Singer-songwriter Scott Spark is in the cusp of something big. His debut album Fail Like You Mean It was released this week, he’s been busy touring supporting Washington and he’s now set to embark on his own nationwide tour from September 30th.

“I was raised by two dogs,” he tells Same Same, referring to the two Great Danes he had as a kid growing up in the rural Sunshine Coast, just north of Brisbane. Music is in his core, and he’s been playing the piano since the ago of three and for the first few years almost exclusively in superman outfit.

“My mum really dug Van Morrison and musicals, Dad really loved Neil Young and Led Zepplin; who overtook his teen years.” With a mixed Catholic, Lutheran schooling, at the age of about 11, Scott started listening to the radio, and from then on he says “I just couldn’t give a shit about religion basically, it wasn’t a conscious thing, it was just that I didn’t care any more, music became my religion”.

After moving to Brisbane in his late teens, Scott came out. Does his sexuality affect his music? “We are defined by so many things in life, you bring that all to music, who you love, and who you want to fuck – it all goes hand in hand,” he replies.

Scott does bring a lot of his life experiences to his songwriting, whether it be losing his dog and best friend, impulsive love, and strategies for outsmarting death.

He has a passion for sharing music and passing it onto others. In the late 70’s the Langleys School Choir and orchestra covered pop songs by the likes of The Beach Boys, Paul McCartney and David Bowie. Stuffed away in a drawer the songs were recovered and re-released in 2001 and became cult hits. Inspired by this, Scott gave a choir of 100 school students one of his own tracks Eat Your Heart Out to study and sing. “When kids sing something, it’s the same song, but you hear things that you have never heard before.”

The students also analysed the lyrics, discussing what they meant. Scott felt like he was at university with the way his song was forensically dissected. “The song is about death, it’s a seeing yourself differently when someone you love dies, and they completely got it”. The track is available for download from his website.

Making connections

We’ve all had that moment where we’ve heard just the right song and just the right moment, and it’s meant the world to us, and for Scott that is what being a singer-songwriter is all about.

“I think it’s much more challenging to make interesting music that’s enjoyable, as opposed to interesting music that’s hard to take into your life fully.” We live in a very detached world, he says. “We eat meat when it comes in Styrofoam, our relationships with parents become this weekly phone call, you see them for Christmas. Everything becomes a bit of a ritual.”

These days it’s harder than ever to have genuine connections with people, he adds. “Music is this awesome opportunity to not be disconnected, to be totally immersed, totally connected. Whether it’s lying on your bed, sticking on your headphones and falling asleep listening to something, or seeing someone play something live, it’s a rare moment where you can feel connected.”

His debut album was recorded in various auditoriums and houseboats, and after the tracks were recorded them he passed them onto Tucker Martine in Portland, Oregon to be mixed. Whittling down a shortlist of eleven tracks from twenty for the album was not easy, he admits. “At the end of the day when it comes to making an album, it’s about something that works together as a whole, it’s about making a bit of a team, so you draft a team, and sometimes even really good players don’t make the team.”

In 2007 Scott released a collection of songs on his debut EP Wet Behind the Ears, and his debut album Fail Like You Mean It is out now. A free download of his track The Truth is available here.

Scott Spark is touring soon:

Melbourne – Thursday September 30 @ Toff in Town

Sydney – Thursday October 7 @ The Vanguard

Brisbane – Friday October 8 @ The Zoo