An album for Everyone

(All images c/o Brett Every)

Once a year a new artist comes to my attention and for lack of a better phrase, "blows my brains," and in 2008, I've been fortunate to discover two, both from Australia, the country that brought us most famously, artists as diverse as INXS, Kylie Minogue and AC/DC.  It's no different this year with singer-songwriters Sam Sparro and Brett Every. 

While Sparro wowed me with his sunny electro-pop last spring, fall is reserved for Brett Every, the 30-year-old Sydney-based songbird whose multi-genre "Camping Out" album surprised me with blues, lounge, jazz and rock on 10 straight-ahead gay love songs.

On the eight originals and two covers -- Rodgers and Hart's "He Was Too Good To Me" and Cyndi Lauper's "Dear John" -- Every, who sings in a deeper, Bowie-esque register, impresses on piano and guitar, accompanied by a highly-talented jazz band, consisting of a harmony vocalist, double bass, drums, trumpet, harmonica, saw and banjo.

What's so special about these love songs is that they don't take themselves as seriously as Rufus Wainwright's and they're not as ironic as The Magnetic Fields'. They're true and heartfelt without sounding whiny and needy. If you're of a certain age, then you remember that scene in "Say Anything" when John Cusak's character plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" on a boombox by the window of the object of his affection. If you're like me and have always wanted to be serenaded in that way, then this album delivers. These are the songs that you wish were written to you. I know I do.

Gay.com talked with Every last week about not playing to type, life as an independent OUT gay artist, and even got his take on every other Aussie artist we could think of.

Ello Brett, so I must say that your debut album "Camping Out" was one of the best I've heard this year, and one of the best parts is how unorthodox it is. You're an OUT artist, yet you're not housing me or singer/songwriting me to death.

Yeah, I agree with you, because it's a hard mix of genres, because I hear blues, even though it's not really technically blues-based; I hear jazz, even though I'm not trying to be jazz, and others have said that it has a strong rock vibe to it. All those elements are there, which makes a sound that's not typical of an OUT artist. However, I do also hear the cabaret vibe, but I'm not sure if it comes across. It's not intentional, not an attempt to go after a sound that was atypical. It was more of a case of having songs in my head and this was the best way to make them come alive, swinging them out, blues-ing them out, and I'm glad that it amounts to something that you're seeing.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but when people think of Australian music, the blues and jazz aren't exactly the first genres that come to mind.

It is quote 'an American feel' that comes across and I'm singing with an American voice, and not singing in an Australian accent. I've been playing music and writing songs for 10 years, but really for the last three or four years, and these genres are where my voice sounds right. I've done some earlier folky rock stuff as well, but this sound is where I'm most relaxed and most at home.

How did you come to develop such an appreciation for music in general?

I actually came from a very non-musical family, but heard a lot of pop music on the radio at home, so I had a lot of 80's pop growing up. But I don't know when the blues or the old time stuff came in.

When I look back at a lot of the music I'm interested in, I got some snippets of the bluesy, loungey kind of feel from KD Lang. And the songs of Bette Midler, for example, that I loved the most, had that torch song vibe to them.

In the album's opening number "Sailor," you say that the sailor is "On solid ground with that jukebox & that 80’s sound." I'm curious, which 80's song did you have in mind when you wrote the song?

It was a choice for me, between a Pointer Sisters song or a Laura Branigan song. You choose which you'd prefer.

Well Brett, that would depend on what songs we're talking about. If it's a choice between Pointer Sisters' "Automatic" and Laura Branigan’s "Ti Amo," I'd have to go with the former. But if we're talking about Pointer Sisters' "Jump" or Laura Branigan’s "Gloria," I'd have to go with the latter.

OK, let's go with Laura's 'Solitaire.'

So you're really an 80's fanatic? I love it.

