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Sarah was at the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre where Sal performed on election night, during which swings going against the tide of the rest of the country increasingly showed Cathy McGowan keeping pace with the sitting incumbent Liberal Member Sophie Mirabella. The excitement reached fever pitch when McGowan arrived at the Centre and spoke to a sea of orange supporters of all ages. Sal perfomed a rousing version of Cathy\u2019s campaign song which had the whole crowd singing and swaying with every chorus. It was, in Sarah\u2019s opinion, a \u2018magic moment\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n By\u00a0Sarah Capper<\/a> 20 September 2013<\/p>\n SC: Sal Kimber thanks for being the September Issue\u2019s Bonza Sheila. I want to start with your relationship with your Dad, Andy, who\u2019s also a musician and from what I can tell, a bit of a cheeky story-teller like you. Can you describe how your Dad helped nurture your interest in music growing up? Was music a constant presence?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK \u2013 Yes, music definitely had a constant presence in my family. My Dad grew up with music in his house, and he passed it onto his family \u2013 out in the hills, in Tallangatta. It wasn\u2019t unusual for us to be sitting around as a family and be writing a song \u2013 and to not be consciously doing it.<\/p>\n One night I remember my chips were stolen off my plate. I was about four or five and I was so distressed. So Dad wrote a song about it, called \u2018The Chips Were Gone<\/em>\u2019 \u2013 and that was a family hit for awhile. And I forgot about the fact my chips were stolen \u2013 that was Dad of course, he stole my chips.<\/p>\n I guess the thing about Dad was that when he was in his early 20s, he was pretty progressive and he was living in rural Victoria.\u00a0He was writing songs about topics such as climate change long before it became a catch phrase \u2013 he wrote songs like,\u00a0\u2018It aint going to snow no more<\/em>\u2019. Not that people out that way thought he was a greenie or a hippy, but I think it was a lot more palatable if kids were singing it! So often we would be singing on his records, \u2018It aint going to snow no more, no more<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n Music was always there and we were often singing about things much bigger than chips.<\/p>\n Dad writes lots of songs and is the creative director of the Wangaratta Ukelele Collective.\u00a0We do a lot of writing together. When I reworded the song \u2018From little things big things grow\u2019 for Cathy McGowan, I sat down with Dad and we reworded it together. It was a beautiful day, I\u2019d come home (to Wangaratta) for the weekend, and we sat down and put pen to paper and that\u2019s the stuff I love doing with Dad.<\/p>\n SC: You play in the band \u2018Sal Kimber and the Rollin\u2019 Wheel\u2019 \u2013 playing banjo, electric and acoustic guitar, bit of harmonica, and of course, singing. One of those \u2018wheels\u2019 in the band is your sister Beth or Buffy.\u00a0I\u2019m curious about where the \u2018rolling wheel\u2019 came into being \u2013 or is just a reference for the many hikes up and down the Hume [Highway], between Melbourne and Indi?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: I was never a lead singer. At school I always played rhythm guitar and did harmonies. And then my Dad entered me in a Port Fairy Folk Festival songwriting competition, and I won an Emerging Artist Award and they asked me to come back the next year with a band. So I just got my friends together to play with me, pretty much, and by default became the leadsinger because I wrote the songs. And truly, it just rolled from there.<\/p>\n We have had the same line up in our band for nearly five years. In the early days I talked Buffy my sister into joining the band \u2013 she was a great piano and accordian player, but never thought of herself being in a band. I had to talk her into it.<\/p>\n SC: Yes Buffy just seems to personify\u00a0that classic reluctant musician up on stage. Janet from Spiderbait had that kinda quiet geeky vibe going on, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Yeah, I totally had to talk her into it! And it\u2019s funny, because initially we just grew up with playing music as a family, it was just something we did. It was never about making money or about being on a big stage. I had to convince her it would be fun, and again it just rolled from there.<\/p>\n A couple of years into it, I named the band the \u2018Rollin\u2019 Wheel\u2019. We\u2019ve all got jobs and we never really pushed it. We\u2019ve got determination, and we\u2019ve put a lot of love into it, but we\u2019re not out there chasing fame. Whatever happens, happens, and we just roll with it. That\u2019s kind of the philosophy behind it.<\/p>\n SC: So it\u2019s a working title-<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: It sounds a bit daggy but it helps us connect back into our vision as a band. When we are planning a tour, or we don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re doing enough, we just kinda check back into that and ask ourselves, \u2018is enough momentum happening organically or do we need to push it?\u2019, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n SC: Your songs are really steeped in narrative in that classic folk story-telling sense. The ABC\u2019s Richard Glover has said your songs \u201care marked by an unusual pairing of passion and wit, and in [your] hands, somehow neither steals power from the other\u201d.\u00a0Can you describe the writing process and how that intersects with the band \u2013 are you the primary songwriter? Or wordsmith?