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Jess McAvoy

Jess McAvoyMelbourne-based singer-songwriter Jess McAvoy returned to her South Perth roots for a few shows and found some time to chat to OUTinPerth.

OUTinPerth: What are you up to now?

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Jess McAvoy: Currently, I am writing for my next album and contemplating world domination through other mediums.

OiP: How is the writing going?

JM: It is a bit hard at the moment. I’ve been pushing myself to write more than I have before. That is helping, but I’m yet to get used to the idea of being a musician in terms of you make time to do it. That’s something I’m not used to yet. This week I’m going to spend 2-3 days writing.

OiP: When you sit down and are doing some work, what is your process for writing?

JM: I sit, get incredibly frustrated, listen back to whatever it is that I’ve already put down on tape, then see if I can expand on that. I’ve tried writing first and then adding music later, but it doesn’t really work for me. I have to sit there with my instrument and have a tinkle until something comes out that makes me want to sing with it.

OiP: When you write songs, where do you normally draw inspirations from?

JM: I have months where I don’t want to pick up my guitar. And if I do pick up my guitar then the next day I want to do it again and the next day I want to do it again. So, I really go towards songwriting like I haven’t come up for air for awhile, but not that drastic. It’s more like I haven’t bathed. I feel like I haven’t had a proper scrub. And sometimes I can go months feeling fine being dirty, but it’s like I really should do that. And that is what happens with me.

OiP: Sort of like a cleansing?

JM: No, it is more like the feeling that you need to go and have a shower or a bath. There is something I have to do because it will make me feel better. Sort of like writing in my diary. But I’m never guaranteed any relief from it. Sometimes it means I have something to look forward to the next time, if I’m halfway through a song that is promising so much more to me. It doesn’t particularly fix anything for me.

OiP: You are currently independent. Is that something you prefer to be or would you prefer a label?

JM: When I started I thought I wanted a label. Then I got to a point where I decided because no one was after me to get on their label that I didn’t want one… The thing is I started when I was 19 and had this big grandiose idea about what was going to happen. In my head, the process was write songs, get famous. That was it – two steps. And then I went okay, write songs, get a record label, get famous. I was 19 and had to be world famous by 21. That was what Alanis Morisette did.

OiP: Is she an idol or a nemesis?

JM: I don’t think about her much anymore. My first concert ever was her concert when I was 16. Of course, that is the highest selling debut by a female artist of all-time. I didn’t really look at everything else that made up that equation. At this point in my life I understand a lot more about the music industry. Now, I just want to do whatever to achieve the type of happiness I want to be in. If that means that there is a body that is going to be able to help me get there in the write way, with the right words and doing the right thing by me, then cool. But the current state of the record industry is that there is not a lot of that – somebody who is A) capable of getting things at that level and B) willing to do it without compromising your integrity. So, at the moment I’m sitting with the idea that I want to chuck a John Butler. At the end of the day, I don’t think anyone could actually do anything to make me feel comfortable having them take over any control. That’s just because I’ve done it my own way.

OiP: Does that mean you have more respect for independent musicians? Or does being on a label suit some musicians?

JM: Exactly that. The thing is amongst circles of jaded musicians, there is this disgusting phrase called selling out. It doesn’t make any sense. The purpose of saying someone else is sold out is to make you feel better for 5 seconds. It doesn’t mean anything. What the hell are you selling out against?

OiP: You’ve been in a couple of different cities and localized scenes. What is your take on Perth v. Melbourne v. Sydney?

JM: I can only look at from the point of view of music. I left Perth in 1999 when it was such a healthy scene over here. No venues as such, but there was the local community and it was a community. It was a really strong community. When I launched the release of the first EP at the Grovernor Hotel in 1999, that was a full room. And it was full of people from the metal genre, the people from jazz, because we all compiled together and became an audience for other people. Then it kind of changed because triple j actually realized we existed.

So, Perth has an incredibly healthy music scene. It doesn’t have the pubs to support it or the lifestyle yet, or the population rather, but its attitude towards music industry is healthier than that of say, even Melbourne. And definitely Sydney.

Melbourne has the attitude and the people. It has the “we’ve been like this forever” type vibe going for it. I think it is difficult to be pretentious in Melbourne. It is really quite hard because that is where the tall poppy syndrome is rife. And the “we are cool because we are cool” is rife. Whereas in Sydney it is a lot of pretentious bullshit and money money money.

OiP: How did you get your start in music?

