Get intimate with Murray on latest tour

MY first ever “proper” concert was seeing Pete Murray at the Brisbane Cultural Centre back in 2004.

By this I mean the first concert I paid for with my own money, that was without my family and that had more than 100 people there.

When I spoke with Murray ahead of his next Australian tour – I reminded him of that gig 14 years ago and we both winced a little realising how much time had passed.

“That was the first time everyone had their phone up instead of the lighters and I remember thinking the lighters had died, which is an old thing people talk about,” he laughed.

“But then five years later I did another tour down to Albury Wodonga and the whole place still had lighters, which was great.”

Looking back at the past, Murray explains how his music has evolved since his first album Feeler was released in 2003, through to last year’s Camacho.

“The music has evolved; this album is lighter which was great,” he said.

“Feeler was melancholy and very moody, so I was trying to get away from that and brighten things up.

“Even with my second album (See the Sun) the song Better Days was about going through hard times but had a positive twist at the end.

“If you listen to Camacho, there are a lot of beats and loops and grooves, more than anything. I think Feeler had elements of old rock when I was a big fan of Pearl Jam and bands like that.

“But I have moved past that rock feel, quite a long time ago, and really into songs that are more positive and great fun to play live where people can get up and dance.”

Which is what Murray expects people to do on the Heartbeats acoustic tour which starts in Perth at the end of June, takes in Noosa and Tweed Heads before playing at Highfields on July 12.

“We wanted to do more pub venues to get that intimacy back again,” Murray explains.

“Pub gigs are always great fun. The whole idea was to keep it small and go back to where it all began.”

As for the name of the tour, Murray has recently released a remix of his song Heartbeat on which he teamed up with PNAU’s Peter Mayes.

“The song has always had a dance beat to it and I was talking to my tour manager, who was their (PNAU) tour manager and asked if he could put me in touch with one of the guys,” Murray said.

“Peter got back to me and said he loved the track, that it had a great melody and big chorus and was keen in having a crack at it.”

The track’s film clip is available on YouTube.

Murray is looking forward to returning to the Toowoomba region, where he has spent a lot of time after growing up in Chinchilla.

“It is good to come back to the Darling Downs, I visited there last year at the Empire Theatre and quite a few times before that,” he said.

“I even played in a pub in my early days. It is so nice to get back to the area and spent some time in the places I spent in my youth.”

Another passion for Murray is fitness. Specifically Music and Movement Escapes which he started with his friend, former musician and fitness expert Benny Owen in Byron Bay.

“We put it together and did the first one in February where people had the opportunity to come and stay for a week, get a whole bunch of activities we put on for them and part of the deal is they get to train with me and see a show on the beach,” he said.

Murray said activities included horse riding, learning to surf, yoga and bush walking.

Murray and Owen are planning another event for late October with a few different artists and another in March next year.

Catch Murray at the Highfields Tavern on July 12. For more visit www.petemurray.com.