Jeremy Neale Holds It Together For New Tour

A trend in music is to blend all sorts of different music together to create a unique sound. Brisbane artist Jeremy Neale is heading to Melbourne to perform at Ding Dong Lounge to launch his new single ‘Hold On Together’, a really catchy track. I got to speak with Jeremy on his new song, his career and what music makes him tick.

What got you interested in becoming a musician? Who are your musical inspirations?
I guess it’s a mixed bag when I was growing up, a blend of ’60s and ’80s pop. I like Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Monkees, Phil Collins, and Spandau Ballet. I made friends with musos in high school and learned how to play from them.

What made you decide to have ‘Hold On Together’ as your first single? Besides being a great song, of course.
It was something different from music I made before. It’s an bombastic solo, sax meeting flamingo guitar, what world need or didn’t know it need but I did. [Laughs]. I’m also doing a duet in it, and Phoebe [Imhoff] sounds fantastic. I always took this song as a driving song, and I made it as at the type of song I’d want to listen to as I drive.

How do you feel your music has changed since your debut EP in 2013?
I think then I was very much interested doing the ’60s revivalist thing, a guitar band, and now I’ve stretched myself, purely not allowing a chord band to my songwriting. I wanted to see if I could take pop music against modern elements and push it forward. I’ll pretty soon flick back, but at the same time, I’m creating what I want to do at the time, a snapshot of what I was interested in doing. It’s the most honest thing I can do, regardless of everything else was doing. Maybe I’m ignoring the trends. If you hand it to a current music climate, you’ll be associated with that year. You don’t want to be pigeonholed.

The music videos for your songs ‘Darlin’ and ‘In Stranger Times’ feature a lot of pop culture references, especially action films. In ‘Darlin’, you’re a renegade cop, and in ‘In Stranger Times’ you’re in a crime fighting squad. They even feature the same fight scene in the alleyway. Is it safe to say you’re a fan of action films?
I love ’80s films in general, like Hong Kong action films. I was raised on a lot of those movies, so it comes through. We filmed it on zero budget, filmed it on an iPhone and edited it myself on iMovie. There’s something about that era of film, they didn’t rely on special effects like today’s movies do.

I read an article on FastLouder where you said your go-to karaoke song is ‘Gold’ by Spandau Ballet. What do you like about that song?
I just heard it a lot as a kid, it reminded me of a happy and specific time in my childhood. When I started playing my parents’ record collection, that song reminded me of being a kid. It’s the song I’ve listened to the most in my life. That’s a pretty powerful thing, the ’80s sound and the use of saxophone.

You have toured a lot of Australia before. How do you feel each city’s music scene differs?
Based on people I see at my shows, I attract the same kind of audiences, every city is pretty friendly at my tours. I haven’t spent enough time in cities. I wish I could go to Perth more though, but it’s so far away.

Are there plans for an LP any time soon?
Pretty soon. I’ve actually finished working on a LP, and we’ll get it out in late August. We’ve written eight songs for an album, and I’ll keep writing and record at the end of the year.

Jeremy Neale
Ding Dong Lounge, 18 Market Lane, Melbourne
Saturday May 30, 9pm
tickets.oztix.com.au