Getting To Know... Erin Marshall

Sydney-based singer/songwriter and all-round lovely human being, Erin Marshall, talks to BobbySix.com about her music, her inspirations and how David Bowie's tights in Labyrinth traumatised her:

I would describe my sound as temporary. Undecided. Simple. It hasn't settled anywhere yet. Some would say acoustic and folky, but I think it's only been that way based upon limitations. It's always honest, but even when it is deep, it's easy as a ball of string to unravel. It isn't polished. It's full of flaws, but happy being what it is. I feel best when my hair is unbrushed, my jeans are ripped, and my feet are bare. I hope that is represented by my music. I prefer a mixed entree to a featured meal. There is so much music to be written and explored that it would be rude of me to limit myself to one style. I think I'd be ripping myself off. And stunting my growth. I'm short enough as it is.

I take inspiration from people.
People that walk down the street unashamedly talking to themselves. They don't give a shit and it's great. It inspires me to say, or write, whatever I want. That makes me happy.
People I don't know that say hello or good morning.
The elderly; they know so much more than we give them credit for.
People that have drive and motivation, that make sacrifices for their love. It's something I need to work on.
People: they are everything. Why else do we do what we do?

Music makes me...

Connect.

Emotional.

Purposeful.

Express what I couldn't say in the moment.

Figure things out.

Very lucky.

Sydney is diverse. The grittiness of Kings Cross, the 'don't give a fuck' of Newtown, the beautiful people and the beautiful breasts at Bondi Beach. The rivalry in Paddington between the A-Class and the Young & Trendy. The magical lights of the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park reflecting on the water. The Slurry of Hills, The Rocks and its chaos, The Darling hearted Harbour. Just when you think you've got some place figured out.... a gem surfaces. You find something from underneath... a talent, a story, history and you realise, at heart, we all just want to belong. Sydney is a home/host to so many untold stories. It's magical.

It might surprise people to learn that David Bowie really scared me as a kid (the white see-through tights from Labrynth... ugh), but I had huge crushes on Prince and Michael Jackson. It makes me feel weird now. I used to have dreams that they rescued me.... not sure from what from. But there was a spaceship involved.

Don't hate me, but I don't really listen to music. I don't know the big all-time artists. I never grew up around it. I am well aware of the amount of music out there that deserves my attention. But it overwhelms me... I don't know where to start... I can't keep up. A friend of mine makes me mixtapes as a means to educate me. But by the time I put it on to listen, there is already another mixtape waiting for me. Then I feel like I am falling behind in my homework... I really admire people's dedication to their music.

My favourite songs are tunes from the early 90's....Charles and Eddie's Would I Lie To You and Ain't No Doubt by Jimmy Nail the one-hit-wonder. These, without fail, make me feel amazing.

Aside from music, I dabble in acting as a hobby. I also collect rocks. Buttons. I sew. I keep scrap books of things I like. I feel anxious when my room is messy... yet I find it so hard to keep it clean. Culprit = Procrastination. I take a lot of pleasure in simple things. I figure so long as I am poor, I know how to be happy with nothing.

Interview by Rob Townsend. Photos by Emma Daniels.

Visit Erin's Myspace page here and check out the video for Turn It Around below.

Newton Faulkner at Oxford Art Factory

NEWTON FAULKNER
ERIN MARSHALL
26/08/09

Through a winning smile, Erin Marshall (pictured below) played a selection of acoustic pop songs from her upcoming EP, Things I Can’t Change. Sometimes breezy, sometimes pensive, but always accessible, Marshall’s tunes are the kind you’d hear on the radio and then find yourself humming for the next couple of days. A perfect example of this was Hard Case To Crack, an insanely infectious swing/jazz/pop number which had the crowd clapping along as she bounced around the stage with her acoustic guitar. Boasting oodles of charisma and a note-perfect and seemingly effortless vocal, big things could lie ahead for this singer/songwriter from Sydney.

