By Loretta de Haan
September 19, 2019
Alex Smith, lead singer of Moving Pictures, joins the likes of Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel), Daryl Braithwaite (Sherbet), Jon Stevens (Noiseworks, INXS) & James Reyne (Australian Crawl), stepping out alone with this year’s “Flying Solo” tour (October, 2019).
Following the success of their part in the 2018/19 Red Hot Summer tour line-up & after celebrating Moving Pictures 1000th show, now Alex brings his passion for performance back as a solo artist.
From living his personal history at the beating heart of the 80’s pop scene & never far from his band of brothers “Moving Pictures”, Alex Smith still has a lot to reflect upon & say.
–
We had a chat to Alex about his upcoming ‘Flying Solo’ tour ,that includes a show in Wollongong, his new album and more.
–
We look forward to welcoming you to Wollongong’s Centro CBD on Friday 4th October, as part of your ‘Flying Solo’ tour. Can you tell us a bit about the show?
Yes I have actually played at the Centro before with Moving Pictures a while back. I have a new solo album out called ‘The Thread’, so for the first half of the show I basically play all the songs off ‘The Thread.’ Then I have a short break and then come back on and play one or two Moving Pictures tunes and then a lot of different songs that have influenced me over the years, by artists that have been part of my chemistry. Everyone from The Who, the Stones to David Bowie, Bob Dylan, an eclectic mix of stuff. No artist is like this singular thing, you are made up of all your influences, everything goes in the pot.
–
How does performing solo compare to playing with the full band?
It’s very different, It is literally me and an acoustic guitar. There aren’t a lot of guitar solos, the arrangements are stripped right back, so to a degree what you are hearing is how it sounded when it was written. Especially the one or two Moving Picture songs I do, this is how they sounded when I sat down on a sofa and wrote them. What they sounded like before a band got hold of them. Also things change over the years, your interpretation is different. Even your own internal understanding can change, what you thought a song meant 30 years ago isn’t what it means to you now. You see lyrics and things in a different way because your life experiences change so much during that time.
–
So with these renditions by other artists that you perform in your show, do you have a particular favourite cover you like to play?
No not really. The whole second set is mood driven, it will never be the same. Every night will be different, well for a start I have a time limit on stage. I have a book with me on stage and I will just flick through the pages and see what I feel like on that particular night or what the crowd is like on the night, all that kind of stuff. Some nights might be quiet and intimate and other nights more rowdy. I spent years in a band where it was a bit like being a car put in a slot car track, going around & around, doing the same set night after night because that’s what you were getting paid to do and expected to do. With this I am stepping away from that, it’s an aesthetic thing inside of me that I have to do.
–
How did you come up with the concept of this show?
It came out of conversations with my manager and booking agent. It was a fun thing I wanted to do. I wanted to call it ‘By the seat of my pants’ as in flying by the seat of my pants and it end up being called ‘Flying Solo’ because it’s the first time I have ever done this kind of thing and stepped out of the shadow of the band. I have lived overseas for a very long time and still do so it’s about coming back and re – establishing myself again and saying to people I exist outside of the band as well.
–
Can we expect a few stories and yarns during the show?
Yep there will be stories, yarns and a whole lot of rubbish really (laughs) all the crap old men talk about.
–
Moving Pictures have played in Wollongong in recent years and I am presuming back in the 80’s too?
Yes Moving Pictures always had a fun time in the Gong and Port Kembla and surrounding areas in the Illawarra. I just love playing and Pictures don’t play that often anymore but I still want to play. I have a very low boredom threshold and I need to work and I need to play and music is like my psychosis, I can’t shake it. It’s like I am not a psychopath I am a psychomusicpath. I actually get withdrawals when I don’t do it!
–
So are you looking forward to visiting Wollongong again?
Yes it’s going to be great, I am really looking forward to it. I have a lot of friends down there from Thirroul to the Gong. it would be great to catch up with some of them. I hope they go to the website and buy tickets and come along.
–
Can you tell us about your latest solo album ‘The Thread’ and what inspired the songs off the album, they seem very personal.
