Five Minutes With Rachel Collis

1.Your Profile

I’m like Ben Folds or Regina Spektor. I play piano, I love good old-fashioned songwriting and storytelling and have a tendency to be overly honest in my songs (which mostly looks like Joni Mitchell, but very occasionally like Tim Minchin). My band is me, bass (Michael Galeazzi) and drums (Mike Quigley).

2.Keeping Busy

In May this year, after an 18-month period of writing, I went into the studio with a producer (Sean Carey) and emerged six weeks later with my second album, Nightlight. Since then I’ve done a few performances in Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra and I’m looking forward to launching the album with my band at Foundry616 on Friday October 31. After that, the next big thing on the agenda is a more comprehensive tour with the band.

3.Best Gig Ever

I’ve been lucky enough to have had a number of really enjoyable performance experiences so it’s quite hard to pick my absolute favourite! In March this year I performed with my band at Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, which was possibly my most enjoyable gig in recent times. I grew up in Parramatta so performing at Riverside feels like coming home. Incidentally I’d been in Adelaide the month before doing four performances at the Fringe Festival. Three out of four performances had been wonderful, but one of them was perhaps the most difficult gig of my career. It started badly – I tripped in the dark coming onstage – and ended worse, with one reviewer saying my lyrics were too passionate, and another saying my lyrics were entirely lacking in passion! Coming back to Sydney and then performing at Riverside to my home crowd (and to good reviews!) felt pretty darn good after that experience.

4.Current Playlist

I’m discovering Sarah McLachlan at the moment – people keep making comparisons so I felt it was time I got to know her music better. Also on the playlist is Sheryl Crow’s latest, Darius Rucker, Kate Miller-Heidke, Sara Bareilles and Kasey Chambers. My most recent local discovery is singer-songwriter Renny Field. I’ve had his album on repeat.

5.Your Ultimate Rider

My ultimate rider would most definitely include a designated parking spot just for me right outside the venue door, with a big muscly roadie ready and waiting to unload all my heavy gear and set it up while I sip a cocktail in the corner (I’ve injured myself and my gear one too many times trying to unload on my own!).