The Sit Down with Fanny Lumsden
Whilst the reputation of Fanny Lumsden as both a songwriter and highly energetic live performer is unquestioned in her native Australia which has seen her receive nine Golden Guitars at the CMAA in Tamworth and a pair of wins at the ARIA awards, she has very quickly fallen in love with the United Kingdom. A first trip in 2023 saw her play the Fields of Avalon at Glastonbury was followed up by a pair of visits last year for nine shows in the spring before returning to bring her highly successful Country Hall shows to Scotland now lead to a long haul flight for the third year running for one of the most extensive tours we can remember.
After joining one of Australia’s most globally recognisable artists; Paul Kelly for a string of support shows in the UK and on the continent, her Prawn Stars now come back to join her for a mere 22 shows across both the British and Emerald isles which incorporates headline shows, festival appearances and a recurrence of the Country Hall shows in Scotland. With new music to follow up her acclaimed 2023 release “Hey Dawn” on the horizon and her commitment to the British market being more evident, Jamie was delighted to catchup with Fanny ahead of the extended run.
I didn't actually realise how long ago it was that we actually spoke like this. I know we’ve messaged a bit but it was last March, like April sort of time.
“What! That’s ages!”
Yeah isn’t it just, so it’s been a fair while and let’s jump in with the killer question to get it out of the way. “Hey Dawn” came out two years ago now so, where are we in the world of the potential next Fanny Lumsden project? Is it on the horizon? Have we started working towards it? Where are we at?
“I am, I have written all of the new stuff and I've just started recording it. We'll have something, we'll have one song out quite soon, I think. If I wasn't so busy, I'd just crack onto it, like right now. I just really want to make the next record but we'll definitely have a song or two out this year, then definitely a new album out next year, 100%.”
So that's to look forward to and right now you’ve just put out the Gotye cover which I swear you had in your set last time you were here. I guess it's just something that when you play live shows, people really connected to it and it's gone down really well plus you guys enjoy playing it.
“Yeah, pretty much. We first did it on a television show in Australia called Spicks and Specks, it was like a surprise and they had to guess what it is, like during the show. I just loved our arrangement and we were going to record it then but it didn't happen because we have got lots of stuff going on all the time. People just love singing it, it's such a cracking song and I've always been so like purist about recording my own music but I was like, who cares? Let's just put out some stuff and let's get over ourselves. That was really fun to do because we already had the arrangement and it didn't take us very long to record because we didn't have to like deliberate a thing, we knew what we wanted it to sound like and this is what we want. We just got in, smashed it out and then recorded the video on top of the hill in like an hour and a half on the morning after a gig one day, right where we lived, so it was pretty straightforward and it's just been fun. I think you don't always need to have some deep like dark meaning on everything, sometimes it's fun just to do things because it’s fun.”
After joining one of Australia’s most globally recognisable artists; Paul Kelly for a string of support shows in the UK and on the continent, her Prawn Stars now come back to join her for a mere 22 shows across both the British and Emerald isles which incorporates headline shows, festival appearances and a recurrence of the Country Hall shows in Scotland. With new music to follow up her acclaimed 2023 release “Hey Dawn” on the horizon and her commitment to the British market being more evident, Jamie was delighted to catchup with Fanny ahead of the extended run.
I didn't actually realise how long ago it was that we actually spoke like this. I know we’ve messaged a bit but it was last March, like April sort of time.
“What! That’s ages!”
Yeah isn’t it just, so it’s been a fair while and let’s jump in with the killer question to get it out of the way. “Hey Dawn” came out two years ago now so, where are we in the world of the potential next Fanny Lumsden project? Is it on the horizon? Have we started working towards it? Where are we at?
“I am, I have written all of the new stuff and I've just started recording it. We'll have something, we'll have one song out quite soon, I think. If I wasn't so busy, I'd just crack onto it, like right now. I just really want to make the next record but we'll definitely have a song or two out this year, then definitely a new album out next year, 100%.”
So that's to look forward to and right now you’ve just put out the Gotye cover which I swear you had in your set last time you were here. I guess it's just something that when you play live shows, people really connected to it and it's gone down really well plus you guys enjoy playing it.
“Yeah, pretty much. We first did it on a television show in Australia called Spicks and Specks, it was like a surprise and they had to guess what it is, like during the show. I just loved our arrangement and we were going to record it then but it didn't happen because we have got lots of stuff going on all the time. People just love singing it, it's such a cracking song and I've always been so like purist about recording my own music but I was like, who cares? Let's just put out some stuff and let's get over ourselves. That was really fun to do because we already had the arrangement and it didn't take us very long to record because we didn't have to like deliberate a thing, we knew what we wanted it to sound like and this is what we want. We just got in, smashed it out and then recorded the video on top of the hill in like an hour and a half on the morning after a gig one day, right where we lived, so it was pretty straightforward and it's just been fun. I think you don't always need to have some deep like dark meaning on everything, sometimes it's fun just to do things because it’s fun.”
