Mention Sarah McLeod and you immediately think of the band The Superjesus, their biggest selling hit single ‘Gravity’ and Australian radio-friendly rock at it finest. But recently here in WA we got to enjoy another side of her talents. Funny, warm and hugely entertaining, Sarah had the unenviable task of opening for rock legend Jon Stevens, and boy did she leave her mark on the audience each and every night. Performing a stripped back set with just her and her guitar, which was previously owned by the late great Billy Thorpe (which we will talk about in this interview), McLeod unleashed a wonderful song list comprising of covers & tracks from her solo career, warming and whipping the crowd up night after night.
The Rockpit’s Sean Bennett had the pleasure of travelling with Stevens & his band for five of the six Western Australian shows and during that time he managed to catch up with Sarah a few times after her performances, before cornering her for a chat at The River in Margaret River to discuss the shows, the song she thinks is the greatest of all time and that guitar…
Sean: Sarah, I know you’ve literally just walked off stage so I thank you so much for your time. It’s ironic we get to chat here at The River because you were only here just last year with The Superjesus. Outdoor show tonight but last visit here you played inside.
Sarah: Yes because I came here in winter, it was cold so I did the smart thing and played inside and warmed up by the fire and now we are here in summer, I think… no wait a minute. It’s winter again…is it? [laughs] This loose story that I’m trying to put together that is based on nothing is falling apart at the seams so I have no idea when we came here last time but we played inside. [laughs] What they are doing here in this beautiful courtyard is pretty sweet though.
Sean: It’s a gorgeous setting. Well, I’ve been pretty lucky to see you perform for four nights of the tour so far and tonight we had the added bonus of an extended set with you playing an extra fifteen minutes.
Sarah: Yes, I was standing on stage thinking to myself, “What shall I do?” I’ve got used to playing the same set so I had to thrown in a few extra songs. So, while I was playing I was actually thinking about what to play next and what would be good in the flow. I think it worked really well but I was still worried I wouldn’t make the time until I looked at my clock and suddenly thought, “God, I’m playing over time. I need to get off!” [laughs]
Sean: Well, it went down an absolute storm but how do you begin to put a set like this together, especially when it is so different to the last time you were here with The Superjesus? It’s extremely raw and kind of leaves you quite exposed and naked out there, with just the guitar to hide your modesty.
Sarah: [laughs] What modesty! Yeah but I like that. I prefer that actually. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in a band so I guess I love them equally but I really love that ‘cat on a hot tin roof’ situation where I’m not really sure what’s going to happen next. I sometimes change songs mid- song, I change the set so I can stop to talk to people in the middle of the show. It’s footloose and fancy free.
Sean: But its also very personal and warm too. The crowd just loved it. The interaction, the humour and the great music… tonight the sing-a-long tracks were just so well received.
Sarah: That’s what I thought too. They were singing and having a good time and I had that extra time so I kept thinking, “What else can I do?” I think to get them involved in the show allows the audience to have more fun. I think of when I was a kid and I would go to Chinese restaurants and there would be bands playing and they would get me up on stage as a little kid and I would remember having the best night. I was involved… being involved in any way, singing with the band, just anything. It really makes your night. When it’s not your job and you’re not expecting it but it changes your whole night and then you’ve just got this buzz for the rest of the night. So I always try to get people involved where ever I can.
Sean: I mentioned this to you the other night after the Bunbury show, but that version of “House of The Rising Sun” is just spellbinding. I love it.
Sarah: I love it too. It’s such a great song.
Sean: I know it’s a classic but what is it about that song that you love? You say during the show that it is quite possibly the greatest song of all time.
Sarah: Oh God, it’s everything. I love the melody. I love the imagery it conjures up because it’s so dark. I love the chord progression and the vowels and the notes just sit really well in my vocal register. When I sing it, it feels so different to all the other songs in the set. I feel different when I sing that song. Something happens to me and my eyes roll back into the back of my head and I end up channelling some other shit, I power it out then think, “Right, where was I? Right, back to the pop songs!” It’s like some weird spiritual shit happens when I sing that song… every time! I love it. I look forward to it every time I see it in the set.
