MEDIA RELEASE
On the eve of his 60th birthday, Joe Camilleri sits down to share The Art of Conversation, interview style, with creators of the TAOC game series Louise Howland and Keith Lamb.Joe tells tales, talks special guitars, shares a Maltese recipe of his Mother’s, and, best of all, speaks of music.
Joe Camilleri, one of Australia’s most successful and dedicated musicians, has spent his life making music. With around 40 albums, a similar number of years touring, several ARIAs, Joe is a singer, songwriter, saxophonist and producer. He has recorded some 40 albums, fronted at least a dozen bands (including Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons and the Black Sorrows), won several ARIAs, been inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, sold over a million albums, had chart success with numerous singles including So Young (covered by Elvis Costello), Hit and Run, Shape I’m In, Harley and Rose, Snakeskin Shoes and many more, founded his own record label Joe is renown for the energy and passion of his live work. Born in Malta (he emigrated with his family to Melbourne at 2 years of age), Joseph Vincent Camilleri turns 60 on May 21.
Louise: What was the very first song you learned to sing?
JC: Crying in the Rain by Johnny Ray. I taught myself from the record and copied it as closely as I could. With 10 children in our family, (I was third) I was keen to get some of my parents’ attention. They were busy and they did a great job. But there was not enough time to go round everyone. So I would go into their room and stand next to the bed and sing to them, sing at them really.
10 children are enough to play to a sizeable audience within the family…
Yes! My first public performance was at my sister’s wedding. I sang with the wedding band “I’m Gonna Knock on Your Door”.
Keith: You were collecting records by the age of 8. What did music mean to you at 8, and what does it mean to you now?
JC Music in a way meant everything to me as a child. It was my chance to get lost. It is a safe nurturing place to be. I need music; it’s a satisfying thing that brings comfort. There’s always been a deep connection with music. No matter what happens I have music and no one can take that away.
Louise: Your music encompasses many genres and you have combined soul, blues, funk, zydeco, r&b, country, and reggae. Is there a style of music that you love but don’t perform?
JC: The language of jazz music has always inspired me. I love the freedom and joy that it brings but I could never be a jazz musician.
I would have thought that there was a good element of jazz in your work – the way you improvise on a theme with your sax for example.
JC: I guess there are jazz aspects that I have to my work, I know a lot about the jazz feeling, the challenge, looking inside yourself and finding what you can, digging deep. But I don’t think I’m a jazz player. Listen to Pharaoh Saunders, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker …I am more a great appreciator and a fan,
Keith: A TAOC question that yields some great stories is one about people’s collections. You have a guitar collection worthy of a mini series at least. Can you name your top 5, and tell us a little of the story of each?
JC:1. 1967 Gibson. Special. Unknown to me when I bought it, it’s a custom, very rare. This guitar yielded me Harley and Rose. Came back from England, took it out strummed that progression, got the hook then the song was written.
2. J200 Greach, 1969 white falcon. The most expensive guitar on the market. You see it and you want it. It has a fine looking massive headstock. Although it hasn’t yielded me any songs I think it makes me look thinner and richer, or maybe poorer (laughs)
3. 1952 Gibson Les Paul gold top. One of the rarest electric guitars, the player’s version worth between 50-100K. I bought it in NY when I was taking my musicality somewhere else. To play in NYC is like a badge of honour in this country. We played the Bottom Line in the Village, amongst other places. It was a memorable place- we’d had some radio and did lunchtime gig. They brought in the most enormous salamis. Anyway I recorded Lucky Charm In New York in 1994. I wanted to record there, to do some work there and feel part of the place. This guitar is beautiful sounding, just to play chords on it still sounds so nice. 52 was the prototype. It has no serial number as they thought it wouldn’t last! They became popular with the doo-wop bands. .
4. 1961 Fender Strata caster. A guitar you just want around your neck. The Sorrows had just changed from Vika and Linda. I wanted a more elastic, fluid Sorrows, needed more freedom in expression. It was when I had Stuart Fraser playing with me and he liked my guitar playing, which is kinda down home. I didn’t play much acoustic then, not live. Thus was the first time I felt that I had to run the band, lead then band and set the feel. This guitar gave me the power and strength as I learned on the job.
5. 1962 Fender Telecaster I had a national metal mandolin. It was annoying, loud and rude, made to to get above the orchestra without amplification. I circled a shop in St Kilda like a falcon. The guy had about 20 guitars in there- I just loved the headstock, engraved in pearl. Anyway he swapped it for the mandolin. This became my gig guitar when I wanted to play electric. I wrote quite a few songs on it and it is tough. I can throw it out of the plane and it stays in one piece. It is one of the guitars I play on the new DVD, 4 Days at Sing Sing.
From there, on it goes, up to about 105 They’re nearly all in storage.
So besides an enormous guitar garage, which feature would you most like to have in your ideal home?