The other thing that must have been fun was getting to tour around Europe with Paul Kelly and not just playing the shows but getting to be a tourist and have some time exploring some really cool cities.
“It was the most magical few weeks, I was so busy leading up to it, I hadn't really put muh forethought into how the experience was going to be itself and it was amazing, just playing on my own and travelling on my own when I usually have like an entourage of so many people like kids, band members, friends, family and stuff, was so amazing. Being so independent was just such a true ride so being able to really focus on that and just get into the experience of going to see these beautiful cities that I hadn't been to before, like I had never been to Berlin and I hadn't been to Paris and Amsterdam for like twenty years or something when I was a teenager, so it was super nice just to like get back there. Then with the shows, all of the audiences were really open and I got to hang out with like a total hero, which Paul Kelly is and he's such an incredible songwriter, thinker and just a kind person. To be sitting in the van and with PK was a real treat.”
For you especially as you're a long way from home for a very long time, yes it is a work trip but you don’t want to go back and someone asks you how was Berlin? Then you’re like, I don't really know, I just saw my hotel and backstage at the venue.
“Very true. I mean, I had a lot of work I could have been doing, but I actually made a conscious decision to just live a little parallel life for a minute and take in all those opportunities. I wanted to see the towns and just see something to experience something about each city. I'm so glad I did because as soon as my tour starts, it's going to be mad and I won't get that.”
Yeah, reinforcements are on the way and your entourage is going to get bigger for your tour. There’s kind of like three parts to it to talk about where you’ve got the Country Hall shows in Scotland, you've got the festival dates and then the typical Fanny Show! I guess that all three of them are going to work differently, firstly talking about those Scottish Country Hall shows, you did a couple of those last year so do they work exactly the same as when you do those back at home in Aus?
“Almost, they're slightly different from the way that they run in Aus because it's been running for such a long time and just the way that it's built, it's an application based thing, so all the halls apply to host. I put out applications out and I get like hundreds of halls apply and then I work through the halls. That's just because of the way it's grown and its reputation but because I'm still building it here, that, I suppose is different. Like we kind of reached out but we did have some halls come to us, which was cool. In terms of the show itself, it’s pretty similar, like we get their local committee or a club who will do the food and then they have volunteers to help us run the door, we run the production and we’re the promoter so we work with the community really closely. In that sense, it is pretty much the same, which is cool. When I was first thinking about doing it, I was like, look, if we've managed to do this in the middle of regional Australia where it's like, so far from anything else, where people are going to music for the first time in their lives. It's just a culture that's slightly different in terms of how people access music and so I was like, we've made it work there, then surely we can make it work in a place where music is a part of their every day and is a beating heart. Yeah, it was it was a bit of a risk, we're taking all of the risk, but it's worked out so well, they’re like our most successful shows, they're amazing.”
“It was the most magical few weeks, I was so busy leading up to it, I hadn't really put muh forethought into how the experience was going to be itself and it was amazing, just playing on my own and travelling on my own when I usually have like an entourage of so many people like kids, band members, friends, family and stuff, was so amazing. Being so independent was just such a true ride so being able to really focus on that and just get into the experience of going to see these beautiful cities that I hadn't been to before, like I had never been to Berlin and I hadn't been to Paris and Amsterdam for like twenty years or something when I was a teenager, so it was super nice just to like get back there. Then with the shows, all of the audiences were really open and I got to hang out with like a total hero, which Paul Kelly is and he's such an incredible songwriter, thinker and just a kind person. To be sitting in the van and with PK was a real treat.”
For you especially as you're a long way from home for a very long time, yes it is a work trip but you don’t want to go back and someone asks you how was Berlin? Then you’re like, I don't really know, I just saw my hotel and backstage at the venue.
“Very true. I mean, I had a lot of work I could have been doing, but I actually made a conscious decision to just live a little parallel life for a minute and take in all those opportunities. I wanted to see the towns and just see something to experience something about each city. I'm so glad I did because as soon as my tour starts, it's going to be mad and I won't get that.”
