Sarah Blasko Interview

Mitch: Your EP Forgotten World just came out on May 1, and features five songs from the I Just Need to Conquer This Mountain era. What made you want to release them now, and as a separate body of work?
Sarah Blasko: I recorded and mixed all these songs while trying to make a 15-song album. I really love all of them, and I would have included them if I could have, but I had to narrow it down, which can be hard sometimes.

I like there to be a narrative or a feeling that connects all the songs on a record. Even though I loved these songs, they didn’t quite fit, or there were other songs that carried the story I wanted to tell more clearly. But I always knew I wanted to release them at some point. I didn’t want them just sitting on a hard drive. Now that my records are independent, I have the freedom to put things out when I want.

I love it when artists surprise you with extra songs you didn’t expect. I particularly loved when Angie McMahon released extra songs for her record. It can be such a beautiful thing. You get led further into the world through songs that might otherwise never have been heard.

Mitch: Do you see Forgotten World as having a unifying theme, or is it more a collection of moments from that time?
Sarah Blasko: It’s more of a collection of moments, definitely more so than I Just Need to Conquer This Mountain, which was about sitting in sadness and not understanding why things happened the way they did.

These songs feel more like setting fire to those things, and with a stronger hand.

There are also a couple of songs that are really about the beauty and simplicity of being human. Human and Upside Down both touch on just being a person in the world and experiencing the small ups and downs. I think that’s why some of them didn’t quite fit on the album.

Mitch: If Forgotten World, the EP, was turned into a movie, what would the plot be? What would it look and feel like?
Sarah Blasko: It’s definitely quite gothic. The opening song, Forgotten World, feels very Wuthering Heights — the book, not the film. I picture imagery like clutching letters to your chest and setting fire to things.

Then Dreams feels like picking up the ashes of what’s come before. To me, it’s more Technicolor, with a bit of humour. The bridge talks about how I’ve got a lot of room for visions around here, and I’ve got a lot of room for stupidity at this point in my life. As you get older, you can start to wonder if dreams are still important. When I was younger, everything was about chasing dreams. Then you reach a point where you ask, “Am I still meant to have dreams?” And I’ve realised that yes, you are. It’s what keeps you alive. Even if it’s something small, like walking to the shops for an ice cream. There are big dreams and small dreams, and they all matter.

Human feels a bit sci-fi. I imagine a futuristic world where everyone’s gotten sick of the internet. The internet has completely turned upon itself, robots are gone, and people remember that we’re human and we’re instruments. Whether you’re a builder, musician, or writer, you use your hands to create. That’s what we’re here for.

Overboard is set on a lake, but it’s more like raging waters. Throwing everything overboard and starting again.

Upside Down... I’m not sure where I’d set it. Maybe on a rollercoaster. It’s about leaning into love and relationships and seeing where it takes you. It turns you upside down, and sometimes you don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but that struggle is what makes it beautiful. That’s why I wanted to end the EP with it.

So maybe it’s five different films!

Mitch: You’ve been releasing music for over 20 years now. If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would you say?
Sarah Blasko: I think I would go back to the advice that I’ve always had in my mind, which is to listen to your inner voice.

I don’t have regrets as such. There are things I question why I did that, but I don’t think I would call them regrets. The moments where I feel like I’ve come close to regretting something have been the moments where I haven’t followed that voice, and I’ve done things to please other people. So I think I would just go back and reiterate that one.

Mitch: You’re playing a Sydney show at Darling Quarter Theatre on May 6 as part of Great Southern Nights. For the fans who don’t have tickets yet, why should they come? What can they expect from your shows?
Sarah Blasko: I’m going to be playing the EP and a bunch of songs from all of my records. It’s an intimate space, a theatre space, so I think that provides something different from seeing me in a larger venue.

I’m pretty honest and intimate, just like we are in this conversation haha. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Playing live is my favourite part of doing what I do. Letting emotions go and singing my heart out is a big part of my show.

Mitch: You’re also heading on a EU/UK tour in May! Touring looks different for every artist! What does a typical day on tour look like for you?
Sarah Blasko: I don’t know if there is a normal day, to be honest. That’s the thing about touring. It can be kind of disconcerting sometimes, because it’s almost boring at the same time as never being the same. There’s a lot of travel and waiting around, but unexpected things always come up, so you have to stay on your toes.

I really love seeing where I am. We did a huge regional tour last year and we ate lots of great food and swam lots of great swims. I think to really enjoy it, you’ve got to see something where you go. But you don’t always get the opportunity.

One of the guys in my band, David Symes, who plays bass, is really good at taking a moment to see something, experience something, eat something, get fresh air. He’s just got it nailed. I always want to be more like him.

He puts an eye mask and headphones on as soon as he gets on a plane, and has this Zen nap. Then when he gets to the destination, he goes to the bathroom, runs a wet comb through his hair, and turns up to the baggage carousel looking so fresh. Then we do soundcheck, and he goes for a walk. I always think that guy really knows what he’s doing. That’s my dream for how I’d like to travel.