Dreadlocked Englishman Newton Faulkner (pictured, top) really knows his way around a guitar. Within seconds of stepping on stage, his hands were flying all over the place in a blur of motion, his fingers crawling up the fret-board like spiders on speed. He drummed beats on the guitar’s body and played a specially adapted pedal-board organ with his shoeless feet. It was mesmerising.
 An affable character, he encouraged crowd participation at every possible juncture, played along to a cassette tape and busted out a mini-guitar for She’s Got The Time and the imaginatively titled follow-up She’s Got The Time 2. However, fun as all this was, his more serious songs were actually his best, like the rousing Dream Catch Me and his take on Massive Attack’s Teardrop. The highlight was his final offering: the stripped-down I’m Not Giving Up Yet from his imminent second album, Rebuilt By Humans. This song served to illustrate the only slightly frustrating aspect of the evening. Simply, for someone who can write a beautiful, meaningful ballad like this and who has such a great vocal, he spends a little bit too much time farting around with things like UFO (“better watch out for the anal probe”). While we might only be scratching the surface of his talent, with a few more songs like his set-closer, and less time spent getting the crowd to sing along as if they were pirates with rabies, Faulkner could really be one of the standout songwriters of his generation.

The Essential Festival, Sydney

I spent my Anzac day at Sydney's Essential festival, which takes place across three indoor stages in the city centre:With ticket prices perhaps seeming a tiny bit steep, pre-sales clearly didn’t take off amazingly well, judging by the fact that the three venues did feel quite empty in the early part of the day, but those who were there were treated to a lovely set from Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers in The Gaelic Theatre. Conversely, Centipede started proceedings on The Madison Stage with female-fronted poppy electronica/noise that lacked charisma and charm and at times was clunky and ugly.

Following Centipede was Erin Marshall (above). Now, I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the singer/songwriter continues to impress with every performance. Today, a beguiled audience was won over by her acoustic ditties, which went from being powerful and gutsy when accompanied by her brother on drums to being pretty and delicate when she performed alone. The highlight was the beautiful Once Upon a Time, during which you could hear a pin drop amongst the crowd. Just remember, when Marshall inevitably becomes absolutely massive in the not-too-distant future, you heard it here first.

Watching Bird Automatic was a nice enough way to fill half-an-hour, not least because they have a frontman who, in a dark room and from distance, looks a bit like David Walliams. Meanwhile, in the upstairs Gaelic Club, The Seabellies were also perky and pleasing.With a sound that included elements of rock, electro and dance, Bluejuice (above) flew the flag for Aussie hip-hop better than most. Admittedly this isn’t too hard, but there can’t have been a person in the increasingly busy Gaelic Theatre who didn’t get a kick out of their energetic performance. Vocalists Jake and Stav clearly absolutely love being on a stage and their infectious high-energy filtered though to a crowd that had so far found little on the bill to dance to. Stirring stuff, and fucking loud too. The day belonged to Bluejuice, no question.

Sydney boy/girl duo WOW won the title of being the weirdest band of the day. With a frontman who looks like a futuristic incarnation of The Young Knives’ House Of Lords and hacking out crazy garage-electro-disco-punk-lunacy to the bemused handful in attendance, it’s hard to tell if they were the best thing in the world or the worst. One thing’s for sure though, Nathan Barley would love them.

While American band Ratatat impressed with their beautifully-crafted and layered instrumental indietronica, local lads The Kahn Brothers offered sweet acoustic harmonies to a much smaller crowd on the Madison stage. Sure, it was incredibly twee and fairly bland, but pretty enough in places.Up in The Gaelic Club, an ear-busting turn from Cassette Kids was as far from twee as it is possible to be. In vocalist Katrina (above*), they have a captivating frontwoman in the mould of Be Your Own Pet’s Jemima Pearl or Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O. She stamps, stomps and screams her way around the stage, hollaring through a mop of blonde hair like she is having the most fun tantrum ever. Sometimes their songs do kinda blend into one, but the band does have some really interesting guitar effects up its sleeve and what the set lacked in variety it made up for with sheer fucking raw energy. Theirs was one of the highlights of the day, even if the turnout to watch them was undeservedly low. On this display though, 2008 might just be their year.

With Regurgitator and The Holidays wrapping things up, another Essential Festival could justifiably call itself a success. A low-key success, but a success nonetheless.