JM: Well, the first show I ever got paid for was when I was 17. It was at the Grovenor Hotel and there were 5 people there. No, there was probably 20 people there, and I got handed 40 bucks. And I asked the woman who handed it to me, ‘What the hell is this?’ She said, ‘It’s only 40 bucks. I’m really sorry.’ I said, ‘What do you mean? That’s heaps. Thanks!’ I was so excited that I got 40 dollars to play my music. I just thought it was ludicrous.

OiP: Where are some of your favourite gigs in playing around Australia or the world?

JM: That’s f*cking hard. It is like who wants to be a Millionaire.

OiP: Yeah, the questions get harder as you go along. You are on $16,000.

JM: Oh, is that all? They are all really good for different reasons though that is a really cop outy thing to say.

OiP: Is there a venue you really enjoy playing?

JM: My perception of memories shifts. There are moments that I experience that I manage to grab on to and I stop and say this is so fantastic. I can’t believe I’m here. And I’ll go home and write it in my diary. But I think I am in such a forward thrust frame of mind that it is hard for me to stop and say anything is fantastic unless I’ve prepared it before hand. That’s the thing because I’m the only one who is doing it.

OiP: Do you have any interesting performance stories?

JM: Actually, yeah I do. It’s never during the performances that anything terrible happens. It is always afterwards when I’ve had too much to drink. Those are not good stories!

A lot of musicians who have been doing it for awhile tend to have their own microphones. I, for one show, decided I wouldn’t use one because I didn’t want to stuff up the sound system. There was about 5 bands on before me. I got up on stage and started playing and about halfway through the set I breathed in really quickly with my mouth right up against the mic and I got about half a shot glass worth of cold metallic salty goober. Sweat and spit. I realized what had happened. Over the years I’ve become really accustomed to burping and that without people noticing, but this mouthful of other people’s spit, stranger’s spit that had been sitting there all day, I thought, what do I do? I was halfway through a song. So, I just turned around and went [pretends to spit].

OiP: That takes the spit or swallow question to a new level.

JM: I know.

OiP: What’s the story behind your tattoos?

JM: I’ve forever been trying to adorn myself in a way that I feel like I’m safe. Hence all the black – I like to have a super hero outfit so that everyday I wake up I know what I’m wearing and I know what looks good when I go out. The tattoos just make me feel like I belong to something that makes sense to me.

OiP: How many do you have?

JM: 3, currently – soon to be 6.

OiP: Did you get them all at the same time?

JM: No, the first one I got was on my back. It’s 3 fish. They represent my brother, my sister and myself.

The one on my arm is a design that I made up. It represents to me that I am a strong powerful woman. I can’t forget what’s important. It’s a symbol that represents me as a creative being. That’s the body [points to outer black circle], that’s the soul [points to inner black circle] and that’s the creativity as a woman that I have [points to red circle on inside of the inner black circle. I put that there so that I would never get a real job.

This one [rolls up sleeve to show her left arm] I got on my 26th birthday. This is a design that I put together.

OiP: Did that one really hurt?

JM: No, the one on my back hurt the most. This one is a design to represent the last 26 years of my life, the various bits and pieces. That’s a rosebush I used to hide in when I was a kid. The flowers are some of my closest friends, and the birdies are looking after my past.

I want to get some blossoms going up the back of both legs. And I want to get a Willy Wagtail somewhere on me. They are like a finch and they have these really long tails that are almost the length of their body. They hop a lot and when they stop, they wag their tales. They kind of go [gets up from table hops around, stops, wiggles her tail]. So, they have that freedom and they are enjoying it. They seem so free because they are so small.

OiP: If you have unlimited funds to organize the music festival of your dreams, who would be on the bill?

JM: I think it would be something like a Lilith Fair kind of concert, except with boys too. It would be like chick musicians that are mega musicians. It would be mates, all my mates and other artists I think I’d get along with really well. I probably wouldn’t put Tori Amos on the bill because she scares the shit out of me. I’d probably do a roadshow of Australian artists through Europe.

You ask me a question like that and my brain can’t think outside of logic. Because I’ve been so business minded for so long that I’m trapped. So, I go right, if we’re going to do something than it has to be something that is going to benefit everybody on the tour, extend their audience, help them meet people they would enjoy. I can’t just go, I want this and this because music has never been this for me. Music has been looking at what other people do, seeing how I can apply that to myself. For a long time, it was looking at what other people did and writing them off because I was jealous of what they had. But now, I know how hard I have worked and the satisfaction I get out of cross-promotion and playing at the right places at the right time because my craft is at a point that most of the time I can pull off a show that will impress people. So, the trick is getting myself into spots that I have people who will be impressed.

Jess McAvoy will be returning to Perth for shows in July and August, www.jessmcavoy.com has dates and details.

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