I met Cyndi Lauper once, which was the highlight of my life, and she said she goes dancing after her show every night. She’s obviously on a different scale to me, but I thought that was very inspiring. I thought, yeah, that’ll keep you young.

Mitch: You’ve been performing some songs for over 20 years now! Are there any songs where the meaning has shifted for you over time?
Sarah Blasko: Yeah, I think most of the songs have. I don’t think you can hold on to what you felt when you first sang and wrote them.

Always Worth It from my first record resonates with me almost more than it used to, in terms of looking at life. It’s choosing to look at life like it’s really beautiful, and all of those moments are really worth it.

All I Want started as the words of somebody who didn’t want to be in a relationship with me. They were like, “All I want is just to get to know myself.” They were their words but they’ve become my words because I sang them out. It’s become my own anthem in a sense. I wrote it in a really heartbroken place, and now it’s become quite an empowering song for me.

Mitch: The industry has changed a lot over the last 20 years. How do you stay true to yourself and your artistry in an industry that prioritises trends and short-term viral moments?
Sarah Blasko: It’s really hard. It’s a very weird industry, particularly the last few years. But I see a light at the end of the tunnel lately. Even the fact that vinyl came back a few years ago has really taught me to hold on to the fact that making things of quality and making things that last still matters.

The thing is, I’m not young anymore, so I can’t keep up with anything anyway, even if I try. In a way, that’s kind of good. Having seen the way things go full circle, it makes me think that in the end, artistry, honesty and working hard are all the things that are never going to go out of fashion.

The people who have reminded me of that are actually people much younger than me. That makes me feel really good about the way music’s heading. People like Amyl and the Sniffers, Julia Jacklin, and Angie McMahon. Younger artists who are really trying to shift the way things are done. It gives a lot of inspiration to people like me who have been around for a while.

Mitch: What is the best way for people to support you?
Sarah Blasko: Coming to the shows. It’s always been that way, to be honest. Particularly because I was with a major label for quite a few years, I never really made a lot of a living from the sale of my records. It was more of a thing with physical copies back then, but it’s always really been about the shows. The shows have sustained me in so many ways, not just financially, but creatively. I’ve worked out a lot of things on stage and through performing a lot.

I feel kind of sad for younger artists who haven’t had the opportunity to do that, or haven’t prioritised that, because performing live is such a beautiful thing. Connecting with the audience has absolutely kept me going in many ways.

Mitch: What can people expect from you next?
Sarah Blasko: I’m working on a new record. I’ve just finished my first ten songs. I usually just keep writing until I feel like I’ve got enough going on. I don’t know if anything will come out this year, but if not, I think at the beginning of next year.

Mitch: Are there any Australian artists you’re loving right now that more people should know about?
Sarah Blasko: The ones I mentioned before are getting heaps of recognition at the moment, which is great.

I always think Kasey Chambers deserves more. She’s had a lot of recognition, but then on the other hand, not enough. I think she’s amazing. I’m just going to say I think she’s our best songwriter. Just all around, I think she’s amazing.

Mia Dyson is also someone I think is really great. There’s a band called Beryl that I really love, from Sydney.

I’ve always thought Augie March deserve more recognition. They’re probably my favourite Australian band. They’re amazing.

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS!!

Mitch: Favourite track from Forgotten World?
Sarah Blasko: Probably Upside Down.

Mitch: Favourite lyric from Forgotten World?
Sarah Blasko: I kind of laugh at, “Bury me underground, woohoo.”

It’s the idea of when you’re just so in love and so happy, you think, “Yeah, I don’t mind. I’m on the ride. I’m on this journey”.

It’s about my children, who kind of slap me around the head pretty much every day of my life. It’s about the idea that I would do anything for them.

Mitch: What track from the EP are you most excited to play live?
Sarah Blasko: I think Dreams. That was one that was hard to leave off the album because it was actually the first song I wrote from the whole set of songs, but it just didn’t seem to sit right thematically.

Mitch: Favourite album you’ve released?
Sarah Blasko: I think, as a whole, As Day Follows Night was the biggest learning curve of my whole career.

It was the most simple album to make, but terrifying. I worked on it in Sweden with a producer I didn’t know, and the whole lead-up to it was actually really difficult. I had a panic attack before I started making the record. Then it showed me how recording live, and really simply, can be so easy and so beautiful. When I heard the first mixes, I cried. It was like a dream, almost. It was so simple to make it.

It taught me a lot about letting go and not complicating things. Because the memories attached to it are so strong, when I listen to it, I feel good about it.

Mitch: If all music died tomorrow, what would you be doing?
Sarah Blasko: It would be really hard not to listen to people’s music. I don’t know. I’m sure I’d find something.

I love other things. I love food probably almost as much as I love music, which is not a good thing sometimes haha! There’s always other joys!