Josh Pyke in all Variations

The lovely Josh Pyke is talking about his childhood.

“I was a bit of a daydreamer” he notes, “never much good at sports; at lunchtime I had to occupy my time somehow. I had friends but I was a bit lost. When I was twelve, I joined a band and, from then on, I had found something I could do and be a part of..."

"I remember stupid daydreams I had, I remember books I used to read; Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Narnia...I played Voodoo Castle, it was an adventure game, text-based, like a choose your own adventure...”

So we come now to the Josh of 2009. Replacing Voodoo Castle with sell out national tours and daydreaming at lunchtime with artistic creation and commercial success, I think it’s safe to say Mr Pyke has done rather well. So what is he reading these days? “I go through phases. Sometimes I won’t read anything then I’ll read five books in a row. I do ingest a lot of literature, it’s the same with music; I can listen to a record non-stop, then I have to put it away and I can’t put it on for a while”

Josh talks briefly about his home life, considering he uses his music (especially Our House Breathing, from his latest album, Chimney's Afire, which is only brilliant and I suggest you invest in it) to wish out loud about having a place to call his own while out on the road.

“I haven’t spent much time at home in the last coupla years” he says. “I was obsessed with writing about home; I give personal elements in my music a lot. I’m a pretty normal guy so the concept of fame and stuff, I don’t feel that comfortable with. Home is where I can be my normal idiot self; in the last record I was in between sharehouses, I think I spent seventy-six percent of the year in hotel rooms. I was desperate for a place to hang my hat”

So, when will Mr Pyke stop doing it all and chuck it up for a nine-to-five? Not bloody soon.

“I’ll stop doing all this when I’m not enjoying it. I’ve always fantasized about being a career musician, paying rent and bills from being a muso. I’ve always been compelled to play music because I live it; it gives me joy, especially playing live. If it ever became a drag or I just felt uninspired, I reckon I’d think about doing something else. Don’t wanna flog a dead horse"

"I love doing it and if I didn’t love doing it, people would notice; it would depress me if ten years of joy and great times would end in being cynical and disappointing people who have come to see you play. I can’t really see it getting to that point; it should’ve by now if it was gonna!”

As you may know, Josh is heading out on the Variations tour (named after a track on Chimney’s Afire). The shows will be set out different to your average night out, and this is something Josh feels will make all the difference.

“I really want people to get something a bit different when they see me. I try to do something different every show. You want it to feel like we’re all in it together. I get a lot of crowd interaction in my shows; there’s nothing like singing and a whole crowd of people singing back to you. One third of the show will be me solo, acoustic stuff, another third will be stripped back with different instrument like toy piano or mandolin and in another third I’ll bring out the band"

"These will be my last shows for the album and I wanna give something back, say thank you...”

No, Josh, thank you!

JOSH PYKE PLAYS:

29 Oct- The Palace - Melbourne
30 Oct- Big Top, Luna Park - Sydney
31 Oct- Stonefest - Canberra
3 Nov- Darwin Entertainment Centre - Darwin
5 Nov- The Hi-Fi- Brisbane
6 Nov- Fremantle Arts Centre - Perth

Guests on the tour will be Gin Wigmore and Fergus Brown.

Chimney's Afire is out now on Ivy League.

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