Tim Oxley: One From The Heart.

Tim Oxley plays The Alley, Milton on Friday and Ric’s on Saturday with Jodi Phillis.

Just prior to travelling to Brisbane to launch his debut solo album It’s All About Love, Tim Oxley takes time aside to chat about his long-time ambitions to bring this new record to fruition.

From the same family that provided us with the Sunnyboys and jazz singer Melanie Oxley, Tim made his mark in bands such as The Humdingers and The Verys. He also teamed up with former Clouds Jodi Phillis and Raph Whittingham and ex-You Am I member Greg Hitchcock for The Dearhunters, and with ex-Melnik and Four Horse Town man Trent McNamara for country harmony combo Grandview. His first fully solo recording It’s All About Love has received a rapturous reception from the rock press and like the title suggests, it’s a heartfelt, melodic collection of songs about the big L.

“I’d been trying to make a solo album for the past few years,” Tim explains. “I was recording with a guy in the Blue Mountains in ’96 and recorded a few songs and every time I went over there to record, the machine would break. That happened about four times in a row, so I just forgot about that for a while! It was like some weird curse was going on. So, I’d been wanting to do a solo album for a few years, it was just a matter of finding the right people to do it with. In the end, I was in Melbourne doing a Dearhunters show and I didn’t really have anywhere to live. I knew a guy down there who had a studio and he invited me to come down and record. So I found a room in Melbourne, stayed there and recorded for a few months.”

Would you describe yourself as prolific?

“I’ve got enough songs for another album and I’ve got a recording studio at home. So I’m going to promote this album and tour for a few months, then get home and record another one. I’m not highly prolific. I don’t sit down every day and go “I’m gonna write another song”, I don’t write that way, I just let it come to me.”

Have there ever been times where you have sat down and said, “Right, I’ve got to finish two songs by this afternoon”?

“I can do that for other people, but I can’t really do it for myself,” he says. “I used to do it when I was a lot younger. I used to make every Monday night after work a writing night and just sit in my room and write songs. I got a few good ones out of that, but a lot of crap as well!"

Is it a discipline? Do you have to train yourself to write?

“I think you have to train yourself to do everything,” replies Tim. “I started writing songs when I was 16, and I was living up the north coast playing drums in a band. I was living out my childhood fantasy at the age of 16, singing and playing drums! It just came from years and years of writing songs and recording, just being persistent.”

“My brother (Jeremy) got me a drum kit when I was 12, when they were at the height of Sunnyboys fame, which was 81 or so. But I mainly played golf between the ages of 12 and 17. I would have been in the US PGA this weekend if I hadn’t turned to rock‘n’roll, chicks and booze!”