Yes, The Thread is very personal, it’s 90% love songs because that’s an important part of my life. Love and relationships are paramount in my life and I found the songs on this album were very much driven by them. Some of the songs are brand new and some of the songs I have had sort of in a drawer for years, one of the songs was written while the album was being recorded. To me what I am trying to get across on the album is our life is like an endless thread and parts of it are lived alone and parts of it are woven in amongst other people’s lives & relationships. It’s how you perceive yourself in this thread or how you want to be perceived and ‘weaved’. It’s something I am incredibly proud of. It sounds weird but it’s an album I myself can listen to. I can go and put it on and listen to it and that’s interesting I find. It’s not out of ego or stuff like that it’s because it’s a huge part of my life. I have in mind this three part album cycle and I am starting to record the second one as soon as possible. That’s going to be called ‘Skin and Bone’ I am not the kind of writer that makes up stuff to write about. The songs are either mirrors or things I have seen people going through or my own experiences. Some people have said when I have played them the songs “oh that’s too personal people won’t get that” and my reaction is “well not much I can do about that!” That’s how it is, that’s the song. I am immensely proud of my work and that I got it down in a form that I am very happy with and all the reactions I have had from people have been amazing. People love the album and that’s all I could ever ask for. I know we are living in a different kind of age now and the concept of an album isn’t the same but I am an album artist and I will continue to make albums. What an album is by definition is a collection of material and that’s saying something. It’s like a souvenir tea towel, it’s a place you were at a certain time. So I am going to be coming down to Wollongong and playing these songs and I would love people to come along and be part of it! Especially the second set, sing along, do whatever you feel like. If you know the songs then sing along. Even if you know songs from ‘The Thread’ then sing them too. I’m going to be up there on my own so I need that interaction.
–
Moving Pictures were around during a great era of music. What was it like to be part of a band in the 80’s?
It was amazing, it was just insane! We had the most fun you could have standing up or lying down. Moving Pictures was the greatest time of my life. Not only because they were my best friends but were just stellar musicians that made it easy for me to do what I had to do. I couldn’t have sung without them, I couldn’t have performed without them. They are just the most incredible musicians you could ever stand on stage with and we still love each other like brothers, we are family. We have been through so much life stuff together and that’s amazing. We are still here and we still talk to each other and laugh at each other’s really bad jokes. Still tell the same stories.
–
How different is the music scene now compared to back then?
It’s completely different. A band now or a band from our era will only really play 2 or 3 nights a week. You do the weekend gig because that’s what it’s become now. it’s a really different world, the money is no longer there anymore. There are no record sales, no publishing, streaming has killed all that. Poker machines has destroyed the venues, lock out laws, all of that stuff. It’s an echo of what It used to be. I talk to young bands and they can’t believe that we used to do 12 – 13 gigs a week! A band even as big as Pictures could come back to Sydney and play every night for 2 or 3 weeks in Sydney and never repeat a venue! Where are all those venues now?
–
What is your favourite Moving Pictures memory or achievement?
An achievement would be having the number one single and album for however many weeks it was. Touring with Elton John, doing our own headline tours, meeting and becoming friends with your heroes. Guys that I used to look up to when I was younger suddenly I am playing on the same bill as them and hanging out with them. The music scene back then was so alive and so vibrant. What we were able to be back then were as professional musicians. Nowadays you have your weekend warriors and they drive a cab or work for a company as well as being a musician. Where as we were professional musicians and we made our money out of making music 5, 6,7 nights a week. that’s how we put food on the table, paid the mortgage, paid the bills. We didn’t have other jobs we just made music and 90% of it was original music because back then people wanted to see bands playing original songs and nowadays they don’t want to hear someone’s original song. So it’s all arse about now.
–
Did you ever imagine ‘What About Me’ becoming the massive number one hit it was and still such an iconic Australian song to this day?
