Amber Lawrence 3 Interview

Yes, Amber's an inner city girl. She's lived in the hustle, the noise and the hubbub all her life but it has never diluted her passion for country music and its endless themes of heartbreak, story-telling, love, joy, fun and core family values like loyalty. Now '3', (simply named because it's her third album) adds another dimension to a career that has been on a sharply vertical lift-off since Amber took up singing and song writing half a dozen years ago and rocked the industry with her burgeoning talents that include five Golden Guitar nominations, six number one songs, the Horizon award, TV performances on major shows like Mornings with Kerri-Anne and Spicks and Specks plus tours and stage appearances with artists including Adam Harvey, Beccy Cole, Melinda Schneider and Lee Kernaghan.

'3', with its mixture of upbeat optimism, personal happiness and resilience along with some references to deeper issues including courage in the face of hardship, is another step upward on a sharply-angled career path that has seen Amber delight audiences all over the country - from sold out Tamworth concerts to the Gympie Music Muster - and vastly expand her fan base.

Her own experiences of life's upheavals, including the death of her father, becoming an aunt to her sister's two children and lost loves and the pursuit of new ones, have broadened Amber's musical experiences and her maturity shows on '3'. Throw in Amber's early experience of being dumped by a boyfriend who had given her a guitar so she could learn to play and boost her career and you get some idea of what ironies shape her lyrics. Songs like Everything's A Song, Everybody's A Mess and Huge talk about the importance of personal contentment and emotional stability instead of looking enviously at other people's lives that may not be as perfect as they look.

Everybody's A Mess has already generated such enthusiasm among Amber's fans that it will be the first song released from the album as a single. "My last album was on a positive note as well but it was more based on moving on after the death of my father" she says. "This album says I know what life is all about at this point in my life and I'm making the most of it, good or bad. I have my glass half-empty days like everyone else but most if the time its half-full".

Adding to her already glittering career lustre is Amber's insightful skill to write one and co-write the other 12 songs on the album with some of the best known lyricists in country music, including award winner Colin Buchanan, Mike Carr, who wrote song of the year "Real People'' for Melinda Schneider, Sam Hawksley, Paul Greene, Suzy Connolly and Golden Guitar winning producer Rod McCormack, whose professionally deft touch in the studio is behind the unique sound.

Amber's partnership with Buchanan produces the most poignant song on '3', The Man Across The Street. It tells the true story of Bill, a young, returned Australian solider whose stark memories and ghastly experiences in Vietnam haunt his waking hours. He turns to alcohol for daily solace while sitting on the verandah of his house at Mascot across from Amber's. One day Amber, a toddler, wanders toward the busy road risking serious injury or death from passing cars until she is scooped up by Bill and returned to her mother in the nick of time. Amber's song was meant as a thank you for the now vanished Bill for saving her life but it became a metaphor for the actions of not just Bill, but all of the Australian soldiers who went to Vietnam and returned emotionally impaired unable to fit comfortably back into society. The song expanded into a bigger picture to embrace the hundreds of young Australians who sacrificed so much of their own promising futures to protect their country. Not just Bill, as Amber sings but a thousand more like him who paid the price. "Maybe he didn't want to fight but he was told it was for the greater good of us all. So it became much bigger than him just saving my life when I might have crawled onto that road. It was really emotional writing it. Those soldiers tended to be written off when they came home because they were young and no one realised there was a problem. With hindsight we know how he suffered." Amber's family lost touch with Bill over the years after he moved but she remains hopeful their paths might cross if he hears the song. Amber also linked with Australia's armed forces when she entertained troops in East Timor in 2007.

Amber's debut album The Mile and its follow-up When It All Comes Down - which earned three Golden Guitar nominations - were commercial and critical successes. '3' continues Amber's evolvement into one of the most successful country music artists in the country, loved by fans and respected by industry super stars such as Lee Kernaghan and Adam Harvey, who brings his honeyed voice to track 6 The Peace I Keep.

"She writes great songs, sings with conviction and delivers a great show,'' says Harvey. "Her talent and her connection with the audience put Amber ahead of the other young artists in the industry."

Also joining Amber for a duet on the album is ex-Australian Idol finalist and Home and Away star - Axle Whitehead. Axle's smoky vocals are a perfect fit for Amber's on the sexy track 9 My Attraction. "Axle's a great singer, who is a big fan of country music - so it was really fun to work with someone outside the normal realms of Australian Country Music", says Amber.

