Interview: Josh Pyke

By Sean Lynch

Interview with Australian Singer / Songwriter Josh Pyke

Josh Pyke

When it comes to the Australian music industry, there are very few artists who demand such respect and deliver as consistently as Josh Pyke.

With a handful of awards under his belt, along with a slew of hit records, and plenty of sell out tours life is pretty sweet for Josh Pyke.

Web Wombat Music's Sean Lynch caught up with Pyke in Sydney to discuss music, YouTube obsessions... and Voltron.

Considering you probably have 50 more interviews to do today, are there any questions I should stray away from that have been driving you nuts?

[Laughs] Oh, everyone just keeps asking about The Beatles White Album Concert thing [Laughs].

What answers have you been whipping out for that so far?

Everyone was just like "Was it good?" or "Did you think it was going to be good?" - and the answer is "It was excellent" and "But we didn't necessarily think it was going to be excellent".

So you didn't actually have faith in it yourself?

We had faith in it, we knew it was going to sound excellent, but we just wanted to be able to inject our individual personalities into it.

And we were worried when we attended the first rehearsals that maybe we weren't going to be able to do that.

Who came up with the idea for the White Album Show?

It was a production company...

So they assembled you all together like a Voltron toy or something?

Yeah - it was like we were all Lego's. It was like we were all different Lego's...

Which Lego / Voltron piece were you - The leg? The arm?

I was the head - I was obviously the head [Laughs].

The other question that seems to be asked of you a lot is: How does the Guitar Boat handle in water?

It didn't handle very well, because it was a flat bottom boat. But it was a real boat, they built it from scratch - it wasn't like they just got a tinny.

At first I just thought they were going to get an aluminum dingy and put some marine ply around it [Laughs].

You're songs are perfect to listen to when driving in the sun, on a freeway with your window down - do you consciously write songs that will suit certain moods?

Very early on I made a conscious decision to never over think song writing, and where the songs will end up - because you just never know.

They're all reasonably nostalgic, and they are all kind of telling a story, so I guess in terms of a place to listen to them...

I guess just a place where you are at liberty to let your mind wander a little bit.

Not that you want to let your mind wander to much when you're driving I guess...

It's been almost three years since I last spoke with you, and since then, you're career has really exploded.

Do you find it harder to write "relatable" lyrics, now that (what you would consider "normal") would be a dream life for others?

Believe it or not, my life isn't that much different. I still have the same group of friends I've had since I was five years old...

You're living in a cardboard box still aren't you...

[Laughs] Yeah, I'm actually homeless right now. This is a pay telephone [Laughs]...

I mean, obviously, there's been lots and lots of changes. Change is one thing, but it's the way you react to those changes that are the measure of the sort of person you are, I guess.

I don't really live any differently than I used to, except that I'm on tour a lot more.

But having said that, I have lots of friends who have normal jobs and they have to go away for work a lot anyway. So as long as I can try and keep my head in the frame of mind of not thinking of my life as particularly unusual, or thinking of myself as particularly unusual...

So there have been no moments where you've found thinking "Wow, this is kind of bizarre what's happening right now"?

Oh, definitely. I mean, The Beatles thing was crazy.

All those other guys Tim [Rogers] and Chris [Cheney] and Phil [Jamieson] were all of these people that I've known of, and have records of and seen shows of for years. So to be with those guys on stage and being mates with them...

Like, we all got matching tattoos at the end of the tour - you know, that kind of stuff definitely blows my mind a bit. Particularly with Tim, who I've been absolutely a massive fan of for a long time.

It's definately weird, but at the same time, you meet these people and they're completely just like anybody else. They've done a job for a long time that just happens to be a job that other people kind of think is [special].

You have a perception of how people live their life, but I don't think the way people live their life always has to do with what they do for a living. I think people would be living their life the same way whether they were musicians or lawyers...

I would like to see Tim Rogers as a lawyer though, just rocking up to court without a shirt on [Laughs]... Now, you covered Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights - did you ever consider remaking the famous video clip?

When I was learning that song, I pretty much learnt it off the YouTube footage of the video clip. So I saw that clip like a million times and I definately did a bit of interpretive dancing along the learning process of that song [Laughs].

On your trek through YouTube, what's the most f**ked up thing you've stumbled upon?

Oh God, there's a lot of weird stuff. All that "Street Fighting" stuff I think is pretty messed up. That was a big phase for a while, and it was always on the front page of YouTube.

It's like a train wreck, it's hard to look away...

What else have you been doing to keep yourself busy?

I'm at home in Sydney for a little while, we just shot a DVD over the weekend [that will be released at Christmas]...

Is it just videos of you Street Fighting?

[Laugh] You know that massive dude from Street Fighter - the massive black guy with the bald head? That's actually me...

I knew it [Laughs] ! You've toured Oz endlessly, have you found any secret hideaways in each city you'd like to visit while on the road?

There are lots of places, particularly in Perth down near Freo, that I love going to. We've kind of become experts at knowing the best places to get poached eggs and a proper coffee in every town - so that's always handy.

Maybe that should be on your DVD...

Well I really wanted to do a website called BREAKFAST CLUB.COM - but I'm... um... kind of busy [Laughs].

That's weird, because I literally watched The Breakfast Club yesterday...

Great film - great film!

If you were any Breakfast Club character, who would you be?

I would love to be bad ass, that sounds good, but I think I'm more like the dork...

You're no Judd Nelson...

I wish! But I think I'm more like the ginger haired kid [Laughs].

Before we go, if you were to die tomorrow and leave the world with one crazy "Richard Gere Gerbil" style myth on TMZ... what would it be?

Hmmm, it would have to be something really good and juicy...

What about : From 16 until 18, I was actually in a juvenile detention centre.

You ARE Judd Nelson!

I was in for... um... like, I beat up a teacher...

For a guy who writes fairly calm tunes, you've got a lot of violence in you [Laughs]. Street Fighting, Voltron Head, Juvie Hall... that's you [Laughs]

Yeah, that's me [Laughs]...

JOSH PYKE latest album is OUT NOW.