Near the end of 2021, Liz Stringer headlined a fundraising gig for Wombat Housing & Support Services, a West Melbourne organisation providing free services to locals affected by (or at risk of) homelessness. 

Coming after a painful series of lockdowns, the event’s resounding success has stuck with Stringer in the years since.

“Social inequity has always been something I’ve thought a lot about,” she says over Zoom. “But the pandemic made [those] issues even more stark. 

“It just sort of froze everyone where they were, whether they were in domestic violence situations or had nowhere to live. It was so much more tenuous for them. So we raised that money for Wombat, and it helped fund several programs.”

With that in mind, the acclaimed singer/songwriter took the ambitious step of weaving targeted charitable donations into the mechanics of her upcoming Australian tour. 

Organising with her valued admin assistant, Natasha Lieschke of Otidesk, and Fanlight’s Karni Woods, Stringer nailed down a 17-date national tour that partners with a local charity at each tour stop. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz Stringer (@lizstringeraus)

Pointedly naming it the To Survive Australia Tour, Stringer hopes to call out the housing crisis that has dogged the country for years – especially in the wake of the pandemic.

“I knew it was going to be a lot of work, and it has been. But it’s also been really rewarding,” Stringer says. “We picked these organisations because they’re small and grassroots, run primarily by volunteer... 

“So even if we can raise a few grand here and there, it will make a meaningful difference.”

The tour should also help start an urgent conversation about housing insecurity, and connect local punters with the resources nearest to them. Audiences can donate on a sliding scale directly at each gig via QR codes, and reps from the organisations will be in attendance. Stringer has also committed to donating personally.

A Place To Call Home

In addition to her continued advocacy, Stringer recounts a powerful tale of living rough on her seventh album, The Second High, which came out in March. That track, To Survive, is told in the first person but shares a story Stringer was told through her work with Wombat. It’s a striking ballad about resilience in the face of devastating hardship.

Stringer is quick to point out that she herself isn’t suffering from housing inequality. She has been renting a flat in London for almost two years, and she and her partner are putting their possessions in storage while she does the Australian tour. 

After that, they’re looking at relocating either to the north of England or to Germany – both places where her partner has strong family ties. Stringer has lived in Berlin before, as well as in Canada. 

In fact, she had just received her permanent Canadian residency when the pandemic began, but she let that lapse and stayed in Australia during lockdown.

As for her own family ties, Stringer grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Surrey Hills, between Box Hill and Burwood. When her parents sold their family home there for half a million in 2000, that amount seemed downright astounding. 

Now it would be an enviable bargain, thanks to skyrocketing prices in a market that’s increasingly unattainable for a larger and larger portion of the Australian population.

“The landscape now is so different, even compared to how it was 10 years ago,” says Stringer. “And it just seems exponential. A lack of forward thinking – and encouraging people to turn housing into commodities and investments – has meant that now we’re in a really bad situation that just helping people with a deposit isn’t going to fix.”

Hitting The Road

Running from late October through to mid-December, Stringer’s tour includes an all-ages gig in Castlemaine and solo shows in Alice Springs, Adelaide, and Beechworth. It’s her first proper solo tour since before the pandemic, and 14 of the dates will feature a full band. 

Beyond the advocacy function outlined above, the tour will provide a deeper showcase of The Second High, which sees Stringer graduate from dusky folk and driving rock to more soulful compositions centred on robust vocals and keyboards.

“I’m looking forward to playing the new record [live],” she says. “I’m playing keys on most of it, which is new for me – for my own stuff. But I really enjoy it.”

She’s alluding to how she has moonlighted for other artists on the road, whether playing keys or singing harmonies. 

In fact, she toured as a backing vocalist for Midnight Oil in 2022, belting out much bigger vocal performances than what she usually does for her own material. So did that extended shift in delivery influence the new record at all?

“Any job like that, where I’m singing a lot, has an influence somewhere,” Stringer muses. “So maybe it did. Obviously the BVs we were doing for them were pretty balls to the wall, so I did probably develop that part of my voice a bit more.”

Case in point: Stringer spends the first half of the slow-burn When You Met Me singing at a vibey simmer, before gradually bolstering her approach and finally breaking out in a big way. 

She sounds like a proper soul singer, letting loose against slinky musical backing and the added warmth of handclaps, harmonies and keyboards.

“That soul-esque singing is something I’ve always loved doing, and have done in a closeted kind of way,” she confides. “The music I’ve released [previously] has been very guitar-based and channelled one part of my influences, but this record draws from a wider range of music that I really love, like soul, funk and aspects of jazz. 

