1. The First Song I Wrote
The first song I ever wrote was a song called ‘Blue Pyjamas And Raisin Toast’. I wrote it when I was about 15. I used to surf in the mornings before school and would cruise around in my blue PJs and get really excited to eat that cool, new-at-the-time raisin toast. It involved my girlfriend at the time too. In hindsight it was so lame. But it was honest, and I remember feeling early on that honesty is the strongest thing a song can have.
2. The Last Song I Released
My latest release is ‘Breakneck Speed’. It’s the first single off my next album which will be out in August. I wrote it whilst touring through the multicolour fantasy world that is Quebec in the autumn. I found calm, even though the touring was relentless and stressful. It’s a celebration of finding that calm in life when it was moving at such a high speed.
3. Songwriting Secrets
I think the best ideas happen quickly, calmly and won’t be forced. Neil Young said, “You just gotta keep showin’ up.” That’s the secret: sit down, 20 times a day if you like, and have a play. If nothing comes, bail and do something else. then show up again.
4. The Song That Makes Me Proud
Probably a song dedicated to my grandmother called ‘Rosemary’. It’s on the new album. It’s from the perspective of an old man who was in the opposite ward to my grandma in the few weeks before they both passed away. His mind was beginning to shut down and he, for some reason, decided my grandmother was the love of his life. She went along with it and they actually spent a good amount of time together in the final two weeks of their life. It makes me love the mysteries of the human mind and I think she would have liked it.
5. The Song That Changed My Life
Probably ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay. I was ten. The album had just dropped and I fell for it really hard. I went through like four copies of that album. It just connected me with melody like nothing I had ever experienced. It made me realise I wanted to move people like it had moved me. I wanted to write music that could be the soundtrack and the support and the motivation to life.
Kim Churchill plays Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Saturday May 20.
