Brisbane’s very own chart-climbing singer-songwriter, Jarryd James, has revealed he once gave up on a career in music because of how difficult it is to tour Australia as a rising young artist.
Speaking to triple j, James has said that Australia’s dispersed population and the costs involved in touring the country helped to kill his dream of making a living from music.
“It’s really hard in this country, to be honest. It’s a logistical thing,” James said.
“It’s really expensive to tour in this country and everything is so spread out, there is not enough people. You only get one go at doing it the first time and by the time you’re balls deep in that you’re like: ‘I’ve spent all my money and I’ve committed to this. I’ve put the rest of my life on hold.’
“I can only speak for myself. It was really hard and I ran out of energy for it and I ran out of resources.”
James said that the difficulties he faced led him to give up on music as a career, leaving him to pursue a “normal” job.
“I’d given up on any sort of life in music. I thought if I wasn’t going to do it properly then I wasn’t going to do it at all,” he said.
“I’d just have a normal job and I’ll get superannuation, retire, buy a [house] and get a stupid mortgage… I just thought I’ve been given this gift of music and I’m not using it.”
James said that once he returned to music, his career only began to take off when he was offered the opportunity to support folk duo Angus & Julia Stone on tour. Stream his full chat with triple j, below.
James is set to release his debut album, Thirty One, on 11th September. Fittingly, the album includes the luscious recent single Regardless (below), which features Julia Stone. James is also set to perform at Falls and Southbound festivals over New Year’s.
Listen: Jarryd James talks debut album ‘Thirty One’
https://soundcloud.com/triple_j/jarryd-james-talks-debut-album-thirty-one-1
Watch: Jarryd James – Regardless feat. Julia Stone (Lyric Video)