JC: My buddy has a sound proof room. It’s not a panic room! But somewhere he can be as loud as he likes and play all night long. Now that beats a bread maker hands down.Louise: Are you skilful and creative in the kitchen too?
JC: I love to cook in my Mother’s style. She was amazing. With 12 or more people to cook for, she would still make people different meals. If she were around now she would slap upside my head and tell me to get out of the kitchen. I don’t use cookbooks. I know what I know and it’s good most of the time.
Keith: Would you share one of your Mother’s recipes with us?
JC: Grease a baking dish with lard. Stretch out some rump steak so it’s thin- turn it into a dress. You slice potatoes and put the first layer of potatoes into the baking dish. The second layer is of thinly sliced onions. Crush 3 or 4 cloves of garlic over onions then comes the first layer of meat. Season with pepper. Repeat the potatoes, then the second meat layer. Next is heavy sprinkle fresh parsley, next a layer of onions then two more layers of potatoes. A thin layer, then a thicker. Brush on olive oil between each potato layer. Add a mix of white wine and water to just under half way up. Sprinkle as much curry powder as you like over the top. Cover with foil and bake until cooked. Take the foil off and crisp up. Let it go until it is saying hello lovely!
Louise: You are also well known for your love of clothes and have got to be the best-dressed men in music. You show determination even when the odds are against you. For example, the deep muddy midnight quagmire that was the Gympie muster saw you make your way though the swamps to the stage in a white suit with plastic bags protecting your shoes. In which outfit do you look your best and do you have “stage clothes” as such?
JC: No, I don’t have stage clothes. I like good civvies. The closest I have come was when I wore a cowboy hat on stage. I love clothes and would gladly change three times a day. I am not a jeans man, Suits are more my thing, I think I am more of a girl than any girl I know. I have been seen doing the gardening in a suit with new shoes.
Keith: What is the most difficult aspect of your daily work?
JC: Finding a good idea, then finding the ins and outs so you end up with something sweet on an empty page. Writing is very important to me. If you haven’t got anything to say, you can’t exist on some levels.
Louise: Your live performances are filled with incredible energy and passion, something that is difficult to capture. Your sort of the spontaneity and can’t really be replicated on the even greatest of live albums. Do you think your new DVD, 4 Days at Sing Sing, is the closest you have come to giving people a recorded version of your live work?
JC: Yes. It is genuinely 4 days of us at Sing Sin studios in Melbourne. It’s raw and it’s us- you can see the music as well as hear it. You see the moves and the work. It’s raw and it’s about the communication we have with each other as musicians and as people. We talk about that between the songs. 17 songs down in 4 days. It’s something of a showcase for lots of things and people. Everyone shares a few thoughts about the whys. I hope that people will enjoy connecting with us through the DVD and it will bring them closer to the music. There are a few guitars on show too including the green greach, like Brian Jones played, a ’64. It’s pretty exciting – the running time is nearly two hours. Maybe it goes on a bit. It’s bunch of musicians that I feel proud to be playing with. Even in this day or mobile phones and digital cameras when something can be up on Youtube before you get home form the gig, it’s important to record or document yourself in your own way.
Keith: What potential do you think you have that is, so far, unfulfilled?
JC: Life is a work in progress, so only on my death bed can I answer the unfulfilled. For the next eighteen months I have some goals. For example I want to make a country record in Nashville, tour Europe and connect with some audiences who have no preconceptions about Joe Camilleri. My new website (www.joecamilleri.com.au) is coming together and I want to connect with people though that medium also, write there about what’s happening. It will be a nice connection while I am touring and working. I want to reach some fresh ears, play some festivals, write more music, tour, play Carnegie Hall…
Louise: When do you believe that a person becomes old?
JC: When he or she stops loving and caring about the little things, stops talking, stops sharing. When someone loses their passion, I guess it’s over.
Keith: How do you like to celebrate a special occasion, such as a birthday?
JC: I don’t. I hide from it and avoid it. Maybe I’ll be grumpy about it.
Keith: You have probably played hundreds and hundreds musicians. Past and present company excepted, with which musicians would you like to tour?
JC: The dream team? You know, I don't have one. I love playing with my friends we share all the up and downs. But, if Ray Charles or Otis Redding wanted to sit in I could make room for them. Then you start thinkin’ and there 10000000000000000’s of them. I hope that I could sit in with them.
Louise: What about your ideal audience? What would they want to hear?
JC: Because you’re never really in sync with what your doing live, people who come to see you play music without judging your past against he now- hose who want the future with a pinch of he past and a taste of the present-now that’s nice to be around! The connection with people means more than the music on many levels.
That seems a shame when you have made so many occasions special for so many people! I know we join thousands of fans who wish you a very happy birthday Joe. We look forward to hearing what’s to come .
All rights reserved. All text, graphics and sound files on this page are copyrighted. Unauthorized reproduction and is prohibited by law. Copyright © 2008 by Louise Howland Keith Lamb 4 Days at Sing Sing will be available through http://www.joecamilleri.com.au