YOUTHFIRE
What was a loss for Brisbane, is now a big win for Melbourne, but with our cultural scene being one of the best anywhere in the world, bursting at the seams with creative goodness, is there room for any more creative types to take shelter in our embracing city? The answer, a resounding yes. Particularly, those rare individuals that share with strangers their most intimate self with unflinching beauty and honesty are welcomed by us Melbournians with an even warmer embrace. With a back catalog of standout singles that have gained heavy nods from Tonedeaf, Indieshuffle, and triple j unearthed writers just to name a few, Stephen Carmichael has made committed to this big and glorious decision called Melbourne. Also known as Youthfire, we spoke with this emerging musician about his latest single Puppet, change and from where inspiration is found.
The description of “a watercolour of creative expression” given to your latest single is also an apt description for Melbourne. How much does this city inspire your music?
When I moved to Melbourne two and a half years ago I knew nobody and it felt a bit isolating, but I was so inspired by this city. Over the last few years, I feel that I’ve immersed myself in Melbourne’s culture and the abundance of artists and musicians doing their thing. I feel that I’m surrounded by so much beauty. This connection is inspiring.
Brisbane’s live music scene is to a degree restricted to either West End or The Valley, remarkably different to Melbourne’s more sprawling nature. In your opinion, which is better, and how have you adapted to life down south?
I think Brisbane’s music culture is amazing and the indie scene is a great tapestry to draw inspiration from. It’s authentic and “real.” I think without growing up in Brisbane I wouldn’t be the musician and artist I am today.
For me, Melbourne was the next step. It allowed me to expand and to evolve in a new way. It’s hard to draw direct comparisons between the two cities as they are just so different. I think the biggest shift moving to Melbourne was that, although it’s much bigger, it felt “local” – more intimate and accessible. It felt like there were more avenues here for support. For example, this year I did The Push’s mentorship program and was partnered up with [songwriter and producer] LANKS.
Support like this is invaluable and I feel that it’s easy to reach out to more established artists doing similar things to ask for advice or assistance.
What do you feel is music’s greatest ability or power, and how do you try and harness this potential through your own work?
In my opinion, I feel that music’s greatest ability is to open people up, allowing the listener to learn more about themselves through music. When I perform, I try to be as present as possible and to just allow the music to flow through me, opening myself up in the process. My goal is to allow myself to do this and hopefully the audience or the listener can feel this when they see me perform or listen to my recorded music.
Talk to us about to the more personal side to this new track, and how your life has lead you into the world of music.
All of my songs are extremely personal to me, but it’s often hard to pinpoint what experiences specially influence different songs. There’s definitely an element of a stream-of-consciousness approach to it. So, how I’m feeling or the energy I’m channeling can dictate the lyrics as I write the song. For me, “Puppet” is about allowing. Allowing myself to accept life situations and to let go of control. Another layer of the song is about trust in relationships – I had to allow myself to become quite vulnerable in order to sing this.
To answer the second part of the question, I have always made music. I wrote my first song when I was in grade nine and fragments of songs in grade eight. I would sing all the time. I dealt with a lot of sadness growing up and it was sometimes very difficult for me to process things in my life but singing was always there for me. In high school, I used music and art as a form of armour from hurtful words. Perhaps my journey into making music was just a way for me to survive.
And lastly, with your forthcoming EP due out soon, what should we expect and what direction has your music taken more recently?
I don’t want to disclose too much just yet for my upcoming EP, but I will say that it’s a combination of songs that I’ve written over the last six years. I share my life experiences filtered through music, exposing a personal reflection of what it means to grow up in Australia, being queer. I wanted to share this through music.
Photo Credit: Nelly Maree
