No Easy Ride

With a dream to immerse herself in the American singer/songwriter culture of blues and roots, ARIA Award winner Mia Dyson left Melbourne in 2009. Not long after, she seized opportunity by hitting the road the moment she was asked to open for Chris Isaak after the scheduled artist cancelled on the tour at the last minute. “…[I had to] hit the road then and there, and do it solo – not try and pull a band together for such late notice,” recalls Dyson.

“So I took off in my van [to do] the 700 kilometre drive out from LA to Salt Lake City, which is a spectacular drive through that iconic west, desert landscape and you know, heading to a fabulous gig opening for Chris Isaak in this huge outdoor amphitheatre and it was just one of those moments where – well that whole trip – of feeling like this is what I came here for, I'm getting to live that dream…”

Dyson's American experience brought plenty of soul-searching lows too. “I would sum it up as a total rollercoaster adventure, tumultuous, a struggle – [a] mix of everything,” she admits. “I think I went over there hoping to build a career, an American career, and I didn't have specific goals. I've never done that, like I'll sell a certain number of records or play to a certain number of people – I just wanted to basically make it work. And I think I did that and I'm gonna go back and keep making it work. It certainly wasn't an easy ride or I didn't have any big breaks that made things really easy, but overall I had a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful for that experience. I think I grew up more in the last three years than I have in any other three-year period in my adult life… I was just forced to do some reckoning I think.”

For a moment, it appeared that her big break had indeed arrived in the form of Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, who'd moved into artist management and set his sights on revamping her image. With a plan to re-launch the Melbourne girl as an androgynous artist named Boy, Dyson battled with the opportunity presented versus her personal feeling that it just wasn't right. “Unfortunately we just didn't see eye-to-eye and had very different ideas about direction of my career. He wanted to make a big splash by changing my name and changing my image. I didn't in the end feel comfortable with that and decided to just keep doing what I'm doing the grassroots way, and that eventually meant that we parted ways. It was a shame to miss out on the potential opportunities that working with someone like him brings… But I just really knew that I would regret going down that path.

“I was really lost there for a while. I let my guard down I think, and thought maybe this is my big break and I can let someone else take care of it all… But ultimately I'm glad to actually be at the helm of my career and the one in charge. I've gained so many skills by having to basically run this little bandwagon that I'm on and I definitely feel so much stronger and more capable having come out the other side of that.”

With a newfound strength of conviction, Dyson poured her experiences into her fourth record, The Moment, a fan-funded affair captured in the little Californian mountain town of Ojai before making the journey home. “There's a confidence in this record that I haven't felt before, because this record was made after I went through all of that when I came out the other side. There's a real focus and directness… I don't feel any regrets…”

Mia Dyson will be playing the following shows:

Wednesday 12 September - Brisbane Festival Spiegeltent, Brisbane QLD
Friday 14 September - Lizottes, Newcastle NSW
Saturday 15 September - Notes Live, Sydney NSW
Sunday 16 September - The Abbey, Canberra ACT
Friday 21 September - Republic Bar, Hobart TAS
Saturday 22 September - Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 6 October - Lizottes, Kincumber NSW
Saturday 27 October - Sydney Blues Festival, Sydney NSW
Thursday 8 November - Mojos, Fremantle WA
Friday 9 November - Bridgetown Blues, Bridgetown WA