By her own admission Amber was a late starter as a singer, spending her immediate post-high school years at the University of NSW completing a degree in Accountancy, a profession not known for producing an abundance of country music performers. But she says she is now secure in her confidence that country music is where she belongs and where she is staying. "I wouldn't want to be any other place," she says.

Amber came up with the ideas for her songs on '3' but called in songwriting partners to give the finished product a distinctive twist in comparison to the first two albums. "I wrote almost all the songs by myself on the first two and didn't want '3' to sound the same,'' she says. "But I still wanted the songs to be my songs, to tell my story. The songwriting sessions were successful because we had clear ideas in our minds as to where we were headed. It's my truth, it's my take on the world as I see it right now. Life throws us curve balls and the only thing that's constant is change which always makes for great song subject matter. '3' represents where I'm at personally and creatively at the moment. I'm very proud of this album."

Amber Lawrence Tour
Saturday 18th February: Lake Charlegrark Country Music Marathon, Minimay VIC
Sunday 19th February: Lake Charlegrark Country Music Marathon, Minimay VIC
Sunday 26th February: Randwick Rugby Club, Coogee Beach NSW
Saturday 18th February: Lake Charlegrark Country Music Marathon, Minimay VIC
Sunday 19th February: Lake Charlegrark Country Music Marathon, Minimay VIC
Sunday 26th February: Randwick Rugby Club, Coogee Beach NSW
Saturday 10th March: Central Coast Country Music Festival, The Entrance NSW
Thursday 15th March: Bathurst RSL Club [Auditorium], Bathurst NSW
Friday 16th March: Orange Ex-Services Club, Orange NSW
Saturday 17th March: Condobolin RSL Club, Condobolin NSW
Sunday 18th March: Narromine United Services Memorial Club [Auditorium], Narromine NSW
Friday 23rd March: Goulburn Workers Club, Goulburn NSW
Saturday 24th March: Yass Soldiers Club, Yass NSA
Friday 30th March: Wagga Wagga Commercial Club, Wagga Wagga NSW
Saturday 31st March: Young Services Club, Young NSW
Friday 20th April: Club Singleton, Singleton NSW
Saturday 21st April: Panthers Newcastle, Newcastle NSW
Friday 11th May: Penrith Panthers Evan Theatre, Penrith NSW
Saturday 12th May: Hornsby RSL Club, Hornsby NSW
Thursday 17th May: Bairnsdale RSL Club, Bairnsdale VIC
Friday 18th May: Wonthaggi Workmens Club, Wonthaggi NSW
Saturday 19th May: Moe RSL, Moe VIC
Thursday 24th May: St George RSL, St George QLD
Friday 25th May: City Golf Club, Toowoomba QLD
Saturday 26th May: The Centre for Arts & Culture, Beaudesert QLD
Sunday 27th May: Ipswich Civic Theatre, Ipswich QLD
Thursday 21st June: Hallam Hotel, Hallam VIC
Friday 22nd June: The Gateway Hotel, Corio VIC
Saturday 23rd June: The Commercial Hotel, South Morang
Friday 13th July: St George's Basin Country Club, Sanctuary Point NSW
Saturday 14th July: Batemans Bay Soldiers Club, Batemans Bay NSW
Sunday 15th July: Oaklands Event Centre, Pambula NSW
Thursday 19th July: Port Macquarie Panthers, Port Macquarie NSW
Friday 20th July: Coffs Harbour Ex Services, Coffs Harbour NSW
Saturday 21st July: Twin Towns Services Club [Showroom], Twin Towns NSW
Thursday 16th August: Glenmore Tavern, Rockhampton QLD
Friday 17th August: Northern Beaches Bowls Club, Mackay QLD
Saturday 18th August: Dalrymple Hotel, Townsville QLD
Sunday 19th August: Mareeba RSL Club, Mareeba QLD
Thursday 30th August: Narrabri Crossing Theatre, Narrabri NSW
Friday 31st August: Gunnedah Services & Bowling Club, Gunnedah
Saturday 1st September: Coonamble District RSL Club, Coonamble NSW
Sunday 2nd September: Cobar Bowling & Golf Club, Cobar NSW
Thursday 13th September: Tumut-Montreal Community Theatre, Tumut NSW
Friday 14th September: Albury Commercial Club, Albury NSW
Saturday 15th September: Cooma Ex-Serviceman's Club, Cooma NSW
Thursday 20th September: Taree RSL & Golf Club, Taree NSW
Friday 21st September: Saraton Theatre, Grafton NSW
Saturday 22nd September: Lismore District Workers Club, Lismore NSW
Sunday 29th September: Nelson Bay Diggers, Nelson Bay NSW

For more information, please visit www.amberlawrence.com.au

Interview with Amber Lawrence

Question: How would you describe 3?

