| IT'S HARD to pigeonhole an artist whose songs range from heartfelt love songs to the true story of a woman who lost her index finger in the frenzy of a department store stocktake sale while in pursuit of a heavily discounted television. "I guess I'd call it urban folk, or 'new folk'," says Australian singer/ songwriter David Juriansz. "But it's all just songs, really. If someone can write good songs and play the guitar or the piano, then I don't care if it's considered folk, roots, or whatever, as long as it's enjoyable." David, from Melbourne, first sang with the band The Mustard Seeds in Australia, and is a now performing as a solo artist. He's now based in London, having spent the past three years dividing his time between London, Australia and Canada, and is looking to establish a name for himself on the live scene. He recently took out a songwriting award at Victoria's Port Fairy Festival and his songs have been recorded by indigenous group Tiddas, with whom he has also toured. Now he's releasing his debut solo album, In This Flow, a collection of selfpenned numbers. With songs that reflect his wry observations and his sardonic sense of humour, he has been compared to the likes of Billy Bragg, but David himself is not too keen on being quickly tagged with a firm label. "I get sick of labels," he says. "My music doesn't sound what they call 'quintessentially Australian', I think probably because a lot of the songs were written in different countries, and I think that you tend to absorb the sounds of whatever place you're in when you're writing." And while he invariably gets called a folk singer, he says that the term can be misleading, especially with so many folk purists about. "If I feel like writing a song about how ridiculous the OJ Simpson trial was, or about what's happening with indigenous Australians or Americans, I believe I've got the freedom to do that without necessarily endearing myself to the traditional folk people who think you have to sing with a 'folksy' Irish lilt. Someone like Paul Kelly, who is a sensational songwriter, he does similar stuff it's folk, but it's not traditional folk, as such. "I think in England they don't really know what to do with singer/songwriters who don't fit their serious, 1,000-years-of-folk-tradition image. But I use a lot of the same ideas that folk music does, everyday images and events inspire me to be a songwriter." David recorded In This Flow in London and rather than waiting for someone to come along and 'discover' him, decided to build his own studio and release the CD independently. "My attempts to send off music to labels here were getting nowhere, so I decided instead to invest the money with setting up a studio with a friend, who is an engineer and producer. "I've never been someone who's that interested in the music industry in that sense - I think as a musician you can spend a lot of energy trying to get picked up by a record company and it's not guaranteed that you'll get what you want anyway," he says. | "I think it's better to invest your own money in your
own music and have that independence. Once you've got yourself a studio,
you can also help other people do their own music. I'd like to encourage
other independent artists like myself to get out and give it a go for
themselves." He may have invested in recording freedom by building
his own home studio, but now he's got to face the hard slog of doing his
own self-promotion and getting his name known around town. "As an
independent artist you have to make your own contacts, and you can deal
with a lot of isolation, so knowing other artists helps a lot. You really
have to rely on the generosity of friends and other artists to help you
out," he says. Which is all very well in your home-town, but a bit
harder in a big pond like London. David says that Tiddas provided a big
boost to his career, and he's keen to get more involved in the publishing
side of songwriting as well. "When Tiddas recorded my song for the
B-side for their single, it really meant a lot to me," he says.
"It also got quite a lot of airplay in Australia, which was nice.
Tiddas have been really helpful to me; they really helped me to get going.
"They did a tour of Canada in 1995 and just asked me to join them as
a support, which was great," he says. David has also toured with
Archie Roach and supported bands such as Things of Stone and Wood and
Bachelors from Prague. "My aim now is to build up a following here,
ideally." As well as his CD launch later this month, David will be
gigging at various venues around London, and hopes that people will enjoy
his lyrical style enough to buy his album, which is available through his
website. The album is primarily David and his acoustic guitar, although
Kevin Edge provides some electric guitar, piano and percussion, and Gus
Macmillan, from Blue Grassy Knoll, contributes flute and banjo. Fans of
intelligent songwriting will enjoy David's mix of social commentary and
everyday observations. "The songs on the album were written all over
the place - there's a couple I wrote in Australia, a couple from London
and America and Canada, and some of the songs have been with me for a
while." And now David is keen to share them with appreciative
audiences. "I think it comes down to the fact that if you're not
going to make a lot of money from doing what you love, then you may as
well enjoy yourself while you're doing it. "I do other work as well,
to pay the bills, but I really just want to get my music out there, get my
name known. I'm just going to persist. I know that there are a lot of
people out there doing this acoustic thing now," he says. "But
I'm enjoying myself, and I may as well continue to enjoy the ride. DAVID Juriansz will launch his album In This Flow at the 12 Bar Club, 22-23 Denmark Place, WC2H, on September 29 2000 at 8.30pm. |
