bleistiftrocker.de asked Jesse Lubitz, guitar player in Tinpan Orange, some questions via e-mail. These are the original answers in English.
Hier geht es zur deutschen Version des Interviews.
bleistiftrocker.de: You just finished playing as a support act for The Cat Empire. What reactions did you get from their audience?
Jesse Lubitz: We were blown away by the audiences on the recent Cat Empire tour. It feels as though there is a deep appreciation of music and musicianship amongst their audience and while Tinpan Orange plays quite different music to The Cat Empire, we were welcomed so wonderfully by their beautiful audiences.
You are from Australia, but touring Europe a lot. What is your relationship with „our“ continent like?
We LOVE Europe! We love that the audiences are so open to new music and that the cities are so beautiful. There are so many great venues throughout Europe and there is a real love of music that makes performing such a pleasure. We are really looking forward to touring Europe lots in the coming months and years.
What is the difference between music fans in Australia and those in Europe?
The most noticeable difference between music fans in Australia an Europe is that European concert goers are much more likely to be on time!
What is it like to play in a band with your sister?
Playing in a band with a sibling is often great and sometimes challenging. We tell each other what we really think – which can be a double edged sword socially, but is usually a good thing creatively.
Which part does Alex play in your band?
Alex plays the part of multi-instrumentalist wizard – he can play any instrument with strings.
How do you write your songs?
I don’t have a system or a particular practice to write songs. The only thing that really works for me is to set aside time and turn away from distractions and just write – so many average ideas need to come out before I find the things that stick, but having the discipline to keep going is the hardest part.
What is your favourite part of being a musician: writing songs, recording them or playing live?
Ohhhhh – that’s a tough one – I think my favourite thing about being a musician is getting to do all three!
What are your influences?
My influences include musicians such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone (I guess the usual influences for most folk musicians and songwriters!) as well as my family, friends as most important – the weather…
„Love Is A Dog“ is your fifth album. How did your sound change over the years?
I feel as though our sound has developed over the five albums that we’ve put out. We’ve worked with some incredible musicians and producers over the life of the band and our sound has ranged from a folk trio through to a five piece band and back again.
What is the best feedback you got for your latest album?
The best feedback that we’ve had for our new album has probably been a 5 (out of 5!) star review that we got from Australia’s biggest newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald – we were stoked and speechless!