Writing anything new about Joe Camilleri poses one very important predicament: the man has done so much in the 50-plus years he’s worked as a musician, covering new ground is almost impossible.
Though you may notice Camilleri is constantly in the news, and there’s two reasons for this; his unwavering friendliness and ability to fly straight into conversation, and his seemingly unstoppable work ethic.
“I work because I have to,” Camilleri said, his signature drawl portraying some deep thought on the subject.
“I feel like if I didn’t I’d go crazy. I’ve got all these ideas floating around in my head, writing them down is a necessity for me, and it’s been a necessity for me for a good long time. It’s pretty fortunate I’ve surrounded myself with people who can help me translate that.”
“Surrounded” is the operable term there. Since 1964, Camilleri has been the focal point in some of the most important bands in this country’s musical evolution: Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, The Revelators, the Black Sorrows themselves, Vika and Linda Bull and his own solo and collaborative work. He’s also produced albums for Paul Kelly and The Dots, Renee Geyer and Ross Wilson.
Add to that a slew of awards, nominations and a place in the ARIA Hall of Fame, and his reputation is clear. Camilleri is now releasing his 17th Black Sorrows studio album, Faithful Satellite, and about his 50th altogether. The old anxiety before every album release still hits him, though.
“Oh, yeah, I’m freaking out,” he said.
“You know, those songs are very close to you. So you kind of feel like you’re making the right connections, the right moves, and you’re trying to work out where you’re heading musically.
“A lot of people will say, ‘Oh yeah, the album’s out, onto the next one’, but for me it’s an ongoing process. It’s not just this record: it’s the next three or four records.
“I spend a lot of time, especially around now when the album’s about to be released and we’re working out how to treat it live, thinking about what lead me to create the album this way, and how that’s all going to work out. Is this the beginning of something, or the end of something? All these concepts come into play, even if you don’t think about it too much when you’re writing.”
Camilleri is known for including as many varied themes and styles as he can into one album, and Faithful Satellite is no different. It kicks off in true fashion with I Love You Anyhow, a slinky Ragtime ballad featuring a big band and the amazing vocal prowess of the aforementioned Vika and Linda Bull.
From there, it dips into gospel torch singing in Raise Your Hands and dark Western in It Ain’t Ever Gonna Happen. Each song lives in it’s own world, building it’s own energy. It’s a testament to Camilerri’s ever-running imagination, and the grounding effect of the songwriting duties he shares with long-time counterpart Nick Smith.
“I don’t write an album in the way of having some big idea,” Camilleri said.
“I’ll have these ideas that might’ve been knocked around five, ten years ago. All these songs exist in one way or another, and then I take it to Nick and he cleans it up.
“There’ll be notepads Nick will find laying around, and he’ll ask, ‘What’s this?’ And I’ll usually reply by saying it’s some rubbish I’d scribbled down, but then he’d say, ‘No, you’ve got something valuable here’. So he’s my curator, in a way.
“I liken it to losing something – something valuable – and finding it down the line. You pick it up, and there’s this sentimentality and nostalgia, in a way. It’s like you’ve been looking for it for ages, and when you find it, it’s a great sense of satisfaction and relief. Because it’s there, and I guess in terms of a song, it’s there in form, it’s there for people to hear.”
