Good Gig Chats: Peter Bibby
One of Australia’s great singer-songwriters, Peter Bibby is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his classic debut album, Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician, with an Australian tour. Ahead of his Adelaide show at the Cranker, Bibby waxed lyrical about the record, the tour and his views on how music is consumed.
Words by Tobias Handke
mage by Kristofski
Peter Bibby is Australia’s answer to American great Bruce Springsteen. A hero for the working class, his early music defined a generation of Aussies growing up during the 2010s. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, Bibby writes relatable songs about the ups and downs of life (and FX Falcons).
An incredible live performer, the WA-born singer-songwriter is this year celebrating the 10th anniversary of his cult debut album, Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician. The record, which includes fan favourites ‘Goodbye Johnny’, ‘Hates My Boozin’ and ‘Cunt’, has also been reissued on 12” Orange Vinyl (order here), and remains a key release in Australia’s DIY music scene.
Taking the album on the road, Bibby is currently touring the country performing Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician in its entirety, along with a few of his other fav tracks. Before touching down in Adelaide for his gig at the Crown & Anchor, we got the chance to ask Bibby a few questions about the album, tour and Perth’s music scene.
It’s crazy to think it’s been ten years since the release of Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician. What are your memories of that time?
I barely remember a thing from back then! Nah, just kidding. I have extremely fond memories of those days. I was living a pretty free and easy life as a broke musician finding my way in Melbourne after moving over from Perth, doing quite a lot of partying, making new friends and writing a lot of songs.
It was around that period that playing music started to feel like it could actually be a career for me. Having barely left WA up until then, I was fairly unaware of the world outside of the most isolated city. My eyes were opened to a whole new world of musical opportunity.
What was the writing and recording process of the album like, and has it changed over the past decade?
The process is still very much the same but nowadays the waves of inspiration are fewer and farther between. Having such a vast collection of songs at the time, when it came to recording the album it was just a matter of picking our top ten. That was easy to do having played a tonne of gigs and knowing what people reacted to the most.
Recording was great. We tracked all the drums, bass, guitar and vocals live, and just overdubbed some lead guitar, keys, backing vocals, etc. The studio was a little shoebox operated by Lucas Glickman, just off Smith Street in Collingwood behind a pub that had the closest toilet. So any time anyone needed to go, we’d visit the pub for a pint, aka a ‘shit ticket’, use the facilities, and get back to work. I think the whole thing took five days.
I still enjoy recording live where possible but more and more I see the value in tracking things individually. It provides a lot more options when it comes to mixing, however, you’ll never get the same level of charm that comes with a good live recording. All those little mistakes you learn to live with because you’ve done 50 takes already become some of the favourite moments on the record.
What’s the biggest lesson you took away from the experience of making Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician?
They say that every day is a school day, so in regard to those days, I would say that I learnt that studio time is the best time, and recording music is something I want to continue to do as long as I have the ability to do so.
Listening to the album today, how does it make you feel?
It gives me the warm and fuzzies deep inside.
Despite only having ten tracks, the album is full of fantastic tunes. Personal favourites include ‘Red FX Falcon’ and ‘Friends’. Is there one that stands out for you?
I love all my sonic babies equally but if I had to pick favourites I’d say ‘Bat n Ball’, ‘River Guts’, and ‘Stinkin Rich’. But really, I love them all.
You’ve also released Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician on vinyl to coincide with its 10th anniversary. As someone with a DIY ethos, what are your thoughts on the way music is consumed these days?
To be honest, the world of streaming pisses me off. That constant access to basically the entire catalogue of the world’s music has taken something special away from the experience. Before streaming, I remember going to friends’ houses and getting super excited to see they had a particular album that I had been dying to listen to. We’d put it on and listen to every note with full attention. You couldn’t just open up an app and listen to whatever you wanted – you had to go to the shop and buy it, which made it feel so much more special.
I used to go to the record store every payday and pick out a new [record] and listen to it constantly until I could get another one. Reading through the liner notes while listening to the album was such a huge part of the experience. Now you just click a button and listen to whatever you want and I think it has cheapened the experience. People take it for granted. Not to mention how much income the streaming industry has ripped away from artists.
I read someone once described your music as dolewave, which I found interesting. What are your thoughts on this?
It’s not a term I would use to describe my music but I can understand why someone would. I’ve always struggled to describe my musical ‘sound’ so I appreciate any offerings. I was definitely on the dole in the days of Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician so it’s not inaccurate. These days it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m a hard-working, house-rendering man with calloused hands. Blue Collar Wave? Ute Rock? Hopeless Romanticism is probably more accurate.
As an artist, you’re an incredible storyteller in the same vein as say, Bruce Springsteen or Paul Kelly. Are those the types of artists that inspire you or is more life around you and your experiences, or a bit of both?
