Only announcing his move from long-time band Charlie Mayfair back to the realms of solo performer a couple of months ago, Dave Di Marco is already back on the radar with a new single, a few shows and an EP on the way. That first single, Dublin, is a happy-sounding slice of folk, but as he explains, there's more below the surface.
“This single in particular is one of those songs; it has that happy vibe to it, but really the message and the meaning behind the song came from a pretty dark situation,” Di Marco offers. “I met a homeless man in Dublin, met him in a back street, and he confronted me a little bit and basically I thought, 'Oh, I'll just give him some money,' but he just really wanted someone to talk to. So I ended up spending about five hours with him, just chatting about life. It was a bit of an eye-opening experience for me, and so that's essentially what the song's about.
“I really love the storytelling and the story behind music. And when I listen to other artists - a lot of my favourite artists are great storytellers - I feel that's what I connect with most. I think a lot of the way that I write is very much about personal experiences or things I've come across. Not always about me, but whether it's friends or just people I meet, like this song [Dublin] in particular. Songwriting for me is a very personal thing and it's a way for me to express myself. All those thoughts that I have that I can't really just talk to someone about, I find it easier to communicate through my songs.”
Speaking briefly about his departure from Charlie Mayfair, Di Marco seems thoughtful, but says that it was just a change in focus.
“I know a lot of people say, 'Oh, creative differences,' but I guess it was in the end. I mean we're all still really good mates, but what it came down to was I had a handful of songs that I really, really loved that didn't really fit with Charlie. And the band's sound was moving in one direction and the sound that I wanted to create was moving in another and I felt it was best for both parties to follow our hearts and our passion.”
Free to explore those songs in any way he sees fit, it's been a period of creative resurgence for Di Marco.
“It's been really exciting because I haven't been out of the band that long, it's only been a few months, but I've really wanted to just dive straight into it and get some songs down and, surprisingly, a lot of my creativity came back. There was a short period where I didn't write a song for a while or the songs that I was writing weren't really fulfilling the ideas that I really wanted to pursue. But with this EP, I jumped straight into it and I've got about five songs I've just finished recording and I'm looking at releasing that early next year. It's very different. I think it's a lot more personal now. I loved working with the band, but writing on my own it's purely how I want the story to be told and I'm starting to really enjoy that. I think it's the songwriting that I've always wanted and always needed to do.”
Dave Di Marco is playing the following dates:
Friday 30 November - The Brewery, Byron Bay NSW
Saturday 1 December - Sol Bar, Maroochydore QLD
Sunday 2 December - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD
