By Luke Voogt
Australian singer songwriter Pete Murray is ageing well, as are his iconic songs if his latest tour is anything to go by.
“It’s just been incredible,” he told the Indy on Monday after performing in Broome the night before.
“I’d like to keep a record of this tour and all the people singing along with the old songs.”
Murray comes to the Gateway Hotel on 26 July during his latest two-month national tour after releasing new album Camacho in 2017.
The album includes Heartbeats, a song that Peter Mayes, one third of Aussie dance group PNAU, remixed a few months ago.
“Heartbeats is getting some really good traction – people are starting to sing along to that,” Murray said.
“This Heartbeats remix is a fun new thing for me and I’m stoked with how it came out. It reminds me of Ibiza, the way he’s mixed it.”
But it was Murray’s classic songs Feeler, Better Days and So Beautiful which got fans to his shows, he said.
“You’d tour those songs and it wasn’t so much of a sing-along at first.”
Years later on Sunday night, the 600-plus crowd in Broome burst into song when Murray played So Beautiful, he said.
“It’s a pretty nice compliment.“
Many people thought the song was about an ex-lover after hearing the lyrics, Murray said.
“It was actually inspired by a group of pretentious people I bumped into one night.”
The “loud, boisterous and obnoxious” group irked Murray as he met with a friend at a Brisbane hotel.
He stayed up until 2am penning So Beautiful.
“I wrote everything except the last verse that night,” he said.
The song won an Australasian Performing Right Association award but Murray has never won an ARIA despite his success.
“I think I’m the most-nominated artist to not win an ARIA so I’ve given up on that,” he said
“But that’s OK – it’s never been about awards for me anyway.”
Murray was a latecomer to music. He began playing guitar at age 22 while studying natural medicine.
His friend and roommate at the time had planned on getting guitar lessons, he explained.
“I thought, ’that sounds great’. I actually went and got a couple of lessons and he didn’t.”
The friend died of an aneurysm before Murray’s career took off.
“I named my first boy Charlie after him,” he said.
“He’d be super stoked about the whole thing.”
Murray’s latest tour is acoustic, which he said suited his lyrical music.
“I think this whole run we’re doing is more of a pub-type tour.
“You want to go to a concert and have people fully-immersed in what you sing and what you’re talking about.”
At 49 Murray was feeling fitter than ever, he said.
“I feel like my voice is better than what it has been before and I’m writing better choruses.
“Hopefully, like a good bottle of wine, I keep aging well.”