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Everyone has their own taste in music and that\u2019s why I love the musicians in the band. Our drummer Cat Leahy is really passionate about different rhythms. If I write five songs in a row in the same sort of genre it won\u2019t keep her engaged. So we try to mix it up. I\u2019ll go to her to see if we can come up with something together.<\/p>\n Sometimes she will come up with a groove \u2013 or our bass player will come up with a chord progression \u2013 and I\u2019ll go away and write something down, but usually the process is I\u2019ll hear a story or feel the vibe, or I\u2019ll be in the car, and I\u2019ll write some lyrics or some music and then I\u2019ll take it to the band, and they\u2019ll flesh it out into something cool that we can hopefully play live.<\/p>\n SC: And the content, you mention\u00a0writing in your car –<\/strong><\/p>\n SK:\u00a0I sing about country. I sing about sense of place, and often those stories entail rural landscapes. Sometimes they\u2019re urban, but mostly rural.<\/p>\n SC: You sing about country but\u00a0do you think of or classify your music as being in the country music genre? Because you\u2019ve got such a mixed sound –\u00a0encompassing folk, country, blues.<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: That\u2019s the thing. We happen to have a double base and a banjo, and that tends to classify us as \u2018country\u2019. When we play at a country music festival, they think we\u2019re folk, and when we play at a folk festival, they think we\u2019re country \u2013 but we don\u2019t mind that, because we mix it up.<\/p>\n SC: So you did rewrite \u2018From Little Things\u2019, with your Dad. One thing that always interests me is the political activism expressed in a creative sense.\u00a0Or the political story behind creative expression.<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: This one was easy to write, because of the strength of the Voice 4 Indi story<\/a>.<\/p>\n SC: Obviously the \u2018Orange\u00a0People\u2019 were increasingly gathering in numbers across Indi, but how did you hook into the movement, how did you first get involved in Cathy McGowan\u2019s campaign?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: My Dad was connected, so he was already part of the Wangaratta crew. But probably the main reason I got involved was because of Matty\u00a0Grogan, one of my best friends, who worked at\u00a0Mittagundi<\/a>\u00a0with me. Cathy McGowan quoted Mittagundi in her election speech.<\/p>\n Matt has been involved with the [Voice 4 Indi] group from the early days. He called me up one day and said \u2018Kimber, you\u2019ve got to get involved, and we need a campaign song, \u2013 what do you reckon?\u2019<\/p>\n SC: And the song?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: The song was easy to write \u2013 I find writing real stories into song easy to do.\u00a0We knew the song would be potent if it had a chorus that everybody knew \u2013 that everybody could join in and sing. That\u2019s the thing about human beings, music and familiarity \u2013 if they hear something they know, they are more likely to connect to it, emotionally invest themselves in their listening, and hopefully even sing along, which they definitely did in Indi.<\/p>\n So it was either \u2018You\u2019re the Voice\u2019 by John Farnham \u2013<\/p>\n SC: [Laughs] Which Julian Assange instead appropriated during the campaign with\u00a0that bizarre karaoke video<\/a>–<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Yeah! I know.\u00a0\u00a0But it was that, \u2018You\u2019re the Voice\u2019 by John Farnham, \u2018Solid Rock\u2019 by Shane Howard, or \u2018From Little Things\u2019 by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve written a few more songs since then because obviously, as part of the campaign, we\u2019ve done singing on the streets of Indi, singing on the campaign bus.<\/p>\n SC: So after the launch you physically boarded the bus and went out with campaigners on some of your weekends?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Yeah. This included a trip to Murrindindi,\u00a0which covers\u00a0Yea, Marysville, Alex[andra], and Kinglake. Murrindindi was previously part of the neighbouring\u00a0McEwan electorate\u00a0<\/a>until the last election. The electoral boundaries were altered so that this area was now part of Indi for the 2013 poll \u2013 so obviously the people of Murrindindi had less knowledge about Cathy and the other candidates.<\/p>\n And I guess for Cathy, she\u2019s not physically located close to that part of the electorate, so I think it took a little longer for the word to spread out that way. The band and I have a few fans out that way, so I thought we may be able to make a little difference. I spent three days in Murrindindi with some of the campaign crew in August, talking to locals and using music as a tool to engage. I played a song or two in the local Alex caf\u00e9, at the pub, at the art gallery and at the Cathy meet and greets.<\/p>\n The song sort of planted a seed to engage people so we could then talk to them about Cathy and local issues.\u00a0 It seemed a less invasive way of going out on the streets with a megaphone screaming \u2018Vote Cathy!\u2019.<\/p>\n Denis, Cathy\u2019s brother-in-law, liked to say that music is a great way to connect intellect with heart, and in politics that\u2019s important \u2013<\/p>\n SC: And presumably any politician who can connect intellect with heart has a winning combination and will be in power for a long time-<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Exactly. And music helps make that link in all sorts of facets of our world. It helps us understand things. And it can be an easy way to access people.<\/p>\n There was this older woman in Alex, and she was a staunch Greens voter and she\u2019d been through the [Black Saturday] bushfires and she\u2019d lost friends and her home, and I had a chat with her about Cathy.\u00a0Denis invited me to sing the song, so I sang her the song, she was the only one in the caf\u00e9 \u00a0I was singing to, but by the end she was taking Cathy postcards.