FEATURE
Bernard in his studio in Byron Image: Alexander Gow
BERNARD FANNING IN CONVERSATION
Our publisher Karen, caught up with music legend Bernard Fanning, to chat about all things – from the return of festivals and live music to the pandemic and raising awareness for mental health… and of course, living like a local in the Northern Rivers! Bernard we’re thrilled that you could chat to us. How are you? What’s been happening in your world now that we have a little more freedom back?
I’m doing well! Once things started to open up a bit, I had a few postponed shows to make up for. One in Victoria that was supposed to happen in March 2020 and got postponed to March 2021, and then finally to March 2022! During the pandemic I was mostly writing, but after the floods, I did a flood benefit show, Flood Aid, in Brisbane, which was one part of the Secret Sounds group of shows
that happened in Bryon Bay, Brisbane and Sydney. The Northern Rivers has been through some pretty tough times recently, firstly with covid then the floods, which have really shown us the community spirit we have in this region. I know you were on board, helping with the clean-up as well as the amazing flood aid concert. How did this all come about?
It was a real no-brainer that I would do something. My manager Paul Dempsey, who is one of the two main proponents of Splendour in the Grass, lives in the 14
region and experienced first-hand what was happening here. His partner in Secret Sounds, Jessica Ducrou, is also heavily invested in the area and they asked me to be involved and I said yes, of course. There was already a strong lineup in Byron that would’ve sold all the tickets here, so I ended up doing the Brisbane show to raise some more money. How did the event pan out, was it a success?
There’s quite a bit of donation fatigue out there in the community, which is fair enough - we’ve had the pandemic and LOCALEMAGAZINE.COM.AU
