When Paul McCartney announces an Australian tour, stopping in the same city you’re set to perform in on the same night, there is only one option; you move your show.
That’s exactly what the ARIA and NIMAs winning ‘Old Fitzroy’ singer-songwriter, Dan Sultan, did.
“We’re doing it on the Friday because I want to go see Paul McCartney too. It’s a moot point,” says Sultan.
“Besides, it would have been unfortunate for Paul McCartney not to be able to come to my show, so that’s why I moved it from him. He said, “Dan,” – you know, he called me up – “Anyway you can move your show?” and I said ‘Because it’s you, I’ll move it’,” he jokes.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Sultan’s show at Melbourne Recital Centre with a new date of Friday 20 October is the final stop on his Double J-supported tour. It sees him hitting up three glorious acoustic-amplified venues – Princess Theatre in Brisbane, City Recital Hall in Sydney and Melbourne Recital Centre – to celebrate his seventh studio album and self-titled offering. Unlike his usual high-octane rock shows that have crowds on their feet, Sultan wants to create a serene sound immersion.
“When I was talking to my booking agent and my manager in the first meeting we had about the tour I just said, “I want seated venues”, which I think caught them by surprise. It’s a sonic scene where I want everyone to sit down and just have it all wash over. Those beautiful venues are purpose-built for acoustics and people can just sit and hopefully enjoy themselves,” Sultan explains.
View this post on Instagram
Lending itself to the heavenly acoustics of these renowned theatre settings, Dan Sultan is the first album in six years after an unintentional ‘hiatus’ and the first as a new parent. Created within the cocooned Covid lockdown state, the self-titled selection sees Sultan at his most realised as an artist.
Sultan agrees, “Yeah, I am. But, that being said, I think I felt that with every one of my records. I feel like for me if I’m doing it right and doing it in a way that I’m finding fulfilling then I need to be feeling those things, and I need to be feeling them more than the last time. So I’ve been lucky I had felt that with every record, but then I do this record and it’s the most important thing in the world.
“But that’s the thing as well. This is the first record I’ve done as a parent which I think has to have an effect. You know what I mean? It has to. So then that [being a dad] becomes the most important thing in the world. It’s very liberating to know that [the record] is not the be-all and end-all. But with me I think the next thing has got to be better than the last thing; if you’re heading in the right direction, which I am and have been.”
The building blocks of Homemade Biscuits, Get Out While You Can, Blackbird, Killer and the ABC deviation of Nali & Friends have established Sultan’s serenading style but the self-titled LP is peak-Sultan in a new era of his life. With thematics of family, sanctuary and self-actualisation, Dan Sultan listened to his gut when delving into song-building.
“I’ve always been fortunate to be able to listen and to be able to hear what I feel like I’m meant to be doing. So whether that’s what you would call that instinct, I don’t know. I’ve always felt pretty tuned into the work. I haven’t always done what I’ve been told to do by the work but on this record I have. So that’s where I think the bravery comes into it and the fulfillment artistically comes into it. You know I’m completely fulfilled with this record,” he comments.
The record also sees him partner with fellow Sydney-sider Julia Stone for the single ‘Fortress’. The collaboration is one of beauty that sees two of Australia’s soaring voices harmoniously marry, but the track teamwork almost didn’t happen.
“We were doing a writing session – separate to ‘Fortress’ – with Joel Quartermain, my co-writer and producer on the record. I had actually written or started writing ‘Fortress’ the day before and then after Julia came in and we wrote a couple of really beautiful songs that aren’t on the record, but will be on something soon, one day – don’t know what yet,” Sultan explains.
“Joel was actually thinking ‘Fortress’ would be good to have Julia on and I was sort of humming and harring a little bit – nothing to do with Julia of course – I mean she’s incredible you know, she’s such a powerhouse producer, songwriter, song, songwriter, singer, artist and she’s a really good mate too; we’ve known each other a long time. Anyway, we got to doing the show and tell, and she was like, ‘I want to sing on that’. She took it away, and I asked her to write a bridge for it.”
View this post on Instagram
The track sees the two build a sacred haven, impenetrable to outside negative influences. With the reassurance of “Never gonna touch us” and “They won’t get in”, the two erect walls around their most protected possessions. So what are the external forces they are defending against?
“Everything. Anything outside of the family home. It could be anything- it’s a rainy day you get home, lock the door, and get warm. It can be your boss; or any outside factor. Anything,” Sultan says.
“For me, I had started a family with my wife and it was a really incredible time and there’s all the things that come along with that and that instinctual feeling of responsibility, and protection; strength that my wife and I felt as parents and new parents and partners and lovers. So it’s just about the home, the family home, but it could also be about your favourite pair of trackies.”
This track, fellow singles ‘Ringing In My Ears’, ‘Wait In Love’, ‘Won’t Give You That’ and ‘Story’, and the rest of Dan Sultan will form the basis of his tour set with support from soul-shaker WILSN. The tracks will also trickle into his upcoming Queenscliff Music Festival appearance where he will be joining the Kates; Something For Kate and Katy Steele alongside Ian Moss, Alice Ivy, Boy & Bear, and Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. Running for a jam-packed four days across 23 – 26 November 2023, Sultan will pop up on the Sunday to close out the festival.
With ample opportunity to witness Dan the man at his best [the good samaritan he is, sacrificed his original show date for Sir Macca for goodness sake], there is simply no excuse to sleep on Sultan.
Witness Dan Sultan at Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne – October 20 and Queenscliff Music Festival, Queenscliff – November 26. Find out more here.
