RENEE GEYER - Mornings with Kerri-anne (April 2004)
Renee Geyer - Mornings with Kerri-anne in April 2004.
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00:00A voice that speaks for itself.
00:04Hey, hey, why don't you give me a call?
00:11Hey, welcome back to Bedlam's on Wheels.
00:15Stop laughing there, Jamie. Bedlam's coming up, it's not your turn yet.
00:19We're doing coffee this morning. I think we've all had a bit much coffee here today.
00:23Hey, welcome back to the show.
00:24There is little doubt that Renée Geyer is this country's best soul and blues singer.
00:30After 30 years of performing, recording, doing all sorts of stuff,
00:33her talent is backed up with plenty of experience.
00:36And she's going to perform later for us, live on mornings,
00:39but she joins us for a bit of a chat.
00:41Renée, great to see you again. Thank you for coming in.
00:44Thank you, Maddie. We always love to see you, Kerry.
00:46Oh, we're having such a good time.
00:47We've done Ferraris and Alphas and The Boys, George and Simon.
00:50That was fun, The Boys' performance.
00:52That was fun.
00:59The swimming ballet has always been a bit of a funny one for me,
01:03so I thought that was perfect.
01:06Now listen, first up, we spoke last, I think it was last August,
01:10you had the new album out, which was your 20th album,
01:13but also more importantly, here we go, this is the one that you produced yourself.
01:19Okay, going months later now,
01:21were you happy with the experience of producing yourself?
01:24Um, it's no big biggie, you know?
01:28I mean, if you've been running a band for 30 years
01:31and going on the road and doing shows,
01:33you're pretty much producing that.
01:35So you have great musicians, you have a great engineer,
01:38it produces itself.
01:39All you have to do is say yes or no to decisions.
01:42That, you know, people say, is the bass too loud?
01:44Is this too much? What do you think?
01:46And you just sort of make decisions based on your gut.
01:48It's not that hard.
01:49And I've always been pretty pushy,
01:51so I've always had a hand in everything I've ever done,
01:53as you well can imagine, Perry.
01:55A girl who knows what she wants.
01:57Yeah, so, you know, I sort of almost feel like it's kind of a bit,
02:01a bit patronising sometimes to sort of be given a big sort of accolade
02:06that oh, and you've produced it yourself.
02:08You know, like, as if that's such a hard thing to do.
02:10I mean, you know, women can do stuff like that, you know.
02:13But it was the first time you actually put your name on the back of it
02:15and got the official...
02:17Yeah, that's true.
02:19I've always been loath to put my name there
02:21in case people didn't like it very much.
02:23And I did have nightmares.
02:25The album being called Tenderland,
02:27the headline of the reviews would be, you know,
02:29Not So Tenderland.
02:31You know, and yet all the reviews were incredible.
02:34I mean, I don't even think I was worthy of those reviews,
02:37but they were incredible reviews.
02:38I think it was just the right time
02:40and it was a good sentimental piece of music.
02:43Well, I loved it.
02:44I've sat in the car many times and cruised with it.
02:46And you've been right there with me.
02:49Now, you've taken it another step.
02:51And this, you know, as somebody used to, you know,
02:54do a bit of karaoke in the old days,
02:57you've done a whole bunch of this stuff live now.
03:00This is the new album.
03:02All this live.
03:03Now, you've been on tour.
03:04You did this at the Athenaeum?
03:06Yes, I did the Athenaeum in Melbourne
03:08and I had a ball.
03:10But is that scary to actually do the whole...
03:12How much work have you got to do post on it?
03:15You know what, the main thing about touring
03:17is the logistics of getting around the country
03:20and the travelling, as you know.
03:23But, I mean, doing the album live,
03:25knowing that once it's on there, how much of you...
03:28It's a pleasure to do.
03:29Because when we record, we do it as if we're live.
03:32So we put it down like we're a band.
03:36So, I mean, we're doing what we do.
03:38So that's not the hard...
03:39Music is the easiest part.
03:41It's all the other stuff,
03:42which is why I'm going to do a big tour in August.
03:45Then I'm going to stop for a little while.
03:46I know.
03:47You just mentioned that to me in the break.
03:48You're going to stop.
03:49I'm devastated.
03:50Just live work, a little bit.
03:52You've got this new...
03:53What are you going to do?
03:54Tell me.
03:55I'm going to...
03:56There's been a bit of talk about...
03:59People have been on to me about getting a singing school going.
04:02Not a school...
04:03Can I be first student?
04:04You can be first student.
04:05I'll be there.
04:06But you have to audition.
04:07Okay.
04:08That's the only difference between this school
04:10and most other singing schools.