I was totally changed by seeing a Belinda Carlisle film clip. It made me want to work out playing a song like that, and discover how music is created and put together. There is a strong pop thing going on, with Belinda and Laura Branigan, and then songwriters like Stevie Nicks, who was a strong female influence, and then it became more about songwriting with Tori Amos, who also taught me about self-expression. Then later Leonard Cohen, and not much Bob Dylan, but a lot more female singer-songwriter.

I can definitely hear the Leonard Cohen in your singing voice. How did you first discover him?

I discovered him from other people covering his songs like Emmylou Harris, but it took forever to find his original songs. It was not until I went back to his recordings and heard that voice and was amazed how someone with such a deep voice could express themselves in song. A lot of tenors have higher voices than Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Long John Baldry and myself, and learning to use that kind of voice to get that song across, to express yourself, is always a challenge.

When you write your lyrics, how much comes from personal experience and how much of it is fiction?

I think I'm creating situations, and so one example is the situation of meeting this sailor guy, about to head off on duty, in a sleazy bar, and promising to be with him for the night 'cause I know that it's tough. The situation comes first, then the character in the situation, and then how would I be? I create and then bring in parts of myself in my characters. It's not true to life, like I have not picked up a sailor in a bar late at night, but the feelings, the motivations, the way the characters come to things, are based on myself and the people close to me.

Describe a Brett Every performance for someone who's never seen you live.

Earlier on I did a lot more solo shows or shows just with myself and a harmony singer, but with the new material and this sound, I really wanted that feeling of a smoky bar, late at night, with a trumpet player, and have people onstage that co-create the sound with you as you're going. I'm OK on guitar and piano, but not a virtuoso on either, so I think that having a great trumpeter and a great female singer onstage, it allows scenarios and situations in songs to come alive and be told. I'm not just some morose singer/songwriter strumming his guitar. It's about demand a bit more than guitar strumming and enjoying that co-creation of sound, like when Stuart West on trumpet does a solo and runs away with it, which amazes me every time.

Where are you currently playing?

Around Sydney I've been doing solo shows since 2002, but have this band at the moment that I've been working with for the last two years and we're currently working on songs.

We're in the process of getting the second album recorded as well, which is exciting. For the second album I move into more heartbreak territory.

Tell us more about the next album.

It was a conscious decision to choose 10 songs for my debut album that are not 'slit your wrists,' where things turn out bad and love always leaves. There's some bittersweetness, but I personally didn't want to be morose. I wanted to give the listener that spark that it's not over yet; there's some more going on with these songs, where I'm looking for ways to continue stories and take them on a journey. There's going to be a bit more of a cross-section, but more of a range, a couple heartbreak songs, but also a couple happy ending songs (although not in the way that that might sound), and a couple more songs that deal with the struggle of coming out, but without laboring that point. I think there are playful ways of tackling heavier subjects.

Are you concerned about being pigeonholed as a gay artist?

I'm happy to be pigeonholed. It's quite obvious from the first album that I'm happy or wanting things to get to the point where I'm happy to be pigeonholed. One thing that always struck me is that if you go to the video store, there are action films and comedy sections and a gay and lesbian section, and they are happy to be labeled and completely identified as having gay themes or being gay/lesbian films. In a record store, there's rock and pop, but not a gay section. I'm not sure why, because there's gay literature, art and films, but I am excited about more gay music… not just gay artists playing non-specifically gay music, but where the music feels comfortable with leaving 'he' as 'he' and not writing it as 'she.' I don't think that the radio will play my songs, but I don't mind, because I'm more excited to have songs that are distinct and tell an interesting story, without Disneyfying the stories so I can't be pigeonholed. I'm happy to be exclusively gay on this material, 'cause it makes it interesting to hear. Like hearing the sound of a male voice singing to other males, you don't hear that very often. It doesn't happen nearly enough.

The title song 'Camping Out' is about a romantic moment shared by two men at a campfire. How much of that was influenced by the film 'Brokeback Mountain'?

