BERNARD FANNING IN CONVERSATION

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 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 then the fires before that, people have been struggling so much. Fortunately, the concert was a great success, and we were able to raise a lot of money. A disaster of the scale that we’ve had here is so massive – there was so much destruction, it was like a warzone – that, as much as we contribute as private citizens, and despite the incredible amount of goodwill and funds the community provided, it’s really government money that’s required.

Music brings people together, “ it brings some happiness, especially in desperate times. “

You’re originally from Brisbane but live here in the region now. What was it that made you move to Byron Bay?

I’ve been attached to Byron since I was about 17 years old. I started coming here as soon as I finished school in the mid ‘80s, camping with my brother and my friends at The First Sun Caravan Park and coming to Bluesfest when it was at the Piggery, going to The Top Pub when it was an old fibro shack and seeing whatever band was on. In 2008 my wife, who is from Spain, and I came down and lived in Kingscliff for quite a while before we moved back to Spain. Then in 2015 we decided we were going to move to Byron when myself and good friend Nick DiDia, who made most of the Powderfinger records (and is a world-renowned producer and engineer of Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine and Neil Young), opened a recording studio in Byron - that was kind of the clincher!

I ran into you at blues fest, how fantastic was Baker Boy’s cover of “Wish you well”!

That was one of the reasons we were there. He was awesome, it was a great show. I’ve never seen him play live. I’ve seen him play a song or two, but I’ve never seen him in concert, the vibe was massive. He’s done wonders with the song, given it a whole new lease of life and it was pretty cool. I didn’t see much else, unfortunately I tested positive for Covid next morning! It’s been a tough couple of years for performing artists.

Tell us about your involvement with the organisation Support Act, and how you see the future of live music?

It’s great that things are starting to get back into gear. I think there is still a bit of hesitation out there from people to buy tickets; our learned behaviour is now to be uncertain about what’s happening next week. Hopefully that’s starting to dissipate a little bit now. And once we get the festivals going again, I think they will give people a bit more confidence.

Support Act is designed to help people, not just musicians, but crew as well as people that are part of the music industry actively touring or have been actively touring, that fall on hard times, whether it’s through illness or global pandemic. At the beginning of 2020, Powderfinger were having meetings and talking for the first time in 10 years about the anniversary of Odyssey Number Five. We were talking regularly about what we were going do for that because there was going to be special releases. Things [with the Pandemic] were getting worse and worse, and we were asking ourselves what can we do, can we release a song or how can we help? Someone said we should do a gig, which was a joke because we couldn’t even physically get together anyway - I was in New South Wales and half the band are in Queensland, and Darren is in Melbourne – but the idea just kind of took root and we started talking about a live virtual concert. There were lots of artists doing these virtual shows, we just thought, if we’re going to try, let’s do it really well. There were obviously so many mental health implications that have come out of the pandemic and we wanted to raise as much money as we could for Beyond Blue as well as Support Act, so we did “One night lonely”. Of course, there were so many people involved who helped pull it all together.

You teased us with “One Night Lonely”, is there any chance we will see Powderfinger reunite for a tour?

Ha, no! We are all doing our own thing, JC runs the Triffid and the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, Ian is in the band, The Church, and Darren has his own stuff going on, he’s been doing a lot of Neil Young and Beatles shows, and I am making my own records. There’s plenty happening and while none of us would never say never, it’d be a while off if it was to ever happen again.

I believe you are bunkering down and writing music again for a new album, when are we going to get the chance to hear your new music and are we going to hear a new sound from Bernard Fanning?

I’ve been writing stuff for ages but these last couple of years everyone’s priorities have flipped around. It’s been a reset for many, including me. I’ve been lucky, I live in a great street and have been able to spend more time with my kids and my wife, hanging like a local. I haven’t landed exactly on the sound that I’m looking to exploit, the fun thing is just sitting around and making new stuff up. For me is the most thrilling part of the whole process is the actual act of creation - something appearing that wasn’t there a few minutes ago. I haven’t got a definite timeframe, but I would say it’s likely that I would record something later this year to come out next year. I’m just trying to enjoy the process, that’s the main thing!

Bernard Fanning at Flood Aid

TOP 5 LOCAL FAVES

FAVOURITE BEACH: I love The Pass because I still can’t really believe how beautiful it is there at the point. Looking North it seems crazy it’s real, it looks like a painting every day.

PLACE TO GRAB A COFFEE: Bayleaf cafe - it’s the best café in town without question

LOCATION TO UNWIND: The hinterland, it’s just perfect

PLACE TO EAT: I reckon my favourite restaurant is Yulii’s

PLACE TO GRAB A DRINK AND CHILL WITH FRIENDS? The treehouse - Belongil Beach