Music is often said to emanate from the heart, and the inspiration behind Jack Biilmann’s fifth album Divided Mind, and new documentary, ‘drink from the water where you come from’ is sure to pull at the heartstrings of all music lovers.
SOUNDS echoed out of the Round Plain church, but these tunes were at a much higher tempo compared to their normal Sunday tone. The church, standing alone on the Rocky Plain landscape since 1870 had rarely experienced such upbeat music. Here was Jack Biilmann, equipped with his guitars, accompanying singer Sara Flint on backing vocals and his recording crew in the midst of creating his new Divided Mind album.
Jack is renowned for his signature vocal growl and his eloquent mix of acoustic and blues rock and roll sound, but for this album he was after something different, and the church filled that landscape in many ways.
After viewing the documentary, you will have a sound understanding of why this album is something special. Apart from all side A songs being recorded in the church, there is the back story of history and family correlation to the area. Jack’s family history is in Berridale, a short drive from the Round Plain church, and where he spent a great deal of time with big family connections in the area.
“My Grandfather Jack Biilmann senior owned the church in 1965 and donated it to the community. My oldest relatives are buried at the cemetery which adjoins the church,” said Jack explaining the connection.
“The whole concept of the album is because I've always done both those sorts of sounds like rock and roll, and acoustic stuff. So rather than trying to splice them all together, I said right, I'm gonna go really hard one way and hard the other and then have Side A and Side B.”
“I used to often drive past and stop in and play some songs and think gee, this sounds great, so that’s how the idea came about.”
“Side A is all recorded at the Round Plain church, where my father Peter "Mort" and Uncle Kevin assisted the project. Side B is blues rock and roll mixed in the studio with The Black Tide.”
The church being unpowered, the whole album was recorded 100 percent live using generator power. Jack also commenting that neither his dad nor uncle have a musical bone in their body. “They were there the whole time, helping make sure the generator didn’t run out of fuel and just assisting. Which was really good. I think dad was pretty stoked on the whole concept because yeah, obviously, pops not with us anymore. And yeah, it was just a really nice sort of feel.”
The new album debuted on June 16 to coincide with the new Divided Mind tour, with Jack offering his insights to tracks on the album.
“I wrote all the songs for the space, knowing that I was going to record them in the church. One single off the album is called ‘drink the water’. I remember when we were kids, we'd be up at Snowy Plain on the Gungarlin River fishing and dad would say, ‘drink that water out of the river, you won't have better water and you drink the water where you come from’. So that's one of the big tag line songs.”
“Once you listen to the album, you go oh, this is all about being up in the mountains because that's what I do to escape when I'm stressed out. I just go fishing and catch my trout and have my fun.”
Jack said the Jardine family are caretakers of the church now, a family his father Mort went to school with. He describes the area as full of nice community connections they have always had, and an area where he likes to visit.
The Beginning
Concentrating more seriously on music from the age of 17, Jack said he chose music as one of his electives at school.
“I chose music because on that particular column there was nothing else that interested me. And then I ended up getting 90% for music and the HSC and I still don't know how to read music or basically know much (music) theory,” said Jack.
“So it was all performance based and I sort of thought well, maybe I should stick with this.”
“I think about three months later I released my first album, but you know wasn't very flash, but I just did it. And now I'm up to this album, will be our number five.”
As with many singers in the area, the snow season offers a plethora of work. Gigs in bars, pubs and clubs are the mainstay for many a musician’s livelihood. Jack certainly played his fair share and is fond of those times.
“It's something you have to do as a young musician, you sort of learn how to perform and you get a lot of bang for your buck at the snow too. Most of the crowd aren't from there. So, they head off back to Sydney or where they're from and you play in Sydney and they come and see you occasionally. It works out well.”
On a sad note, Jack’s manager Andrew Penhallow passed away suddenly from throat cancer prior to the album being released. “He pushed my music for the past three years and it was terribly sad. I spoke to Andrew every day for the last four months about the album and what we should do with it. He insisted the whole time when he was sick he did not want to stop working on it, he wanted to see it through,” said Jack.
Tour Schedule and Documentary
Jack Biilmann commenced his Divided Mind tour in Canberra on June 16.
Two local shows are scheduled for the Snowy Monaro.
Cooma Little Theatre June 23 - tickets here
Jindabyne Brewery July 31 - tickets here
Purchase Divided Mind album here - Digital, CD or Vinyl.
Watch New Documentary (below) with credits to Matt Barnes mixing and producing and Nick Vevers director and editor.
Previewing exclusively via Snowy Mountains Magazine website.