04:11So who are you looking for?
04:12People that just want to do this for a lifetime,
04:15not for a minute.
04:17Have a little bit of life left.
04:18I think you have a lot of life left.
04:20I think you might be the exception.
04:23You don't have to audition.
04:24You're just in.
04:25Trust me, at the moment, I think...
04:26You're my first student.
04:28So what are you looking for?
04:29Who would you look for?
04:31I think what we want to do is we want to have a place
04:36where people can learn how to deal with
04:38not just the la-la-la-la-la-la of singing,
04:42but phrasing, how to touch an audience with a song,
04:45the architecture of the phrasing of a song,
04:48then other aspects of the business,
04:50like how to deal with lawyers,
04:51how to deal with managers,
04:52how to deal with the press,
04:54how to deal...
04:55I mean, of course, I'm such a great example for that.
04:57Yeah, you've done so well.
04:58I'll have other people...
04:59You just go hammer them.
05:01I'll have qualified people dealing with all these...
05:03So you won't take that part of the course?
05:05I'll be giving the odd class based on what I can offer,
05:10which is a lot,
05:11because I've been doing it for 30 years,
05:13and if I'm still around and on TV,
05:15I must give something.
05:17This is fascinating.
05:18You're looking at not only the technical side
05:20of singing and the phrasing.
05:21I've often talked to people who run NIDA and a lot of actors.
05:25Now, NIDA, great acting school,
05:27but at the end of a couple of years,
05:29those kids go out,
05:30and if they can't find a job,
05:32rejection is the worst, worst emotion
05:35that somebody can go through,
05:36and especially in showbiz and acting and singing,
05:39you've got to deal with it.
05:40If you don't know how to deal with rejection,
05:42you're crippled, and you'll never get anywhere.
05:44That's right.
05:45I think also, though,
05:46but if you're nurtured at what you do,
05:50and it is truly something that you're born
05:52and really want to do,
05:53and you're nurtured in such a way
05:55that you learn that the priority is the art
05:59that you're good at...
06:00Rejection is not going to matter so much,
06:02because you can't go on Australian Idol
06:04and take that seriously.
06:05Go on it, have fun,
06:07but if someone says, based on two minutes,
06:10you are never going to make it in this business,
06:12how do they know?
06:13But that's the very rejection I'm talking about.
06:16It's demoralizing.
06:17We're going to nurture kids to know not to take that.
06:21Renee, and I mean, we talked,
06:22you said last year you were 50.
06:24Thank you.
06:25But I mean, we talked about it.
06:28I'm 50, all right.
06:29Shut up.
06:31See, she's so kind to the person.
06:33Can I say hello to my mum?
06:34Yeah, but before, I want you to do that.
06:36But you're telling me, even, Renee,
06:39with this extraordinary experience
06:40and wealth of talent,
06:42that you don't get hurt by a critic.
06:47I would.
06:48And then you kill them.
06:50I would, I would.
06:51I do, and I have in the past.
06:53But that is part of the thing that...
06:58But it's never made me give up.
07:00I've always come back and gone in the studio,
07:02gone on the road.
07:03You've been on the strong side.
07:04But most artists that live and work in the business 30, 40 years
07:09know that they still go back, they get disappointed.
07:12You wouldn't be human if you weren't disappointed,
07:14but you don't, are not mortified and give your career up.
07:17But you don't disappoint us.
07:19Well, thank you.
07:20But I want to teach people that there's more to it
07:23than just somebody telling you based on one thing
07:26if you're actually good enough.
07:28Well, I wholeheartedly congratulate that whole approach.
07:31Now, your mum.
07:32My mum's in Royal Women's Hospital,
07:35having her lip procedure, and I just want to say hello
07:38and to all the ladies and the gents.
07:40What's your mum's name?
07:41Ella.
07:42Ella.
07:43Ella, get better.
07:44Say...
07:45Mummy, it's me.
07:49Oh, not that thrilled.
07:51Oh, OK.
07:52Tell everybody in the hospital,
07:54thank you for looking after you,
07:55and I'll call you when I leave here.
07:57OK.
07:58Bye.
07:59Ella, we give you our absolute love.
08:01I'm sure everything's going well
08:03and everybody's looking after you,
08:04and we love your daughter.
08:05She's absolutely spectacular.
08:07Coming back to sing?
08:08Yes, I'll come back and sing.
08:09Wonderful.
08:10And don't forget, this is the live...
08:11This is Renée Gare, the live album.
08:13You will love it.
08:14OK, we've got a lot more coming up on the show,
08:16but right now here's Jamie, who's going to steam us up.