Mia Dyson - Perfect Imperfection

If you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months you may have missed a series of Triple J AWOL gigs. An AWOL gig pretty much involves taking the hottest Australian musicians into regional areas of the country and getting them to perform to a massive crowd of extremely excited music lovers.

Thus far the youth broadcaster has invaded Humpty Doo, Karratha, Innisfail and it's about to hit Burnie this October. Mia Dyson recently performed at the Innisfail extravaganza alongside Grinspoon and the Red Riders. The Dwarf caught up with Dyson about a week before the gig to find out how she was feeling.

"It's going to be mad! I'm really excited about it actually. I'm going to have my new five piece band...It's really fun being on stage with that many people particularly because they're great musicians and because it's an unusual gig. It's out in a fairly remote place where people might not necessarily get a lot of music moving through and it's an unusual bill. It's not all blues music or rock. It's a real eclectic mix."

Since releasing Parking Lots in 2005, Dyson has toured Australia and overseas and she's also finished off her third album. Struck Down was recorded over two months earlier in the year and she is touring to support it this October. Dyson gives us an insight as to what audiences can expect.

"I'm not just going to play songs from the new album. There's still some songs on the second album that I really like to play that have had a new life been given to them through this new band...It's what feels right when you're on stage. Throughout the course of recording an album and beginning to play it live, you play through all the songs at certain gigs and get a feel for what songs work for the crowd. People always respond to them and often if they work for the crowd, they'll work for you. But then there are songs that I really like playing that aren't obvious crowd pleasers. So I'll just play the songs I feel like playing."

Struck Down is mixture a country, soul and rock and making the album has been a bit of a personal journey for Dyson. It's one that has left her feeling like she's made a real step forward as a songwriter, but Dyson admits that no matter how confident and happy she is with her music, it's never going to be perfect in her eyes.

"I definitely think that this album has taken me closer to achieving that ultimate songwriter's dream of finding the ultimate voice and the ultimate sound and the ultimate songs to represent who you are musically...but I'm never going to be a hundred per cent happy with what I do and this album is no different to that."

The issue of imperfection raises the difficult question of how a musician knows a song or an album is complete. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another. So what made Dyson decide that Struck Down was finished and ready to be released to the public?

"That's the ultimate question for a recording artist because I had real trouble working out when the songs were finished on this album. One of the dangers is that you can be overly zealous about it. You can think that the songs aren't finished when they are and just because you've had your head in it for so long you lose perspective. What initially to fresh ears would sound exciting and new, sounds to you boring and dull."

"I had a one week break after several weeks working on the record and when I came back, I was able to assess it properly...when I came back I was able to go 'no we actually have finished those songs but this one needs some extra work' and luckily I had the time to go back and fix a couple of things."

With the album out of the way there will only be the joys of touring to take in over the coming months, but while there's no doubt it will be a top run of shows, Dyson has already performed probably the most unforgettable tour of her life supporting childhood hero Bonnie Raitt.

"Supporting Bonnie Raitt earlier this year was like the total thrill of my music career. She's one of my heroes and I went to see her when I was 13 in the Melbourne Concert Hall and I got to open for her 13 years later in the same venue. So that was a real sort of mad, exciting night for me and we went on to do quite a few shows together."

So if you're looking for an exciting night out some time soon, do yourself a favour and check out Mia Dyson. They’re sure to be cracking performances.

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