Yeah, reinforcements are on the way and your entourage is going to get bigger for your tour. There’s kind of like three parts to it to talk about where you’ve got the Country Hall shows in Scotland, you've got the festival dates and then the typical Fanny Show! I guess that all three of them are going to work differently, firstly talking about those Scottish Country Hall shows, you did a couple of those last year so do they work exactly the same as when you do those back at home in Aus?
“Almost, they're slightly different from the way that they run in Aus because it's been running for such a long time and just the way that it's built, it's an application based thing, so all the halls apply to host. I put out applications out and I get like hundreds of halls apply and then I work through the halls. That's just because of the way it's grown and its reputation but because I'm still building it here, that, I suppose is different. Like we kind of reached out but we did have some halls come to us, which was cool. In terms of the show itself, it’s pretty similar, like we get their local committee or a club who will do the food and then they have volunteers to help us run the door, we run the production and we’re the promoter so we work with the community really closely. In that sense, it is pretty much the same, which is cool. When I was first thinking about doing it, I was like, look, if we've managed to do this in the middle of regional Australia where it's like, so far from anything else, where people are going to music for the first time in their lives. It's just a culture that's slightly different in terms of how people access music and so I was like, we've made it work there, then surely we can make it work in a place where music is a part of their every day and is a beating heart. Yeah, it was it was a bit of a risk, we're taking all of the risk, but it's worked out so well, they’re like our most successful shows, they're amazing.”
We’ve got the typical Fanny Show for the rest of the UK shows and the London show is way out east in Hackney. I like Oslo as a venue and now that I’ve moved house the journey is a bit easier so that will be a fun night with Lauren and Mr Dibb et al opening up for you. You said that new music's bubbling so are we going to get to hear some at these shows over here?
“We'll definitely have one or two in it for sure, I'll probably do an acoustic one and then we'll do one with the band from the new ones and then we've got a slightly new medley that we do this time plus we've got a slightly different band as well this time because some of the members couldn't make it on this trip. My brother had a stroke, so he's had to have a little rest and sit this tour out, he's doing really well but it's really difficult for him to sit at home, watch and not be here. Don’t worry, we'll probably have him in some version but just not the real human, you know? Like, we couldn't do it without him so I'm just going to leave it out there that there'll be some version of Tom, but it's not the real human being. We've got a local player playing with us as well, but otherwise, my band from Aus has come over and it'll be so much fun as per usual, there'll be lots of bells, whistles and silly bits as well as the serious songwriter parts but yeah, a few new things kind of chucked in there too.”
You've just put an image in my head. Last year, we went to see Kaleo at play at Wembley Arena, he had Shane Smith and the Saints open up for him but before Shane they had an Icelandic guy on first that had a cardboard cutout of a bloke that looked like an extra out of Vikings and that sort of idea wouldn’t be out of place in your shows LOL.
Then the third set of shows are the festivals, which are a really good opportunity to get yourself out to a new audience and things. On that, they're obviously generally a shorter set than your own shows that you play so how does the Fanny Show differ between a show in a room compared to outside where it is potentially pissing down with rain, people who have no idea who you are and a lot of them have been on the sauce for half of the afternoon?
“So, there'll be less chat, I mean, there's still going to be chat because I can't help it and I also just don't think it would be a Fanny show without the chat. So it won't be completely mute, but it's a little less chat. We keep it pretty upbeat with the festival sets and it's a bit slicker usually, or at least we try but it's still us. I don't try to remove any of the like silliness and stuff, if anything, it probably gets more silly. We just have to trim it up a bit, try and be a bit more professional just so we can keep to time slots but it's still us through and through.”
Well, I'm hoping to come to two of them! Country Calling is a new one in a place called Chelmsford which is my hometown. It’s where I went to college and where my parents live so I'm going to go and drop off my washing then stumble in drunk late at night when I go and stay with them for the weekend. It’s the first year that they've run the festival but the site itself at Highlands was where a really big pop event called V Festival used to be where like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Ed Sheeran, Kylie Minogue and I mean everyone played it back in the day. It’s really cool for to have a country and Americana festival happening where I grew up so I’m really looking forward to that and then the other one is The Long Road, which is one of the nicest festivals over here, just the way it's all sort of set out and themed. You are only there one day, are you just doing the one set do you know?
“Yeah, we’re just doing the one set and we’ve actually got a really tight day so, we're going to get there early because we play first on the main stage but we need to get off the stage and drive straight to the airport because I need to be at there like three hours later.”
Oh wow, so is it literally is the end of the trip and you’re heading home straight after that?
“Yeah, we're flying straight into Perth to start the arena tour with Paul Kelly a few days later so we land and then the next day start the tour. It's so tight!”