A bit of both for sure. Without hearing the music of the great storytellers, Hank Williams, Mark A. Hunter, Paul Kelly, Blaze Foley, etc. I wouldn’t have had such a great blueprint to work from. But I have always drawn from life experiences and am always hungry to make the music a little bit more strange than those who came before me.
You’ve released several albums over the years since your debut, including last year’s sensational Drama King. What’s the major difference between your early work and the music you are putting out now?
My life is very, very different now so lyrically I’m drawing from very different experiences when I write. I don’t drink booze anymore, so what used to be a frequent topic in my songs is now gone unless I’m reminiscing. Musically, I think that I have a less ‘rough and ready’ approach. I put a lot more time and thought into the layers and the transitions.
In my earlier years, if the lyrics were good and the chords worked, we were good to go. I’ve become a lot more particular in the smaller details; trying to accentuate the more subtle melodies and harmonies that are hiding underneath the more obvious parts. As I mentioned earlier, the waves of inspiration come less frequently these days so when I get something good together I like to work on it for a long time, milking it for all its worth.
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Let’s go back to the beginning. You got your start playing in bands around Perth’s pub rock scene before going solo and heading to Melbourne. How has the local music community in Perth evolved over the past decade? Is it in a healthy spot?
I think the Perth music community is still trying to recover from COVID-19. We’ve lost a lot of venues over the years. There is an endless supply of amazing musicians but there are very few places to play these days, and fat cat developers continue to threaten the ones we do have left.
After COVID I felt like the community got divided into sections and different scenes, whereas before I moved to Melbourne, it felt like we were all one big scene regardless of the style of music you played. There are still healthy aspects, a good example being Yardstock - a free, community event that holds gigs in various backyards across a chosen suburb over the course of a day.
Attending Yardstock, you could never say that the scene is not healthy or divided, but I do feel that outside events like this and a select few venues who continue to put the effort in to give musicians a platform, it seems like a bit of an uphill battle for a lot of musicians and venue operators.
There is also the issue of the insane amount of money it costs to tour a band from WA over to the East Coast these days. Without rich parents or government funding, it is becoming less and less achievable for independent bands to get out and do their thing outside of WA, which sucks!
Speaking of touring, you’re hitting the road to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Butcher / Hairstylist / Beautician. How excited are you to be playing the album in full for audiences across the country?
Very excited and a little nervous. It’s been a long time! We had our first show of the tour at Mojos in Fremantle and it was great. The cobwebs fell off quickly and we had a ripper of a time. It definitely killed some of the nerves and increased the excitement for the rest of the tour.
Along with playing your debut, what else can fans expect from a Peter Bibby gig?
We’re playing BHB in full [and] we have a little half-time solo section where I’ll take some requests. We’ve thrown in a few tunes off Grand Champion and we might even do a cover or two.
You’ve also roped in your original band members Nicholas Allbrook (Pond) and Johnny Baird for the tour. What’s it like reconnecting as a band and playing live with them again?
Getting the boys back together has been great. It’s such a great vibe and the whole thing has fallen into place very easily, like it was just yesterday we were haunting the pubs of Melbourne with our dusty rock band.
Both the boys bring so much to the sound of the band. Johnny’s tasty walking bass lines bring a lot of movement and flavour and Nick’s caveman drumming pumps it all along in a good old-fashioned knee-slapping way.
How important were they to the recording of the album?
Nick basically produced BHB so you could say he was absolutely vital in the recording of the album. He helped with all the guitar tones and his very distinct backing vocals bring a lot to the sound. Johnny’s bass brought a lot more melodic depth to the songs, and he pushed me to write new sections in songs, making them far more interesting. A good example of that is the instrumental section in ‘Hates My Boozin’. Before we went into the studio we were just repeating the chords from the verse in that section but Johnny was not satisfied, so I went home and wrote a section with as many chords as I possibly could to fuck with him for insisting on a new part. It took him all day to learn that part. It would have been a completely different album without the boys.
Finally, once you’ve completed the tour, what does the rest of 2025 have in store for Peter Bibby?
I’ve been writing a lot lately so I’m going to spend a lot of time in the studio. There are many songs to record and I’ll hopefully release some of [them] before the year is out. I have a solo tour booked in September, visiting a lot of regional places around Australia which I’m very much looking forward to.
I’m also playing drums in a band called Grub, arguably the greatest band in the southern hemisphere. We've got some good gigs coming up in WA and are planning to get back in the studio. Besides that, plastering houses, running kms and being the guy I need to be to have the time I want to have.
Catch Peter Bibby at Crown & Anchor on Saturday, March 8. Tickets on sale now via Oztix.
