyboards, me on guitars and Lisa and Keely O’Brien on vocals.
4.) Who was your producer on Say You’ll Come With Me and what did the collaboration between artist and producer look like in the studio?
I have been working with my producer Melvin Tree for many years. He can be a hard task master and doesn’t let me get away with any substandard performances. I started with my demo’s, he listens to them for a few weeks and them with says let’s go with the demo arrangement or says have you considered going in this direction instead. Some songs stay as they are and some get mostly simplified and usually slowed down a bit as some of my demos are way too fast.
5.) How is Say You’ll Come With Me similar to 2018’s I Remember Everything? How is it different?
I think I was a bit sad on the last EP. Coming out of the last 2 years made me change in direction a bit . That is probably why I ditched the 2021 demo’s.
6.) In your humble opinion, what differentiates Say You’ll Come With Me from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?
The best advice I have ever had is just be yourself. If people like it they will come around. In the past I was in bands where we tried to follow the Zeitgeist but if you do that you are already too late. The next amazing artist is always just around the corner. That person will without trying but doing just what they will change the direction of current music without knowing it.
7.) Production-wise, Say You’ll Come With Me has the distinction of being something of a beautiful throwback from the generally overproduced music of 2023. How much of that do you credit to recording in a studio where a majority of the equipment is pre 1975?
There is a great temptation to over produce because modern equipment allows you to that but you lose some thing if you don’t just record performances just as they are. My producer prefers to have me and everybody else perform the song end to end a few times . Firstly, until we get comfortable and secondly to capture the best of these performances. If we don‘t get it on the day we just have another shot at it the next day. I really like the idea of the finished song not being too much different then the we all played it in a circle.
When you think about 1975 that was when the giant Fleetwood Mac albums were recorded, and people still love them.
8.) We’re big admirers of the Tell Me One Thing tune off of Say You’ll Come With Me! What’s the story behind this lovely track?
“Tell Me One thing” was just a spontaneous song I wrote at the end of my bed on a Sunday morning. Almost all the song came at once which doesn’t often happen. I really like the groove with the bass and guitar I had going so that launched the whole song. The lyrics then just seemed to come out of the air.
“Say You’ll Come With Me” is inspired by travelling down the beautiful south coast of the eastern seaboard of NSW. After all the time locked up in Sydney I really needed to get away. There is something very Zen about driving along the coast line and seeing the sea and the beaches especially if you have someone to share it with.
9.) Who inspires you musically?
That’s so hard. I am a huge music fan and of many genres. I am the guy that buys a t-shirt at every gig I like so I have a lot of t shirts. My childhood hero was Tom Petty . I recently saw the Milk Carton Kids who I love and also Damien Rice who is such an emotional performer.
There is nothing like live music to make you feel good. Even the lonely guy singing in the corner at a restaurant can be great. In January of this year in Hawaii I was staying in a cute hotel and this guitarist on his own next to a swimming pool sang a song in the hawaiian language and it was just so beautiful.
10.) On the heels of the release of the new EP, can fans look forward to an LP release before the end of 2023 or perhaps in early 2024?
I am going to bug my producer to do a new release for 2024. I have a few new songs in the pipeline l but really need to get writing a bit more.
11.) What does your touring/performing dance card look like in the coming weeks and months?
I am going to see how this EP goes first. It is just come been released I would love to get out there. It’s winter here in Sydney so I am probably looking at our summer.
