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Thibault: How did you decide to play music together?

Julia Stone: It’s a funny thing that… I mean, we didn’t really decide to play music together… there was never a sit down conversation where we said: ‘hey, let’s play music together’. It kind of just happened while we were living in the same house after school had finished… Dad had met a lady and moved out and the cottage was empty. So Angus and I were in there, pretty much spending most of our days at the beach and writing music… We didn’t have to pay rent and we both got by on just a little bit of money… I was teaching trumpet  a couple of days and Angus was labouring a couple of times a week… that payed for food and wine. We were listening to each other writing songs and at some point started singing them to each other. When I would finish a song, I would go into Angus’ room and be like: « Hey, this a new song I wrote ». Then we would start singing harmonies with the song. Eventually we started playing open mic nights and  I suppose we just kept on playing music. We started getting gigs and we won a competition to play at a local festival. We got a band together with some friends on drums and bass… then our aunty started managing us. Got us a deal in london and we all moved over there. We sort of just kept going along with whatever was happening… I think that’s what we’re still doing … just going along with whatever happens.

Thibault: As brothers and sisters, is the blood relationship has an influence on your songwriting?

Julia Stone: Hmmm…. I don’t know… I don’t think so. I would say that the song-writing is really independent of our relationship as brother and sister… We both write totally independently from one another. And we always have been very separate when it comes to spending time alone to write music. I think that as artists we are influenced by each others songs and ideas….. but I don’t know how being brother and sister comes into it. I think when it comes to exploring the musical elements of the music… I mean the part after the song is written that we have  a strong connection with finding vocal harmonies that work and stuff like that. Again I don’t know if that relates to us being family or just the fact that we play music together so often…. That is a hard question to answer… because I don’t really know.

Thibault: Along the family link which connects you, is it important to share the same music tastes and the same influences to have your wonderful complicity?

Julia Stone: Not at all. I don’t believe that it is important for us to be into the same kind of music. We like all kinds of music… but what we listen to changes all the time… like for instance today on the airplane Angus is listening to this electronic artist called ‘pogo’ who mixes up dialogue samples from films with incredibly beautiful music. I am listening to Marianne Faithful…. Broken English…… I like it… he will pass me the headphones and I will pass him mine and we listen to a song that is different then swap back. All music is great really…. it’s all dependent on how I am feeling that will determine what I listen to. There will be days when death metal sounds great to me. I think our attitude to music is similar… we may not be into the same things at the same time but we respect that all forms of creativity have a place and a purpose… even if it is hard to see where or what they are.

Thibault: Have you established a kind of hierarchy between you to avoid some disagreements about songs, important decisions for the recording, the production …?

Julia Stone: I wrote out a very complicated contractual agreement that basically states Angus cannot disagree with anything that I say. I tried to get him to sign it a million times but he thinks it’s a bad idea.

Thibault: The production of your new album is really impressive, fancy and well-balanced. And I read you did it by yourselves this time. Why this choice?

Julia Stone: It wasn’t a conscious choice before we started recording this record. It happened that way really. We had some time off touring and when we booked ourselves into ‘sawmill’s down in cornwall, we went there as a band without a producer. And so we made music… I mean… It is a funny thing the word ‘producer’ — really the whole world has a part in the production of all music. The ideas that come out while we are making the music can come from the swans on the lake, the musicians in the room, the creeking old train, the engineer… We always have a vision for our songs… and then once we start recording we sort of steer toward that vision but if something else pops up along the way we are more than happy to take that detour…

Thibault: I read in a press release that you’ve recorded songs in different places: a studio in Brooklyn, a reservoir in the Queensland state, in London, in the Queens of New-York … What did you search exactly in all these emplacements ?

Julia Stone: I don’t know that we were searching for anything in particular in each of these places. I think that in general we gravitate towards people that we like being around… and places that hold an interest for us…. and it so happens that the places where we recorded had people that we liked working with and also places that we liked spending time.

Thibault: ‘Down The Way’ is a surprising medley. There are thirteen exotic songs, sometimes pop, sometimes folk, sometimes electric, sometimes acoustic, sometimes intimist, sometimes adventurous, sometimes sang by Angus, sometimes sang by Julia. This is like a huge melodic trip with various emotions and ideas. How could you explain this feeling?

