The opening act for Mia Dyson’s recent tour, Whitley next takes to the road with Josh Pyke to play a few ditties from his album ‘The Submarine’. Providing a little insight into the world of this up-and-coming opening act, here’s Whitley on…
Studio or live. Live shows can be very fickle; they really depend on a crowd. Once you’ve recorded a CD, you are straight into someone’s home. When you go out to shows, people might be out just for a drink. So, I definitely prefer to be in someone’s headphones rather than in front of them.
The ‘Whitley’ sound. A lot of reviewers have slotted me into the singer-songwriter thing, which is fine because it’s not a band, but the best description was by a journalist – electronicana. Americana vibe, rock, country music.
Pop aspirations. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to make an album with really good integrity and pop sensibility… Something that can be played on the radio and listened to by an idiot as well as someone who is studying fine arts at university and both say it is alright.
Travelling tales. If you travel around, you pick up the things everyone has in common no matter where they are from. There are some simple things that run through there, just a human similarity, that you can always find. That’s one thing that has affected my songwriting. Emotions, all different sorts of emotions – turmoil within the self, pessimism, optimism – and things that bind people, relationships – friendships or lovers. No matter where you go that story will have happened.
Favourite Track. The title track ‘The Submarine’ means a lot to me. It doesn’t matter what trouble or bullshit is going on, there is that one optimistic feeling that you can always draw on that everything will be okay.
