1.The First Record I Bought
T.N.T. by AC/DC in Parramatta with my pocket money that I had saved for several months. KISS, Dragon, Cold Chisel, Sherbet and AC/DC were all my heroes. Bon Scott and Angus Young were my heroes. They were the first forces to rock my little world. I was six years old. I still play that single and it makes me feel the same as it did back in 1977.
2.The Last Record I Bought
High Hopes by Bruce Springsteen. My wife Amanda and I are huge Bruce fans and we managed to see him a few times on the last few tours. There is something indescribable about The Boss and his live shows. I opened for him in Mahalia Barnes’ band in NZ in March. I stood in the wings and watched the whole show from the foldback desk. Insane. Best songwriter alive today and still touring.
3.The First Thing I Recorded
My aunty and I had our own radio show and we regularly made cassette tapes of our fave songs with hysterical impersonations and reviews about each artist and the music. She was my most influential confidant throughout my childhood. I would try and sing like everybody. We regularly played ABBA at full volume and scared the cows away from the house. It was the happiest time of my early life.
4.The Last Thing I Recorded
Lovelife. The new album features the title track I wrote for my wife about our journey, and a co-write with the album producer Paul Gray called ‘We Danced All Night’. We had a cuppa and created a list of all the covers we had played over the past 20 years together and as soon as we started demoing them we stopped writing because we realised my audience were going to fall in love with these fresh interpretations of some classic songs.
5.The Record That Changed My Life
Shine by Daniel Lanois. I had a year off in 2003 and moved into a house on the beach and got up every day and painted whatever I wanted to paint and wrote songs about anything I was feeling. It was an incredible experience. I didn’t listen to many vocal albums but I was very busy finding classical music and traditional Indian music to accompany my artistic endeavours. Shine was the album I played every sunset when I opened a bottle of something. It is one of the most beautiful and powerful collections of original songs I have ever heard. The production is sublime and the performances are mesmerising. It is very important to me. I can hear the opening track ‘I Love You’ and I am covered in goosebumps.
Catch Darren Percival performing at The Studio, Sydney Opera House on Friday June 27 and the Hunter Theatre in Newcastle on Saturday June 29. His recordLovelife is out now through Pelican Dreaming/MGM.
