Mark Seymour and his New Band The Undertow at Tank Arts Centre in Cairns
An article about Mark’s upcoming Cairns gig from The Cairns Post!
Author: Therese Murray, The Cairns Post.
Date: 3 July 2014.
Article Text
Hunters & Collectors frontman Mark Seymour and his new band The Undertow live at Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns
Mark Seymour was in a real quandary when deciding on songs to record on his new album, Seventh Heaven Club, with his band The Undertow.
He had 19 songs in his mind and had to cut it back to 12 – a hard task in itself.
But what do you do when those songs are from such greats as Otis Redding, Neil Young or Concrete Blonde, and you just have to cut?
On Seventh Heaven Club you will hear 12 love songs as written and recorded by other artists that Seymour has collected and performed live over the last 14 years as a solo artist or with The Undertow.
Cairns fans can hear the selection when Seymour and The Undertow appear at Tanks Arts Centre tomorrow night, with local hero Eddie Skiba in support. Seymour said he selected these particular songs for their honesty, eloquence and determination to prove that lyrics matter.
“All the tunes on Seventh Heaven Club have been pins on a map for me,’’ Seymour says.
“They have served a purpose at one time or another, a way forward in the singing of them to a place where I could locate my own feeling in new material.
“They are about yearning, loss, loyalty and joy, the debris of love strewn through to reveal a simplicity and truth that I have come to recognise as greatness.’’
Seymour said he had been tossing around the idea of such an album for a while.
“I’ve included Lorelei in my shows for about 15 years and audiences love it,’’ he says.
The Undertow are Cameron McKenzie on guitars, John Favaro on bass and Peter Maslen on drums. Seventh Heaven Club is the ninth album that Seymour has recorded and released since his legendary Australian band Hunters & Collectors disbanded (although they famously reformed for a run of dates earlier this year at Day On The Green and in support of Bruce Springsteen).
All these years later, Seymour says he’s now free from self-doubt and ready to take on his new music with gusto.
“I was questioning the relevance of my work before now,” he says.
“There’s still so much interest in Hunters & Collectors and I was wondering, ‘does my solo work rate in the public mind?’ I recently realised that questioning my worth was pointless and indulgent. I’m a creature of my own decisions and I want to keep writing songs, so I just have to let that go.”
Refreshingly frank, Seymour said he also recently shed the vanity that came along with being a star performer.
“All the accolades and massive crowds are great, you have to enjoy them while they last,” he says. “But then when they go, you can’t delude yourself into thinking it was all about you.”
Mark Seymour and The Undertow play live at Tanks Arts Centre on Friday, July 4, from 7.30pm-late. Support from Eddie Skiba. Tickets: ticketlink.com.au
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