Road test ... Bernard Fanning will preview new songs at small fan club shows in January. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
BERNARD Fanning’s Spanish needs some work but his next record seems to be coming along quite nicely.
The former Powderfinger frontman has been back living in Madrid since June with his wife Andrea and their children Gabriella and Freddy.
He wants them to pick up his wife’s native language while they are young and refresh his own bilingual skills with a few lessons — in between songwriting for his third record.
Two decades worth of success courtesy of his band and then his No. 1 solo records Tea & Sympathy (more than five times platinum) and last year’s Departures (gold) buys Fanning the luxury of time to work on his next project.
Before heading overseas, he briefly joined another band, playing guitar and singing on Kasey Chamber’s latest record Bittersweet.
He was also a surprise guest during her set at Bluesfest in Byron Bay at Easter.
One of the band ... Kasey Chambers enlisted Fanning to play guitar and sing on her Bittersweet album, Picture: Facebook / Kasey Chambers. Source: Supplied
But now it is back to his day job and while Departures saw Fanning venture back into rock territory, he suggests his next record may return to the more acoustic-driven flavours of the wildly popular Tea & Sympathy.
The award-winning artist said he gained valuable insights into songwriting via the struggle not to repeat himself.
“I’ve gone back to writing on my acoustic guitar and my piano,” he says.
“With the last record, I had a whole lot of rules to stop myself from falling back on habits.
“I got that out of my system. Now I go to the room, pick up the guitar and whatever comes out, I’m OK with.”
It was the simple melodic beauty and heartfelt lyrics of Tea & Sympathy which struck a resounding chord with his Australian fans back in 2005.
Fanning jokes that album’s songwriting was governed by his “s … guitar playing”.
“No seriously, ask anyone I have played in a band with,” he says.
“But because of that, I have always really liked open tunings. I purposely won’t use any of the ones I used on Tea & Sympathy now because that was the sound of that record.
“It’s fun to play with those kind of tunings and somehow create some elaborate idea I can actually play guitar better than I do.”
The family has spent much of the last four years travelling and living out of Australia, both in Europe and the US.
Intimate shows ... the Powderfinger frontman will perform for fans, and animals, during his January tour. Picture: Phil Williams. Source: News Limited
When they come home in January, Fanning plans to test his new tunes at a couple of intimate fan club shows in addition to the twilight concerts he has booked at Taronga and Melbourne Zoos and a Leeuwin Estate Winery show.
He calculates it has been about 15 years since he had the opportunity to road-test fresh material with an audience before recording.
“I am slightly terrified,” he says, laughing.
“I think the last time that happened was around Odyssey Number Five and that’s almost a generation ago. People who went to those shows have become parents since then!
“Powderfinger tours were structured around the records so this is a rare chance to play new material to an audience which is hopefully open to it.”
Fanning fittingly opens his run of Australian shows at The Triffid, the new Brisbane venue opened by his former bandmate John Collin.
He also contributed to the solo record from Powderfinger guitarist Darren Middleton while Ian Haug has recently joined The Church.
New venue ... Powderfinger bandmate John Collins will welcome Fanning to The Triffid. Picture: Jamie Hanson. Source: News Corp Australia
The most surprising post-Powderfinger career seachange comes from drummer Jon Coghill, who has become an ABC reporter on the Sunshine Coast.
Fanning doesn’t know when or where he will record his third solo album next year.
But you can be certain he will reluctantly announce those details via the accepted social media channels.
The former Powderfinger frontman isn’t a fan of the kind of communication most artists accept as a mandatory marketing tool in the digital era.
Like most of his musical generation, he prefers to stoke a fan’s imagination rather than a sense of entitlement to all and any information about the artist and his work.
“When we grew up, we had no direct connection with the artist. You didn’t know what people were thinking all the time; you had the opportunity to invest your own imagination about what they were singing about.
“Everything didn’t have to be spelt out so clearly.”
In between now and the end of the year, Fanning may work up some other new material for his January zoo shows.
“Animal jokes could be a good idea.”
Bernard Fanning in concert:
Jan 22: The Triffid, Brisbane oztix.com.au
Jan 24: Leeuwin Estate Winery, Margaret River leeuwinestate.com.au
Jan 29: Newtown Social Club, Sydney newtownsocialclub.com
Jan 30: Twilight At Taronga, Sydney twilightattaronga.org.au
Jan 31: Melbourne Zoo twilights zoo.org.au
