From The Silver Screen To The Stage: ‘Titans’ Actor Brenton Thwaites On His Debut Album

Brenton Thwaites hasn’t exactly lived a quiet life. In fact, you’d probably recognise him. After all, he’s been in a plethora of Hollywood staples, including Maleficent, Pirates of the Caribbean, and, of course, the show he’s known best for: Titans.

But, after conquering one entertainment sphere, Thwaites is ready to move on to his next challenge: music. Dropping his debut album today, the Queensland artist is diving headfirst into this new venture.

“I found an art form to help express how I feel about my life. My life in Hollywood, being a young father, being scared of the unpredictability of my industry, being homesick," Thwaites says. "I fell in love with songwriting and signed my own deal! This will be a lifelong endeavour, Searching For The Man being the maiden voyage."

To celebrate his new album - Searching For The Man - Thwaites is revealing all, taking us track by track through the LP.

TOO YOUNG FOR THIS

Too Young For This is about a relationship I had in my early twenties. She was a bit older than me and although I really liked her and we had great chemistry - I knew I was TOO YOUNG. However, despite the age difference, we had a lot of fun and the magic of the short time we had together will always be remembered. 

CHOCOLATE SQUARES IN TENNESSEE 

I had a callback for one of my favourite directors of all time, Robert Rodriguez. He flew me to his studio in Austin, Texas to screen test. Although I didn’t get the part, I had the best day - Robert, his studio, Austin, the whole thing was unreal! I had amazing chemistry with the girl I was testing with, and much to my delight, on the plane back to LA - a tiny 10 seater-thing - I was seated next to her. We picked up where we left off and as we were taking off she offered me some ‘chocolate’. This thing must’ve had more WEED in it than the entire State of California. I remember laughing so loud on the plane and kind of being self-conscious because everyone could hear me but also thinking…Who CARES! I’m with this amazing chic! Then….like ships in the night, we went our own ways. She got in her car at LAX and me in mine. No hint of romance really happened, but the chemistry was real. Or was it? The song idea came from a curiosity about the whole thing. What just happened? Was that real? Was I just really high? Did she feel that? And then of course…can love be so short sometimes? Of course it can!

COME BACK DOWN TO EARTH 

This was one of the first songs I’ve ever written. I was in a hotel in London whilst on a studio gig. I was not enjoying my time and felt a bit locked away in a contract, unable to do anything else and made to perform on something that I wasn’t 100% on doing creatively, but took the gig because I was broke. I also felt screwed over because while I had my flights to London paid for, I was made a ‘local hire’ and I found out when I got there that I would be getting myself accommodation (for the 6 months). I ended up staying at a hostel for a few weeks (getting picked up in limo’s, and taken to Pinewood, pretty funny - people thought I was a drug dealer) and then moved to Brixton where I unknowingly moved in with actual drug-dealers. THEN - I found a flat towards the end of my trip in Clapham Common and found all the Aussies, and felt at home. Anywho - the helplessness of being stuck in that contract and lonely and homesick led to this idea. The realisation that being in a big Hollywood film isn’t a sure thing to happiness. Learning that early on in my career was perhaps one of the greatest lessons. Now, in hindsight, I realise that I didn’t have it so bad, as it was a bit of money in the bank and that studio movie led to a string of other great movies. 

FLYING HIGH

The story of Flying High is really the vibe in LA before I got the call for Maleficent. The stagnancy actors go through, the rejection, the poverty. I had been auditioning, getting really close to a tonne of huge movies, all whilst sleeping on a couch and with no money in the bank. It's about driving down Sunset Blvd and seeing the gigantic posters for films and dreaming: I’m going to be up there one day. I wanted to paint that picture in the verse and in the chorus tell the story of how lucky we (Australians) are! We get to fly over and take huge leaps of faith and risk it all…and fail….and then come home if we need to. The success of a lot of Aussies over in LA, I believe, is that we can come home to a very grounded way of life. A culture that offers the truth on every corner, that gives the underdog the spiritual tools he may need to go back to LA and kick it again and again and again. I never took that for granted. And I ended up Flying High! 

ALONE WITH YOU

This is about doing life with a partner, and how much better it is. For all the fun, great reasons, having kids, travelling, falling in love, but also having someone next to you that can take some of the punches with you. Not feeling good enough, rejection after rejection, insecurities, bad performances, laziness, self-hatred. In a hotel room by myself - I would drink to excess with all these thoughts in my head. With Chloe (my partner) next to me, I would sit on the couch and chat it out and it would give me a different perspective. I would be much less self-destructive. 

SEARCHING FOR THE MAN

Searching For The Man is the only song that I took to Justin (my producer) fully completed. It was a quick idea that came to me in the kitchen whilst tinkering with this repetitive Travis picking pattern. The idea being the fearlessness and bravery and confidence that I had in my younger years, trying to get some of that back as an older man with kids. It paints the picture that, when I am depressed, I get quiet and still and think a lot. The depressed man doesn’t do any depressed things, he does nothing. Says nothing. Questions everything. Paralysis by Analysis. Should I train? Should I go for a run? Should I drink? Should I talk to my mates? It's about trying to give myself a kick in the arse a bit as someone who has a hard time believing in myself, backing my own ideas and investing in myself and my own projects. 

