Magic Dirt’s Adalita Talks Music, Grief and Conservation
Ahead of Magic Dirt’s appearance at the nostalgia-filled Lookout Festival, we talked with frontwoman Adalita about the power of music, dealing with grief and doing her bit to save the planet.
Words by John Goodridge
Image supplied
You had a massive year in 2024. Tell us about what went down.
Yeah, it was pretty busy. There's always a lot going on – just gigging and working behind the scenes on music. I was touring around with Magic Dirt and we did a massive tour with Jebediah that was awesome. It's like the old days when you're touring a lot and you're out on the road. We love those guys and had a great time. Then I was doing a bunch of shows for Rolling Stone through The Rolling Stones Review, the thing that I've been doing for a few years with Tex Perkins. I'm always doing stuff, I'm always playing.
Speaking of Magic Dirt, they’ve been around for what? 30 years?
Since 1991, which was officially the year we formed. So, whatever that is, 34 years.
To me, the music is still relevant and alive now. ‘Dirty Jeans’, ‘Plastic Loveless Letter’, ‘Supagoo’… They still rock, they’re still relevant songs.
There's a lot of love for the band. We've got such amazing fans and we know we're still picking up new fans, which is great. A lot of those younger fans that have jumped on board now have parents that were Magic Dirt fans. Their kids are coming to the shows and they're loving the music. Hopefully our songs are good enough to stand the test of time. People still seem to be getting into it.
I was having a conversation recently about how a lot of musicians speak of the power of music. It's our base way of communicating, celebrating and working through emotions. What are your thoughts on this?
Music is a platform for people to express themselves in many different ways. For me, it's been something that I've always felt really compelled to do. It has been a way for me to express how I see the world and how I feel things. [It enables me] to thrash out frustration, anger and all the other varying emotions. I'm reminded of the power of music when people send us messages about how the songs have literally saved their lives [or] got them through a really hard time. You know, some really, really heavy shit that people go through, and then music is there to help them in so many different ways. That's always powerful to hear.
One of the sad things that happened to the band was when Dean Turner passed away. How did you cope with that at the time?
I can't put it into words. It's just beyond devastating [and] something that we did not foresee. It's had such a devastating effect on the whole band as people and musicians. Dean was kind of the captain of the ship. In many ways, we relied on him. He was just a solid dude and he had great vision. He had that producer/manager kind of mentality as well as being a proper rock and roller from Geelong.
He was my best friend, a best friend with everyone in the band. But for me, we grew up starting the band together. We were the original members and founders of the band. There's such a big hole in my life and I miss him every day. We all miss him. He was such an incredible human and I feel a bit lost without him, to be honest.
But in the same breath, I know that he would want us to stay strong and keep going and just do what we want to do. If we didn't want to do the band, he'd be like, “Don't do the band if you're not happy. Do the band if that's what you want to do.” He would be supportive of whatever we wanted to do. We feel like we want to keep going.
We did a big interview with Craig Madison for Mess + Noise. I remember in that interview Dean and I felt very strongly that Magic Dirt were only halfway through what we were doing. It makes you feel just a little bit better about doing something you know Dean would be really proud of and happy with. We do a little cheers to Dean every time we talk about him.
READ MORE: Good Gig Chats: Almost Human
One of the things that struck me while I was watching the ‘Baby Cakes’ video from Channel V back in the day was that Dean's in the video and that's what made me think about his role in the band. I'm sure you feel that he's still with you in spirit.
Absolutely. We've been on tour for a very long time without Dean, but every now and then there's this really weird, palpable thing where it's almost like there's an invisible blob in the room. It could be Dean. It’s gotta be.
It’s strange to be in this band without him but we've got such great people helping us out now, and they've become [a] really huge part of the Dirt family. Steve Patrick on bass. Steve was part of the Magic Dirt family before he was in the band. He was in the inner circle of trust. We're pretty lucky to have him.