(*I actually took this photo of Katrina two days later at Oxford Arts, after all the ones I took of her at Essential were of poor quality. Incidentally, they put on another awesome show)

Erin Marshall at The Empire Hotel

Sydney singer/songwriter Erin Marshall recently took up residency at The Empire Hotel. I went along to a couple of her shows:It’s been over a year since I first saw Erin Marshall perform. Back then, she was rough diamond with a voice to die for and a natural stage presence. Since that night at Ruby Rabbit, she has played plenty more solo shows (most notably, support slots for Angus and Julia Stone, for whom she also sung backing vocals on their album) and written a plethora of bold new songs which demonstrate her continuing growth as a songwriter and guitarist.

These songs were on display during impressive 45-minute sets at The Empire Hotel in a three-night stint spread over three weeks. Playing as part of a three-piece band (which included her brother on drums), Marshall was as jovially affable as ever as she ran through her eclectic new material. The current ace in her pack is new track Once Upon a Time, which plays out like the prettiest lullaby and is surely her best composition to date. Juxtapose the sheer delicacy of that with the deliciously riotous romp, Hard Case To Crack - which lands nicely between Feist and Nancy Sinatra - and you get a nice idea of the diversity of her work. At times it is foot-stomping fun, elsewhere it is ruminative and downbeat. Regardless, it is always intelligent and carefully crafted.In a scene where skinny-jeaned bands gaze with disinterest through their fringes while they purvey generic indie guff, Erin Marshall feels like a breath of fresh air on the Sydney circuit with her sweet acoustic melodies. One suspects that the venues will grow in size as Marshall continues to wow audiences with her honest, emotive storytelling and her jaw-dropping vocal. Surely it is only a matter of time before this songwriter hits the big time.

2007: End of year review

I recently contributed to the Drum Media end of year poll in Australia. Here is an alternative version which takes into account the UK as well. Please feel free to add your own lists in the comments section: Top 10 Albums (released in the UK or Australia)
1. Myths of The Near Future - Klaxons
2. Panic Prevention - Jamie T
3. A Book Like This - Angus And Julia Stone (above)
4. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
5. Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever - The Cribs
6. Because Of The Times - Kings Of Leon
7. Made Of Bricks - Kate Nash
8. Fur And Gold - Bat For Lashes
9. Songs For The Road – David Ford
10. Tonight At The Arizona - The Felice Brothers

Top 10 Tracks (released as part of any single/EP/album)
1. Be Safe – The Cribs
2. Golden Skans – Klaxons
3. Sheila - Jamie T
4. Ballad Of Lou The Welterweight – The Felice Brothers
5. Umbrella - Rihanna
6. Foundations – Kate Nash
7. D.A.N.C.E. – Justice
8. Brown Paper Bag – Bridezilla
9. What’s a Girl To Do? – Bat For Lashes
10. Commercial Breakdown – The Sunshine Underground


Best Gigs in Australia
1. Angus and Julia Stone – The Great Escape Festival
2. Bridezilla - Beach Road Hotel, Bondi (above)
3. Pet Shop Boys – V Festival
4. Lou Reed - The State Theatre
5. Muse – Big Day Out

Best Gigs in the UK
1. Carter USM – Brixton Academy (below)
2. Arcade Fire – The Latitude Festival
3. David Ford – Shepherds Bush Empire
4. Laura Imbruglia – Monkey Chews, Camden
5. Kings Of Leon – Brighton Centre
Top 5 Films
1. Superbad
2. The Science Of Sleep
3. Knocked Up
4. American Gangster
5. Hot Fuzz

Top 5 TV Shows
1. The Mighty Boosh
2. Peep Show
3. The Biggest Loser (Australia)
4. Extreme Makeover
5. America’s Next Top Model

Top 5 Websites
1. Youtube
2. Wikipedia
3. Boudist
4. Myspace
5. WWTDD

Top Podcasts
1. Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews – BBC Radio 5 Live
2. The Ricky Gervais Podcast

The Emperor's New Clothes Award
Facebook. Listen, I haven’t seen you for about 10 years and you didn’t talk to me at school anyway; why would I want to add you as a ‘friend’ now? And stop inviting me to be a vampire.


