Angus & Julie Stone

They’ve been recording and performing together for over 12 years, have produced four chart topping albums, and are about to hit the ground running for a series of sold out Australian shows. We take five with Angus Stone from Angus and Julia to talk music royalty, family dynamics and awkward high school moments.

 

You’ve recently been referred to in the press as Australian musical royalty – that’s quite an honour! How does that feel?

This whole journey we’ve been on, the way that it’s all unfolded has been pretty humbling. We’re really lucky to be able to do what we love and share it with the world and Australia. We’ll keep doing our thing always, because it’s what we do, ever since we were little kids. It’s a pretty nice thing to hear.

 

At last count, you had 11 sold out shows across Australia, including many in regional centres. Why is it important to you to bring your music to regional as well as metro audiences?

In those early days when we’d record in Dad’s garage, we’d just kick around doing stuff by ourselves, and when we’d tour, we’d go around all of Australia, we’d visit a lot of those places that logistically can be quite difficult to go to. This tour, we have more time and it’s a bit more relaxed, and it means we can do the things we love doing, which is playing in spots of Australia that we don’t get to see very often. It’s nice to do that.

 

You’ve just added extra shows to your Australian tour and from there, you head straight to Europe for another hectic run of shows and festivals – how will you handle it?

Time off is the key, and what you do in that time to hit the reset switch is really important. I’ve had a couple of months off, which is heavenly. I like to do stuff on the property, I’ve got a nice place here, and I haven’t picked up an instrument in that time. I think a change of work is the best rest, and it gets you in the mood for the big tours. You know you’re ready again and it’s exciting, it feels fresh.

 

You recorded in a cottage in Byron Bay – how is the recording process different to performing and touring? 

We’ve always produced everything ourselves. There might be someone in the room who is a ‘producer’, but we write and record the songs, and the stuff we do in those sessions… it sucks a lot out of you, and you need to make sure you take a break because you’re a little zapped being in the studio so long.

 

Snow is your fourth joint album, released late last year – how is it different to your other albums?

When people see our names together on albums, they assume we write everything together. This record is the first time we actually did write everything 100% together. There’s a lot of power that comes with that, when you have two heads in the room and that focus on writing the songs. That’s a big step forward for us.

 

You and Julia have produced and performed together since 2006 – on a professional level – how do you overcome your artistic differences?

With any working relationship, it’s figuring out when to step back and when to be headstrong. We’re still learning everyday how to interact socially, as human beings in the world, and doing what we do together. Because we have that history and we are brother and sister, it can heighten things. Sometimes we’ve got to step back, take a look at it and think “You know what? We’ve done pretty well to keep it together”.

 

Which artist or band would you love to collaborate or tour with?

It’s a tricky question that. There was a band call Midlake, they had some cool songs, and I always liked the idea of collaborating and recording with people like that over in the States. When you listen to their music, you can really imagine what the room would look like. A lot of those bands that you hear coming out of Silver Lake and places like that in the states have a really cool vibe.

 

What’s the weirdest gig you ever did when you first started out?

I performed Sexual Healing in front of 800 kids in high school – imagine, all these young kids going through puberty, I was as well. The whole thing was a bit of a laugh. There’s teachers standing around, and I’m singing these full-on lyrics – that was pretty amusing.