He may be a pop maestro, but expat Australian Richard Davies is a humbleman. A genuine straight-shooter, he admits that part of the reason he tookup songwriting was simply to avoid the daily grind. "I like to get up at9AM and start writing," he told JAMTV recently. "I need some type ofroutine, but I know one of the reasons I write songs is that I hate regularwork."
Davies' songwriting serenity was broken, however, when it was decided heneeded to get out of his upstate New York home and flog his thoughtful,tuneful latest album, Telegraph. Hence a recent three-month road tripthrough Europe and America, the lengthiest tour Davies has endured as asolo artist, which wrapped recently in New York.
During the course of those three months, JAMTV checked in with thisex-Sydneysider and band - guitarist and second Australian, Brendan O'Brien,drummer Kevin Sherwood and bassist George Rush - several times, initiallyin Austin during March's musical free-for-all, South By Southwest, then attwo New York shows - one mid-tour, the other at the end of the road. (Wherean obviously road-lagged Davies admitted, "I'm really happy with the waythe tour's gone, but I'm just so tired".)
Apart from a fondness for cricket, the recurring theme in theseget-togethers was Davies' perception of himself as alt.pop's "shadow man",someone whose finely-honed tunes are more recognizable than his face. "Thefirst record I did that got persistent and prolonged attention was theCardinal record", he stated, referring to his 1994 album with fellow popclassicist, Eric Matthews. "There was this impression that 'this guy mustlove Brian Wilson and the Beatles and that's about it'. Sure, I love thoserecords people talk about, but there's a lot more."
In particular, Davies namechecks seminal Australian artist, former Saint EdKeupper, as a long-term favorite. As with Keupper, the key to Davies' craftis keeping it simple. "Basically I'm a songwriter, that's all I really do.I'm still really interested in what a song can be. I didn't come from amusical background, so a lot of my early work was finding out what thingssound like."
While Davies mightn't ooze on-stage charisma, he kept good company on hisroad trip promoting Telegraph, which is no small measure of his sizablereputation. During SXSW, he came on after raggedy-assed pop artisans,Olivia Tremor Control; in London he gigged with Neutral Milk Hotel; in NewYork with melody kings, The Bells, and fresh-faced upstarts, The Pushkings.And what really hit home at Davies' shows was the reverence with whichcrowds treated him. While there's little doubt this is partly brought aboutby his reputation for swapping hooks and ideas with alchemists such as TheFlaming Lips and Matthews, his own pristine pop has clearly left its mark.And live, the band's nimble acoustics and three-part harmonies - which dotTelegraph's more understated moodpieces, such as "Confederate CheerioCall" or "Close To the Storyline" - positively shimmer. (In the enviouswords of non-singing drummer Sherwood, "These guys sing like birds".)
Typically, Davies adopts a low-key approach to his admirer's wide-eyedstares. Instead - considering the myriad Australian references, bothgeographical and cultural, which dot many of his tunes - he chuckles whenhe spots crowds chiming in. "When I see the audience singing along to songslike 'Chips Rafferty', I have to laugh", he admitted. "They have no ideawho the guy was." (Rafferty was a roguish, leathery-skinned Aussie actor,an early Bryan Brown/Paul Hogan type.) "I'm flattered when the crowds knowmy work, though", he added quickly.
Adam Silverman, of Davies' label, Flydaddy, agreed that the "Cardinal"album was a kind of ground zero for Davies in the USA, and this recent tourwas a great chance to move Davies out of indie-pop's shadows. "TheCardinals record holds a lot of merit amongst the indie-alternativecommunity", he stated, "and Richard, because of his involvement with thatalbum, has quite a huge press presence. So this tour and album was reallyan introduction, putting him out front of people so they can link the faceto the songs."
Commercially-speaking, Silverman admitted that while Celine Dion won't loseany sleep, Davies is better-known in Europe than America. This is mainlydue to the inroads he'd made with arty Oz garage band The Moles in theearly 90s. For the "Telegraph" shows, the crowds were smallish in Germanyand Holland, while the followings in Paris and London were larger, morefaithful. Lanky, amiable guitarist O'Brien had nothing but positivememories of these few weeks. "I had red wine whenever I needed it, and aguitar tech, which took a lot of getting used to", he revealed.
Now that the tour has wrapped, the band has headed in different directions:Rush to Brooklyn, Sherwood to Boston, O'Brien to Sydney, Davies back toupstate New York, with a cameo at this weekend's Guinness Fleadh. Yetalready the offers are coming in for summer shows, with VH-1 also keen onan in-the-studio set. Seems clear that Richard Davies days as indie-pop'sshadow man are numbered.