The Lookout Festival is the next big thing on the Magic Dirt radar. It's quite an amazing lineup of bands, including Jet, Grinspoon, Veronicas, Spiderbait and Jebediah. Are you excited to perform at the fest?
I love playing festivals. We've played many, many festivals from the little guys where it's like 100 [people] to Big Day Out with 40,000. I'm really looking forward to it. I get to hang out with my mates, bands I've known for a very long time.
To me, it’s heartening that there is still a vibrant music industry in Australia. Like the Hoodoo Gurus, Jebediah, yourself; all these other bands, there's some positivity amid the doom and gloom.
It's a crazy old world. There is a lot of doom and gloom but there is a lot of great stuff happening too. I think it's really cool and important to keep music alive because you need it. It's not just an escape, it is actually a love of life. It's such an essential [part] of life. I love playing and being on the road. [Then] there's the punter, our audience, who is our second half. They love going to shows [and] we're all doing something together.
It's a shared experience.
It’s huge, and I think it's going to get bigger. I think people are going to want more music and want to bond and socialize more as time goes on. We need it and it's fun and it brings people together. We just want to keep going as long as we can.
For Mushroom Records a couple of years ago, you covered ‘I’m Stranded.’ That’s another heartening thing that we've still got local record companies supporting musicians.
Michael Gudinski was so supportive of local bands and Australian music, cheerleading Australian music on. I remember when we got asked to do ‘Stranded’, I was like, “Yes!” I love The Saints, love the song. We [played] ‘Stranded’ live a few times and we did it at a few festivals as well. So that was fun.
We met Chris Bailey a number of times before he passed. We were in Melbourne [and] we met up in a pub. I was ready to be totally intimidated by this icon, but he was the nicest guy. He was so warm and lovely and down to earth. Just being in a room with him, you knew why he was the icon. He just had this spark. He had this magic around him. I've always loved his voice. Beautiful voice.
Another thing I saw is you went down to Tassie with the Bob Brown Foundation. Do you feel that by having a voice you're able to bring issues like this to the public's attention?
Conservation has always been really important to the members of Magic Dirt. Privately, that's what we pursue as a priority. When Dean was in the band, we used to have pamphlets and representatives from certain conservation foundations at our shows to help spread awareness about conservation issues. It's always been a huge part of the band, especially nowadays with social media. The more people we can reach, the better to spread awareness. A lot of our audience are also aware of these issues and want to do all they can to help. I think it sits side by side with my DIY punk ethos of “let's just do this.” When I say coming from a sort of a ‘punk’ aspect, I'm referring to when we have to go hard, when we're faced with opposition from, you know, the malevolent forces.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
We're gonna do it our way. We're gonna fuck shit up because that's not right, the shit they're doing - the logging and the mining and all that stuff. We went down there [and] it was beautiful. The forest was incredible. We met a lot of people that I just have so much respect for. These people dedicate their time, energy and lives to protecting the forests while the rest of us get on with our lives.
It's good to have this part of the community representing and standing up for the environment, nature [and] the planet. I think we should be supporting them as much as possible. The struggle is real and I only know a very small portion of that, but what I've seen definitely alarms you, so you just want to spring to action. But there's a lot of good stuff going on as well. We've seen a lot of positive stuff, and a lot of great work on the ground, grassroots action, that has made a huge difference in protecting forests, which is our number one priority. Big, established ecological areas should be left intact as much as possible.
Totally. It's taken them years and years to get to where they are.
We do gigs where we will donate a portion, if not all, to people like the Bob Brown Foundation who do amazing work. I think the more people getting on board, the better.
Good luck with the festival. I'm sure you've got things lined up after the festival tour, it feels like you're constantly looking for new things to do.
There's lots of stuff going on this year. Yeah, it just hasn't come to the surface yet, but it will.
Catch Magic Dirt performing alongside Jet, Grinspoon, The Veronicas, Spiderbait and Jebediah at Lookout Festival at Port Malcolm Reserve on Saturday, March 1. Tickets on sale now via lookouttour.com.au.