Sean: Our Rockpit reviewer at the Mandurah show described it as a raw bluesy set with some great rock n’ roll thrown in there too and I have to agree. I grabbed a copy of your solo album ‘Rocky’s Diner’ from the merch desk the other night and I’ve got to say I’m loving that album!
Sarah: Ah cool. Thank you.
Sean: The version you are playing on this tour of ‘Bad Valentine’ is just wonderful.
Sarah: Thanks. Yeah, well I’ve recently started doing loops because I’m playing bass & guitar at the same time so I’m currently trying to work out how to play solos without having drums because I tried before with drums but I don’t really want to have drums when there is no drummer and I don’t want to have backing track per se, you know. So I thought what if I played bass and then I looped the bass and then I can solo to that. I tried to solo with nothing in the past and the arse drops out of it. I tried it with lots of EQ on it and heaps of bottom end but it didn’t really work so then I thought I’d try these loop things and I think it really works. Its scary because it’s hard to do.
Sean: It’s back to that naked thing – there really is no where to hide for you. You touched on the guitar but we got to speak about this the other night. There’s a great bit of history about it and a great story connected to it.
Sarah: Yeah, well I was doing a lot of dance music…God, when was it… must have been about fifteen years ago… I was doing a lot of dance music at the time and my mate Billy Thorpe said to me, “Kid,” they all used to call me The Kid, all those old boys like Angry and them, “Hey, Kid you have got to quit with that dance shit and get back to rock n’ roll!” And so Billy gave me this guitar to encourage me to get back to rock n’ roll. I still kept doing dance music and said, “Yeah thanks” but then I thought maybe I should do something special with this because he’s special and I always loved him, we had such a good relationship and I respected him so much like he was the best singer in the world. I thought I wanted to do something special with the guitar. I’ve got a lot of guitars so I didn’t want it just to be a guitar that Billy gave me… I wanted to make it unique so that he would have been proud of me. So I took a gamble and I butchered it badly, I cut into it and I added pick ups, added an extra output jack and thought to myself, “That’s brave, you know?” But I think he would be proud of what I did because I was brave. There is this beautiful guitar he gave to me and I’m going to add something to it so I added bass.
Sean: It’s given it a whole new other dimension.
Sarah: Yeah, and now it’s like the master blaster.
Sean: Well, we need to get back inside because Jon and the boys have just headed towards the stage but before I let you go, just a couple of fun ones to finish with. You can invite three people from the music world, dead or alive, to join you for dinner, who would you have join you?
Sarah: Alright then, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra… I love those guys… and Rod Stewart.
Sean: That’s a pretty cool table! What was the last album you listened to?
Sarah: I was just listening to ‘Atlantic Crossing’ by Rod Stewart actually before I came here. I’ve been thinking about Rod Stewart a lot in the last 48 hours so that’s probably why I mentioned him just now. You know I love Jon’s voice because he’s got that rich, thick voice just like Rod Stewart’s. I love male singers that have that rich, thick voice; Sam Cooke, Otis Reading, Rod Stewart, John Waite and Jon Stevens has it too.
Sean: Talking of Jon, he is just about to go on so final question, if you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose? And you can’t have “House of the Rising Sun”.
Sarah: Why? But you said I could have anything?
Sean: Yes but not that one…I’ve taken that one [laughs]
Sarah: [laughs] That’s not fair.
Sean: You can have it as you already said it’s you’re favourite.
Sarah: But, oh God there are so many good songs out there. My mind is blown right now. And they are good for so many different reasons too. There’s one song I really wish I’d fucking written and that’s “Kids in America”. I fucking love that song.
Sean: Kim Wilde? What a great song!
Sarah: I do a cool version of ‘Keep Me Hangin On’ too.
Sean: Sarah thank you ever so much for your time. I most definitely will make sure not to miss The Superjesus next time your in town.
Sarah: Thank you so much for having me. And such lovely surroundings. You take me on all the best dates [laughs] (We were having to conduct the interview round the back of the venue near the rubbish bins – we are so rock n’ roll).
Sean: The second date we’ll have recycling bins so we are doing the right thing for the environment [laughs]. Thanks again.
Sarah: My pleasure.
Sarah McLeod is appearing in Jane Eyre which will be touring Nationally throughout 2022
Tickets and more information HERE
