Album has Audreys rolling
You know you've made it in the music business when you get to conduct an interview from your boss' office - especially when you're allowed to raid the bar fridge.
"I'm drinking my boss' beer as we speak," the Audreys' Tristan Goodall laughs over the phone from Sydney during a chat about the band's fourth album, 'Til My Tears Roll Away, and current Australian tour.
Goodall could be forgiven for kicking back and enjoying the fruits of his labour.
It's been four years between albums for the Adelaide-born blues-and-roots outfit, during which time lead singer Taasha Coates became mum to son Finley (with Dirty York bass player Todd Bennett).
Goodall says he spent his time down the pub, lecturing in music and playing "a couple of quiet gigs" in Melbourne with friends, not really sure how Coates' new role would affect things.
Then, he says, "without really doing any preparation we just launched into it".
"We had a really productive couple of weeks where we got the essential ideas for the album down," Goodall says.
"We just thought we had a chance to make another record and it would be a record that we liked so we pushed on."
The Audreys picked up their third consecutive ARIA Award for 2010's Sometimes the Stars but put no pressure on themselves when it came to making their fourth, which sees them leave behind the banjos and violins in favour of rock guitars and a grittier sound.
"I think if anything it's just encouraging," Goodall says of three-out-of-three wins in the best blues-and-roots album category. "It doesn't mean there's any pressure to win another one. What will happen, of course, is for all the others we were the underdog, even the third one, so now people will think we'll win but we won't."
The Audreys have played 'Til My Tears Roll Away in its entirety on their Australian tour, which kicked off in Canberra last month.
The second half of the show features audience requests through their Facebook page.
It's the first time in three years they have toured with a full band - and the first with guitarist Shane O'Mara, who produced all four albums.
"In the past we have always had someone who can play a few different instruments, which reflected the sounds of our albums," Goodall explains.
"We were thinking of taking on tour a multi-instrumentalist but this record is pretty much like a two-guitar record. So, we just thought, let's rock, and who better than with Shane."
