Georgia Fair Like Eating Ribs, Listening to Tom Petty & Coming to Newcastle

by Alannah Totterdell on June 9, 2011

Ben Ridley and Jordan Wilson make up Sydney folk duo Georgia Fair. They’ve been playing together since they were in high school and are now really starting to make their mark on the Australian music scene. I had a chat to Ben about their EP, upcoming album, touring and their next show in Newcastle…

Don’t forget to enter to win a Georgia Fair prize pack including tickets to their Newcastle show - see below for details!

How would you describe your music to someone who hadn’t hear it before?

Probably just two guys with guitars and voices, pretty folky and something to relate to, I guess.

When you and Jordan met in high school, what made you want to play music together?

We were both musically inclined I guess, and we both listened to a lot of music. We were both starting out and I dunno we just kind of started talking about music and hanging out. Then on the weekends we started jamming and it kind of just went from there and it all kind of just flowed really naturally.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

A lot of old school music, like stuff from the sixties. Crosby, Stills and Nash had a big influence on us and I think Bob Dylan had a big influence on Jordan. We love The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and all that kind of vibe.

What was it like recording in North Carolina?

It was amazing, it was one of the best experiences of my life and we had lots of great fun. We really clicked with everyone that was working on the record - it was the perfect place for us to record. We were really glad we went down to the south, rather than go to the usual Los Angeles or New York. It was more our vibe down there and a lot more chilled. You know, eating ribs and listening to Tom Petty [laughs].

Awesome, so the EP Times Fly includes tunes from your yet-to-be-released album. How did you choose the songs to include on the EP?

We thought those would be a good taste of what’s to come from the album, I guess. I don’t really know how we arrived at those particular ones. I guess we just thought it was a good idea at the time…

Do you have a favourite song on the EP?

I really like Float Away. I think it’s quite an emotive track and it was a really nice one to record and I just really like the feel of that one. I think Jordo sings a great line in that song and yeah that one hits me in the spot pretty good.

How was it having Boy & Bear and Lisa Mitchell join you to record Marianne?

Yeah that was great! After touring with Lisa and Boy & Bear last year, we said we should record a song. We were only talking to the Boy & Bear guys initially, because we had only just met Lisa at that stage. So we recorded it with Boy & Bear and that went really well. You know just a couple of guys getting together, and the four of us just put it down. A few months later we started to befriend Lisa pretty well and she was just hanging around in Sydney one time, so we decided to go into the studio and put some vocals down. So it all really just happened naturally and we’re really happy with the way it has turned out.

How was it touring with Lisa again just recently? Do you think touring with someone like her will help give Georgia Fair more exposure?

Yeah it was great, it was one of the high points of touring so far. It was pretty big crowds and a really good vibe from everyone on it. We really enjoyed ourselves. I think we made a lot of fans on that tour. It was great, she was playing theatres so we managed to play to quite a few people and a lot of the shows sold out so we were playing to big audiences. The response was really good and we sold a bit of merch, it was great. It was a really good tour, and we definitely got exposed a bit more.

What’s your favourite song to perform live?

One of my favourites is Blind, but we haven’t released that one yet - that’s coming out on the album. Playing that one live really it feels like Jordan and my vocals really connect. I feel really good when I am playing that one, so it’s probably my favourite.

Have you had a favourite show you have played so far in your career?

Playing the Enmore Theatre on the tour with Lisa was pretty insane. It’s such a beautiful room, and it was always a dream to play there so yeah that’s definitely up there. We actually just played a show on the weekend down at Pure Pop at St Kilda. It was our first all ages Melbourne gig and that was up there as well. We have so much support down there from the all age crowd so that was definitely a highlight.

What are the best and worst things about touring?

Best thing about touring is playing live obviously and meeting fans, that is always a great thing that we love doing. It’s a great feeling to meet people that are supporting us and have love for us. The worst thing about touring [pauses]… I don’t think there is one bad thing about touring really.

When will the album be released?

At this stage it is looking like August, but we haven’t really got a date yet. So it could be August or early September.

What are Georgia Fair’s plans for the rest of the year?

I think we are hoping to just keep on playing as many shows as we can leading up to the release and then from there we are just keen to see what everyone thinks of the album. I guess we will kind of make plans accordingly after that but yeah I think that just for the rest of the year we will try and play as many shows as we can.

Are you excited to be hitting the road with Daniel Lee Kendall again?

Yeah definitely, he’s a really easy going guy and we really get along great with him so we are looking forward to that. We have to start a new cover and we are trying to figure out which one we are going to do, because we managed to get one done for the last tour and we thought we would change it up and do a different one this time. So yeah we are really looking forward to it. He is a great bloke.

Have you played shows in Newcastle before?

We played Newcastle a couple of months ago with Daniel, and we are looking forward to getting back up there again. We always get good vibes up there so it will be fun and it will be all ages this time so hopefully we will meet some of our underage fans there as well.

You can check out Georgia Fair at their all ages show at The Loft, Newcastle on Saturday, 18 June. Urban Insider has a sweet prize package to give away too - you can pick up a double pass to the show, a signed poster and a signed copy of the single! To win…

…on Facebook: “Like” the Urban Insider page and post “I just entered to win tickets to see Georgia Fair at The Loft” on our Facebook wall.

…on Twitter: tweet “I just entered to win free tix to see Georgia Fair @Urban_Insider”

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, 14 June.

Tickets are also available from Moshtix.