Catching up with Angus and Julia Stone is guaranteed to carry a little bit of earnestness and some wet-your-pants type laughter.This tweesome twosome, are so much more than Little House On The Prairie frocks and the kind of beard that one could get lost in for days; they are smart, hilarious and more than a little naughty around the edges.
When we first sit down, talk turns quickly to arancini balls; Angus recommending that if you’re ever in Byron Bay go to The Balcony and order the mushroom balls. Whilst I love arancini, I’m just delighted that we’re only three sentences in and the world balls has come out of Angus’ mouth twice already. Julia discusses the possible success of a vegan or a vegetarian restaurant on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, where the pair grew up, stating that the area is more snob, less yob now and could definitely succeed in supporting such an establishment.
“There are still pockets,” says Angus. “Pockets of yob?” queries big sis. “Yeah” he replies. “Pockets of yob,” says Julia turning the phrase over in her mouth. “Maybe that’s what we should call the next album! Pockets of yob and the cover can just be a picture of Angus standing there pulling out his empty pockets.” As she says this she acts out the pose with the cliched begging look of the sad, penniless clown.
Getting down to business before the wheels completely fall off, discussion turns to their new album (called Down The Way), which was completed in October. “The last song we did was called ‘Old Friend’ which we recorded in Queens in New York. It’s the secret track. It’s for our grandfather who passed away,” says Angus, before Julia adds how they performed it for his funeral before deciding to put the beautiful tribute on the album for the world to hear.
“Did he actually get a chance to hear it?” she asks Angus. “Because Dad was saying last night, when we were all sitting around the fire…”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Angus interrupts. “He came to the Kasey Chambers show at the Opera House, which is in Sydney Harbour…”
“…and his name is Sydney because his parents migrated from London and he was conceived on the way to Sydney, so his parents called him Sydney,” says Julia finishing off her brother’s thought.
“You know what else is really trippy?” Angus continues. “About five years ago I bought this green tweed jacket, it was unique and it was expensive and it was vintage, but I thought ‘Fuck it, I’m going to get it, I really like it.’ So I wore it to the funeral and then a couple of days later Nan says, ‘I really want you to have one of Pa’s suit jackets’ and it was identical in every way.”
At this juncture we all notice Sia’s track ‘Buttons’ playing in the background. “Funnily enough she’s saying ‘losing a lover’,” says Julia. “And during that period of recording the album overseas and writing it between tours, Mitch came home, back to Australia. This was a big change in my life, a 16 year old girl thinking this is the man I’m going to be with for the rest of my life and now it was like ok, we’re done here.”
