INTERVIEW: Great Aunt's Existential Bedtime Focuses on "The Little Things"
Australian duo Great Aunt dig into those little existential questions our brains like to bring up as we fall asleep -- and driving on the right side of the road when they tour the US.
Great Aunt has mastered the art of harmony and poignant songwriting while zipping around Australia and back and forth to the US. Winners of the 2024 Folk Alliance Australia Duo of the Year, Great Aunt—Megan Bird (mandolin, resonator, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Chelsea Allen (double bass, vocals, percussion)—craft music that is rooted in folk, bluegrass, and roots traditions, yet refreshingly shaped by their diverse backgrounds in punk, jazz, soul, and rock. With the release of "The Little Things," the couple dig into those little existential questions our brains like to bring up as we fall asleep. We also discuss the joys and oy's of touring.
What was the moment that inspired your new song "The Little Things?
Megan: Last year was quite rough, losing a lot of loved ones (friends and family). During my usual “existential bed time” one night last year, a lot of trivial thoughts and big anxieties were colliding all at the same time, and it helped me reassess what I should actually be worrying about. On one hand the little things don’t matter, but they’re also an intimate detail just for you, that no one else will remember.
How do you feel your queer identity influences your art or performance style?
All of our songs are based on personal experience, so they’re naturally from the queer perspective. We also have explicitly queer-centric songs, where we’ve written about our trauma growing up queer like “Oh, Cruel World”. I think those stories are important to share, to show the rest of the world what it’s really like, from where we’re standing. Being a couple as well, our time onstage is usually pretty conversational and at ease, and we don’t take that or the harmonies we sing for granted. We also know as two cis white women we have a lot of privilege and use that to try and have meaningful and constructive conversations with people at our shows and we make sure we demonstrate the importance of ally-ship to the rest of the queer community and the global majority.
How would you describe the queer music – or even queer country – scene in Australia? What do you wish people outside of Oz knew about it?
There are a lot of great queer bands/songwriters in Australia and New Zealand. Queer country is alive and well! It doesn’t have the same kind of community like it does in the US, but it’s building, and all these artists are celebrated in the broader music community. Artists like Kerryn Fields, Little Wise, Michael Waugh, Hana & Jessie-Lee, Charlotte Le Lievre, The Double Dole String Band are releasing incredible music, not to mention the literal Queen of Australian Country Music (for the past few decades) is a queer woman, Beccy Cole! We long for the same level of community that we've become a part of in the US though, it's definitely something to aspire to, and play our part in bringing the queer music community together.
How has it been to tour in the US? Do you feel it's different than your previous trips?
It has been a great tour. It’s our 4th time, and the music communities across the US never cease to amaze us with their generosity and kindness. What has changed is our conversations with people, and everyone's heightened sense of awareness of what's happening around. We're noticing a shift in collective social awareness—more people are beginning to recognize and empathize with issues that may not affect them personally but are causing harm to others. We sense the exhaustion and anxiety of it all amongst our friends and peers, and are seeing more people getting organised to fight harder for those being targeted and politicised.
Any tensions or hostility we personally experience whilst touring the US are very similar to those back at home. Whilst we get head turns and dirty looks using the women's restrooms we know that we have a huge amount of privilege, and we make sure we challenge people when it's safe, and when a conversation can be had. Having to constantly "come out" to hosts or billets is exhausting and anxiety inducing, it's not a new thing though. We normally choose to book a motel and wear the cost to stay safe and preserve mental well being.
What would you like readers to know about what it's like to plan out DIY tours in the US as an international band?
It’s an administrative nightmare, but well worth it as there are a lot more show opportunities in the US than in Aus for our kind of music. It usually takes the best part of 6 months to get all the paperwork together for the visa petition, including booking a tour before you've even got the visa! For booking the shows, we treat it just like at home, we email venues and ask nicely for a show if they'll have us.
We're used to long drives between cities in Australia, but we're definitely not used to some of the terrain or weather. Driving through a snow storm from Portland to Bend over a mountain range had us shaking in our boots that's for sure! Also things we definitely don't take for granted is self care (eat well, sleep, quiet time, don't drink too much) to get over the jet lag and driving on the wrong side of the road! We don't have a tour manager, we drive ourselves and are often yelling out "RIGHT SIDE! RIGHT SIDE!" at each other when we first start driving to remind ourselves.
