Riding The Rails Q & A: River Blue
Melbourne rocker River Blue is turning plenty of heads with his Bruce Springsteen-esque new single Iron Rivers…heck, it’s one of our fav new rock songs! We asked the rising artist about his more hairy experiences on trains and the inspiration behind his rockin’ new single!
What’s the best “weird person on a train” encounter you’ve had?
This is going back a while, I think on the way back from Big Day Out in 2009, stopped at Flinders Street. One seriously unstable individual brought his Rottweiler onto the packed train, the dog equally as unstable. It inevitably resulted in the guy and the dog going nuts and a scrap broke out. Half the carriage threw the man and the dog off the train.
However, the train wasn’t leaving for about another 10 minutes. Luckily the trains had handles back then and not buttons, so people held the doors shut so the guy couldn’t get back on, he then started kicking, smashing, and head butting the windows from the outside until the train eventually left. I’ll also have you know that I wasn’t hiding in the corner, I was right up the front in the thick of it…I don’t know if that’s a weird story or not but it was pretty f*cked!
On a long train journey, who in the band would be the first to fall asleep? Who would throw up? Who would make regular pit stops to the train café?
Jordan (Guitar/Keys) would be asleep within the first 30 for sure. I don’t think anyone would throw up, but for the sake of giving everyone a shout out, I’m gonna go with Luke (Bass)…sorry Luke! Pit stops to the train café would be Vinnie (Drums) and I, we’d probably be there whole way, Luke would too if he wasn’t throwing up.
If you were to take a train ride across Europe, would you be kind of person who is reclining in comfort in first class or making friends and hearing stories in economy?
First class with the fat cats.
If you met a psychopathic stranger on a train who organised that he murders your worst enemy, and you must murder his, would you try to escape the train or would you get down to the deed?
Surely you’d just get the job done and move on?
How would you convince your younger siblings that a section of wall in your local train station is the actual entrance to the Australian version of Hogwarts?
“Run as fast as you can into that wall”.
If there was a runaway train heading for your home town carrying a huge vat of chemicals, what crazy scheme would you come up with to stop it?
Firstly I’d call Chloe and tell her the issue, get her to ask her friend at the Daily Planet to run the plates, see if there’s a match, then I’d call Lex and ask him if the train has anything to do with him, Lionel or Luthor Corp, he will no doubt deny any involvement but it is likely that he has something to do with it.
Then I’d go warn Jonathan and Martha, tell them to lock up the Talon, find Lana, and leave for Metropolis right away. Then, after all that is done I’ll find Clark, tell him that there’s a runaway train from Luthor Corp filled with chemicals, we’d also discuss the potential presence of meteor rocks and how that can be dealt with, but I think I’d leave it all to Clark from then on out…
For the uninitiated, how would you describe River Blue’s sound and live shows?
River Blue is a rock project that blends Americana, blues, and pop. Think of artists like Springsteen, The Stones, and Tom Petty, but bring them into the 21st century, deduct half their songwriting ability and musical talent, and you have River Blue!
We’re loving the single Iron Rivers, what’s the story behind it?
I wrote Iron Rivers on the train coming back from the city one day. Just a typical Melbourne winters day – dark, cold, raining sideways. The train driver made an announcement where he basically said that the whole system was running on time and then signed off with, “sit back and relax as we ride the Iron Rivers”.
The song was born out of that moment, using that idea of riding the iron rivers (alternate name for train tracks) to a better place or destination. At the time I had a chord progression in my voice memos on my phone, so on that train ride I wrote the lyrics down listening to that, then as soon as I got home I jammed it out. Nothing really changed from that point on other than a few minor lyrics adjustments, the song was essentially written then.
Lastly, what are three things that people should know before they see you live?
- Bring ear plugs ‘cause it’s going to be loud.
- Bring a good attitude, head-over-the-footy type stuff.
- Learn all the lyrics, as I’ll be pulling people up for RB’s Karaoke hour!
