Laura Imbruglia has just released her third album “What A Treat” (Ready Freddie Records/MGM), produced by Melbourne’s legendary Simon Grounds.
After whetting the public’s appetite with singles “Why’d You Have To Kiss Me So Hard?” and the infectious “Awoooh!” Laura is finally ready to present the other pieces of the puzzle.
“What A Treat” (which, incidentally is packaged with a fan-funded jigsaw puzzle!) combines the punkier moments of her debut “Self-Titled” (2006) and the dark country of “The Lighter Side Of…” (2010), with unabashed widescreen pop, resulting in her most accomplished album to date.
Relocating from Sydney to Melbourne in 2010, Laura acquired Melbourne’s finest musicians to form her band (members of Smallgoods, Ground Components & Midnight Woolf), and they’re on the road right now to promote the release!
Do you remember the moment you decided you wanted to make music?
I’ve loved singing since I was a little kid. I always used to hang out, singing alone in my bedroom. Being the youngest kid in my family, my older sister Michelle never wanted to hang out with me, so I had a lot of time to make friends with the boombox. As for playing guitar and writing, I’m sure it happened some time in high school when I was lusting after my friend Chris, who lived around the corner. He was really into Green Day and he used to play his guitar and skate all weekend. I figured if I wanted to hang out with him, I’d better learn to skate and play guitar. So I did. But I also was really obsessed with Nirvana, so I wasn’t solely motivated by a crush.
Your album ‘What A Treat’ has just been released and the cover picture looks like you as a child with your mother doing your hair, is that actually you? If so why did you decide to use if for your album cover?
It is indeed me and my Mum! You know, lots of people have asked me that question. I think it’s a classic photo. I don’t understand why everyone thinks it’s an odd thing to put on your album cover. It’s a really cute photo of a candid moment that only a family member would ever be able to capture. I like the looks on our faces. To me, choosing a beautiful or intriguing photo as an album cover makes sense.
I was delivered your album in the most awesome packaging recently. (for the readers it’s a double sided jigsaw puzzle). Please explain the concept behind this, was this a late night drunken idea?
Haha, no I was sober! I packaged my last album “The Lighter Side Of…” with a mini comic book and people seemed to really appreciate the effort put in to presentation. So I decided to try and keep that theme running. I thought of various things I could package the cd with and when I priced jigsaw puzzles, I determined that it was just within the realms of financial possibility (per unit). So I set up a pozible campaign, told fans of my packaging plan and asked them to get behind a pre-order scheme. The money raised paid for my cool puzzle packaging. The album’s called “What a treat” and the puzzle is a treat in itself, as the image on the puzzle is different to the album cover and is a pretty cool little surprise once you assemble it.
It feels like ‘What Treat’ has taken on a more country vibe to your past recordings, was this a conscious change in direction or one that happened naturally?
That would be the addition of my pedal steel player, Chris Baker! Once you add pedal steel to a song, it instantly becomes a country song! But it’s also a natural writing progression. I love country music and have been adding more and more country records to my collection over the past few years. It’s a genre that feels like home to me- old country music offers depressing, funny, heart on sleeve lyrics, simple song structures and beautiful sounds.
You have a whole bunch of guests of this record, how did they all come to playing on the album?
Yeah, I like to bring guests in on albums, it’s fun! I have lots of talented friends who I like to sing or play with, I just asked them if they wanted to be on the album and they all kindly volunteered their talent. I ended up with Laura Jean, Fraser A. Gorman, Bob Harrow, Ben Salter, Peter Lubulwa and Seja Vogel dropping in. An album is like a photo that captures a particular time in your life. These legends are all amazing people I’ve befriended in the last few years and help to form part of this snapshot.
You became a werewolf in the video for the first single off the album ‘Awoooh’, the making of that looked really fun, how long did it take the make-up artists to transform you?
It was loads of fun! I made it with a bunch of friends and we had no rehearsals (except for the dance routine) so it was pretty spontaneous and silly! It took 2 hours to get the wolf make-up on and we filmed the wolf scenes first! So then it was another half hour getting all that furry stuff off me and then re-applying make-up for the sexy drag king character I am for most of the clip! The make-up artist Kate Murphy was a trooper.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
Hmmm, I’d hold it at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Gillian Welch…basically shitloads of my favourite country or country-dabbling artists. A giant country music love-in, where everyone guests on everyone else’s set. Like a Last Waltz kinda thing I guess. There would be show bags with jaw harps and stuff like that. You’re not allowed to play them until there’s a change-over or you get ejected from the Opry. GOD, someone gimme a job, it’s a great idea!
As everyone seems to be doing making songs with other artists these days, what living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with?
I would like to collaborate with my friends The Hard-Ons. I feel like they’ve done a lotta recorded stuff with guest male vocalists (Rollins & Neil Hamburger come to mind), but not so many guest female vocalists. I wanna sing a pop song with them.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
Feeling sorry for yourself and then feeling triumphant when you realise that any heartbreak can be beaten or subdued with a well crafted insult. You can use this album as background music whilst you think of some sweet insults to make yourself feel better.
Why should we not miss you on your ‘What A Treat’ album tour?
We are a 5-piece band, which is an expensive thing to take on tour. I may not have the budget or luxury to bring the whole band on tour again for a while. Album tours are very special events, with lots of love and energy put into them. You should come see us play our new songs. We are very excited to play them for you and they sound excellent, I promise!
Laura Imbruglia ‘What A Treat’ 2013 Tour Dates
Saturday 29th June 2013
Goodgod SYDNEY – NSW – ALBUM LAUNCH
w/ Melodie Nelson, Unity Floors & Jimmy Tait (duo)
Sunday 30th June 2013
Yours & Owls, WOLLONGONG – NSW * Afternoon show – ALBUM LAUNCH
w/ Melodie Nelson (solo) and Roger Loves Betty (Jodi Phillis & Tim Oxley)
Wed 3rd July 2013
The Midnight Special, Enmore NSW – (solo show)
Friday 5th July 2013
Beetle Bar, BRISBANE – QLD – ALBUM LAUNCH (solo show)
w/ Stress of Leisure & Melodie Nelson (solo)
Saturday July 13
The Tote MELBOURNE – VIC – ALBUM LAUNCH
w/ Melodie Nelson & The Bowers
Watch Laura transform into a werewolf in “Awoooh!”
