The Rolling Stone Revue hits Perth & Adelaide this coming weekend and with it bringing an all-star line-up of Australian musicians and performers, all celebrating The Stones ‘Sticky Fingers‘ album.
Fronted by Adalita (Magic Dirt), Tex Perkins (The Cruel Sea, Tex Don & Charlie), Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Sarah McLeod (The Superjesus), The Rolling Stones Revue will bring a full-blown, rock ‘n roll spectacle to the stage starting with the seminal Sticky Fingers album.
The Rolling Stone Revue also features a red hot backing band featuring guitar virtuoso, Jak Housden (The Whitlams, The Badloves), with Dario Bortolin (Baby Animals) on bass, Gordon Rytmeister (Glenn Shorrock, Hamilton) on the drums, Rob Woolfe (Ian Moss) on keys, James Christowski on guitar and Winston Smith on sax.
We caught up with Adalita to talk about the show, her recent Mundi Mundi performance as well as Magic Dirt and find out who her music-related dinner guests would be…
Sean: Adalita, great to talk to you. It’s Sean from The Rockpit in Perth. How are you?
Adalita: I‘m doing pretty well thanks very much Sean.
Sean: I bumped into you a couple of weeks ago backstage in the middle of nowhere at Mundi Mundi, which was fantastic.
Adalita: Yes I remember you now – the British accent [laughs]
Sean: [laughs] Don’t think there were many too may of us back stage. I got to see The Rolling Stones Review which was kind of the end of that that last leg where you were doing the whole thing with with Tex (Perkins), Tim (Rogers) and Phil (Jamieson) – It was such a great set you put on at Mundi Mundi and to play songs form one of the great song books of all time to 14,000 people must be pretty special.
Adalita: It’s pretty much like a dream really. You have to pinch yourself when you realise you are just playing out in the outback with mates and playing such classic songs and having such a great crowd. It’s just a real experience you know, it’s 360 degrees of everything.
Sean: Well, of course, 13th September we see a slightly different line-up uh for the revue with yourself and Tex again but this time joined by Steve Kilbey (The Church) as well as Sarah McLeod as well so it’s another great lineup and you also be doing the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album from front to back. How good has that been to rehearse?
Adalita: It’s great, yeah. I’ve been rehearsing this album for a few years now so I’m getting to know it really well and it’s sort of… you know… it’s gotten under my skin and it’s sort of been a part of my life very very closely. It’s been a close companion for the last few years so it’s been really awesome and I get to do ‘Wild Horses’ as a duet with Tex for instance, and ‘Moonlight Miles’ too so doing those duets is pretty special and so it’s pretty amazing learning those songs, as well as so many more.
Sean: Well, you are playing the wonderful Astor Theatre too which is one of my favourite venues in Perth.
Adalita: I can’t wait to get over there. I’m just wondering if I’ve played the Astor before? I think I may have but I can’t remember. I’ve played so many theatres but I think I‘ve played there before but it’s sounds pretty special. You know, this is the first time where we’ve got Steve Kilbey on board and I’m a massive fan of his and of everything he does and you know, Sarah McLeod, we did one show together for The Rolling Stones Revue for the Caloundra Music Festival a couple of years ago I think it was but I can’t wait to see those guys and see what they do and I’m just a massive fan of both of them so yeah.
Sean: I was one-year old when ‘Sticky Fingers’ came out. It’s an incredible album that’s stood the test of time. I was listening to it today and some of the tracks that stuck out are still not necessarily the biggest songs by way of success. ‘Sister Morphine’… what a fantastic song that is. Just there’s so much deep bluesy vibes to that one. There’s some real deep stuff in there.
Adalita: Yeah it’s great and Tex does ‘Sister Morphine’ and he does a really great version of it. It’s one of my favourites actually. So I’m excited for you to hear that one.
Sean: It’s not just the wonderful group of people standing at the front of the stage but the guys just a few metres behind you all aren’t too shabby either [laughs].
Adalita: [laughs] I‘m from a DIY background and I’m a bit punk rock and I’m like, “What? I get to like front this incredible band?” So I’m just in awe of them all, you know, they’re just amazing and they’re such lovely people and it’s an amazing experience to play with such an incredibly professional band like they’ve been doing. They’ve got the chops, you know Jak Housden especially on guitar, he’s our musical director and he’s just amazing.
Sean: How did you get involved in these shows in the first instant?
