5+Q4 > Paul Colman

The Paul Colman Trio (PC3) have officially called it a day. Before their last hometown show in Melbourne, on February 20, The Edge spoke to the ever-forthright Paul Colman. Here’s a bit of what he had to say:

How was Valentine’s Day for you? Bittersweet. We played a packed sell-out show in Brisbane. Saw my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my sister-in-law. I was with my band, but not my wife or my two daughters. That’s one of the sacrifices in this job.

It must feel good to be back home then. Nothing’s like being home, playing to your own people. Every group we’ve ever played to has a special-ness about them, a different quality that you endear yourself to, but this is the culture that I grew up with.

Do you notice a difference between the American and Australian audiences? There are differences. But one of the things about PC3 shows over the years is that because the audience is the focus and not the music, there is a similarity in the audience because we get a lot out of them. It’s not like Hey, check us out, check out how great our art is—whaddya’ reckon? It’s more like We’re gonna’ use this to get your attention and let you know how great you are and we’re all gonna have a great time.

Are the songs an excuse to play live or do you play live to get the songs out? Good question.

Go on, say “a bit of both.” True. I think it is a bit of both. Probably more of the first though. It’s like, well, I love connecting with people; I better go write some songs. I’m not a musician who likes to sit on my own and play music a lot. The songs don’t make sense unless they’re being performed. They don’t have any life for me. I don’t think, That sounds great. I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t do a show.

That’s not the answer you hear from every artist. No. I use the word artist very gingerly when it comes to myself. I surround myself with great musicians, because I don’t really care about it too much. I’m more interested in what music can do.

Looking at the future, now that you’re not in the trio format, do you feel freer to experiment? Totally. You can be more eclectic musically when you’re a solo artist. Listen to a Beck record, or an Alex Lloyd or Ben Harper, as opposed to a Midnight Oil record. Even though they’re creative, it’s not like you’re not going to hear Rob Hirst (Oils drummer) hitting the drums on every song.

It’s still that 3-minute pop song format. Is that the challenge—being creative in that format? Yeah, and also allowing yourself to have some songs that don’t fall into that. We did that with “Banquet table” on our first record, and people still love that song. I’m a commercial writer so I will still write in the pop-rock genre, but there is a freedom. It’s the difference between a Crowded House record and a Neil Finn record. He’s still got what he had before, but there is more freedom, and I’m looking forward to that. It sounds selfish, and if so, let it be said I’m selfish.

You’ve said before that comunicating is what you want to do, and if you found something that does the job better, you’d do that. Definitely. And I’m doing a few gigs in the States this year where they’ve asked me to leave my guitar behind and just preach. I’m so excited—no sound check, you just walk to the platform and say “G’day.” I’m not going to sing, I’m not going to take any CDs, or ridiculous T-shirts.