We are working on a new album this year that we are going to record in October so we have been working on that during this tour. I have had a big break, six months, and come back and am playing with two South African musicians, a bass player and a drummer. ”This tour is nothing like I have done before. If you haven’t he promises you are in for a treat. If you have seen Xavier Rudd live before, you are in for a different and new experience this tour. I would love to eventually do my own shows outside.” Festivals are often outside and I like playing outside. I still find it is the same energy at my own shows that there is at festivals. With my own shows I like the fact that I do what I want and can play for as long as I want. I have a problem with the set list not being long enough at festivals I want to keep playing every time. That is always a great environment for playing music because people are really meaning to connect with music, dancing, friends and family. People come and they let go for the time the festival goes on, they let their inner spirits fly, let go of their worries, take off their ties and put on the tie-died t-shirts and trip out. “Festivals are always fun because people are pumped. Rudd says he loves the festival experience, despite often feeling that he is being cut short. Rudd is a veteran of the festival circuit, having played Winnipeg Folk Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest and a 2005 performance at the Calgary Folk Music Festival. It is hard for me to explain why my music is unique it is just what I do.” I grew up in a small town on the edge of a National Park camping out in the bush and sitting by the fire and sleeping under the stars, swimming in the ocean. What I write about and how the music comes through me is based on how I grew up. I am attracted to wooden instruments I have always loved wood, handmade instruments, eclectic things. I just do what I do based upon what I feel. “I don’t really try or think too much about it. His youth spent in the Australian outback comes through as a strong influence it is just as easy to imagine sitting around a fire in the bush listening to him play music and sing as it is to envision him in a concert setting. It is hard to describe Rudd’s music, as it really is very original. I have always seen myself as a hairy little hobbit, so I was surprised by that.” ”That was probably the oddest thing I have ever heard of. His vegetarianism lead to him being dubbed “Worlds Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity” by PETA in 2007, an honor he still laughs about today. I feel that I have to do whatever I can within my capacity to help those things because I am so passionate.” As I have traveled I have learned a lot about different people, places, cultures and injustices that are happening worldwide. Based on what I write it has attracted a movement of earthy types of people who care about the environment. It translates through traveling around the world, playing music. A lot of it is just where my interests lie, what I feel and care about. A self-professed “bare-footer” he doesn’t own or wear footwear, is a vegetarian, and very active in aboriginal and environmental rights. Listening to his music, or doing any research on Rudd reveals a very deep, spiritual person. They understand it because spiritually the connection is very strong.” The spirit of the two cultures is in my mind what the connection is and why Australians and Canadians are drawn to each other’s land. Spiritually, the aboriginals are just amazing, very strong and powerful and similar to back home. Half of my crew is Canadian, my manager is Canadian, there is a deep connection there. I have a very strong connection, both with Marci and my two kids. Needless to say, Canada is close to his heart. He is married to a Canadian girl, Marci, who he met when she was backpacking in Australia, and the couple has two sons. We caught up with him on the phone on a tour stop in Houston, Texas before he returned to his home away from home, Canada. The tour brings him to Banff on June 4th, Calgary June 5th and Edmonton June 6th. Rudd is currently on tour in support of Dark Shades of Blue, his fifth studio album. The Australian folk singer uses wood instruments like the aboriginal didgeridoo to enhance his rhythm and guitar for a psychedelic visit into his world. Listening to Xavier Rudd’s music is a unique experience.
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