Adalita: Oh it’s pretty simple, I just was invited just out of the blue you know. Just an invitation saying did I want to jump on and be a guest performer on this and I said, “Of course, yes I’d love to.” So it just basically started from there. When I was first asked about doing this show and I got the message from my agent I misread it and I thought that it was the actual Rolling Stones [laughs] like asking if I wanted to… I had to pause very quickly before realizing and it was just like so mortifying that I misinterpreted it but this is the next best thing, you know. It’s an incredible line-up and you get the full light show, there’s a great visual component to it so you get to see The Rolling Stones archives up on the big screen, a lot of photos and images and things and beautiful videos that accompany the songs so it’s a whole package. It’s spectacular show.
Sean: I have this picture in my head of you replying to that email going, “Dear Mick and Keith. Now, I’ll just need to check my diary…” [laughs]
Adalita: [laughs] Oh God, stop it.
Sean: While I’ve got you I’ve got to talk to you about some of your other stuff because you’ve had a busy time with everything you do over the last few years. You seem to have been touring constantly, moving around with your music… it’s been such a revival since that horrible patch where music stopped for a while. Everyone’s been so busy and so creative it seems.
Adalita: It’s been incredible. I mean, yeah, it’s testament to creativity that it’s always flowing and even if it gets blocked or you know it just comes back to the vengeance. It’s pretty crazy and everyone’s so busy and everything’s just going on. It’s great, yeah, everyone’s out touring and writing records and doing lots of different shows and I’ve been really busy. I haven’t stopped you know, even during Covid I was working on stuff behind the scenes so that was kind of actually not a bad little break for me just to be able to catch up on things but yeah it’s been crazy, crazy busy.
Sean: Taking you right back while, where did it start for you and when did you get that buzz to think that this is what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?
Adalita: I was always on a stage I guess. That was my happy place but then in my early Uni years, I picked up a guitar and just out of the blue really. I’d never wanted to be in a band or play a guitar or sing a song or never had any aspirations at all, even though I love listening to music, I guess, in the background. And then I just got fixated on learning how to play acoustic guitar for some reason and then it all just flowed from there, then I learned electric then my boyfriend at the time, I just made up little songs that I made up as I was going along to some poetry I had and he found the tapes and said, “Let’s start a band. These songs are great!” That was when I was around 18 or 19 and then from there it just led to Magic Dirt eventually. Very quickly we got a following and very quickly we got record deals and all that sort of stuff and then I just made up little songs – it happened really suddenly and I just went with the flow and I didn’t really think that it was going to be a career. It was just something fun to do and people wanted to come and see us play, so of course you know the two-way street and it just happened – it was a very happy accident.
Sean: And of course Magic Dirt have been playing on a huge tour as well, which we managed to get you over this side of the country again which was great.
Adalita: Yes we’re touring around with Jebediah, your home state heroes so we’re on the road with them – actually I‘m heading to Darwin and Cairns with them this weekend then i come to Perth and Adelaide in a couple of weeks with The Rolling Stones Revue but I’ve kind of been tag teaming with The Revue and the Jebediah/Magic Dirt tour like since July – they’re both running at the same time so it’s been awesome going from one to the other.
Sean: Well we wish you the best of luck with both tours but I would love to finish of with a couple of general questions if I may.
Adalita: Of course.
Sean: If you could invite three musicians, dead or alive, to join you for dinner, who would you invite?
Adalita: Oh wow, This is awesome… I‘d love Kate Bush, I’d love Kurt Cobain and um…let’s throw Neil Young in there too.
Sean: Great table. What was the last album you listened to?
Adalita: Chamber folk sister duo from Melbourne called Charm of Finches and they’ve just released their fourth album, I think, called ‘Marlinchen in the Snow’, which was recorded in Canada and it’s just stunning. I’ve loved all their albums – I’m a massive fan of their albums. They’re incredible and they’re just going gangbusters. They’re touring over in the UK and Europe and everywhere and they’re incredible so that album is just gorgeous.
Sean: Something new to check out is always great to broaden my horizons so thank you. If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
Adalita: Oh, it would have to be a Kate Bush song… I wish I had written [laughs]… let’s say ‘Hounds of Love’.
Sean: A great selection. Adalita, thank you so much for your time and safe travels for your return to WA and beyond.
Adalita: Thanks Sean, you’ve been unreal. It’s been great to talk to you.
Sean: And you too.
Adalita: See you in Perth. Bye Sean
