There’s no denying Melburnians are exceedingly proud of their city, especially when it comes to the local music scene. Generally speaking, this smugness is justified by the breadth and diversity of live music on offer in Melbourne all year round. However, as LA-based Melbourne native Tim Wheatley explains, this doesn’t mean Melbourne promises ‘the good life’ to all aspiring local musicians.
“I consider Melbourne one of the great places to cut your chops,” he says, “but there’s not a lot of work out there in Melbourne. As a performer I found it hard, without turning to covers, playing a couple of nights a week down there.”
Armed with a stack of folky pop-rock tunes, Wheatley relocated to Los Angeles 18 months ago. The pop culture worship that permeates America’s large population means the potential for generating a steady income through music is enhanced over there. And it’s not only those sitting at the top of the charts who are able to make a buck out of music.
“There’s a great rootsy scene, there’s a great singer-songwriter scene,” Wheatley says. “You can make a decent living just by working in California alone. There’s a lot more people that seem to go out with expectations to certain venues, knowing almost what they’re going to get. Whereas in Melbourne, the venues have to rotate the crowd in order to survive. Over here you go to a singer-songwriter venue or you go to a rock’n’roll venue and you know what you’re going to get when you go there.”
In July this year, Wheatley released his first official solo EP, Crooked Saint. Since that time he’s been doing his utmost to get the attention of as many Americans as possible. In order to do so, his job has had to extend beyond simply playing music.
“[I’m trying to] establish myself with as many people as I possibly can off the back of this EP,” he explains, “in hope that they will consider me quite a nice person and worthy of some kind words on the album. It will help sell a few. I’ll shake everyone’s hand in America if it means selling a record.”
The path to commercial success will always be impossible to calculate, but the US mainstream market is known for being especially fickle. In the past, the quest for American success has caused many Australian bands to change their name, get an image makeover, rework lyrics or even adjust their personnel. Wheatley admits that Crooked Saint’s lead single, ‘Burning The Midnight Oil’, was revised specifically for US radio. “We wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t say that the song’s too long or the intro’s too long or [ask], ‘Where does it sit with regards to genre?’ We wanted to make it real clear-cut to everyone where the song stood, so that there were no excuses.”
Tailoring the single to suit radio station tastes isn’t the only compromise Wheatley felt compelled to make. The four-track Crooked Saint EP is a shortened version of a full-length album that Wheatley and his backing band recorded just prior to his move overseas. While he concedes it was necessary to do it this way, with a bit of luck the album won’t be withheld for too much longer.
“I’m still a bit of a purist in that I still buy vinyl and I like to listen to records,” he says. “The purity of a complete record and the journey it takes you on is what got me into music. I would like to get the record out and I’d like to get the record out as soon as humanly possible.”
Crooked Saint out now through Ironbark / Universal.Catch him at theAnnandale Hotel on Thursday October 16 and TheWelcome Hotel Sunday October 19.