<\/p>\n SC: And you got the endorsement of your version of the song from Paul Kelly, the writer (with Kev Carmody) of \u2018From Little Things\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Yep, we got Kelly\u2019s endorsement. When he heard last week that Cathy had a chance of winning, he threw his fist in the air. He was really excited.<\/p>\n \n@geeksrulz Indi democracy tribute, featuring Sal Kimber performance of From little things<\/p>\n SC: As well as your Dad and your friends and people you knew in the community getting involved in Voice 4 Indi and Cathy McGowan\u2019s campaign, did you feel that it aligned with your personal politics?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Absolutely. I think when you grow up in the country.<\/p>\n SC: And you\u2019ve always been in the Seat of Indi-<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Yeah, I was there until I was 18 and then I went overseas and moved to Melbourne, but have then moved back to Indi. It\u2019s always been like a lover in a way \u2013 in that I can\u2019t let that lover go! I always go back to Indi.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a great job in Brunswick, but I\u2019m currently saving up money because I want to buy my own farm in Indi, that\u2019s the plan, and \u2013<\/p>\n SC: That\u2019s right, and the writer\u2019s retreat will be built next to the recording studio and I\u2019ll move out there too- [laughs]<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Exactly, exactly. But the thing for me about Cathy \u2013 when you\u2019ve grown up in Indi, and you know the people out there, and you sort of know the way people think, whether they\u2019re extreme right in their views, or whether they\u2019re extreme left.<\/p>\n What I think works out there is finding a bit of a middle ground. Somebody who can communicate to people of all leanings and levels and work out how to work with everyone.\u00a0It\u2019s challenging, but I think Cathy is able to do it. If anyone can do it, it\u2019s Cathy.\u00a0I know some people think it\u2019s perhaps a really utopian idea to have an actual \u2018Voice 4 Indi\u2019, but I believe it\u2019s worth striving for.<\/p>\n I think for me being a country girl at heart, and sensibility, I know that if you\u2019re too far left it just doesn\u2019t fly. It just won\u2019t. And for her, she\u2019s pro-same sex marriage but she doesn\u2019t scream that to the hilltops. She\u2019s into sustainable farming and she\u2019s into improving rural mental health and she\u2019s into looking after community. She wants to make Indi a more comfortable and livable place.<\/p>\n SC:\u00a0 Your\u00a0Performance on election night. I know I\u2019ve never experienced anything quite like it, particularly in a modern Australian political sense. But the room seemed brimming with so much hope and optimism when you performed that night. And not in a naive way. In a smart, savvy, involving all ages, multi-layered way. Was it as special a gig for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Well it was interesting the first time\u00a0I sang it at the campaign launch<\/a>. When I performed that, I thought there might be 50 people there. There were 450. And I suggested they join in and sing, and everyone sang! And that was that moment where I was thinking \u2018Woah\u2019.<\/p>\n Everytime I\u2019ve sung it, people don\u2019t hold back. They sing the chorus. And on election night, the same thing. When I got up there, everybody was just singing so loudly, and not embarrassed to sing. It is really beautiful and it was really special that night.<\/p>\n A few months ago I was actually wondering what I was doing with my music. You know we put out these albums, we\u2019ve made these\u00a0funny<\/a>,entertaining<\/a>\u00a0film clips, but it would be great to be effective in a really positive way. And when I then got involved in the campaign I thought \u2018Far out, this is why I play music\u2019, it was great.\u00a0The last couple of months have been so very affirming. If the campaign had to go for another six months I\u2019d be playing each weekend!<\/p>\n SC: [Laughs] Well, it might only be another day or two [said on Tuesday. Mirabella conceded the following day].\u00a0You are a social worker and do youth work with Moreland City\u00a0Council. How does this fit in with the music, how do the two complement one another?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Well the work I do in my day job is handy because a lot of it involves music too. I mentor lots of young people in organising music events. I do lots of youth development work. And often I find the best way to work with young people can be through music.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve tried being a full-time musician. I\u2019ve only tried it once, and it was really challenging on my ego, waking up everyday trying to play music for myself, to make money \u2013 it just seemed a little challenging for me. I love having a day job where it\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about the young people.<\/p>\n SC: And I dare say if I was a young person and you were my youth worker, I\u2019d be pretty happy [laughs], I think you\u2019d be inspiring. So who inspires you, Sal Kimber, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: Ah,\u00a0Cathy McGowan<\/a>\u00a0[Laughs]. Actually the whole\u00a0Voice 4 Indi<\/a> team are amazing. Some of them have taken whole months off their work.<\/p>\n Yep. They\u2019ve absolutely inspired me.<\/p>\n SC: And musically?<\/strong><\/p>\n SK: All the good folk singers. Paul Kelly, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell. And Shane Howard.\u00a0\u00a0Out of all the singers I love the ones who are writing story and song to keep culture and country alive. And I love that about Indi. Whenever I\u2019m home and I can write about those beautiful hills, I\u2019m there.<\/p>\n
\nSheila’s editor<\/a><\/p>\n