The Brag

Xavier Rudd
Taking Flight
By Benjamin Cooper

avier Rudd has played the massive Bonnaroo festival three times, but is still somewhat bemused as to his popularity in Tennessee. “I think it’s those American hippies from the South, just doing their thing. The last time I was there I felt pretty honoured ‘cause I got the highest CD sales of any artist on the bill,” he says. “And I’m pretty sure that was the year The Police played!” When we speak, Rudd is “just cruising, north of Byron” as he takes time off from a hectic touring schedule. “We toured for two years straight, and I went pretty hard internationally. It’s been nice to have a break for a while. It has been a much cruisier year – I’ve just been floating around and floating back to Australia, and now I’m [near Byron Bay]. It’s strong country up here. That’s for sure.” It hasn’t been a complete holiday for the troubadour, though. “I’ve got a few things coming up, like [Peats Ridge], where I’ll be bringing my new record live. It’s my first solo one, for no real reason except that’s what is coming through me at the moment, just something different.” The shift away from performing with band Izintaba is not necessarily permanent: “I’d love to tour with them: they’re my brothers.”

The new record, titled Spirit Bird, will be released in 2012 and features something new for the multi-instrumentalist: birdsong. “I’m using lots of different samples of bird sounds… building them into a big percussive frame with lots of loops. So far I’ve got samples of 24 native Australian birds, and I’ve taken all my tribal beats, then split them up into pieces. I’ve just finished changing my entire percussion kit,” Rudd says. “It’s been nice laying low, until I was ready to get into [the music] again. On the road, you can get into this groove of never stopping, but sometimes you need to stop. I think this year, for the first time, I was ready to stop. But now – now I’ve really started to get the itch again. I reckon I’m going to add all this audio-visual work I’ve been doing [to upcoming shows] too.”

Rudd anticipates Spirit Bird will trigger extensive touring, similar to his previous releases, but after a period of rest and recuperation he’s looking forward to the possibilities. “To be honest, there’s a lot of places to hit,” he says. “Once you’ve spent your time touring and meeting people, you’ve gotta go back and make sure you visit with everyone. People like to spend time. It’s good.” And will his touring encompass a triumphant return to Bonnaroo? “Oh man, I love heading over there. It’s just hot as hell, and quite often it’s raining the whole time too, so there’s just this amazing stickiness in the air…

“I remember that year that The Police did play, I was waiting backstage for them to come on. All these musicians are all standing around, no one knows where the band is, and the lights in the crowd are getting dimmer. Then the lights backstage are just going lower and lower. Out beyond the crowd there’s a light, and this faint whirring off somewhere. I’m looking around and you can see people asking each other, ‘Is that a chopper?’. No shit, like thirty seconds later, this helicopter appears over the crowd and The Police literally came out of it, with their guitars around their necks, all ‘Roxanne!’ It was full-on.” Rudd’s story is interrupted by a sound that jags his interest. “There’s some bloody big fish jumping around in this river mate,” he says. Has he considered recording some of their fishy noises for his next album? “I’ll give it a go,” he laughs. “I’ll give anything a go.”

What: Spirit Bird will be out in 2012
Where: Thursday December 29 at 10.30pm, on The Bellbird Stage