Best Media Moments
1. The Chaser’s War On Everything getting themselves arrested in the name of comedy (above).
2. Britney Spears’ terrifying ‘comeback’ at the MTV Awards. Yikes.
3. The Biggest Loser, Australian finale.

Highlight Of The Year
The glorious, long overdue ousting of Mr John Winston Howard.

Prediction For 2008
A new buzz band to appear on the scene approximately every 3 days, each with increasingly skinny jeans and ridiculous hair. Same as 2007 then.

Quote Of The Year “Rob Townsend is inane and out of touch.” An angry reader of The Argus writes in to tell it like it is.

A Personal Review of 2007
As with 2006, I was lucky enough to split my year between Australia and England and therefore witnessed the best of Britain in Sydney and vice versa. I saw great shows from English acts such as Jamie T, Plan B, Muse and Lily Allen in Sydney. In London I was delighted to spend some time with the beguiling Angus and Julia Stone as their star continued to ascend, and also caught a couple of Laura Imbruglia’s marvellous shows in London (above). I’m a big fan of Imbruglia, and I hope that 2008 brings her the recognition she deserves as an artist.

In Sydney, my favourite new band, Bridezilla, continued on their inevitable road to greatness. Seeing them grow from unsigned opening act to headliners and festival stars with an EP in the shops gave me great pride, especially as I have been championing them from the very first time I laid ears on them at Candy’s Apartment in 2006. Hopefully, they will take on the world next year. If the reception that fellow Aussie teens Operator Please received is any guide, England will welcome them with open arms if they get the opportunity to head that way.It was a year of festivals for me, as I took in Big Day Out, Laneway, V Festival, The Great Escape, The Essential Festival (in Sydney as opposed to Brighton), Cornbury (where I even took to the stage) and Latitude. Aside from the already listed highlights, there were great performances from Pixies, The Killers (who I saw two days in a row and, surprisingly, loved both times), NYPC (above), Ghostwood, Mercy Arms, Magic Numbers (twice), CSS, Jarvis Cocker (twice), Damien Rice (twice), Erin Marshall, The Young and Restless… the list goes on.

Elsewhere, I queued for 11 hours overnight to see Lou Reed, got a late, late call to review The Pretenders and was lucky enough to be in the front row of The Famous Spiegeltent for M. Ward in the beautiful Sydney summertime.Of the many interviews I was part of this year, my fascinating chat with Dolores O’Riordon (above) in a Sydney hotel is the one I am most proud of. Elsewhere, I swooned like a love-struck schoolboy when speaking down the phone from Melbourne to the exquisite Regina Spektor and laughed heartily with Caleb from Kings of Leon as he regaled me with tales of love and lust. I listened intently to the ambitious and terrifyingly intelligent Perry Farrell and, as always, enjoyed chatting to Klaxons.

I continued to pontificate in my own column in The Sports Argus every week, which continues to be compiled into a book, which will see the light of day this year after a self-imposed postponement.

Roll on 2008.

Erin Marshall Live

Erin Marshall is an artist I've written about on a couple of occasions. I'm used to seeing her gently strumming her acoustic guitar in little indie venues, but here's a clip of her proving that she can comfortably adapt to the big stage while retaining her affability.
There is another clip from the same show on youtube. Oh, and here is Erin perfoming live on telly.

Erin Marshall on Australian Television

Singer/songwriter Erin Marshall performed live on The Morning Show on Wednesday. Here is the clip:As well as being a talented lady with a faultless voice, she is a humble person with a wonderful spirit, and I have high hopes for her career. If you rummage through my blog you will find a couple of gushing reviews of her previous gigs. Keep an eye out for her in the future...