“[So] there’s an opportunity for me to break out a bit more.”

Circling Back To Piano

The other key – pun intended – to unlocking The Second High is that newfound focus on piano and keyboards. 

In stark contrast to the full-band rock of 2021’s First Time Really Feeling, this album was written on piano. That opens the door for songs that are more mellow and malleable alike, with closer attention paid to more minor flourishes.

“My dad is a retired music teacher, so we had a piano at home,” recounts Stringer. “There were instruments around all the time. I started playing piano as a little kid, teaching myself how to play. 

“I’ve toured in other people’s bands playing keys, but for whatever reason I hadn’t really considered writing songs for my music on it – or playing it in my own band.”

She also points to the obvious fact that pianos aren’t the easiest instrument to cart around on tour. But she has finally begun to embrace this lifelong instrument of hers. With a dry laugh, she admits, “In a lot of ways, I’m a better keys player than a guitar player. It just took 20 years of my career for it to occur to me.”

Stringer has continued to write songs on piano for her next album, which so far picks up where the current record leaves off. 

“It feels like it’s in a similar direction or world,” she shares. “I love writing ballads and big, histrionic diva songs. That stuff I find really satisfying. It feels a bit like a guilty pleasure, but I’m settling into the way I write on keys. 

“And the stuff I’m making now feels like a slow graduation from The Second High into something that is similar.”

As for her shift toward more funky material, Stringer’s got just the right bandmates to fully realise that side of her work on the road. In addition to her regular guitarist Megan Bernard, she’ll be joined on this tour by bassist Warren Hunter and drummer Graeme Pogson, who play with Kylie Auldist and other soul-forward acts. 

She singles out Pogson in particular as an exciting new addition – and perhaps a sign of what’s to come on her next record.

“He’s just such a tight, amazing funk drummer, so it’s a really different feel,” she beams. “I’m glad I have a new band for this new era of what I’m trying to do.”

Liz Stringer’s The Second High is out now, with tickets to her upcoming tour on sale now.

Liz Stringer – To Survive Australian Tour

Presented by Double J, Select Music, Remote Control Records and Wombat Housing Support Services

Friday, October 31st – Water Tank Cafe, Alice Springs, NT
w/ Bubalo and Jami Ashenden – Charity partner TBA 

Saturday, November 1st – GYRACC, Katherine, NT
w/ Leah Flanagan – Charity partner TBA 

Wednesday, November 5th – Railway Club, Darwin, NT
w/ Alice Cotton – Charity partner TBA 

Friday, November 7th – Lyric’s Underground, Perth, WA
w/ Kiera Jas – Supporting Perth Homeless Support Group

Saturday, November  8th – Lion Arts Factor, Adelaide, SA
w/ Naomi Keyte – Supporting Hutt St Centre

Sunday, November 9th – Trinity Sessions, Adelaide, SA
w/ Tara Coates – Supporting Hutt St Centre 

Friday, November 14th – M.O.T.H., Flinders, VIC
w/ Natasha Kate – Supporting Southern Peninsula Community Support

Sunday, November 16th– Sound Doctor, Anglesea, VIC
w/ KYARNA – Supporting Anglesea Community House (Foodlink)

Friday, November 21st – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
w/ Maeve Grieve and KYARNA – Supporting Wombat Housing and Support Services

Sunday, November 23rd – Theatre Royal (All Ages), Castlemaine, VIC
w/ Blue Ren and Hemlock Wilde – Supporting Dhelkaya Health 

Thursday, November 27th – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, QLD
w/ KYARNA – Supporting Signal Flare

Friday, November 28th – Brunswick Picture House, Brunswick Heads, NSW
w/ KYARNA – Supporting Bruns Brekkie

Saturday, November 29th – Bowraville Theatre, Bowraville, NSW
w/ Maddi O’Brien – Supporting Nambucca Youthie

Friday, December 5th – The Stag and Hunter, Newcastle, NSW
w/ KYARNA & Magpie Diaries – Supporting Soul Hub

Saturday, December 6th – Mary’s Underground, Sydney, NSW
w/ KYARNA – Supporting Will2Live

Friday, December 12th – Old Stone Hall, Beechworth, VIC
Supporting Quercus Beechworth

Saturday, December 13th – Meeniyan Hall, Meeniyan, VIC
w/ KYARNA – Supporting Manna Gum Community House