Granite Island Discs: Ed Rooney From Gordy Boy Records
Like Desert Island Discs. Only South Australian – and without the litigation from the BBC.
Image via Gordy Boy Records
What Five Songs would you take to a desert island?
1. Dire Straits – ‘Sultans of Swing’
2. Bob Dylan –‘Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts’
3. Pearl Jam – ‘Off He Goes’
4. Dave Graney – ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Where I Hide’
5. Paul Kelly – ‘How To Make Gravy’
Being a reflective fellow on a desert island, I’ll need songs that tell a story. In my opinion, some of the best songwriting includes stories and characters that can capture your imagination and keep you inquisitive long after the track has finished. Questions for us all: was the Jack of Hearts Lilly all along? What is Harry’s daytime job and why is he doing alright? And is Dave Graney just an immaculately dressed spy?
If you could only pick one, what would it be?
‘Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts’. This song rolls along with a momentum and never outstays its welcome at over eight-and-a-half minutes. Sure, other songs achieve this (‘Meddle’ from Pink Floyd, I’m looking at you), but few take us through a story like this one.
What’s your favourite album?
I think it has to be Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92. It’s an album I first remember hearing amid Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Nirvana mania (or maybe a tad later). It sounded so fresh against this backdrop (even The Prodigy’s Music for the Jilted Generation has a grungy punch), so this album was the soft hug this awkward adolescent needed in such a guitar-driven era.
What’s your favourite song by an SA artist/band?
This one is tough! I have such love and respect for this little town. ‘Stopping all Stations’ by The Hilltop Hoods? ‘The Contender’ by The Mark of Cain? ‘Chandelier’ by Sia’? World grooves, all of them...I’m leaning towards ‘Bible Camp’ from WestThebarton, though. I first saw them live at the Fire Aid, hosted at the University of Adelaide in 2020. I was sold from that day onwards. ‘BibleCamp’ is one of the most powerful, soulful, fun and rocking love songs I’ve ever heard.
Favourite music-related memory?
Seeing Beck at Harvest Festival, Werribee Park, in November of 2012 and then seeing Radioheadat Rod Laver Arena six days later. These two performances knocked me for six as they were my top two all-time favourite recording artists. However, there was someone else who also enjoyed these shows deeply alongside me. She enjoyed them so much that I left myself no choice but to propose to her outside the Rod Laver Arena directly after the Radiohead gig. (Spoiler alert: she said yes!)
This memory is followed closely by the childhood memories of my uncles in their Bee Gees cover band, the Seeleys. I used to love how my Nanna proudly watched her boys’ renditions of ‘Run to Me’, ‘I Started A Joke’ and ‘New York MiningDisaster’ at every family BBQ.
Both memories and the wonderful women in them are the real inspiration behind Gordy Boy Records. Thanks, Yomes and Nanny – you are my true rockstars.
Gordy Boy Records | 104g Gayes Arcade/Adelaide Arcade, Rundle Mall | gordyboyrecords.com
