Xavier Rudd Talks About Bridging The Gaps In Australia's Culture

Xavier Rudd's eighth studio album, Nanna, named in honour of the influence of grandmothers in our lives, brings together a special all-star eight-piece group drawn from the international roots world, The United Nations. As they hit Australia for a second time, seasoned pro Rudd explains that it's been an extraordinarily different experience compared to his usual solo or duo format.

"It's very ceremonial; it's really quite an interesting band."

"It's feelin' really good," he starts in his typically warm and relaxed style. "The States was really powerful with getting to travel with this big family overseas in a bus, and be together and perform day-to-day. We did a lot of rehearsing when we came together first — no playing live — and then into the studio to make the record, and then we didn't really get into live shows until after the record was made. It's been a really powerful thing because I think it's just opened up a whole [other element]. I kind of knew [that] would happen — with my experience and knowing my crowd — but I think a lot of the band members... they weren't aware of that, so this whole other thing is born when we start to play live. It's very ceremonial; it's really quite an interesting band. It feels like a fragile egg too, you know — a couple of albums and the band may not be able to do this too long, so it feels like it might be just a really special project that may not last that long, or it may — who knows? But it just feels really special.

"I've gone from making as much sound as I can to trying to keep my parts effective but sonically minimal so that they can fit into the real estate without taking up too much room. Then live too... I'm usually tucked away behind my instruments and just being really busy doing what I do and channelling that stuff and not really entertaining or making much eye contact with people, so this is a different sort of thing for me too. It's a whole new experience."

At the heart of any Rudd project, as this month's stand-alone single, anti-racism song, Shame, demonstrates, the spirit of togetherness beats strongest and the social change activist has been adamant that The United Nations needed to reach as many off-the-beaten-track regional destinations as possible.

"It's a mission sometimes to do regional Australia, but I think it's really important with this band and at this time because this band celebrates the concept of one people. And really, no matter what our bloodlines are and what the stories have been — shame and guilt and hurt — [we need to] really try and stand together and bridge those gaps that are in our culture in Australia, and work to protect our country, our cultures and everything about this beautiful place that we call home. I feel really proud to be taking this band to all these little regional parts of Australia. It's going to be a special tour — I think it's an important one."