Seven of Australia’s top musicians are heading for Perth this month to pay tribute to the respected works of the acoustic legends, Neil and Tim Finn. The tour, They Will Have Their Way, is a collaboration between Australian artists who’ve covered songs from the Finn brothers’ extensive range. For those unfamiliar with the Neil and Tim Finn, they both hark from the ’70s new wave band, Split Enz and the Melbourne institution, Crowded House. Not to mention their successful career both as solo artist and together as the Finn Brothers.
The line up is made up of Sarah Blasko, Lior, Claire Bowditch, Paul Dempsey, Holly Throsby and Oh Mercy’s Alexander Gow (pictured).
Also on the bill is Sally Seltmann who shared some details about the tour with OUTinPerth.
‘We’re all going to do a few songs on our own as the lead vocalists; it’s our own interpretation of the song[s] I guess,’ Seltmann said.
‘I’ll be doing Four Seasons in One Day, One Step Ahead which is a Splitz Enz song and I Hope I Never which is a song that Tim Finn wrote and sang in Split Enz.
‘My favourite is probably Four Seasons in One Day.
‘Since learning how to play it for myself, I just really love it.
‘There’s this real, sort-of, thoughtful sadness… and just how it references the four seasons in one day changing, and I think they were living in Melbourne when they wrote it and I lived in Melbourne for a long time and it kind of just reminds me a bit of that.
‘I love the line, ‘finding out wherever there is comfort, there is pain,’ …it’s a really beautiful lyric.’
The tour is the result of two tribute albums dedicated to the brothers’ Finn: the 2005 She Will Have Her Way album and 2010’s He Will Have His Way album. About 16 Australian female artists were invited to cover tracks for the 2005 record. Then in 2010, Australian male artists rehashed 17 songs from the Finn Brothers. But They Will Have Their Way is much more than a tribute show.
As Seltmann said, the artists were encouraged in both compilations to interpret these classics for themselves.
For Oh Mercy’s Alexander Gow, he told OUTinPerth back in mid October that the group was yet to begin rehearsals. Despite the tour starting in mere weeks, the musician remained overtly relaxed about the national tour.
‘It’s kind of hard because we’ve got Paul [Dempsey] over in New York, Sarah [Blasko] is in London or somewhere like that – it’s hard to get everyone together for rehearsals so we’re leaving it to the last minute which is fine because we’re all professionals.’
Gow was honoured to have been invited to contribute to the He Will Have Their Way project.
‘To be on an album with the people that were included on it was a real honour, especially the Sleepy Jacksons who I had loved for a long time.’
‘The whole experience of recording itself was really great because I was over in Santa Monica recording the second Oh Mercy album, Great Barrier Grief with producer Mitchell Froom who produced the first three Crowded House records.’
For Gow, Froom chose Neil Finn’s I feel possessed, a Crowded House single released in 1990.
‘…There was one song that he stopped and said this is one that could be approached in a different way and that was the one we ended up doing I feel possessed,’ Gow said.
‘If you listen to it, I can understand where he was coming from, it has both feet cemented firmly in the ’80s in terms of production and the arrangement.
‘That song was really bombastic and every trick in the book kind-of production style which was not really what Mitchell was known for so he said he would love to give that song another shot.’
‘I was working on a cover of a song that he produced originally so that was a pretty surreal experience.’
‘There were moments where he [played] the keyboard on our track… and he played the same keyboard on the original.’
They Will Have Their Way is a national tour, travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney from November 6 to 17. Gow is the youngest on tour – almost a decade younger than some of his compatriots. In his timid voice, Gow expressed excitement to be playing alongside some of his favourite musicians.
‘I grew up listening to some of their music like Sarah Blasko and Claire Bowditch,’ he said.
‘I feel really lucky and I’ll be performing on the same stage as some of my favourite Australian musicians playing some of my favourite songs, so of course I’d jump at the opportunity.’
They Will Have Their Way is on at the Fremantle Arts Centre for one night only – Saturday November 12.
For more details, visit www.heatseeker.com.au.
Benn Dorrington
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