Julia Stone: That is a really interesting way of describing the record. I think you are have explained it really well…. It is all those things… and those feelings, all of them happen on a daily basis… within the framework of a single hour I can go from being intimate to being adventurous…. I can go from dancing to drum and bass in a dinghy club to lying in the grass of a park humming ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’. We live our lives in a state of constant juxtaposition… a sun setting and we are waking up…. a sun rising and we are falling asleep… it is only natural that our music reflects our ever changing state of mind.

Thibault: I find your album very interesting in the sense that your songwriting seems very instinctive while the arrangements and the production reveal a real form of fussiness and demand. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons why ‘Down The Way’ is both simple and complex, pleasant and exciting. What’s your opinion on that?

Julia Stone: Yeah… I think that when it comes to writing the songs, the process for both Angus and myself is really simple. we sit by ourself in a room and play the guitar and sing… or piano and sing…. when it comes to recording the songs we spend a lot more time with them. We want them to grow and unfold and some of these songs have been played on the road for a while before they were recorded so they were really familiar and we really felt like we knew where they could go. So we made choices for those songs that felt right….. we didn’t have to be fussy though… the players that we worked with on this record bring so much to the table that when they put an idea down, we never have to redo it or re-think it…. we are really fortunate to know some great players.

Thibault: Did you start and/or planned tours to support your new record on stage?

Julia Stone: Yes. We are on tour in Australia at the moment actually. Tomorrow we fly to Tasmania to play in hobart which will be lovely. Tt is an incredible pretty city….We have played about seven shows now.

Thibault: How do you dread each new show?

Julia Stone: Hmmm….. I think dread is the wrong word…I do contemplate a lot before the shows… a strange feeling overwhelms me before we go out and I become very quiet which is unusual. .. and then as soon as we are out on stage it makes sense…

Thibault: Now that you’re signed on the label “Discograph”, this is time for your songs to win over the french audience … Are you coming to France this year for a few shows?

Julia Stone: Yes. We are coming to France in april or may I believe. We have been to play in Paris twice before… which has been great! We had such a good time… friends took us out and we had some wild jams with some friends in beautiful rooms filled with instruments….. I have some beautiful french women whom have translated one of my songs into french for me to sing on this tour. I am looking forward to sounding ridiculous.

Thibault: During all my interviews, I always ask to each artist and bands the following questions … So, could you give me:

Julia Stone:

- Three reasons to love your new album: Yellow Brick Road, strings and Matt Johnson.

- Three words to describe it: The Devil’s Tears

- The songs in it which represents the best you and your music: « For You »

- Your favorite song on this album and the reason why you love it: Yellow Brick Road. I love this song because it reminds me of a time we had when we were staying in california on the coast… the breeze through the windows from the drive from san francisco down through big sur… it is such a beautiful drive and this song takes me to that place.

Thibault: If you have to choose right now:

Julia Stone:

- An artist: Doveman

- An album: ‘With My Left Hand I Raise The Dead’ by Doveman

- A song: « The Sunken Queen » by Doveman

- One of your songs: Santa Monica Dream

- A movie: Broken English

- An actor: Joseph Gorden-Levitt

- An actress: Parker Posie

- A drink: Chai Tea

- A meal: /

- An animal: Cheetah

- A dream: Four dogs running to reach the bus…. three small beasts and one large sized ridgeback …. three make it there… the other one just misses the bus… the ridgeback…… he sits and waits… another bus doesn’t turn up. Yellow balloons come and take him by the paws… he floats up into the sky, about twenty brumbys run along the street….

- A super-hero power: To fly of course

- A line: ‘Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?’

- A sport: Surfing

- A country: Greenland

Thibault: What kind of artists and bands did you listen these days?

Julia Stone: Joe Judge And The Apocalypic Circus, Ray Lamontagne, Marianne Faithful, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Rondstat, Neil Young, Gotye, Doveman, Bon Iver, Rage Against The Machine, The Fumes, Jez Mead, Fleetwood Mac, Matt Johnson and many many more crazy kids.

Thibault: Thanks for your answers.

http://www.angusandjuliastone.com/

http://www.myspace.com/angusandjuliastone

Chronique de ‘Down The Way’, sortie le 06 Avril 2010