Since his first album release in 2014, Peter Bibby has established a strong following both near and far of adoring fans, playing stages of all sorts and sizes; from Laneway, to SXSW, to his hometown bar, Mojo’s. After a short hiatus, the Perth singer-songwriter has made his mark with two new releases, Work for Arseholes and Long Baby, creating anticipation and excitement amongst the streets. We chat to Bibby now as he lets us in on the sup and prepares once again for an Australian tour to celebrate his upcoming album, Grand Champion.
So, Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician came out in 2014 and you’ve released a couple of songs since with ‘Work for Arseholes’ being your latest release from your upcoming album, Grand Champion – what can you tell us about it?
I guess Grand Champion is a bit of a departure from the first one, but its not too far removed. Compared to some of the more recent live shows your might have seen, they’ve been going in a pretty completely different direction. I guess this is a bit of transition from the first album and that heavier stuff we’ve played more recently. It’s definitely a mixture of the two but I’d say it’s still definitely more like – folky, rocky – whatever you want to call that music; more like storytelling.
So you grew up in Perth, a fairly isolated little part of Australia – how did you get into music?
There was a lot of music at the house when I was growing up. I didn’t start playing until I was about 14 or so but once I got into it, I was pretty much balls deep as they say! So I guess I was inspired by the music that mum, dad, and my older brother would play around the house and I started playing guitar and never looked back!
You’ve traveled around a fair spread of stages, from Laneway, to SXSW, to sweet little pubs here, there, everywhere. Have you got a favourite type of show to play or do you just take it all as they come?
I kind of take them as they come. To be honest I’m not a huge fan of playing big festival shows.. It kind of feels less personal and I don’t feel like I can get my message (whatever that might be) across as well in a bigger, wider space. I prefer a dingy pub. But for me my favourite venue still remains to be Mojo’s bar in Fremantle, where I am sitting right now and working. I love playing here. But dingy little pubs are by far my favourite.
And I guess more directed to playing in the USA – which no doubt gave you an audience a little less acclimatized to VBs and goon bags – not to say at all that your music is exclusively Australian at all, but what sort of response did your music get from American audiences?
There was a mixture of confusing and amused bewilderment. There was one cowboy looking guy who was looking at me like I’d have to buy him a new drink because he spat it all out during some of my lyrics; but then he found it so amusing that he actually bought me a drink. There was a mixture of a few offended people with my use of the C word and all that sort of stuff. I guess Americans don’t use that as affectionately as we do. It was generally a positive reception.
A lot of your music – if not all – sings a lot about Centrelink, goon, busking to buy goon, sleeping on the streets and more of the likes of– Are your songs and lyrics reminiscent of your own life experiences or, where do you pull influence from?
A lot of personal experience and people that I interact with. It’s either first hand or second experiences. There’s one song in particular off grand champion that’s just a completely made up story about a bushranger type thing. So I did a bit of research into old stuff like Ned Kelly and bush ranging I guess and I formed by own story about that sort of thing. That was a pretty fun experience, learning through songwriting. But for the most part it’s pretty personal experiences.
You’ve mentioned there’s another album lined up after Grand Champion… What can you tell us about that one?
That one’s a lot more rock’ n’ roll! It’s with my current band, The Dog Act and we’re recording that in about a week in Perth and it’s pretty fuckin’ raucous… a lot heavier and dirtier than my previous work. I think it’s going to be a sick record!
You’ll be taking your gigs around Australia in October, what can your fans expect going to your show this time around?
We’re pretty much just going to try and play Grand Champion start to finish and then throw in a few old favourites… maybe just leave it up to people yelling from the crowd what they want to hear. Might put the newer stuff on the back burner for now and just focus on the second record. Hopefully people get into it. It’s going to be interesting because there’s about six or seven people playing on the record and we’re going to try and make it work as a three piece so we’ll see how we go.
Release: Grand Champion on Friday 28 September via Spinning Top Records (POND, GUM, Cameron Avery).
When & Where: Workers Club, Geelong – October 4 & The Curtin, Melbourne – October 5.
Written by Aine Keogh