That’s brutal but I do like the idea of you starting off everyone’s day because I think you are one of the best people to get that crowd in the mood so that’s really cool. You’ve done festivals here before because you did Underneath The Stars which is Kate Rusby’s one up in Yorkshire last time.
“Well, we’ve played two festivals there as we did Glastonbury too.”
Oh yeah, THAT tiny little festival as well.
“We'll definitely have one or two in it for sure, I'll probably do an acoustic one and then we'll do one with the band from the new ones and then we've got a slightly new medley that we do this time plus we've got a slightly different band as well this time because some of the members couldn't make it on this trip. My brother had a stroke, so he's had to have a little rest and sit this tour out, he's doing really well but it's really difficult for him to sit at home, watch and not be here. Don’t worry, we'll probably have him in some version but just not the real human, you know? Like, we couldn't do it without him so I'm just going to leave it out there that there'll be some version of Tom, but it's not the real human being. We've got a local player playing with us as well, but otherwise, my band from Aus has come over and it'll be so much fun as per usual, there'll be lots of bells, whistles and silly bits as well as the serious songwriter parts but yeah, a few new things kind of chucked in there too.”
You've just put an image in my head. Last year, we went to see Kaleo at play at Wembley Arena, he had Shane Smith and the Saints open up for him but before Shane they had an Icelandic guy on first that had a cardboard cutout of a bloke that looked like an extra out of Vikings and that sort of idea wouldn’t be out of place in your shows LOL.
Then the third set of shows are the festivals, which are a really good opportunity to get yourself out to a new audience and things. On that, they're obviously generally a shorter set than your own shows that you play so how does the Fanny Show differ between a show in a room compared to outside where it is potentially pissing down with rain, people who have no idea who you are and a lot of them have been on the sauce for half of the afternoon?
“So, there'll be less chat, I mean, there's still going to be chat because I can't help it and I also just don't think it would be a Fanny show without the chat. So it won't be completely mute, but it's a little less chat. We keep it pretty upbeat with the festival sets and it's a bit slicker usually, or at least we try but it's still us. I don't try to remove any of the like silliness and stuff, if anything, it probably gets more silly. We just have to trim it up a bit, try and be a bit more professional just so we can keep to time slots but it's still us through and through.”
Well, I'm hoping to come to two of them! Country Calling is a new one in a place called Chelmsford which is my hometown. It’s where I went to college and where my parents live so I'm going to go and drop off my washing then stumble in drunk late at night when I go and stay with them for the weekend. It’s the first year that they've run the festival but the site itself at Highlands was where a really big pop event called V Festival used to be where like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Ed Sheeran, Kylie Minogue and I mean everyone played it back in the day. It’s really cool for to have a country and Americana festival happening where I grew up so I’m really looking forward to that and then the other one is The Long Road, which is one of the nicest festivals over here, just the way it's all sort of set out and themed. You are only there one day, are you just doing the one set do you know?
“Yeah, we’re just doing the one set and we’ve actually got a really tight day so, we're going to get there early because we play first on the main stage but we need to get off the stage and drive straight to the airport because I need to be at there like three hours later.”
Oh wow, so is it literally is the end of the trip and you’re heading home straight after that?
“Yeah, we're flying straight into Perth to start the arena tour with Paul Kelly a few days later so we land and then the next day start the tour. It's so tight!”
That’s brutal but I do like the idea of you starting off everyone’s day because I think you are one of the best people to get that crowd in the mood so that’s really cool. You’ve done festivals here before because you did Underneath The Stars which is Kate Rusby’s one up in Yorkshire last time.
“Well, we’ve played two festivals there as we did Glastonbury too.”
Oh yeah, THAT tiny little festival as well.
“Yeah, you know that first ever gig that we did, that really small one on the Avalon stage, that's right.”
Very true but Glasto is so big that you can't really compare it to anything else but coming back more so to Underneath The Stars, in terms of like how festivals seem to work here compared to events back home and stuff, do you see a lot of similarities?
“Yes and no, Underneath The Stars was a festival that just, honestly was one of my favourite performances we've ever done. There was just something about it, it's very rare that EVERYTHING goes right at a festival and like everything, the sound, the crowd were the most unreal how they were loving it but they'd never heard of us and they were just there with us for every note. The band had the best time, everything just went so well and we all got off stage and we were like, did that just happen? So, we have like, I don't know a really high bar from that festival for us, just experience wise, audience response and stuff. I think that Australia has some really great festivals, it really does but the UK does festivals in a very special way.”
