Back in 2006, Josh Pyke & Bob Evans embarked on an Australian tour together, the rather aptly titled ‘An Evening With Josh Pyke & Bob Evans.’ At the time, Evans had just returned from Nashville having recorded his second album, Suburban Songbook, whilst Pyke was in the process of finishing work on his debut long player, Memories & Dust. The tour marked the beginning of a self described “bromance” for the pair, who immediately bonded, and have remained friends ever since.
To mark the 10th anniversary, they are hitting the road together again, this time for the creatively-named ‘Another Evening With Josh Pyke & Bob Evans’, so we were glad to have a chat about the upcoming shows, their memories of the first tour, and the dangers of over rehearsing.
“In some ways its been the blink of an eye”, Pyke explains when asked about the ten-year gap between tours, “but the reality is we’ve both released two or three albums, we’ve had two kids each”. His comment that this wasn’t with each other, but instead with actual women, causes much laughter on the other line. “The thing about being a musician,” he continues, “it sort of keeps you eternally young in a way, it’s such a youthful industry and activity to be involved in. I still feel kind of like an inexperienced newcomer, which is absolutely ridiculous.”
He recalls how the first tour came about. “For me as a solo artist in Australia, there weren’t actually that many straight up solo artists that were in the ‘indie triple j world’… it was kind of hard to get really great shows and tours happening. I remember me and my management felt we needed to kind of write our own story and create these things ourselves. My manager was mates with (Bob’s) manager, so it kind of came about pretty organically.”
The idea for ‘Another Evening With Josh Pyke & Bob Evans’ happened when Pyke was going through a drawer full of old gig posters and memorabilia. “I came across the Josh and Bob poster from the first time around late last year and I was like ‘wow, this is going to be ten years next year, we should do this again’ you know” – fans may have seen the video that recreates this very moment. “It’s a documentary,” Evans laughingly maintains.
The tour visits capital cities and regional areas around Australia, 12 dates in total, kicking off in Adelaide on November 24th. Coincidently, the night before the Adelaide show is the 2016 ARIA awards, in a year where Josh Pyke has already won an award for ‘Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show album’ for his release with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Bob Evans also features, his most recent album Car Boot Sale receiving a nomination in the ‘Best Adult Contemporary Album’ category.
Whilst Pyke won’t be attending this year’s ceremony, Evans is heading along, maintaining it’s only because his wife likes the trip to Sydney and the chance to “look wonderful in a nice dress.” In typical self-deprecating style, he adds, “Whenever I go to the ARIAs I feel like what it must be like for the fifth best player of the Brisbane Lions on Brownlow night, kind of like you’re pretty much just making up the numbers,” a comparison that draws much laughter from Pyke. “But,” Evans is quick to add, “the fifth best player from the Brisbane Lions is still rocking up with a really hot date.”
Since the announcement of the anniversary tour, fans have been quick to jump on board, with some dates already sold out. “What’s making it a celebration,” Pyke explains, “is that ticket sales are going really well and it feels like people are embracing it as the same sort of celebration that we are.”
Two new songs have been recorded for the tour, ‘What The Future Holds’ and ‘Desperate,’ currently only available to those who buy tickets. Pyke explained they wanted to do something special to encourage people to buy tickets, and wanted to “have a couple of songs that were just uniquely ours – a Josh & Bob song – just to add a little uniqueness to the tour.”
This time around both artists will be onstage together for the whole night, playing through a selection of songs from what is now an extensive back catalogue. Rehearsals have begun, the pair exchanging emails about chord changes and vocal harmonies, or doing “the spade work” as Evans calls it.
Four days have been locked in at Pyke’s place in Sydney for rehearsals prior to hitting the road. “That doesn’t sound like a lot but that is actually a lot for us,” Pyke says whilst Evans laughs. “That will be fun as well, you know, I’ve pitched a tent in the backyard where he can sleep.”
“There’s a real danger, for seasoned professionals like ourselves, to over rehearse,” Evans continues in jest. “It’s the worst thing, the worst thing you can do,” he laughs.
Since the first tour, the music industry had undergone significant changes, not the least of which is the way fans consume music. Despite the changes, Pyke feels that certain things have remained the same. “The truest barometer of the success of a record, or your musical career or whatever, is just your engagement with your live audience. My records don’t get played on commercial radio… but year to year my live fan base has been increasing slowly and organically.”
He attributes this in part to the fact that he always tours regionally. “You go out and play to a few hundred people in Wagga Wagga or whatever, and you realise that your music has spread… I think that is something that labels and promoters probably don’t give enough credence to. I think touring and reaching fans is more important than ever.”
The prevalence of social media as a way of interacting directly with the fanbase has also been a significant change over the past 10 years. “There are great advantages in terms of being able to have that kind of straight interactions with your audience,” Evans explains, “there always used to be this big barrier.” However, with tongue firmly in cheek, he continues: “There is also the disadvantage of having this direct communication with your audience…” his sentence petering off into laughter.
He recalls a description of the social media for musicians he was once told. “The best thing about the internet is that anybody at home who is making music can have their music heard around the world in an instant. The worst thing is that anybody at home who is making music…” He and Pyke laugh knowingly. “With great power comes great responsibility”
‘Another Evening with Josh Pyke & Bob Evans’ begins on November 24th, with tickets available via Josh and Bob.