No, no we didn’t. We knew it was a good song when we recorded it. Bustin’ Loose was the first single, that got to number 8 and the album went gold. We thought this is great we are going somewhere here. Then we did ‘What About Me’ on Countdown and the next day you couldn’t walk down the street! It was a whole different ball game. Even now some 40 years later I walk down the street and people still look at me and think “I know that guy, isn’t that Shannon Noll”
–
You live in Italy now, how different is the music industry over there and are you involved in it?
I’m not really involved but I have a little blues band that I play around with locally to where I live. The Italian music scene is very internal and my Italian is not really good enough to be part of it. I love living there. I live in a tiny little rural town, a farming town that has olives, grapes, goats etc. 1400 people in it and my wife and I live a very quiet life and then I come back here and put my finger in the light socket again.
–
How do you keep the passion to play/write music alive?
I think it’s just in me and I have never ever wanted to do anything else. I made it my business to learn how to do it and to make a profession, a career. It’s a craft and you don’t go on a reality show and sing one song and think you are an artist. That’s not the world, that’s just a very tiny world. What it is actually about for me is the entire craft, the entire learning process and the fact that I am still learning. Every night you learn something. I have often thought to myself if it ever gets to the stage where it gets so robotic then I would stop. I can’t do the robot thing, it’s not part of my makeup. The world to me is a passionate thing, music is a passion. Music is the magic of capturing moments of time, freezing time and making that moment real for the listener.
–
You are very active on social media . How important is it to have that strong presence for your music?
Well I have only really been doing it for the past four or five years. People kind of forced me into it and said you have to do it, come into the modern world. So I did, with help and I understand it’s importance but I don’t consider it the be all and end all. I do understand it’s a form of communication and if I want to get people to my gigs or release new music and I want people to know I am still alive and kicking then it’s a necessary thing. I could say necessary evil but I won’t. I like to put simple messages up there like Sing, Dance, Be Happy. Only because I think this world is full of negativity and music is a way of getting people positive again through a shared experience. People, the listener need to get involved and have the bravery to get involved. Once upon a time people went out more, people engaged with bands. We used to have people come see us three or four times a week and now people hardly go out. I don’t know are they afraid of engaging and getting involved are they scared of getting the passion, I don’t know what it is. I think it’s important for people to get out. Maybe it’s the world of the social media junky who just wants to run their thumb over their phone or ipad for hours on end and think they are interacting with the world when in fact you are not interacting! Interacting with the world is getting out there and sweating next to someone who is also sweating, sharing a passion. Then you turn around and look at someone you have never met before and you smile and you share a moment. It’s like when I am up on stage and I am playing to a group of people that I have never met before and I look around into the crowd and your eyes meet and it’s those nanoseconds where things happen between you. You smile together, you frown together. It’s what music is supposed to do.
–
What’s In the works for Alex Smith in the near future, both solo and band?
I’m in the works of getting the second album up and running. Another solo tour early next year in February and March. I just want to keep working. Moving Pictures will probably do some stuff too. It’s a funny thing saying working because when you talk about music you talk about play. . .’play’ I think that’s a beautiful concept. All work and no play makes Alex a dull boy. Work to play and play to work. So I just want to get down to Wollongong Centro and play! The tour is a month long and it’s pretty solid with a lot of gigs. I hope it goes well. I just want people to come out and enjoy themselves and come with an open mind because for 90% of them the first set they would have never heard those songs before. That’s the crux of it all and I have to play those songs, I’m not sitting up there like a cover band or a tribute band. This isn’t a Moving Pictures tribute show this is like welcome to the stupid locked in mind of Alex Smith. I didn’t set out to make a Moving Pictures album, the album is me being as naked and raw as I could be. I wanted to make something beautiful and I think I did. It’s all mine. I don’t think many people get to say that in this pre manufactured world.
–
Thanks for the chat Alex. Good luck with the tour and we look forward to your show at The Centro, a great way to start the long weekend in October.
Yes I think it is so everybody just go buy tickets. . .buy those tickets! See you all soon, can’t wait!
–
Alex Smith plays at the Centro CBD, Wollongong – Friday 4 October as part of his ‘Flying Solo’ tour.
Get tickets to all shows HERE
