One of, if not the biggest surprise in Aussie music for 2014 is Guy Pearce.

In August, the actor/director dropped his debut single ‘Storm’ causing a hurricane of excitement and disbelief. The general public, a little jaded from the typical failed attempts of actors-turn-musicians, found it hard to comprehend that Pearce harboured such a unique, raw talent and that he was releasing an all-original debut record, Broken Bones.

However, if you reflect on Pearce’s past, this stellar foray into music should be no shock at all. In fact, the 46-year old’s artistry crown bares many shining musical jewels, from writing and singing songs in movies such as Hunting to landing roles such as Danny Zuko in the production of Grease, Pearce has never been a stranger to music and performance.

In 2009, the multifaceted artist starred in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Poor Boy, singing the beautiful tunes of Tim Finn alongside ultra percussionist Michael Barker.

After lengthy discussions between the pair, Barker expressed his interest in hearing the over-crowded archive of music that the secretive artists had created over the years, and after a little coaxing, the vault was unlocked, spilling Pearce’s musical creativity into the world.

We were extremely lucky (and admittedly bursting in exuberance) to have a chat with the fast-paced entertainer as he took us through his journey, revealing secrets of the past that caused him to shy away from a professional music career as well as piecing together his debut record, Broken Bones.

“I’ve been writing music since the ‘70s, ‘cause as a very young kid we used play music at home. I was learning the organ and I used to try and invent little pieces on there, not songs as such but I always wanting to sing and wanting to find something to sing to.”

“It was always a really powerful draw for me to be sitting at a piano or an organ or whatever instrument I could find and play and try make stuff up.”

The Memento star dreaded he would become “just another sell-out actor”

Although one would mainly find him now with a guitar in hand, Pearce’s instrumental upbringing was expansive; “I played various instruments growing up like the saxophone for eight years, guitar, keyboard, I sang in choir, musical theatre, some bands and was always acting. I was doing theatre and musical theatre as well so when the opportunity to join the Neighbours cast arose I just took it.”

Yep, for those of you who don’t remember or maybe didn’t tune into Channel 10’s Neighbours back in the ‘80s, Guy Pearce cut his teeth on Aussie television as Mike Young, a mainstay character from 1986 through to the very end of 1989.

During this time, Neighbours was churning out actor-turn-musicians by the likes of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. Despite such a deep-seeded passion for music, the Memento actor dreaded he would become “just another sell-out actor”, he explains “I struggled with that to be honest because I don’t think I felt confident to go ‘oh right, well here’s the song I’m writing let’s release them and go with this’. You know that whole thing people talk about cashing in, it just felt that. I just liked making music.”

“The other option was to keep making music and bury it from the public, which is what I did. It’s just stayed buried for long time until a couple of years ago” he confessed.

Over three years, Pearce, between his fastidious works with film, scoured his sonic archive, revisiting works he’d written from the 1980s to now. His burning passion for sound had never waned, and after his encounter with the aforementioned Michael Barker, he then knew it was his time to finally cut his first piece of vinyl.

The ‘Broken Bones’ singer opened-up on his experiences of revisiting songs that he’d written decades ago, and how they wound up on his debut record, “The song ‘Overflow’ I wrote in ’97. I always knew that was going to be on the record and I knew that was the first song I wanted to record.

Like Joni Mitchell reinventing her timeless folk hit of 1969 ‘Both Sides, Now’ to a resemble an entire different meaning with 2000’s brooding, reflective orchestral classic, Pearce experienced a similar path with his music, “the original idea with ‘Someone Else’ was that it’s a song about acting, about the idea of playing someone else and this desire to be someone else.”

“I think what was interesting about looking at it more recently and expanding on that as an idea and going ‘well it’s not just about being an actor’ it’s about any of us out there in the world going ‘I actually feel like I want to have someone else than the person I’ve got, I also feel like I want to be someone else I’m not happy with the person I am.’”

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“When I was 20-years old I wasn’t looking at it like that, I was trying to understand acting.” Closing, he affirmed, “I really love revisiting old songs and seeing now with a more mature perspective.”

From writing and recording many of the instruments himself, the Victorian-native was only too excited to tell of his obsession with production, having produced Broken Bones himself.

“I really love producing and I really love arranging, being in the studio and layering various pieces down to sort of create something and being very aware how the emotional state of something changes because of something you add or something you take away is something really satisfying for me, I just love that.”

By producing the record himself, Broken Bones arrives as a unique piece of output that draws from a vast range of influences, sonically palatable to a myriad of audiences.

This was an emphatic point that Pearce wanted to make, to demonstrate his craftsmanship. “I’ve gone through periods where I’ve tried to write like other people, but pretty quickly it felt like I was copying someone and doing it badly, so I would just let that idea go and just say ‘no, no, there’s plenty of stuff that comes to me naturally’. I am certainly not into trying to plagiarise.”

The larger than life artist will be performing two very intimate live shows in Melbourne and Sydney in November of this year with a talented four-piece band, two female back-up singers whilst the man in front will don a guitar and lead vocals.

A little bit shaky, Pearce commented on his state of mind for the upcoming gigs, “I think I’m alright, I’m a bit nervous about it but I’ll probably be fine once we start rehearsing together, we haven’t really managed to rehearse, so we’ll have an intense rehearsal period but I’ve got to England first to work on a film over there, so I’ve got a few things on the go (laughs).”

The performances will comprise solely of original material, there may be a surprise cover or two, however he laughed, “we don’t want to go on forever and ever on the night.”

Pearce’s minor anxieties aside, we’re certain his live show will be one for books, this could be the beginning of something very large for the natural-born entertainer.

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