January 2005

After experiencing huge success with her debut album on this side of the Tasman, Brooke Fraser is currently wooing Aussie audiences. TEARAWAY caught up with her somewhere in-between Byron Bay and Brisbane.

Where are you living in Aussie?
I live in Sydney, out in the hills district. It is suburbia. It's not cool, at all. I love where I'm living, I'm living with friends and am out here for the people more than the area. But it's all good.

Is your music translating well over the Tasman?
Yeah, it's really good! I'm really enjoying it over here because it's really kind of an underground thing at the moment, we haven't got big radio play or anything. We've had a lot of sold-out shows and it's just been word of mouth and people who came to our shows in April.

It's just really organic and really doing it the old fashioned way - getting out and touring to the smaller places like Byron Bay and Wollengong and spreading the word about your music that way. 
 
So, you opened for David Bowie, and you've just done tour with one of your idols John Mayer. How ya feeling about it all, this rocket to fame thing?
Fame's a load of crap really. It's definitely, for me, a cost rather than an incentive. It's difficult. I say this all the time, but it's true - I wish there was a way I could get the music to as many people as possible but without the hype. It can be quite hard to deal with at time.

But then I've got nothing to complain about really. All those people who've gone out and brought the album represent people with families and lives, who have chosen to take the music into their situation. That's really cool, when you look at it that way.

I suppose it's all how you look at it, and you have your good days and bad days.

You've been playing Parachute since you were 16, what do you look forward to most?
I suppose Parachute always feels like a homecoming to me. It really was the place I started to forge my identity as an artist. Each year, Parachute was always the big event and the place where I knew I'd be exposed to the most people. It was always really exciting. It's a real community as well - to really have a weekend playing with a whole bunch of people and communing with all the other artist who have gathered at the same place. It's awesome. 

Have you even had a chance to write more songs while you've been away?
No I haven't. Cause when I write I need to be in complete solitude, and that doesn't happen on tour.  So I'm taking a week before Parachute, and am going to go away to a beach by myself and just commune with my instruments and God and we'll see what comes of that.

But next year will be the year that I get some time to really write and get back to making music. It's always this strange irony that making music can prevent you from making music if you know what I mean.

So I'm really looking forward to next year. I think I'm just kind of getting into the groove of getting used to the way my life has changed and trying to get that sense of normality in what is in a sense an abnormal life.

You got any New Year's resolutions?
Yes, I do. It's to chill out more. I think I worry far too much, I'm always just so concerned with doing the right thing and next year I just want to relax and not be so hard on myself. Just try and enjoy.