Essential Festival 2007, Sydney

There are few things better than free tickets to a music festival that is indoors and a ten-minute walk from your front door. While others spent their ANZAC Day playing two-up and getting off their faces on grog, I went along to The Essential Festival to check it out:The Essential Festival is a one-day event in the heart of Sydney, held at three adjacent venues right next to Central Station. At the end of a hectic festival season, the nature of it made for a refreshing change, and the fact that it was taking place in cosy pubs and venues make it perfect for the time of year, considering the rainy winter weather outside. First up was singer/songwriter Erin Marshall (above). Erin is a delight in that she falls nicely into her own little niche. Essentially, it is pop music - and by that I am being complimentary; after all, we all know that pop music at its very best is the finest music of all. Unlike much of the mush you will hear on your local commercial radio station though, Erin's songs her songs are honest and not in the slightest contrived. In front of a decently-sized crowd (especially for 2.15pm on a Wednesday afternoon), she played a familiar set of tunes that, at their most upbeat, were cruisy pop waving in the direction of folk, while, at their most bare, were folk waving in the direction of cruisy pop. Either way, the set was always nicely stripped down, with just a couple of acoustic guitars allowing the songs to breathe, and showcasing her note-perfect and dextrous vocal. I have said before that, with her pleasing aethetics, charisma and song-writing ability, she has the potential to go far. Her catchy tunes are well-suited for the mainstream yet nicely interesting at the same time.Following Erin, there wasn't much that appealed other than a few games of pool in the pub. I had already given The Hate Game a wide berth, having reviewed their rather obnoxious yet strangely foot-tappy pop too many times already, and the thought of watching the likes of PoMoMoFo and Dappled Cities Fly again was, without wishing to be disrespectful, not as tempting as whacking a few balls around a table with my friends. I did catch five minutes of Regular John, who played hair rock, and not the good kind. Rather than the grubby, beardy, haven't-washed-in-a-month rock that would have enticed me, they were more of the 'perfectly straight hair grown specifically for headbanging' variety. I left after two songs.

Next up, someone who got it absolutely spot-on. Laura Imbruglia (above, and yes, she is her sister) whacked out punchy, kooky little anti-folk tracks about washing machines that double as jukeboxes and, between songs, did a chucklesome impression of Richard Marx singing Hazard. The diminutive singer was playful in a cheeky, tomboy way with a crowd who, due to her height and the lack of a stage for her to stand on, couldn't see her. There is something about Imbruglia that is quite wonderful, and her performance was of such a high standard that it had elements of Regina Spektor and The Moldy Peaches about it. It would be a shame if her delightful weirdness was overshadowed by her surname. This is a songwriter who deserves to be heard.Next, I headed to the Gaelic Club to check out a band I was very excited to see. Earlier in the day I had avoided Teenagersintokyo as I would avoid the plague, as I was more interested in watching the band that they can only dream of being, Young and Restless (above). This is a band that knows how to put on a show. Frontwoman Karina prowls the stage, dancing, sweating and screaming, while her four male band members make an awesome noise. Imagine if YYYs had gone harder rather than more melodic after their first album and you wouldn't be far away from the sound that Y+R belt out. OK, so all of their songs sound the same, and I wouldn't want to rush out and buy their records, but as a live show it was absolutely awesome. During the last song, Karina repeatedly yelled 'only bitches talk shit' as she surfed over a crowd which included the aforementioned Miss Imbruglia. While Imbruglia's show was good enough for her not to have to get any tips from what she was watching, I sincerely hope that The Hate Game and Teenagersintokyo were paying attention. They could learn a lesson or two from this electrifying band.

While Children Collide belted out their tunes with an impressive Nirvana-esque energy, it was time for this reviewer to head home, having happily hurdled yet another decent festival unscathed.

Erin Marshall at Ruby Rabbit

I was invited to Ruby Rabbit to see Erin Marshall play, and so I popped along to check out her stuff. I'm delighted to say that it was an entirely worthwhile evening.

Strapping on an acoustic guitar, the Sydney-based singer/songwriter played a polished set of well-rounded tunes which bounced between cruisey pop/rock and chilled out folk. Her songs spoke of matters of the heart and were delivered with an incredibly impressive vocal, which was always immaculately controlled and perfectly-suited to her mellow, acoustic, poppy sound.

Her infectious, intelligent music seems all the more remarkable when you consider the fact that she only picked up a guitar for the first time less than a year ago. In fact, with this gig only being the fourth time she has ever showcased her songs in the live domain, it doesn't take a genius to predict that the talented, affable, pretty and very marketable Miss Erin Marshall might very well be a record company's dream sometime in the not too distant future.