I know it's cliché, but I absolutely loved 'Brokeback Mountain.' It's really hard not to. But the song 'Camping Out' was written a couple months before the film came out and I hadn't read the book prior to the film. So although the film wasn't involved in the writing of that song, that film was one of the things that encouraged me to get the song out there. The concept of two guys keeping themselves warm at a campfire under the stars struck me as a beautiful concept and place where art should go. To see so many people connect with it, made me think that maybe there are people out there who really want to hear a song about that situation. It really propelled me to get moving on the songs.

The gay community in the U.S. really embraced Heath Ledger after "Brokeback Mountain," and really mourned his death earlier this year. Has Australia recovered from the loss of one of their own?

There's definitely quite a few Australian stars that made it in Hollywood that have made it in the past 10-15 years, and Australia really holds on to them, like they're our Heath and our Nicole. Heath's been in a lot of high profile films, so it was huge news for Australians, and I'm assuming big news for you. The shock of it as well; it wasn't a trajectory that you could see coming.

Another Australian star, in this case a musician, is Sam Sparro. I know his is a stage name, and was wondering about your name?

It's really Brett Miller. There's no huge reason to not go with Brett Miller. For me, it works in my head as kind of symbolic of changing direction, and really bringing in the new sound for me. There's no good reason for being able to explain the name change; it's not to escape any previous felonies and I'm not in the witness protection program. I thought it might be confused with Rhett Miller. I also like that it does hint towards something being purposeful. It does suggest that I chose it for a real reason. Someone once asked me if it's connected to being an everyman; Not explicitly, but I like the association.

What are the challenges of being an independent artist?

At this stage I'm excited about being an independent artist, because at this point in time, with the digital world and the way an artist can still reach people just by being up there on iTunes, and there's a lot of technology that makes artists wonder, 'Do I need a record label?' if you can make yourself available in certain ways and build on that -- especially an artist like me that might not want a record company telling me what to do. But I'm actually talking to a distribution company in San Francisco about releasing the CD in stores early next year. There are some hopeful opportunities in Japan that I'm looking at, and when that comes off, I'll work to bring my material out to Australia. I haven't pushed hard here at home yet, but I hope that next year will be a busy one.

Speaking of San Francisco, your music would fit so seamlessly in the U.S., in general. But it's not just the genres that you play with. I'm also seeing it a lot in the subject matter. The song "Swaying," for example, is about New York.

'Swaying' was influenced by a trip I took to New York in 2006, and I guess that I haven't made the connection, but in many ways it's about a person that makes you believe in yourself, who's inspired you when you're not able to inspire yourself. It was written when I was in New York City, and New York came at a time of my life when I was on the cusp of developing a new sound, writing new songs and going in this new direction. Sometimes it's a person that inspires you, but it's New York in that time that I was there, that inspired me when I was lacking inspiration. New York inspired me when I was wondering what to do next. It makes you believe in yourself.

Another song was inspired by an American television show that's popular with the gays called "The Golden Girls."

'Devereaux,' I think it's the oddest song on the album. A good friend of mine in Melbourne said that when listening to the record he believed that in 'Devereaux' I defined my aesthetic, which was a nice thing to say, 'cause he was saying that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It has all the swing and lounge/cabaret feel that I wanted, and in terms of the content of the song, it's about sitting at home, being bored and waiting around, and I thought that good old Blanche could relate, because here was this fabulous, with a capital F, creature stuck in a part of Miami, and I always wondered why she was there, what was she waiting for, because I thought that she could have done anything. It's interesting how I started writing a song about boredom and watching TV, and felt a connection to the spirit of Blanche. So in the middle of boredom, or the humdrum of daily life, there are moments of fabulousness.

Can we expect to see you serenading us on stage in the U.S. anytime soon?

I'm hoping that the CD will be out by February. I would love to come to San Francisco and New York City and possibly L.A., but I'd be disappointed if I was not there in the first half of next year.

To learn more about Brett Every, check out his website. To purchase "Camping Out," head to iTunes.com.