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Jeremy Williams-Chalmers
Arts Correspondent
@jeremydwilliams
6:00 AM 4th June 2020
arts

Interview with Joel Smallbone

 
Australian sibling duo for KING & COUNTRY are a multi-platinum, multi-award winning musical force. Their origins in Christian music has seen their sound expland initially into the Country terrain, before their most recent album, burn the ships, dabbled with pop and electro. Having collaborated with artists as diverse as Dolly Parton and Echosmith, the duo have teamed up with Tori Kelly and Kirk Franklin for the stunning Together. We caught up with Joel Smallbone to find out more.



First and foremost, hello and how are you?

I am predominantly well. This season, I think for all of us, has a lot of layers to it. I’ve described it like an onion- on one layer, my wife and I have had more time at home than ever in our marriage together. On another layer, the question mark of when we can tour again, and our hearts going out to our crew and their families.. there’s a heaviness there. And on a wider level as part of the global community, there can be many days of being very overwhelmed by what’s going on.

Tell us about the record you have just released…

Well the song “TOGETHER” had a hard time finding it’s family, if you will. We had written it a little while ago and started performing it live, but it never felt like it was gonna find its moment. As relatively new American citizens, we thought with the elections coming up it might be time then, but I distinctly remember we were doing a Canadian tour when the pandemic struck, and the final show we played from that day, Luke walked off stage after the performance and looked at me and said “this is the time for that song." From that day to this we brought Kirk and choir on, as well as our friend Tori, and that has been the focus. For us it has been this idea of even though we’re isolated and separated, we can come together like never before. One of the intriguing elements of this is there are more voices on this song (Joel, Luke, Tori, Kirk, and 2 choirs) than we've ever had before, and it was produced and sung on all remotely, which is remarkable. The music video was done remotely as well.

What inspired the record?

It’s really about brotherhood and sisterhood in the end. Which, as a global community, that’s really what we are- the same blood runs in our veins. The immediate idea- Luke, my brother, has 3 sons, and we were on a cyber writing session. Luke was driving in the car with 2 of his sons in the back seat (4 + 6 yr old boys) and were, as boys do, kind of hitting each other. Luke turned, thinking he was on mute on our call, and said “Hey, you guys are brothers. You’re in this together." We all as writers heard him say that and thought “There is a real heartbeat behind what this song needs to be".

Tell us a little about your creative process…

Every song looks different, but as far as a process, the one for this song was the most unique. It was originally written in Los Angeles by Luke and I, who are brothers, and the Jackson brothers, who are twin brothers, so two sets of brothers. It was then finished (the initial version) when those brothers came on the road with us and wrote all across the US. Then we had a guy- Josh Kerr, come in to help produce it. Our band leader, Ben Backus, came on to do some production on it. Josh also became a writer on it. Then we sent it to Kirk Franklin in Texas, where he took his gospel choir and band and wrote a whole section to it. Then we sent it back out and a guy named Fede, who's worked with Coldplay and Kanye West to name a few, produced the final version. Then Tori Kelly (in isolation) sang her part to finish it. So it was definitely a process.

If the record were an animal, what animal would it be?

Well it would definitely be a herd animal. It wouldn’t be an animal that was a bit separated. I think it would be a lion, a pride of lions, if I could pick multiple animals from the same species.

Define your sound in five words…

Theatrical, Harmonic, Dramatic, Purposeful, and Melodic

What was the first song that caught your attention?

I don’t know if it was actually the first, but very early on for me it was “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2. The very defining moment was in 2001- we lived in America, we weren’t quite citizens yet, but the twin towers had fallen, and during the Super Bowl U2 performed “Where the Streets Have No Name” and it was, as far as live performance and song, and the emotional, spiritual connection through the television screen- it was a very defining moment for me.

What was the first song you bought?

I believe it was "Beautiful Day" by U2 and it’s hard to know, being candid, whether I got it off of Napster or iTunes at that point.

And the first album?

