Angus and Julia Stone: Wandering Stars

09 August 2010

by Jason Treuen

In this week's TMN cover feature, the siblings discuss their slow rise to the top, the importance of playing live and why they can't explain their success just yet (thankfully their manager can).

Ask Angus Stone where he was when their album Down The Way went number one last March and the answer is pretty straightforward.

“I was swimming naked in a river watching the tree canopies above,” says Angus in a revelation that will delight his ever-growing gaggle of female fans. “We were playing a show in Cairns and had a glass of champagne to celebrate but that was about it.” Ask the indie-folk duo how they feel about the achievement however, and the answer is harder to come by.

“It’s information I can’t process yet,” says Julia over drinks in the back of an inner Sydney pub. “It’s weird. I’m going to be honest now and I don’t want to sound pretentious, but all I care about is making good music.” As is their way, the Sydney siblings’ ascension has been slow and organic.

It started back in 2005 when they first shared a stage at an open mic night and it’s gathered momentum ever since. After two EPs and a move to London, they put  out their debut album A Book Like This in 2007, which earned them six ARIA nominations. Its successor Down The Way has become the highest-selling Australian album this year with sales of over 90,000 copies, bolstered by a string of sold out shows, Triple J support and most importantly, rabid word of mouth.

Not surprisingly given their musical focus, the pair haven’t thought much about that achievement either. “You should be probably interviewing our manager,” says Julia with a laugh. “We probably should ask her more questions about what she does, but we don’t.”

In line with their strong family bond, their manager is aunty Cathy Oates, previously Head of Marketing and Head of Promo at EMI. She’s not that surprised by their success – after seeing their first performance, she rearranged her life to manage them and move to London. For her, the key, in addition to great songs, has been a very deliberate strategy and “lots of patience.”

“Angus and Julia always had the ability for longevity so I wanted to ensure we focused on building the fanbase over everything else,” she explains. “It was about saying no to things rather than yes. The constant overseas touring has created a very, very strong live band and they’ve only ever done sold out tours because we didn’t do too many, so early on fans know they have to get in quick to get tickets.”

“That, plus a label (EMI) that’s let them develop at their own speed and Sony Publishing, who’ve assisted us financially and helped us get most of our overseas deals.”

All that buzz has seen the pair finally crack commercial radio, with their current single Big Jet Plane scoring notable rotation on the national Nova Network. Interestingly, the track was first recorded for Angus’ 2009 solo album Smoking Gun under the gender-bending moniker Lady of the Sunshine. “I knew Lady could only take it so far,” he explains. “I really believed in it from the first time I wrote it. It feels really cool to sing and it’s got a cool meaning behind it.”

Speaking of jet planes, they’ll be catching a lot very soon. This month the pair and their band (bassist Rod Calder and drummer Matt Johnson) embark on their biggest Australian tour to date. Most importantly for both of them, it means reconnecting with fans, a feeling far more potent than chart positions and abstract accolades.

“That info about people buying the record translates into people coming to the shows. That’s when we can feel it,” beams Julia. “When you get up in front of people, they’re the ones who bought the record and you’re like ‘this is amazing - we’re sharing something.’”