TRAVELLING WAY OF LIFE 

This is a big thank you to my partner for coming along for the journey. The journey of a working actor is really The Travelling Way Of Life. We hit the road with a 6 week old, and when we were done, we came back to Aus with 5 kids. She had babies in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Alabama, Bulgaria, Toronto, Perth, and nailed it! Her ability to figure out a city on her own with her kids was nothing short of genius. We would often sit down at the end of a hard day and share our dream: living on a farm in Australia with all our kids. Having horses, cows, food forests, chickens, motorbikes. The song is me promising that all the travel and hustle and her solo with the kids in random cities is for that dream. It's for something. 

TAKE ME AWAY

Take Me Away is kind of inspired by classic tracks like Layla (Derek & The Dominoes), and After Midnight (Eric Clapton) and Stop This Train (John Mayer). The feel of it always reminds me of New Orleans. ‘The streets of romance’ is what I felt when I would walk down the main streets of New Orleans with all the performers throwing their souls into their songs. It's a bit of a fictional story loosely related to me, to the feeling of wanting to leave a small town in desire of EXPERIENCE, LIFE, ROMANCE, DANGER, THE WORLD, ANYTHING. I originally thought the song was a bit too thin song-writing wise but it has become one of favourites, I think because of the vibe (and Justin’s solo is fucking fire!) And perhaps the general canvas for listeners to put their own story into it. Their own version of wanting to be ‘TAKEN AWAY’.

BY MY SIDE

By My Side is about Chloe helping me through the ‘wars’ that I had in the workplace. Titans was a great experience for me, but not without a lot of frustration and trepidation around the dominance of the creative vision…for better or worse. Two weeks before the first episode was to start shooting I wanted to quit, run, go home. Of course, I didn’t (thank god!). Then again right, smack bang in the middle of season 2, I packed up my house and left Toronto to Barcelona - the plan being: I will busk on the streets of Europe to make us money! I ended up coming to my senses in the hotel after a chance meeting with an entertainment lawyer who basically said: ‘you’re fucked forever if you don’t get on a plane right now!’ - so I got on a plane and landed and went straight to set and no one was the wiser! However - Chloe was By My Side for all of it, and with me whether I was a star on a show or a busker on the streets of Europe! 

GET BACK TO LOVING YOU

This is a fictional story of a man trying to get his woman back. It was a song that I had been singing for a while, round the house, in the shower, and loved, but was always a little scared to bring it into the room. It was a bigger, more confident vocal inspired from singing blues/soul i.e. Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin. As soon as I started singing, I saw the look on Sarah and Justin’s face and it was confirmed: it's on the record. I loved how fun it was. It really was a showcase for a huge part of my music personality, the performer, entertainer in me. The James Brown in me. Justin also pushed me to solo on it between vocal sections, the plan being that I can sing my arse off and then have a shred in between. 

EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT

Everything's Gonna Be Alright is about a young heart being broken. I was trying to put the listener into the shoes of young love. The moment two young people connect. How everything’s perfect in that moment. The rain, the cold, the wet hair and jacket. The feeling that you would die for someone in an instant and then, like a gust of wind, it all being broken. All of a sudden, as with young love, it goes as quick as it comes and how painful that can be, but necessary for a young person's growth. 

GOOD AS GOLD

My father’s love: Good as Gold. My dad was my hero growing up. He was funny, charismatic, all my friends loved him, he played the piano and sang beautifully, he was a great tennis player and he was always there for me and my sister. However, as I got older, I saw how stuck he was. How depressed and lonely he was and inhibited by something. Self-esteem, childhood trauma. Who knows!? I wondered why he didn’t have any friends, no woman (for such a good-looking man!?) And, in general, wouldn’t really leave the house. The song’s really about: NONE OF IT MATTERS. All your plans went to shit but you loved us. Me and my sister have never doubted that he loved us and that has given us more than anything or trip ever could. 

Note: there’s a key change in the second chorus that I mentioned I wanted to try, much to my collaborators' chagrin! They were surprised how well it worked and lifted the song to the next level and was one of the small ‘wins’ in a period of a lot of bad song-writing and terrible singing. It gave me a lot of steam to keep on.

WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF

This was always, in my heart, written for Sarah Buckley. I shot The Buckleys’ music video for Daydream and always loved that whole family. Their songs are infectious and a lot of my writing is 100% inspired by Sarah’s writing. I don’t think I would’ve recorded it if she didn’t sing on it. I came up with the guitar part in my trailer, whilst on Titans, and really just loved playing it. The crew can’t stand it. They heard me play that goddamn riff over and over for about 3 years! We ruminated on whether we should add more of a chorus/bridge and make it a little more conventional until Sarah’s demo vocal came back (she sent it from Australia). It was perfect. It made the song! The idea was a conversation between a man and woman trying to connect but not understanding each other. Being stubborn in one’s own thoughts and position. It's a bit of a metaphor for breaking down the ego and trying to open up to a partner, physically, emotionally, intimately. Then it became this soaring blues song with a West Side Story vibe to it. I love that on this track I really got to lean into my Stratocaster upbringing and make a track like the ones I grew up obsessing over!

Brenton Thwaites’ debut LP, ‘Searching For The Man’, is out on all streaming platforms now.