Australian singer/songwriter and guitarist Dan Kelly left Melbourne for Campbells Creek in Victoria to find his epicentre. His latest album Goldfeels captures the personal shifts that took place – not just geographically, but the emotional that came with it too.
From the heavy lows [he lost his father during COVID] and the environmental disasters that raged from floods to bushfires, it all imparted a new narrative base for the new album.
Dan Kelly worked with producer and friend Dan Luscombe [Courtney Barnett, Amyl and the Sniffers] to make Goldfeels – recruiting his respected Aussie musicians to play on it – from Tropical Fuck Storm’s Erica Dunn and Lauren Hammel, Ben Woolley [Marlon Williams] and Peter Luscombe [Paul Kelly, Black Sorrows] and Tom Lyncolgn of Harmony and Nation Blue fame to name a few.
Dan Kelly talks to The Write Drop for our At The Bar series.
MY CITY
My city is the little hamlet of Campbells Creek on the edge of Castlemaine. I live near the footy ground, and though the team has some struggles, I love to walk up there every second Saturday in winter and bum a cigarette off the local plumber guy and watch them get pounded in the sleet. From the ashes of defeat the phoenix will possibly rise. I love all the local birds. The Superb Fairy Wren, The Spotted Pardalote, the Corellas chortling en masse at sunset, the occasional flash of Rosellas zooming across the garden. The sunsets are really quite something.
FAVOURITE FOOD MEMORY
I worked as a cook at Claypot’s Restaurant a long time ago in St Kilda. At the end of the shift, the boss Renan would make a big seafood pasta with the leftover fish and prawns. Joao Gilberto or Adriano Celentano would be on the multi stack CD player. We’d sit down and drink wine out of simple tumblers. We stank of fish and garlic. I’d ride home drunk through the poet streets of Elwood and stand in the shower with sounds of The Gories or Julie Ruin pounding through into the bathroom from my flatmate’s bedroom.
FAVOURITE BAR
A half carafe of retsina over lunch anywhere in Greece
DRINK THAT DESCRIBES YOU
I made a cocktail during lockdown from all the leftover red products at 2 am. Bress Pinot Noir, Maidenii red vermouth, some Sodastream etc I called this ‘Seagulls Blood’. It was a dark time.
BEST HANGOVER CURE
Swim in the ocean or local water body. The colder the better.
BEST INTERSTATE BAR
A cold beer at the Darwin Ski Club is pretty tops. Watch the crocodile races.
OVERSEAS BAR
96 Tears in New York. Run by beautiful people. Incredible punk and garage memorabilia. Fantastic thoughtful weird music coming from the DJ booth.
FAVOURITE WINE
Bobar Syrah or Fanny Finch is the most delicious non-interventionist wine from the Yarra Valley.
FAVOURITE WINERY
I played at Sandalford Winery in Perth last year and met Adam Gilchrist. Lovely dude. If you can organise a meeting with Gilly, I’d recommend a day out there.
YOU LIVE IN CASTLEMAINE – WHAT DOES THIS PART OF VIC BRING TO YOUR MUSIC?
Some really dark piano chords and a hint of old time Irish traditional music. Magnetic tonal variance from the gold under my feet.
WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT MELBOURNE
Sri Lankan food. Indonesian food. The Fitzroy Pool. Filthy dive bars.
WHERE DID YOU WRITE THE NEW ALBUM?
At my piano in Campbells Creek between 7am and 7:30am over a couple of years.
THREE SONGS EXPLAINED:
At the Bushfire Benefit has echoes of ‘My Drug Buddy’ by the Lemonheads in it, as well as echoes of ‘Brave Brave Sir Robin’ by Monty Python.
Sea Shepherd Cook was written after kayaking to Bruny Island at night with the author Richard Flanagan.
Escape from the Internet uses a ropey guitar tuning from the band Polvo. I recommend taking some dexies you get off an ADHD friend and driving through the bush while listening to their tune Vibracobra at problematic volume levels.
WHAT’S NEXT
If I don’t make art and have a crack at making something beautiful and interesting, I feel pretty lost and pointless. I’m inspired by my friends and want to impress them. That hasn’t really changed. But you get less gung-ho and more serious about it in your dotage.
