A Bit Of A Buzz

Album sales were certainly spurred along by the album’s calling card, the acoustic lead single Biding My Time that gently worked the pair’s love of harmonies, and ultimately their recognition that a great song must work in a totally stripped-back form. Following the release of their second album Farewell Fitzroy last year, which debuted at number five on the ARIA charts, Busby has been writing as much as possible, and in genres that may surprise.  

“I’ve been writing a heap of pop songs while I’m down here [in Sydney]. I love it, I absolutely love it!” Busby says excitedly. “I started out just writing for other people and it’s just so fun to write and playing them live is just a different kettle of fish. I wrote a song a while back and I went in [to the studio] with this guy and said, ‘Here’s a bit of a melody, can you try and help me turn it into a Katy Perry song?’ We were thumping out these beats and it was an awesome experience – I’m glad we did that because we found a little bit of a different direction for Busby Marou; it’s not as pop as we initially wrote it but we’ve got a couple of new songs comin’ out that have got a bit of bounce and a bit of groove.

“For me being a musician, staying in the game is also about – not re-inventing or anything – but doing different things. I get a bit bored staying on the same kind of wavelength, but in saying that I also love nothing more than singin’ with a couple of acoustic guitars and Jeremy [Marou]. For us, that’s the basis of a good song whether it’s pop, rock, folk or country; if you can pull it down after all the instruments are gone and you’ve got one guitar and a vocal and it’s still solid, then it’s a winner.”

As he prepares to head out for an extensive east coast tour to commemorate the Farewell Fitzroy track My Second Mistake, Busby explains that the road is where he and Marou really come to life. 

“We’ve got a great rhythm at the moment; we’ve got a four-piece and we’ve broken it back down into acoustics. We’re havin’ so much more fun on stage, so this is gonna be a great tour. It’s our favourite thing to do – touring and meetin’ up with the boys – it’s always good. We don’t often get home to see our girlfriends or wives, but we love that as well, but when you finally get back to catch up with the boys it’s really cool; we’re just high fivin’ and everyone gets excited and a bit of a spring in the step.”

Busby Marou are joined on the tour by rising talent Karl S Williams, and a well loved name in Darren Middleton.

“We were introduced to Karl by our co-manager who’d been telling us about this kid from the Gold Coast for quite a while and how amazing he is. Jeremy went and had a jam with him at a festival on the Gold Coast that he was playing… He was like, ‘You’ve got to see this guy. He looks like a big time hippy but he’s a gun muso.’ So we went and saw him and he’s incredible musically; [he’s] unreal on keyboards, guitar, everything – he can do it all, and he loves to collaborate and that’s gonna be great. And Darren Middleton, well he’s sort of the legendary Darren Middleton from Powderfinger, so it will be kind of strange him being our support really and then us going on after him! I was a bit nervous about that but no doubt we’re gonna have a jam with all of them and gettin’ them on stage. Who knows what’s gonna happen, but I know that Jeremy and Darren Middleton are some of the best guitarists in Australia, and Karl too – I think it’s gonna be a bit of a hoot.”