We were in Australia, and I was a boy (this was vinyl/ 45 era) and it is debated whether I bought it or whether it was given to me because I was about 4 or 5, but I had a record by an American metal band called Stryper and I wore that record out and very intimately studied the cover and artwork.

What was the best concert you have ever seen?

I believe it was actually an NSYNC concert. I was a not-so-closet NSYNC fan growing up, and they on their 'No Strings Attached' tour played in Nashville at the stadium, and I just was mesmerized by the ability of the band, the synchronization, the thoughtfulness, the pyrotechnics, and coming down from the ceiling was pretty mesmerizing.

What did the experience teach you that you have translated to your own shows?

It taught me to keep visually re-sculpting the performance. One of the things NSYNC did was create a lot of movement, different positioning on stage. They were all just dancing and singing, but as a band of 8, we’ve done that with our musicians where we all (most of us as instrumentalists) switch throughout the stage at different songs to create different pallets and different looks in an attempt to keep the show intriguing. I also think they were good at telling their story, and that was something (having a narrative for the show) that is very important to us.

What other artist are you most excited to hear from?

I’m always intrigued when Coldplay puts out another record. I heard they have a mindset of creating a more pop record for the public, and then making a more experimental record. And I think that’s been a really great yin and yang for them in keeping their audience engaged. Anytime they release music I'm very eager to pay attention. Them, and more recently Kanye West. I’ve been very intrigued by the musical decisions and directions he has made.

If you could work with them, what would you hope to record?

We’ll take Kanye West. If I could work with Kanye I would hope to record a song where we mashed up our worlds. Being in this theatrical, melodic world, and his much more urban and hip hop world. I think would be a really intriguing match-up.

If you had to pick three artists to be filed next to, who would they be and why?

U2- that experimental forward thinking, very focused approach to music, Kanye West- because of his mindset and approach to music these days as well as what he’s writing about, and Adele- because she is the voice of our generation as a woman and I feel she has found a good balance between being a public figure and trying to protect her own life and sanity and well-being at the same time.

If you could jam with one artist alive or dead, who would it be?

You’d have to say The Beatles. I know that’s 50/50 as far as dead and alive, but they really built their sound and understanding from jamming in a club for 2 years for 4 or 5 hours a day. So you’d have to imagine they’d be the greatest jam band there ever was.

If you could have written one song by another artist, what would it be?

This is very special to us, because this artist and writer actually featured on our song and said in her own way that it was one of the great songs she’d heard. And that artist is Dolly Parton. She featured on our song “God Only Knows” She wrote a song that ultimately Whitney Houston propelled into the world in a magical way called “I Will Always Love You”. I love that song because of the simplicity of it, the starkness of that version, and the way they married it to a film. I thought that was a whole other layer to the song.

Someone is making a film of your life, who will play you?

We’re at generational odds with one another because I think he’s got a pair of decades on me. But if that wasn’t a factor, I would certainly ask fellow countryman Hugh Jackman to play me. He’s an inspiration to me in the way he loves his wife and kids, and the way he’s conducted his career and the choices he’s made. I went to his one-man show at the end of last year and thought he did a wonderful job of representing Australia, and representing art, and making it a thoughtful and kind performance.

Lastly, tell us one thing you have never revealed in an interview…

When I was 5 years old, it was my first year of school. I went to a Christian school in Brisbane called COC. It had rained the night prior and the construction workers were doing road work on the side of the road. They had dug a ditch probably 5 or 6 ft deep and it had become incredibly muddy in the ditch, and it just so happened it was on the corner of the street where we would wait for the bus to pick us up. And somehow I managed to fall in the ditch while trying to get on the bus and all of the kids on the bus saw me do it. I just had mud all over me, I was so mortified and so embarrassed that I cried as a 5 year old. And my mother, who’s a wonderful woman, (she and my dad raised 7 of us kids together), she came and got me and switched out my uniforms and she was so kind and gracious to me, and drove me to school and flipped the whole experience on it’s head by the way she loved me.