Muso on Muso: Lucas Day & Dustyn
Wanderers frontman Dusty Lee Stephensen is using Adelaide Guitar Festival to launch the next phase of his career – a soul-infused solo project titled Dustyn. Foot-drumming, guitar-playing sensation Lucas Day is also due to play a magnetic set at the annual event. Here, the SA artists sit down for an honest chat about music making, being a frontperson and what to expect from their Adelaide Guitar Festival shows.
Dusty: I know you, but do you want to tell me about yourself and your show?
Lucas: I’m Lucas Day and I’m a musician. My show is on September 13 in the Space Theatre. I’m sharing the bill with Opelousas, who are from Melbourne. They’re a swampy and bluesy band – it’s going to be great.
D: And you’ve got some new music...
L: Yeah! I just got the master back. My new single ‘Wallow’ comes out September 10. You helped me bring that one to life! Do you want to introduce yourself?
D: I’m Dusty and I’m a South Australian musician and songwriter. I’m launching my solo career, Dustyn, on September 15 at Dunstan Playhouse.
L: So, what’s the new project? Is it that you haven’t done music like this solo before?
D: It’s more like I know who I am. There is an effortless naivety in this music that I think I would’ve had when [I was younger]. The music digs a little deeper than the previous stuff I shared with other musicians. They’re my dear friends, mind you, but it’s different. You know what it’s like, you’re a solo artist.
L: Yeah, I’ve played solo since I was 16. On my first album, I didn’t even have a band – I just got session guys in. For a while, I lived away, doing cruise ship musician stuff. When COVID-19 hit and I was back in Adelaide, I remembered I loved going to jam nights while travelling, but I’d never been to one here! I went to Billy Bob’s BBQ Jam at the Grace Emily and you were jamming there – that’s where we met. It really planted the seed for me starting a band. Songwriting is fun; the guitar is fun. But this frontman stuff is a whole different thing.
D: We’re going in opposite ways. [Being a frontman] is what I’ve always done. I’m used to conducting the energy of a whole bunch of people on stage and connecting with the audience, but I’m also part of a gang.
At Adelaide Guitar Festival, I’m going all bells and whistles with a 10-piece band, including Tyler Venter on second guitar and Ross Irwin on keys and trumpet. But I can also tour my ‘campfire test’ version of songs, when it’s just an instrument and my voice.
L: A song can feel so different when it’s just you. But if it holds up that way, it tends to with a band. Have you ever found some songs that don’t?
D: Well, you can overcook if you do too much. Take ‘Blackbird’. I couldn’t imagine [Paul McCartney] putting anything behind that – he just sits in Abbey Road Studios and taps his foot. Sometimes, songs work best when they are stripped back. But I don’t think it works the other way. A band can ruin it.
L: I think that’s where artistry comes in. I’m pretty confident I can make [a song] sound good when it’s just me and the guitar because that’s how I practice.
D: The other way around, you’re relying on other people to get the song’s vision and its energy because they put their fingerprints on it.
L: Was it just you and the guitar when you wrote the solo project?
D: That, or the piano. It’s different to writing for Wanderers because when those songs become a full-scale production, I’m letting the band’s fingerprints become part of the vision. But in this case, they are all my own fingerprints. I’m just choosing how often I want to shove my hands on the song. Tell me more about your forthcoming album.
L: I’m aiming for a 10-track album – five rock-based ones, five acoustic. There are hundreds and thousands of decisions per song. And when you have the vision in your head and you’re steering it to that endpoint, perfectionism holds you back. Squashing those voices and being happy to abandon [the record] so you can get it out is what this album is about.
D: That’s why they call it a release!
L: What drew you to guitar in the first place?
D: My parents bought me a guitar when I was six. I’m left-handed and it was a right-hand guitar. I was playing upside down! They sent me to lessons at school, and the teacher said, ‘You don’t have muscle memory’ and he flipped the guitar around. He made me learn as a right-hander and I’m damn glad he did. I would’ve been doomed to never picking up the guitar at an open mic night – all those random, inspired moments would have to be prepared with me having my own guitar. What about you?
L: When I played guitar, it did something to my brain. It feels like I’m in control of the difficulty. I can try to learn songs that are just out of my reach. I feel that way with my writing as well. I always tend to write riffs that I can’t play yet and then I have to learn it because it’s mine and no one else is going to bring it to life.
D: When did the foot drumming start?
L: During my uni exchange in Canada. I saw a guy busking a basic rock beat on a machine I’d never seen. It had a kick drum, a high hat and a snare. I was mesmerised. I asked what it was and he said it was a Farmer Foot Drum prototype. I looked it up, saved some money and got one made. That was about eight years ago. The learning curve was steep. Now it’s muscle memory. That’s when you can let it happen organically. Man, it’s addicting.
How would you sum up your show?
D: Melodic. Depth. Unpredictable, but not in a nerve-wracking way. The show will be a journey! I always keep enough danger in there for something to happen. You?
L: Groovy and fun. It’ll be an adventure.
See Lucas Day and his band play with Opelousas on September 13 at the Space Theatre and the solo debut of Dusty Lee Stephensen, Dustyn, on September 15 at the Dunstan Playhouse. Tickets to both shows are on sale now via Adelaide Guitar Festival.
