Standing tiptoed on a wooden stump pinning the huge concert tent to the rain-sodden ground, using her dad’s shoulder for balance, a 10 year old girl was experiencing her first ever live gig; Powderfinger’s Sunset Farewell Tour.
To be completely honest with you, I was a little more focused on the support; Jet, than the headliner – but that doesn’t mean I was any less excited to be hearing from a line-up of incredible Australian luminaries.
Fanning Dempsey National Park Tour
- COSTA HALL, GEELONG, VIC – FRIDAY 9 MAY
All ages - CIVIC HALL, BALLARAT, VIC – SATURDAY 10 MAY
All ages (Reserved Seated balcony will be Unlicensed All Ages - ULUMBURRA THEATRE, BENDIGO, VIC – SUNDAY 11 MAY
All ages
Our May edition of Forte Magazine is out now – check it out here!
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I only discovered during this interview that Paul Dempsey also played that show, and 15 years later I was sitting across (albeit by Zoom) from both Dempsey and Bernard Fanning, chatting all things synths, songwriting, and the fun of starting fresh.
When the duo began tossing around the idea of collaborating back in 2021, they had one shared goal: do something different. That desire led to The Deluge, the debut album from their joint project, Fanning Dempsey National Park — a record built on ’80s synth nostalgia, long-distance co-writing, and mutual admiration.
“We weren’t in any hurry,” says Dempsey. “We just wanted to throw ideas back and forth to see if it even feels good. No pressure, no deadline. It’ll either gather its own momentum or it won’t. Thankfully, it did.”
That momentum carried them through two years of writing and recording, mostly from opposite ends of the east coast — Dempsey in Melbourne, Fanning in Byron Bay. Rather than jamming in a room, they emailed each other half-finished demos, trusting the other to fill in the blanks. “We’ve never done that before,” Fanning reflects. “Usually it’s a riff in a room with a band. This time, it was like handing over the wheel completely.”
The results are songs unlike anything either artist has released before — lush, synth-heavy explorations that still retain the songwriting DNA that made them fixtures in the Australian music landscape. “You might have a bit of a song you’ve had for a while and is missing a piece,” says Dempsey, “so to handball it to one of the best songwriters in the country and go, ‘Here, you finish it,’ knowing they’re going to do such a good job at it — that was really exciting.”
Fanning adds, “Almost every time Paul did something to a song of mine, it was something I would never have done. And that was the joy of it — this left or right turn, even just with tempo or feel. It’s hard to un-imagine a song once you’ve started it, but someone else brings in a whole new colour.”
Inspired by the early days of polyphonic synthesizers and artists like Bowie, Prince, Gary Numan and even Nine Inch Nails, The Deluge doesn’t just nod to the past—it relishes in it. “That era was so intertwined with the invention of the synth itself,” Dempsey explains.
“The first polyphonic synths came out in the ’70s, so it was this new tool that allowed musicians to create sounds no one had heard before. It became a history lesson — it was super exciting and exploratory.”
Dempsey, true to form, dove deep into the sound world of that era. “He bought all the synths in Australia,” Fanning jokes. “And learned how to use them all.”
“We’re both huge fans of that new wave and early ’80s pop era,” says Fanning. “I’m a bit older than Paul, but we both grew up with that stuff — there’s strong memories attached to it.”
“We’ve both made a lot of music that would essentially be called organic — drums, guitars, stuff made of timber,” says Fanning. “Our voices lend themselves to that warm, acoustic world. So putting them against something cold, mechanical, electronic — that was part of the challenge.”
Despite the new sonic direction, their songwriting remains unmistakable. “It’s still about good songs,” Fanning says. “Whether it’s a folk tune or an electronic banger, it has to take you somewhere unexpected, emotionally or structurally.” As Dempsey puts it, “You can hear our styles—it’s just a different toolkit.”
Still, echoes of their former bands are hard to avoid—mostly in their voices. But when they sing together, something else emerges entirely. “We even named it—‘Jase,’” Dempsey laughs. “When we sing in unison, it doesn’t sound like either of us. We’ll ask, ‘Should Jase be singing this part?’”
Their onstage approach mirrors the album’s playful spirit. Though the tour is named after The Deluge, the setlist includes familiar gems—albeit selectively. “Of course people want to hear Powderfinger or Something for Kate,” Dempsey says, “but we wanted to honour the album we made. So, it’s about squeezing in a few crowd-pleasers without losing sight of the reason we’re here.”
As the Deluge tour winds through regional stops, the joy is palpable. “Even if we were getting booed, we’d still be having fun,” Fanning says. “We just love playing these songs.” For Dempsey, it’s about perspective. “You realise after a while what you can and can’t control. If you focus on what you love, you’ll have a good gig, no matter what.”
And yes, there’s the odd essential packed along the way—a cryptic crossword, a clamp reading lamp, and identical suitcases. Just the kind of quirks you’d expect from a duo discovering new ground—together, and always with a sense of fun.