Amber Lawrence: I describe 3 as the most mature album I have done, so far, it's me growing up a little bit. The first two of my albums were about having fun and real shallow issues, whereas this one is more about looking at life now I am thirty and saying 'I can grow up a little bit' and realising life is not too bad.

3 is the title because it is my third album.


Question: You write your own songs; what's your inspiration?

Amber Lawrence: Everything in life inspires me especially on this album. Once you get to your third album you can run out of real life ideas and you have to look around a little bit. One of my songs is about the man across the street who saved my life, he saved me from the traffic when I was a toddler; it is a story I've been told my whole life, from my mother and I am finally able to put it into a song, the man across the street was also a Vietnam Veteran so the song has a double meaning.

I didn't realise until I listened to the album, once we were finished, but a lot of the songs are about how life is not perfect but that you have to embrace what you have and make the most of it. There is a song on the album called Everybody is a Mess, which is also the first single and it's about how the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence and how we often envy others and wish to have what they have and then we find out, later, that there life is falling apart behind the scenes. We should really just take our own life and find our own happiness. There are a lot of songs that are about finding your place in life and finding the good stuff; nothing is perfect but everybody has something that they can be happy about.


Question: How did it feel to hear your song played all over the airwaves?

Amber Lawrence: It's fun, I am still not at the point yet, where I am over it. It is really exciting for me every time I hear my song and sometimes when I am driving, I will switch on the Country radio and my song comes on and I'll have a little bit of a laugh; if my car is full of people, I have to switch the station off (or I might seem a bit up yourself) but if I'm in the car, by myself, I might keep it on. I don't listen my tracks, too often (laughing)!


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Amber Lawrence: At the moment I am listening to Lachlan Bryan who is a new Australian singer/songwriter and I like Boy and Bear (who are big time now) and I love Adam Harvey and Kasey Chambers. I do love music outside the country genre including The Waifs.


Question: Did you have any pre-conceived ideas about the music industry?

Amber Lawrence: My move into the music industry didn't begin with me saying "I want to become a singer and go into the music industry". I started learning the guitar for fun and then I started writing songs because I had a broken heart; I got dumped and I had a guitar so I thought 'why not write a song'? I kept writing and playing at songwriter nights and people started liking them and from there I fell into the industry which is why I didn't have any pre-conceived ideas.

As I progress more and more in the industry I meet people that I was in awe of when I was starting out and that's the most surprisingly thing, when you meet people that are big stars but they are normal people.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Amber Lawrence: No, not yet. Nothing has gotten me to that point yet, there are plenty of times where you think 'Oh, now I need to work even harder to keep my career going' but I've had so many good things happen which is why I couldn't contemplated giving it up, I just love it too much. No matter how hard it can be sometimes, the rewards outweigh the hard times, always.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Amber Lawrence: I prefer performing live because that's where I have the most fun. I love when I am up on stage, with an audience who knows and likes my music and are really getting into the vibe. I have just completed a run of four shows, in South Australia and from the beginning of singing the first note I could tell the audience was really into it and I even had a couple of standing ovations. The studio is fun, I do love the studio but there is nothing as fun as the interaction with people.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Amber Lawrence: I think the biggest challenge, which is continuing all the time, is believing in yourself because along the way you will have people support you at times and they will drop away, the only constant thing that you have is your own self belief.


Question: What has been your favourite part?

Amber Lawrence: It would be seeing as much of Australia as I have, in the last four years I have pretty much been to every part of this country; from singing in the shadow of Uluru to the Kimberleys to crossing the Snowy Mountains and North Queensland. I have seen more of this country than I would have if I didn't have a singing career.

I have also really got to know the country because I have been in the locations to meet the people, not as a tourist. I feel really lucky that I have got to learn so much about Australia.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Amber Lawrence: There is no typical day (laughing). It is hard to describe but I normally wake up and answer emails, fan mail and Facebook messages then I will have a practice and might do some songwriting. Some days I will have a phone conference with the record company to check on the album sales and then I begin to get ready to go on the road.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Amber Lawrence: I actually got to collaborate with Axle Whitehead (from Home and Away) on this album and that was really fun. Axle Whitehead and I have kept in contact and will do some more work in the future because he really likes country music and I love his voice. We've only sang the song, we collaborated on, in the studio so we are dying to sing it live, together.


Question: Do you have a website fans can visit?

Amber Lawrence: www.amberlawrence.com.au