His Record Flew Between LA, NY, London And Melbourne

He’s something of a veteran on the scene and obviously has his shit together, yet Jan Skubiszewski, aka Way Of The Eagle, seems surprisingly relaxed the day his debut album is released. It helps, though, when you’re allowed a decent night’s sleep. “We’ve got a nine month old baby girl and she’s just started sleeping through the night, so I slept very well,” he laughs. 

Skubiszewski spent time as a visual artist before turning his attention to audio production. Since then he’s worked with John Butler Trio and The Cat Empire among others, and worked on TV and film projects like Serangoon Road and Bran Nue Dae, but says there’s naturally something different about releasing his own record. 

"After an hour or two, any nerves or intimidation that might come from working with a well-known artist are gone."

“I’ve obviously worked on records for quite a few artists over the last few years, but I’ve always had this bubbling away and wanted to finish it. It’s different doing things on your own because you have to take care of so many of the details by yourself.”

With a swag of collaborations across KODO, the album is quite varied. This is in part down to the production studios Skubiszewski worked in — Los Angeles, New York, London and his hometown, Melbourne — and the relationships he has with his collaborators — “a lot of the artists on the album are people that I’ve already worked with, but then there are others like Bobby Saint who I never knew before” — but also the way that individual tracks were created.

“Dan (Sultan) and I wrote Rattlesnake together in a day and then I took it away to work on the production. Then there were other songs [like What I Want featuring Benji Lewis] that I worked on and were pretty much complete before Benji came in.

“I find that after an hour or two, any nerves or intimidation that might come from working with a well-known artist are gone. Artists are often coming from the same spot; they’re very sincere people who are looking for ways to get their story across.”

Talking of his newest love, his daughter Sophia, Skubiszewski’s face lights up. “She’s come to a few festivals that I’ve played at and worn those big earmuffs, and I play guitar for her most nights. She really likes the blues. Well, I think she does. That’s what she gets.

“I found learning an instrument a fantastic focus, but I get it that kids often kick and scream their way through practice. I’m just going to do what my dad did; he was a musician himself and gave me a lot of opportunities [Skubiszewski learnt classical guitar growing up]. I’d never push her into something that she didn’t want to do. Hopefully she’ll love it.”