After two years in the studio, Melbourne pop chanteuse Georgia Fields is set to release her self-titled debut album (Georgia Fields) on October 9th, Her infectious singles “Something Borrowed, Something Blue” and “One Finger”  have had us on a downloading frenzy and she very kindly took some time out of her busy schedule to chat with MoM about her up coming show at The Workers Club, the debut album and men in bad pink shirts (among other things…)

MoM – Please tell us about yourself, how did you get involved in music – Have
you always sung or is it a talent that you acquired as you grew older?

Georgia – My parents were in a band that was fronted by my uncle Bill Miller (The Ferrets), so there was always music in our house.  I started singing and writing songs on piano when I was 8 years old, but it wasn’t until I was living in London in my mid 20s that I really decided to throw myself into the creative ambition full time.  I’d travelled from the bottom of South America to the top of Central America, over to the UK, and ended up working as a corporate receptionist.  One of the senior consultants at the firm (whom I’d been working with for 8 months) forgot my name and called me ‘sweetie’ –it was like a slap in the face.  I realised that if I didn’t do something dramatic and change paths soon, I’d spend the rest of my years working in a job that I hated having my name forgotten by men wearing impossibly ugly ties with pink shirts.  I booked a flight home as soon as possible and called in sick from Bangkok.  When I got home I reconnected with my childhood friend Judith Hamann and started work on writing and performing faster than you can say ‘refill the copy machine’.

MoM – How would you describe your music, who would you say your greatest
musical influences are?

Georgia – If pressed to explain my music in 7 words, I would say ‘indie-pop with orchestral arrangements and unconventional instruments’ (for example, children’s toys or a cordless drill).  As far as influences go, from an early age I was schooled in The Beatles and I’m also a big Beach Boys fan.

MoM – What music are you listening to at the moment?

Georgia – Right now I’m (still) listening to ‘Pet Sounds’ and ‘With the Beatles’.  They are on very rotation on the turntable at home!  As for modern artists, I am in love with Sally Seltmann’s new record ‘Heart That’s Pounding’.  Other CDs stacked next to the player in the kitchen are Elliott Smith’s ‘Figure 8’, Grizzly Bear’s ‘Veckatimest’ and Angie Hart’s ‘Eat My Shadow.’

MoM – Your self titled debut album “Georgia Fields” seems to have been a labour of love, taking over two years to record – Can you describe the writing and recording process for us?

Georgia – If this album were a cake recipe, it would be the kind that you make up as you go, and then can’t remember when you want to try it again.  I’d been writing and performing a lot with Judith, but because I didn’t have any funding when we started, and because I was still writing parts of the album while we were in pre-production, the album evolved a lot during the recording process.  It was such a wonderful and brutal learning curve!  I was undertaking a Bachelor of Music at NMIT (I’m currently deferred while I finish the album), and I met producer Greg Arnold through my studies there.  Greg started demo-ing with myself and Judith, we even booked the school theatre space and started tracking singles ‘One Finger’ and ‘Something Borrowed, Something Blue’ with the Mini-Indie-Orchestra while we were in the process of signing to indie label Popboomerang.  When the funding from Arts Victoria came through, it opened doors for us to record with Dave McCluney at Atlantis Sound in Port Melbourne.  Last week the album was mastered by Jim Demain at Yes Master studios in Nashville, and he’s worked with Dolly Parton, June Carter-Cash, Patty Griffin… He even mastered the Dirty Dancing sound track!  It’s pretty surreal to hold the finished product in my hands now.

MoM – What was the inspiration behind the album?

Georgia – Because it’s a debut, and the songs weren’t written as a batch (or pod… or flock… what is the collective noun for ‘songs’?), there isn’t really a consistent thread or theme running through the album.  It’s really just a collection of my thoughts and excursions into the story telling realm.  Most of the stories are about my friends and my experiences, there is only one non-autobiographical song on the record.  I guess it’s part documentary and part catharsis for me.

MoM – Do you have a favourite track, is there a story behind it?

Georgia – I don’t know if I have a favourite song on the album, they’re all such dear friends… But there’s a bit of a story to ‘White Flag’.  It’s the youngest song that made it onto the album.  I wrote it in a period of sheer despondency – I had been applying for grants and working as hard as I could to find funding for the album.  With the huge orchestral arrangements I wanted, there was just no way to do it cheap, and it just felt like I was never going to get there.  It was as if I had reached the light at the end of the tunnel, only to discover it was a joke lantern placed there in the darkness by someone who wanted to see my bottom lip quiver.  Anyway, the day after writing the song I contracted really severe food poisoning, and was reduced to part-human-part-puddle in sweaty sheets.  The afternoon mail arrived, and my boyfriend at the time read me my letter from Arts Victoria, stating that I had been awarded over $16,000 to make the album, while I retched yellow bile into my bedside bucket.  Best food poisoning cure ever!

MoM – You’ve had the chance to play with some amazing Aussie artists over the last couple of years like Angie Hart and Abby Dobson, do you have any touring/performing stories that you could share with our readers?

Georgia – Angie Hart and I played at Charles Jenkins’ 2^nd Annual Winter Ball in July recently, we did sang a song as a trio with Mr Jenkins himself, and Angie also sang backing vocals on a song of mine.  I had ‘extreme technical failure’ with my ukulele input, which resulted in heinous crackling explosion sounds, audience murmurs, and me feeling so nervous I thought I was going to vomit directly onto the fold back speakers.  I ended up unplugging the uke and Angie swapped mics around like a puppeteer, as well as singing, as well as giggling uncontrollably with me… The audience applauded at the end but I think they were mainly just stunned that we didn’t poke each other’s eyes out with the mic stands.  Ms Hart is such a trooper.

MoM – What’s next for you?

Georgia – I’m touring through October and November – something I haven’t done much of until now.  I’m so looking forward to playing in new cities and meeting some new musicians and audiences.  As a general rule, I like to try and buy a good opp shop dress in each city that I visit.  We’ll see if it’s possible while also playing shows!  All the dates will be up at www.myspace.com/georgiafields.

MoM – What’s your favourite “secret” Melbourne place?

Georgia - I used to have a ‘secret’ opp shop, filled to the brim with cheap vintage fare, but it has since been discovered by many young hipsters, much to my dismay.  And I have many favourite coffee places in the northern suburbs, but none of them are very secret.  I would say my favourite secret place in Melbourne is the Dassanayaka Yoga studio on Bastings Street in Northcote.  I’ve been doing yoga for about 6-months now and it has been an incredible experience.  Channa has a jaw-droppingly beautiful home and everyone should come along for at least one lesson.  He also gives Sri Lankan cooking lessons with vegies from the organic community garden!

Catch Georgia playing The Workers Club this Thursday 26th August, supported by special guests The Bon Scotts and Courtney Barnett – Doors open at 8:30pm

Story – Janey Umback

Picture – Georgia Fields