tunesday – who, what, when, where, why with grace robinson
Grace Robinson takes us behind the scenes of her new album ‘choppy’.
Ahead of the release of choppy, rad muso Grace Robinson lends us a slice of her time to give us the who, what, when, where and why of it all.
Who was the first person you showed choppy to? I think it was a pretty close tie between my cousins (who are like my sisters) in a car ride down to Ocean Grove, or Ruby Gill, my trusted friend and colleague and inspiration. I had shown many friends little bits and pieces, but the first people to listen to the full album, tip to toe, was them! I was with my cousins at the time, which was extremely fun but also extremely scary. I felt like I was doing a really big show and tell. Ruby listened to it in her own time in her magical place in Beechworth and came back with a list of thoughts about the songs on WhatsApp that never actually ended up sending through to me. Then she felt like she couldn’t replicate them when we later figured this out, so I will never actually know but there’s something symbolic about that for some reason.
What was the catalyst for making the album? In a very short and sweet way: Light, Dark, Light Again by Angie McMahon. In a very long and honest way, I think the main catalyst was me realising that I’d spent my entire musical career, at 24, being a glorified admin person for other people’s music careers, mostly rooted in my rational and irrational fear that I am not likable enough if I’m not needed.
I had made such an effort to make myself needed by others so that I wouldn’t ever have to suffer any personal rejection, which was truly a fantastic strategy unless you actually want to feel creatively fulfilled in life. After this unsustainable and tedious cycle inevitably ended in many therapy sessions, panic attacks and desperate attempts at setting boundaries, I decided to start just playing guitar again. I made a vow to myself to stop doing things for other people and just write honest songs, with no expectation of anything, no outcome, success or otherwise. Then suddenly, I had a record.
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When was the last time you did something creative that wasn’t music? I really, really love cooking! And not in a normie follow-a-recipe way – in a “creative” way, I suppose. I spend days planning dishes with certain ingredients, side dishes, flavours, plating designs and serving orders, and then I spend a chaotic day locked in my beautiful kitchen, cooking them for my family and housemates and dog. My algorithm is predominantly cooking videos and dogs in costumes.
If cooking doesn’t count, I love taking photos. I have a beautiful old (and heavy) Leica R9 camera that I inherited and photograph with sometimes, as well as an Olympus 35mm. I like shooting film (not just because it’s the trendy Naarm thing to do), but also because my ADHD means I forget to develop it for months/years, and then when I finally do, it’s like this treasure chest of memories I get to open up again, and it’s a delightful surprise.
Where did you write the song “driving”? I wrote “driving” in a slightly terrifying hostel in Bajawa, Flores. My partner and I had been on a six-week holiday, driving around Flores, Indonesia, and I’d spent most of it either doing admin for other people or stressing about the fact that I was doing admin and not “relaxing” well enough. It was a never-ending cycle of self-scrutiny and resentment that had exhausted me. When we got to this hostel, it was the first time I’d seen and held a guitar in four weeks. Despite its horrible tuning and suspiciously sticky strings, I was excited to try to do something for me. I sat next to this river and wrote the majority of “driving” in one go. When I played it to my partner, he said, “That is a great song but you realise we are actually moving inland and not on a coastline?”
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Why is your upcoming album called choppy? Because of my chubby cheeks! Haha. Choppy is my family nickname. Choppy, chippy, chippy-chopper, chopadoski, chop – any variation is fine, really. My parents will still refer to me as Choppy across a room. When deciding what to call the album, I wanted it to be something that symbolised a moment of vulnerability. Like an introduction or an unveiling of the real me. I contemplated “Grace” as the title but decided I’m a bit too early in my career to go head-to-head with Jeff Buckley haha. When I thought of “choppy”, it all started to make a bit more sense. That felt like the person I was introducing. Everyone already knew Grace the agent, Grace the Empress singer, Grace the choir director, Grace the teacher. No one knew yet Choppy, though.
Who are your favourite local musicians? Honestly most of my favourite musicians are local! Ruby Gill and her new album is on repeat – particularly “Porchlight”, which is one of the greatest songs ever written. Immy Owusu’s new music is soul healing. I really love Rowena Wise’s recent album, and all the new music from Hannah Cameron, Juice Webster, Maia Toakley and Swapmeet. Also, my lovely friends make ridiculously good music: Stella Dunai, Indigo King and Yours, Georgina.
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What is the best and worst things about the music industry? The best thing is the music. I know that sounds basic, but it really truly is for me. I just want to listen to music, make music and talk about music. I love other people's music. I love the way it makes me feel to listen to it and feel it. I love that, because I work in this industry, I often get to hear other people's music first – or even better, in demo form. I love rehearsing music and arranging it. I love writing it. Music is the best thing.
The worst thing is also probably basic, but it's 100000 per cent social media. Haha. I'm so, so tired of having to pretend to understand algorithms, trending sounds, text on screen, Meta, ads, how many likes, how many followers and how many views. This is also a big part of why I wrote “driving”. I feel like we're all just in this vacuum, posting all the same shit and pretending we're all overly humble, successful rock stars and that everything is marvelous, when really, we're all feeling burnt out and terrible about ourselves. Maybe that's me overstepping, but at least that's how I see it. It's that horrible dopamine chase of, "Oh, I'll sponsor this post and chuck some money behind it. Oh, now I have more followers. Oh, people are commenting!" And then suddenly you actually stop and analyse it and realise none of it makes you feel very good, because you're just another part of the machine. You basically just paid for praise. And I’m realising I don't really like that praise. It just makes me feel empty.
When will listeners get to hear choppy live? December 4th! The album launch! Shotkickers! It is actually selling super-fast which is extremely exciting. We will be playing the album top to bottom – in full band style! And we have the most magical indigo king opening, who has actually just put out a new song, and Elena Jones, who has just released a beautiful new EP!
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Where is your favourite place to play shows? Everywhere and anywhere but in terms of Naarm music venues to play at, I’d probably say Shotkickers, The Northcote Social Club and The Merri Creek Tavern. In terms of a “place” more literally, I’d say Beechworth. I’ve played a few shows there over the years and I love the people and the place a lot. I have also done a few solo shows in beautiful town hall spaces – like at Queenscliff Music Festival in the Grand Vue, and at Anglesea Memorial Hall with Middle Kids. Those were my favourite gigs of all time.
Why do you make music? To be honest, I’ve never really been able to do much else. My year 12 subjects were three music subjects, art and English. From the minute I was able to bang an upside-down pasta pot with a tethered wooden spoon; from the minute I built myself a violin at four years old out of a tissue box and a ruler, bowed with a long bamboo stick tied to an eraser; from the minute I would piggyback off my older brother’s guitar lessons, stealing his practice journals to learn how to play chords and read TAB; from the minute I wrote my first smash-hit banger, “Happiness”, in primary school, performed it at assembly and all the boys teased me and asked if, in the chorus, I was saying “a penis” instead. I make music because I can do absolutely nothing else, and I never really have. My second-best skill, after making music, is being able to guess dog breeds upon first look, and I’m not sure there are many occupations in that field. I make music because it makes me feel like me. And in a brain like mine, which isn’t very good at introspection, there’s not much else in the world that does make me feel like me.
For more ace music chats, have a squiz at our chinwag with rad rocker Maia Toakley or take a gander at Babyccino’s perfect playlist. Plus, sign up to our newsletter to stay in the music loop.
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