Daniel Merriweather

• Add as friend
• Bookmark this page
• Print
• Archive

Daniel Merriweather says he’s moved on from the days of throwing TVs out of hotel windows.

So, winning Best Male Artist at the ARIAs – are you still floating on a cloud?
It was just an amazing night and I’m kinda shocked that I won, ’cause the category was so packed full of amazing people. I thought CW Stoneking was going to win, because I’m a huge fan of his. But to my surprise, I took it, which was good.

What kind of a difference do you think it’ll make to your career?
I’m just so busy trying to work on my show and make my show better while I’m touring that, to win an award is such an honour and so nice, but it’s a bonus. It’s great, but it doesn’t really change a lot for me. Hopefully more people will know about and buy my album.

Do you ever get sick of singing the same songs over and over?
It would suck if I’d made an album that I hated, but you know, that was one of the reasons I took so long making my album. I wanted to be able to put it on in 20 years and still love every minute of it. and the other thing that happens on stage is that songs will take on a new life with every performance, so you’ll have a new way of doing them every time.

What did your parents think, were they excited?
Yeah, they were so excited. It was just a big surprise for everyone. They came up to the ARIAs and we were all hanging out that night with my two brothers as well, so it was a good night. Bit of a family reunion.

Except one where all the attention was on you.
[Laughs.] Yeah. You know, those family reunions where everyone’s just focused on you! No but it was cool to see them ’cause it had been a while and it was good to hang out. It was an excuse to get blind drunk with my brothers, as well.

Well, you have said the main thing you like about the music industry is the fact that you can get smashed every night. Is that true?
[Laughs.] I think I was probably joking. I think the end of that statement was “when I’m not touring”. I was on tour in England when I said it and I felt like I was betraying some kid of rock ’n’ roll code, because I was stone-cold sober, going home after shows and being really well-behaved on tour. It’s meant to be the other way around – you’re meant to be sober until you get on the road and then get really drunk.

So you weren’t smashing up hotel rooms?
I wasn’t! When I was touring with Mark Ronson it was like that all the time – just throwing TVs out of windows. Just joking! But I think I got a lot of that out of my system then.

When you were younger?
When I was younger, touring with Ronson, that actually was an extremely debaucherous tour. Extremely debaucherous. There was Stuart Zender for God’s sake, he’s the bass player for Jamiroquai. The combination of him and the Haggis Horns, who are our horn section, they could pretty much get kicked out of any city in the world. It was pretty crazy. But when I’m on the road doing my own stuff, as much as I’d like to have fun, I’m really just thinking about the next show and I just want to have all my fun on stage. Getting all drunk and f***ed up doesn’t really work.

So you’re all grown up?
Maybe, I don’t know. I mean, if I’m not performing it’s a different story. I’ll pull an all-nighter every now and again. But not before a show.

Before a show it’s all scented candles and meditation?
Oh, candles and incense everywhere. I actually use this Chinese cough syrup, which has come in handy a lot – I can smoke as many cigarettes as I want as long as I have this cough syrup. It’s amazing because, like many Chinese things, you can find it anywhere in the world. I was in Stuttgart, in Germany, and I remember going to a Chinese herbalist and I was really proud of myself for memorising the name: Nin Jiom Pei Pa Kao.

Impressive.
I know! So I go to the counter and ask for Nin Jiom Pei Pa Kao, and the lady says, “Next time? Just say ‘cough syrup’”. [Laughs.] In English.

Does it bother you that you had to go overseas before you could get anywhere, career-wise, in Australia?
I dunno, I think I can’t really be annoyed at anything. I just think I happened to go overseas. But then again, I won my first ARIA five years ago. So people have been supportive, radio was supportive back then as well. When I went away it was just to make music, so there’s nothing for me to be annoyed at, at all. To come back and win an ARIA, what could you complain about?

You haven’t got any kind of weird trans-Atlantic accent, what’s going on?
I try to watch Chopper once a month [laughs]. My girlfriend’s American and I find myself really needing to watch Australian films to keep my accent, and it does help. Between Muriel’s Wedding, The Castle and Chopper, they do the trick. But the funny thing is that she’ll sometimes say things that almost sound Australian.

How did you two meet?
We met through a friend in New York. Her name’s Hillary.

Not Hilary Duff?
Not Hilary Duff. It’s definitely not Hilary Duff and I’m glad that it’s not. Although she is kinda cute.

She’s a yo-yo dieter though and that would get boring.
Very boring. No, my Hillary is not into yo-yo dieting at all. Never has been and never will be [Hillary Lopes, his girlfriend, is actually a holistic health counsellor].

You’ve toured with Kanye and JT, what were they like?
Kanye’s a great guy. He’s just so talented, so it was cool to be involved. I’d go onstage before him as the opening act and you know, no one wanted to see me, they just wanted to see him. But he’s a great guy. I think when the cameras are on he performs a bit, but he’s a good dude, I like him.

Do you think he’s been unfairly portrayed since the Taylor Swift incident?
I just think he’s now at a point where people expect him to do stuff like that at awards shows – it’s part of his role in the public eye. But I don’t know, I think the winner out of all of that was Beyoncé. She just looked like the queen.

And Taylor got a bit of extra publicity out of it…
Yeah, she did. I think if I was her management I would have asked Kanye to do that, to boost her career. She was the most talked-about thing in hip-hop, pop music and country music for that whole week. But yeah, it’s weird because I don’t really like her music but then again, she’s 19, she’s on stage getting her first award, just let her have it. It was kind of rude of him.

Yeah, really rude.
Extremely rude. I was actually sitting right behind her parents at the time. As soon as she got the award her parent turned around to me and my girlfriend, because they wanted to tell someone, anyone, and they were like, “That’s our little girl!”. and then literally 30 seconds later Kanye’s up there ripping the mic out of her hands. So it was in pretty bad taste.

Wow!
Yeah, you can see how important I am at the VMAs, I get sat behind Taylor Swift’s parents.

Well as it turned out that was a prime location!
Great location, right? Every time, I need to be behind a country singer’s parents. I like your boots, by the way.

Oh, thanks! Er, so, you have a bad-boy history. Are you glad you got all that out of the way before you became famous?
I think when you’re growing up you make a lot of mistakes and you do things and you go through things that can teach you. But yeah, I’m definitely glad I’m not being arrested for assault now, in the middle of the tour. That would be kind of awkward.

Not ideal.
Yeah that would be annoying, you know, having to go to court. I guess when you see young people in the media, you know all the musicians that pop into your head when you think of excess partying – I did a lot of that stuff I did years ago. So yeah, I’m just loving music and trying to be healthy.

So you’ve calmed down since those days?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, at 17 and 18 it was a whole different story.

You’re kind of a kid at that age, even though you might look like an adult.
Yeah, definitely. Although I looked like a kid. I still kinda look like a kid sometimes, it’s embarrassing.

You do have kind of an angelic face.
Oh thanks! That’s really nice of you to say. That’s really nice of you to say! That’s a really nice compliment. But yeah, I remember always getting asked for my ID.

And have you got any money yet? We talked to you last year and you said you were still waiting to see some cash.
I’ve been told the cheque’s in the mail. Don’t know whether I believe them, but I’m hoping that it arrives soon. Sometimes signing a contract on the back of an envelope isn’t the most advisable thing to do, put it that way. But no, I have no complaints right now. Everything is good.

Love & War is available now.