zan rowe uses music to talk about memory and vulnerability with celebs

Music is pretty dang powerful. Listening to a familiar tune can help bring back memories of some of our most pivotal life moments, or even just remind us of where we were when we first heard a specific song for the first time.

No one understands the healing properties of music better than Zan Rowe, who has been working in radio since the mid-90s and has had a love for music since the very beginning, and is the host of the TV show Take 5 where she chats to high-profile musos in an intimate setting. We sat down with Zan to talk about her career, her love for music and what it’s like rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest stars on the planet.

Hiya Zan! What first drew you to a career in radio?  It was a somewhat happy accident. I was studying professional writing and journalism and I just so happened to tag along with a mate one night to do his community radio show at SRA (now SYN FM). The bug got me immediately, and I kept turning up after that, eventually getting behind the mic myself. I’ve always been a huge music fan, and I guess I just found another passion for communication!

What is your personal relationship with music? I’m a fan – always have been. I don’t play any instruments (good lord I’ve tried to learn), but songs and albums have been central to how I see and understand the world, and have continually been storytellers for me.

Talk to us about your career with triple j, how did you first get started and what was the experience like for you overall? I began doing overnight shifts and fill-ins at triple j in 2005, taking a full-time job there in 2006. My first spot was Weekend Lunch, but I soon moved to weekday Mornings and stayed there till 2017. triple j is an incredible workplace full of creative and curious people who I’m lucky to call friends. It’s incredible to work at a national broadcaster that has such a deep history and connection to its audience. And I get to continue that in my work at Double J, the sister station to triple j and part of the big “j” family.

How do you prepare yourself for interviewing people? By preparing! I love research and do as much of it as I can before going into a chat. That said, I’m always ready to put it to one side and follow the interviewee down the rabbit hole to see what we find. Preparing gives me the confidence to do that dance, and always serves me well.

You’ve sat down with a wide plethora of musos, from Bjork to Kylie Minogue to countless others. What was your most memorable experience chatting to these stars? So hard to pick one! But it’s hard to beat sitting opposite Paul McCartney for 45 minutes, speaking about some of his most iconic songs. Like many, I grew up with his music, so to be able to speak with him about the mystery and joy of song writing and have him demonstrate his anecdotes with a guitar nearby was truly a dream come true. I listen to that chat once a year just to remind myself it really happened. 

Talk to us about Take 5. What was the transition like from Double J radio to TV? Pretty smooth, because I knew that the emotions I saw in the faces of my guests would be welcomed by a big audience. First and foremost, I wanted to keep the intimacy that lives in the radio and podcast Take 5’s. We’ve done that with our small and respectful team, beautiful lighting and cinematography, and a trusting space where guests feel comfortable to share. Respect is central to every Take 5.

How do you ease your guests into chatting about intimate topics? It’s the secret sauce of Take 5 really; when we talk about the things we love and have meaning for us, we open up. Songs tell the stories of all of our lives, and in speaking about their song choices my guests end up telling their own story with reflection and vulnerability you don’t see in other interviews.

What do you hope audiences will get out of Take 5? A deeper love for the songs they know, or joy at discovering something new. A new understanding of the guests choosing the songs. And warm fuzzies as they think about their own Take 5, and which songs would tell their story.

Watch a snippet of Natalie Imbruglia’s Take 5 episode here, watch it in full on ABC iview here and check out all of the episode’s behind-the-scenes footage this-a-way.