Great Musicians, Better Mates
Two of Australia’s most iconic singers,songwriters, and guitarists are coming to Mackay next month.
Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daly will play TheMackay Entertainment and Convention Centre on April 9 as part of their TogetherAlone tour which visits a whopping 32 regional and metro cities.
Despite collaborating on numerous occasionsin the past, this will be the first time the two great mates will tour togetherand share a stage in such an intimate setting.
Audiences can expect an entirely acousticnight spanning both of their expansive careers, with the two sharing the stageand helping one another out on each other’s songs.
We caught up with rock royalty Ian Mosswhile on the road.
Really good, thanks. We’ve got about fourunder our belt. Started in Gippsland and then down to Hobart to play atAustralia’s oldest theatre which is just a beautiful old thing built in the1850s – we had a great night there. Last weekend we were pretty close to Sydneyincluding the wonderful Art Deco theatre called Anita’s down in Thirroul. Ithink we’ve got it sussed. We’ve got a pretty good show happening.
Have the shows been changing andadapting as you’ve been going?
We’re on stage all night together, we justswap song for song really and tell stories about each song. With the songswe’ve got, most of them have got pretty good stories behind them. We’ll justback each other up – one of us will sing a song and the other will chuck somebacking vocals on, do a bit of guitar work just to colour it up – and that’show the evening plays out.
Do you prepare setlists for each show oris it more improvised?
At the moment we’ve got the same setlistfrom night to night. Maybe later in the year we’ll swap things around, butthere’s a certain number of songs that are essential to get played. We’ve bothgot some strong songs that we’d always play. For me, for example, Tucker’sDaughter, Bow River, Telephone Booth, they always have to bein there.
Can you tell me about the first time youmet Troy and the journey you’ve both been on to end up touring Australiatogether?
Probably about 12 years ago, Troy was doinga solo album of covers, of soul music, and invited me to come and do a duetwith him on the classic Dark End of the Street. They were in a studio onthe Central Coast. The first thing I noticed when I went up there and walkedinto the studio was that no one was wearing any shoes. Coming from AliceSprings and growing up in a country town myself, I thought ‘yep, these are mypeople’. I felt really at home. I just presumed Troy was just out-and-outcountry but he’s got a beautiful bluesy voice and blues is my first love. Wejust fit hand in glove. Apart from that, collaborations continued. He’s workedwith (Jimmy) Barnes, and him and I have co-written songs together as well whichwill be included in the show.
This is a pretty extensive tour, howimportant is it for you personally to tour some of these more regional areaslike Mackay?
There’s some great theatres in these partsof the world and hungry populations, hungry for music. I personally love it.I’m born and raised in Alice Springs and there’s a part of me that still missesbeing in the country. That’s one of the things I love about playing regional –I do feel quite relaxed and at home. Whether I’m with Troy or whether I’m soloI’ll be keeping up my appearances in country areas for sure.
Catch Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daly whenthey play The Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre on April 9.
Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daly are currently co-headlining their Together Alone tour
Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daly became mates through frequent collaborations
Ian and Troy kicked off the tour in Troy’s hometown of Grafton before being forced to reschedule last year