Leaving the most important question of all to last and we’ve said that everyone's heading over to join you now, but are the rest of your guys, particularly your kids more excited about a certain chain of baked goods rather than your actual shows? Has it been something that's been talked about very heavily?
“It has, it has, in fact, the people that are not coming have already requested the photo of the first one that we all eat together.”
What you need to do is, like if you're doing like a video diary or daily reels or whatever, is have a tally at the bottom of total Greggs eaten and Irn-bru drunk on the tour!
“Totally and we're up for any other like iconic things that we should try, like suggestions, bring them on!”
I’m sure you will find plenty of new things to try and I'll see you in a couple of weeks at Oslo, then I'll see you in Chelmsford and I'll be able to wave you from the crowd at Long Road. As always my friend, it's so good to catch up and we’ll meet again IRL real soon.
Belladrum Festival, Inverness 31st July
Astley Hall, Arisaig 1st August
Balquhidder Hall, Balquhidder 2nd August
Three Villages Hall, Arrochar 3rd August
De Barra’s, Clonakilty, Ireland 6th August
Coughlans, Cork, Ireland 7th August
Dolans, Limerick, Ireland 8th August
Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland 9th August
Whelans, Dublin, Ireland 10th August
Yes (Pink Room), Manchester 12th August
Oslo, London 13th August
Exchange, Bristol 14th August
Beautiful Days Festival, Devon 15th August
Country Calling Festival, Chelmsford 16th August
Komedia, Brighton 17th August
Forty Five Vinyl Café, York 20th August
Solfest, Cumbria 21st August
Greenbelt Festival, Northants 22nd August
The Long Road Festival, Lutterworth 23rd August
Fanny Lumsden’s version of “Somebody That I Used To Know” is available to stream or buy HERE. The UK and Ireland tour is underway with all dates shown above with any last remaining tickets available on her WEBSITE. You can also keep up to date with all that Fanny is up to during this summer’s tour by checking out her socials on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK FACEBOOK or TWITTER.
Very true but Glasto is so big that you can't really compare it to anything else but coming back more so to Underneath The Stars, in terms of like how festivals seem to work here compared to events back home and stuff, do you see a lot of similarities?
“Yes and no, Underneath The Stars was a festival that just, honestly was one of my favourite performances we've ever done. There was just something about it, it's very rare that EVERYTHING goes right at a festival and like everything, the sound, the crowd were the most unreal how they were loving it but they'd never heard of us and they were just there with us for every note. The band had the best time, everything just went so well and we all got off stage and we were like, did that just happen? So, we have like, I don't know a really high bar from that festival for us, just experience wise, audience response and stuff. I think that Australia has some really great festivals, it really does but the UK does festivals in a very special way.”
Leaving the most important question of all to last and we’ve said that everyone's heading over to join you now, but are the rest of your guys, particularly your kids more excited about a certain chain of baked goods rather than your actual shows? Has it been something that's been talked about very heavily?
“It has, it has, in fact, the people that are not coming have already requested the photo of the first one that we all eat together.”
What you need to do is, like if you're doing like a video diary or daily reels or whatever, is have a tally at the bottom of total Greggs eaten and Irn-bru drunk on the tour!
“Totally and we're up for any other like iconic things that we should try, like suggestions, bring them on!”
I’m sure you will find plenty of new things to try and I'll see you in a couple of weeks at Oslo, then I'll see you in Chelmsford and I'll be able to wave you from the crowd at Long Road. As always my friend, it's so good to catch up and we’ll meet again IRL real soon.
Belladrum Festival, Inverness 31st July
Astley Hall, Arisaig 1st August
Balquhidder Hall, Balquhidder 2nd August
Three Villages Hall, Arrochar 3rd August
De Barra’s, Clonakilty, Ireland 6th August
Coughlans, Cork, Ireland 7th August
Dolans, Limerick, Ireland 8th August
Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland 9th August
Whelans, Dublin, Ireland 10th August
Yes (Pink Room), Manchester 12th August
Oslo, London 13th August
Exchange, Bristol 14th August
Beautiful Days Festival, Devon 15th August
Country Calling Festival, Chelmsford 16th August
Komedia, Brighton 17th August
Forty Five Vinyl Café, York 20th August
Solfest, Cumbria 21st August
Greenbelt Festival, Northants 22nd August
The Long Road Festival, Lutterworth 23rd August
Fanny Lumsden’s version of “Somebody That I Used To Know” is available to stream or buy HERE. The UK and Ireland tour is underway with all dates shown above with any last remaining tickets available on her WEBSITE. You can also keep up to date with all that Fanny is up to during this summer’s tour by checking out her socials on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK FACEBOOK or TWITTER.
