Taylor Sheridan is a name that may very well be familiar to you if you were one of those lucky enough to catch Jon Stevens earlier in 2021 on his Noiseworks & INXS tour. Sheridan has opened for Stevens during the last couple of tours and has always warmed the crowd with his happy-go-lucky manner and well-crafted songs, described by our reviewer last time out as “Ed Sheeran crossed with David Gray with a dusting of James Blunt… only far better”. Before Melbourne became the most locked down city in the world Taylor, like countless other musicians, had plans. Those plans were quickly decimated as venues closed their doors and artists were forced to rely on social media live streams to connect with their audiences.
But the world is a-changing, with tour dates starting to pop up across social media once again, showing that Australia is starting to return to some sort of normality and for Sheridan it’s a chance to dust off his guitar and get out to do one of the things he loves the most, playing live. Friday 19th November in Melbourne’s Bird’s Basement, Taylor starts to rebuild the momentum he was riding high on earlier this year.
With that in mind, The Rockpit decided to publish the interview we did with Taylor back in April this year, before live shows became a thing of myth & legend. Standing outside Freo.Social, a mere sixty minutes before he was to take the stage, Sheridan discussed how stories play an important part in his music, touring with Jon and what song he wished he had written…
Sean: Well, after watching you open the last four shows for Jon (Stevens) it’s great to finally catch you for a few minutes before you open for the last of the WA shows night. I caught you last time you were here too, so I think I’ve seen you about six or seven times in the last couple of years now. Welcome back to WA Taylor Sheridan.
Taylor: Thanks mate. Hopefully I’m getting better and better [laughs]. I’ve had six or seven chances [laughs].
Sean: You certainly didn’t do too badly in front of that 10,000 sell-out crowd at Sandalford’s Winery. It was such a nice surprise because I had seen you at Mandurah, then at Bunbury but to walk in the gates at Red Hot Summer and hear your voice coming out of the PA was a really pleasant surprise. How was that for you?
Taylor: Certainly in my career, and its not been that long, its kind of like a dream and its really hard to prepare for because that’s what you envisage yourself doing one day and then when you actually get to walk out on that stage you realise that this is all you’ve ever dreamed of but how do you contain that feeling and still make it enjoyable for the audience? So, to answer your question? Its about as good as it gets as far as being up on a stage is.
Sean: How did you go with nerves? It’s quite a daunting but beautiful venue out there.
Taylor: I’m pretty lucky. Because I’ve gigged so much, I can really channel those nerves into excitement. With those bigger gigs you need to muster every emotion that you have, so I wouldn’t say it particularly nerves but more excitement to see how it’s going to go. Because I’m only a solo guy with a guitar and a stomp box you’re trying to get this one-dimensional thing out into a big crowd and the best way I know how to do that is to connect with the audience as much as possible.
Sean: And your stories do that. Those little, short tales before each song really connect with people. It was our Rockpit photographer Sharon, who commented on your social media about the covid song and people relate to them. The one that tells the story of falling and being in love for one day is just superb and it was when you did the pre-song talk that it jogged my memory of hearing it when you were last here in 2019.
Taylor: It’s interesting because to me song are stories and that’s the way we connect to each other. We have a conversation and you’ve had an experience and hopefully I’ve had a similar experience and that’s how we connect as people. So, when I started writing music that’s how I thought I could connect – it doesn’t need to be poetic or have hidden messages, sometimes it can be just straight up, this was the experience and I hope that you’ve had a similar one and can relate to it.
Sean: From the crowd reactions that last three night you are bang on! I do love the song about your twin…and I have to mention the world’s smallest tattoo [laughs].
Taylor: I know right [laughs].
Sean: I couldn’t see it from the crowd…
Taylor: …And I can’t see it from here, it’s that small [laughs]. I had it put on my arm so that when I’m playing the guitar, I can still see the tattoo. So, for those of your readers who don’t know, I have a twin tattoo. I’m very fortunate to have a twin brother and its just a little piece of me I get to take around with me now.
Sean: Don’t tell them too much. They need to come to one of your shows to hear you tell that story.
Taylor: Exactly right.
Sean: Having interviewed Jon a couple of times, I know he likes a nice tight knit group around him, especially on tour, almost like an extended family. This is the second tour you’ve come out with Jon & the guys on now. It must be a wonderful feeling when someone of his calibre and experience wants you back out on the road with him on the tour.
Taylor: That’s very kind of you to say. It feels like we all have each other’s backs, and we are really good friends, but the difference is everyone puts in 100%. All these guys, from the stage guys to the musicians all put in and I think that’s why it works. So, to have someone like Jon in your corner is an incredible thing because firstly he’s achieved so much in his own career and its great to watch side of stage and go “wow”. You learn something every night. But it’s the little snippets of wisdom now and then that make you go, “yeah, great!” So, I think myself extremely lucky.
