Words with Whitley

Having missed his earlier performance on the Lighthouse stage at Queenscliff music festival I made it a priority to head just up the road to the former church on the corner of Stoke and Hesse street where Melbourne’s talented Whitley would be playing a second set. Sadly the cost was one all too familiar to festival goers – scheduling overlap that meant having to leave the Veils mid-set. I pondered if this was the right choice, as one does at any festival where it’s a case of sacrificing one great act for another in the hope that you won’t be disappointed when you get there. Especially given that Whitley resides in Melbourne, and there would surely be many opportune moments again to see him. Regardless, I think I just couldn’t wait any longer to see and hear 22 year old Lawrence Greenwood, aka Whitley himself, sing out those words that I’d only ever heard through speakers at home, and I can certainly say I was glad I made that decision.

As I hurried into the church I was met with a crowd much larger than its usual masses would draw, which the building was not quite able to accommodate. From where I sat in the middle of the church, everything came together in a rare and breathtaking moment of harmony. A perfect picture was painted, of a boy and his guitar in unison creating the beautiful music that was filling everyone’s ears. Whitley was perfectly framed by the pews, windows and high walls of the church. This combination of sight and sound worked in tandem to haunting effect. As he played ‘The Piece I Took From You”, off the new record Go Forth Find Mammoth, a simple guitar riff allowed for enchantingly husky vocals to resonate creating a perfect balance.

“Poison in Our Pockets” off the highly acclaimed debut Album The Submarine, which he later told me was recorded just down the road, again offered a gentle and rhythmic riff to compliment the vocals perfectly. This in combination with powerful lyrics was enough to keep all present absolutely focused, as if they were invited into the stories he told and the pictures he painted.

Admittedly running on lack of sleep he somehow managed to intersperse songs with audience interaction in the form of semi-coherent ramblings. These had the uncanny ability to make the audience emit laughter, after being transfixed by his music moments before. He also appeared to have no problem engaging the audience in his life, confiding not only that he ‘is going to buy a new guitar’ but that he ’lives in a cubby house in Fitzroy,’ where he spends most of his time sleeping.’ This is a refreshing approach, I thought, considering the many times I’ve been disappointed by artists who I felt weren’t giving themselves genuinely, when that’s all devoted fans are longing to see.

“More Than Life” was next up, almost reminiscent of Jose Gonzalez, as beautiful finger picking rang out and he whispered softly ‘I want this more than life…’ I felt again like everyone in the church was transfixed as well as deeply moved by the powerful lyrics, as though we’d all been taken back to a moment in time when each of us wanted something that badly.

After this song, which would have been fitting to end with, he realised that the set was longer than he thought, a bump in the road for any performer when they realise they’d played everything they were prepared to play already, yet he soldiered on brilliantly nonetheless. I had wondered if he was joking when he had said it was the last song, because according to my clock we still had another fifteen minutes of Whitley to go which I, for one, would have been disappointed if I hadn’t been granted.

His ‘no sleep high’ set him off on tangents that kept all of us amused; it’s an amazing contrast between his comedic spoken stories and the deeper heartfelt ones within his music, which is why I suppose he has often been referred to as a contradiction. He played “I Remember” and once again I felt his words have a powerful way of getting in – his music is accessible, because it’s always something we, as human beings, can feel and understand. Whatever its been written about, it almost feels as though it’s written just for us, to remind or make us feel better about whatever experience of our present or our past it has summoned.  As he sang ‘this could last forever’ I thought to myself that we might say that too about this special intimate performance that the gathered listeners were lucky enough to witness.

But all good things must come to an end, and as it was nearly time to wrap up he announceed the last song to be “Lost in Time”, where octave jumps coupled with an upbeat melody and rhythm, and influences of astrophysics which he spoke to me of after the show become apparent in the philosophical lyrics.

Immediately after exiting the stage he was flooded by gushing girls, all after an autograph on their proudly purchased copies of Go Forth Find Mammoth. I was lucky that by the time they were through he still had enough charge left to let me pick his sleep deprived brain just quickly, before heading on the road after a long and exhausting Australia wide tour which apparently ‘went really well and was good fun.’

I had always been interested to know where the name Whitley came from. Coincidentally it turned out that it was when he had been recording The Submarine in the next town over from Queenscliff around this time four years ago, that Texan blues legend Chris Whitley passed away and Lawrence took on his name as a tribute.

It seems Whitley is no stranger to this area, having recorded his first album in a house in Point Lonsdale one town over, and also having played before in the Stoked On Hesse venue a few months prior. He said he had no particular feelings about the sanctity of the church itself, but appreciated the architectural quality of the building. It is certainly a beautiful venue for such an intimate gig with music of such quality and substance.

Earlier in the set he had spoken of his influences, including Leonard Cohen and Bill Hicks – who is silhouetted in a tattoo on his arm – so I asked him if there are any others. He responded that astrophysicist Carl Sagan was high on the list. This again was a refreshing outlook for a musician, and one evident in some of his lyrically captivating songs. It is rare to find a musician who consciously seeks beyond other musicians and the arts, to contrasting ways of thinking such as science.

Understandably wanting to get on the road he encouraged me to finish it up so I brought out the final question to which he provided a thought provoking answer to rival all others. The single piece of advice Lawrence Greenwood gives to all aspiring musicians is simply this: “Don’t listen to anyone’s advice.” It must work if that’s the mindset the young musician had when he began on this musical road, having achieved such great success already at only 22. I’m confident in saying that anyone not already familiar with the name ‘Whitley’ soon will be.

Whitley
Stoked On Hesse @ QMF
Sunday 29^th November
2.45 – 3.30pm

Whitley official website
Whitley myspace

Review and Interview by Zoe Ryan