Kim Churchill
You played a set yesterday and you’ve been playing the side stages, how has your experience been at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival so far?
“The weather has been amazing, the people are great, and honestly, it’s moment like this that remind me that I really, really have the best job in the world.”
You’ve been coming to Edmonton for well over 10 years, how do you think your music writing has changed within that time frame?
“I think I’ve become much more efficient. I’m not just shooting in the dark. I think I know what I’m doing, my songwriting now, I write predominantly in the mornings. I get up at about quarter to 5 am and I write as the sun comes up and I love that.
A lot of people like 2 in the morning or 3 in the morning, and I think you get a similar (creative feel) at 5 in the morning, but I like to have it at the start of my day, rather than at the end of my day. There are just more ideas floating around in the ethos, there’s just more ideas there and less competition for them. And there’s more space for ideas to come into your mind and there’s actually more sound at that time in the morning.
There’s more space for sound and the atmosphere is different. That’s why birds make a lot of noises in the morning, it’s actually a lot better time to communicate because sound travels more. So, I like writing early in the mornings, and I dial it in too.
I’ve noticed on the last album some of the best stuff did come from sporadic moments - you can never quite get away from that. If my girlfriend is late for leaving and I sort of have this moment where I’m just sitting around with a guitar and a great idea will come in that time and there’s no pressure, I think that’s what happens. So I try to make room for that stuff as well. But that stuff is random and sporadic.”
Your second album was written in Canada, where did you record your latest album?
“Dawn Sounds was written in Australia, I wrote that during Covid, so that’s when I kind of developed the 5 am writing, because I wasn’t playing a lot of gigs. That was a very Australia-based album and since then I have a new album coming out in October and that one is really spread out with songs that took form in Europe, some took form in Canada and North America and the States a lot and Australia as well.”
When is it being released and what’s the name of the album?
“It’s coming out October 11th and it’s called ‘It’s Lovely to Have you Here.’
If you can summarize an inspiration for that album what would it be?
“I would say it’s like if you put my music on the beach with the sun blowing in your face, this album is like on the beach with the moon blowing in your face.”
You’ve played Edmonton many times, do you feel you have a sort of connection here?
“Oh totally, absolutely, I’ve got good friends here, old school friends here, and It’s a great musical city. I think the Folk Fest has done a lot for that it’s garnered and trained thousands of people to listen, and to nurture themselves through listening. It’s always a treat and always special to come here.”
You have a big following in Canada, how can you describe the connection you have with Canadians and Canada, given that you’re from Australia?
“Canadians seem to be more often than not, open-hearted, and I am very much that way. I think people like it. They really like me wearing my heart on my sleeve and really sharing what’s going on with me in a really honest way, which encouraged me to go deeper into it.”
You’re heading to B.C. for the rest of the tour, what do you do in your downtime when you’re not playing?
“I almost have too many friends in B.C., but catching up with someone almost every night is awesome. But almost, what I love to do the most, is disappear in the van, into some random little bend in the river, and hike there and make dinner as the sun is going down. I cook out of the back of the van - a lot of Japanese, a lot of ramen, a lot of Mexican and all kinds of camper van meals. There’s a whole style I love and cooking on a campfire. Ideally, if my friends can come to me, while I’m doing that, that’s the best. But we have a lot of friends to catch up with and I love it.
I watched an interview with you and you said one time that one of the first albums you got was a Led Zeppelin album. Robert Plant is playing tonight, are you sticking around and watching?
“Oh, absolutely! Yeah, I’ve seen him play once before and it was the most religious experience. I’ve had in my life, it was incredible. It was at Glastonbury Music Festival, and the storms killed music there, I saw band’s sets just get ruined by the storm coming over. A big storm was rolling in and it was like ‘oh man that sucks, this is going to be really bad’ and he started playing ‘Going to California’ and the storm just stopped.
This storm just stopped right on top of the pyramid stage and started backing off and the sun came out and there was a rainbow and he was playing ‘Rainbow’, he played ‘Rainbow’ right after ‘Going to California.’ So that was the most religious experience I’ve had in my life, so I’m really excited to see him play and I love the album with Allison Krauss as well.”
Last question, if you can give a piece of advice to any aspiring musicians, what would you say to them?
“The absolute key and secret to it all is to keep going. Keep going, it takes way longer than you think and the only form of failure is to stop. I’m telling you, I’ve seen artists get nowhere for a decade, for 15 years, for 20 years. 20 years in, you sort of look at what they have going on, and you say ‘that’s awesome’ - you have a really good thing going on. And it’s not like they blew up, it’s not like they finally made it and broke through, it’s just purely through sticking at it and as the journey continues, you can inevitably get good and you inevitably get gratification on a level that is right for you in your life and that’s the key, is just don’t stop.”