Sean: Let me take you back to where it all started for you. When did the first pick the guitar up and realise this could be your thing?
Taylor: I reckon I was young. I was a real quiet kid. I didn’t know my identity. I grew up on a farm. I was probably expected to be a farmer, which I still love. I still have animals – I probably have too many. With music I found I could hear a song on the radio and I could sing it straight away, ever as a kid, but I couldn’t do a maths equation and I wasn’t good at school but I remember hearing Farnham’s ‘Burn For You’ when I was about ten years of age and I sung it straight back to my mum & dad and that’s when I knew that I liked it. I sang until I was around fifteen than I realised I needed something a bit cooler, so that’s when the guitar came into the equation, and I started to write songs. Some people write songs because it’s in them – this was back in the Australian Idol days, so I thought people just wrote songs for you. I thought there were writers and there were singers and as I didn’t know any writer, I thought I’d better write my own until I meet someone who will write them for me…and I still haven’t met that person yet [laughs]. It’s a skill I continually try to improve on because I know I’m not the best writer or the best singer or the best guitar player but I’m just trying to find my own fingerprint really. Hopefully in a three-and-a-half-minute song you can resonate and connect with the audience at some point.
Sean: I don’t want to talk too much about cover songs but last tour you closed the set with… I’m trying to remember… you used your loop pedals… was it ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’?
Taylor: Yeah, it might have been.
Sean: I remember it got everyone going. This time your closing with a fantastic version of ABBA’s ‘SOS’, which went down a storm at Red Hot Summer yesterday. When you left the stage there was a buzz around the place. It left a real ‘feel good’ factor in the audience.
Taylor: With a cover, you have to bring something different, and you have to put your own fingerprint on it. When I first heard that song, in never thought in a million years I would eventually be performing it. Songs hit you at different times and when I heard that song, I knew it had some hidden soul in there somewhere. It really does have a lot of heart and soul in there and when I started learning it, I realised it was just incredible and every night I still try to put a different slant on it. It’s my favourite cover I have ever played because its so random but so great. Its one of the only songs I wished that I had written.
Sean: Don’t be too hasty because that’s one of the questions I like to close with. So, let’s talk about your influences. What were you listening to growing up?
Taylor: My parents aren’t musical so I kind of had to navigate my own way. Michael Jackson was a massive one for me as an introduction to music. Then I got into Stevie Wonder, which is probably where my soul influence comes from vocally. Every time I listened to a James Taylor song, I felt like I was transported somewhere so I took people like James Taylor and Pete Murray, who was also a massive influence on me as a young kid and hearing him on the radio made me think maybe my music could work. So, they were some of my influences very early on but the older I’m getting the more I’m getting influenced by just about everything. Music is also my hobby. So, it’s my hobby, it’s my passion, it’s my job so I’m kind of always engulfed in it so you just can’t help but pick up different things and different pieces and hopefully I can bring something to the table that people like.
Sean: I know we’ve been ducking in an out of lock downs & border closures but is there a plan to get into the studio to record some new music in the near future?
Taylor: Its funny you ask that. For me there are two parts of the brain: there’s the touring brain and the writing brain. When I’m touring, I don’t write and when I’m writing I don’t tour. That’s just the way it goes. Because I wasn’t touring, I wrote upwards of about thirty songs during 2020, which I have dwindled down to about ten, so I will do an album hopefully by the end of the year. I’m currently working out who I want to produce it. I want a really different experience because it was such a different experience writing, I want to bring that to this project as a sonic this so I’m really excited because they are kind of all married to each other in some way. Sometimes you write songs five years ago and maybe two years ago, but they go on the same project, but these all seem like siblings and that feels very nice.
Sean: I look forward to hearing it. Before you need to rush off to start the evenings proceedings I just want to finish with a couple of my more regular questions.
Taylor: Of course.
Sean: You can have three guests from the music world, dead of alive, to join you for dinner for a couple of hours. Who would you invite?
Taylor: Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
Sean: Great table – you made it sound so easy!
Taylor: I reckon we’d have a bit of fun!
Sean: What was the last album you listened to?
Taylor: The last album I listened to was Lake Street Dive. They’ve got this new song called ‘Hypotheticals’. Do yourself a favour and check them out. I’m an avid listener.
Sean: I shall have a listen. My final question to close, and you can’t answer ‘SOS’… if you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
Taylor: I would choose… that’s a great question… if I could have written any song, I think it would have to have been probably ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder. Its one of those songs that I can see myself in. ‘Yesterday’ came to mind too but that particular song has always been in my life somewhere and I always come back to it too so there it is.
Sean: Taylor, thank you so much for your time just before your due to hit the stage here in Fremantle. It’s been a real pleasure, not just to chat to you but to watch you play each night. Look forward to hearing new music from you as well. Great to see you back over here mate.
Taylor: We can’t stay away. Its WA! Thanks so much Sean. You’re a champ!