You know, as Aboriginal people, 26th of January
is a sad, sad day for us.
It's like getting spat in the face.
When they wave that fu*king flag around...
they're proud of it!
It marks the start of the still ongoing genocide.
I don't remember starting to play the guitar
or deciding to be a musican
It's just something that I've always, always done.
Do you think of yourself as
a songwriter first or a storyteller first?
That's a good question.
I think it'd be storyteller.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Until a song's done, it's just an idea.
I learned that early on.
Someone I used to work with, great songwriter,
he told me, you know, you got to learn the difference
between an idea for a song and song.
You know?
And until it's done, I mean there is a whole lot of
'how long's a peice of string?'
Yeah.
I mean as a songwriter, you need to honour the song.
The song decides where it's going and what it's going to be.
How do you know? How do you know when it, has been sufficiently honoured?
It tells you.
You got to honour that, you just got to be receptive
and you've got to open up your... ears and your heart
and your mind.
Was there ever a moment when you thought
this may not work?
Yeah, probably more recently
The older I get I think fu*k is this going to...
like with the new album
is anybody going to hear this?
Is anything going to, you know what I mean?
What can you do?
Like can you do anything to kind of guard against that insecurity?
It's not up to me if people buy it or hear it, or stream it
you know what I mean?
You just don't have, you're on the edge the whole time.
It's just all adrenaline.
but it's just...
exhausting.
What were you like as a kid?
Same.
The same person? Really?
Yeah.
Is it true that you did a deal with your parents, that if you
did your homework for a term, you'd get an amp at the end of term?
Yeah so the first semester of year 11, then I got an amp
then I didnt do any homework.
I didn't!
Until the end of school
and I used to wag heaps of class
but I was always at school
I just head to the music room.
Yeah
I didn't sit any exams
but I graduated because they wanted me to perform at the graduation.
So I got my certifciate, it was all bullsh*t
I didn't get an ENTER score or nothing
Yeah.
Grandma was there, she got a photo of me with my certificate
like it was just compete bullsh*t.
One of the bigest things you have done
over the last couple of years
and something you're about to go perform onstage
has been the track, January 26th with AB Original.
When you encountered defensive white people
let's go with that, who don't understand
why it's important to change that day.
How do you answer that?
Most of the time, I don't.
Yeah, Why?
Well because it's not up to me to educate a bunch of adults
I mean, if they listen when I'm talking then great
But... whatever
It's all there for them, everyone has got one of these
they can look it up.
If they claim to be so patriotic and so proud of being Australian...
Then, I think it's very important to know the history.
The fact of the matter is, is that that day excludes a huge
portion of, a huge percentage of Austrialians.
So you can't call it 'Australia Day'.
I've heard people say, 'Well to change it would distrimate against Anglo-Saxons...
Why is it so offensive to these people
to do something so that other people aren't offended?
Why is that offensive, to them?
Why is their sovereignty so flimsy and fragile...
that not knowing about a day
and what it was, and what it is
and how it makes people feel
as aboriginal people the 26th of January is a sad, sad day for us.
It's like getting spat in the face.
And they wave that f*cking flag around
They're proud of it.
It marks the start of the still ongoing genocide.
And they're defensive because they know that they're hanging onto nothing.
It's not just our land because
this is where we come from.
And I'm talking thousands of generations I'm not talking five or six generations.
And I feel very fortunate that I can be in a place where my people have been for so long.
Do you remember when it first became real to you?
When you really understood that part of your family's history?
When you first understood that? Was there a moment?
Probably, 12 or 13?
What happened?
When a teacher asked me if I was "Abo"
that was a bit of an eye-opener.
And didn't understand why there was anything wrong with that.
And how did you react?
I just told her not to do it again.
Was she receptive?
She was like "Oh, alright."
"Oh, very touchy feely."
You've writting a lot about your Mother and your Grandmother
Kimberley Calling and Roslyn
and I'm wondering, how do your family react
when they hear songs like Roslyn?
Do they appreciate the story you're telling?
The kind of understanding you're trying to share with people?
Yeah, yeah they do.
It can be hard as well.
I don't really sing Roslyn anymore.
It's just really sad, you know?
Is there a point as a musician, when a song stops belonging to you and starts to belong to the audience?
Yeah it never belongs to me.
Or them, it doesn't belong to anybody.
A song decides what it's going to be.
A song is what it is.
I'm a bit of a hippie like that, I believe that they're out there anyway.
And it's up to us as writers to
When we're able to capture it and latch onto it
and attach ourselves to it
it's our responsibility to honour it.
And be open to where it's going, and not push it anywhere or whatever
I mean if it happens it happens, if it doesn't it doesn't.
Some songs can take a long time to present themselves.
You can have an idea for years and years
And then some will just come up to you
And it's like boom! And in an afternoon you've got this song.
Thirty years I've been playing guitar.
I was thinking about that last night.
For it to work you've got to be good.
You've got to work really hard.
And you've got to be lucky.
That's why it's so rare.
'Cause those three things have to happen at once.
Dan Sultan.
I really enjoyed talking to you.
Yeah you too, thanks mate.