Jenny Biddle

You have unique guitar skills (maybe a south-American style). Can you tell us about this?

Interesting concept. I’ve been surrounded by so much music, it’s hard to pinpoint a particular style, but I suppose the sweeping strum I throw in at times adds a li’l flamenco flavour.
I started on the ukulele as a wee tucker, and at age 9 had my first guitar. I’ve been playing the guitar for about 15 years now. I’m mostly self-taught: I had a few lessons with different people over the years, but never stuck to them. I found reading music a chore, and it spoiled the idea of freedom of expression and exploring the instrument. I never really got into big guns like Hendrix or Clapton, but was brought up on Chisel and took a real liking to the Aussie artists. I have a great respect for guitarists like Ian Moss, and Josh Cunningham from the Waifs.
But I suppose a lot of my guitar playing has stemmed from years of being a solo artist. When you play the same songs 200 times a year, you’re constantly looking for ways to keep it new and challenging for yourself. I didn’t have a band to fill out the sound and add texture, so I was constantly trying to find ways to keep the music intriguing, to fill in the gaps, to improvise, with the odd percussive element here and there. It’s kind of like learning “on the job”. I dig mucking around with alternate tunings too.
Someone once told me my performances demonstrate a marriage between body and instrument. I dig that. The instrument is very much a tool for expression, as much as the voice and lyrics can be. It’s just an extension of my soul.


You also play piano, which adds more dimension to your sound. Can you add to this?

I love being able to jump from guitar to piano. It’s another way to keep the music interesting, for both the audience and myself. I find the piano can hit a spot the guitar can’t. Some songs just call for the piano. Can’t say I ever enjoyed learning the piano. I started lessons at age 6, through till the end of high school. It wasn’t till I stopped formal lessons that I really started composing on the piano, and using it as another extension of my soul. But I owe much of my musical knowledge to those piano lessons indeed.


You won the 2009 Just Guitars Best Artist Award at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. How has this affected you?

That was a delightful surprise. I never intended to go in any competition, but a mate suggested it. Jokingly, I selected a mandolin (cos I’m racking up a rather large, uncontainable collection of guitars) from the list of prizes, not expecting to win. I got up there on the competitors stage, did my thing, and two days later got a call saying I’d won the comp. So now I own a mandolin. I was right at the end of recording my album at that stage, and the sweet li’l mando got to appear in tasty pockets the opening track (“Freezing Time”).
After winning the award, I was privileged enough to perform on the main stage, that’s provided great opportunities for exposure and networking, and I looked forward to getting heavily into the festival scene from here on.


You have just released your first studio album, ‘Chest of Drawers’. Can you tell our readers what to expect from that?

Wow, I can’t tell you how stoked I am to share this album with you! Without a doubt, it’s my proudest craftwork to date. One of the things I love is its diversity. I wanted to create an album that would convey some of the rollercoaster ride of life, that could reach out to the listener at different times or states of mind.
We started off recording “Village by the Sea” that turned into this gorgeous orchestral arrangement; it still pulls my heart strings when I hear it. Then there’s your easy listening songs like the swingin’ jazz tune “Come & Go”, which require some seriously cheesy sing-a-longs. I remember the blackout that happened while recording the double bass for that track; the computers and lights went out, we all froze, it was pitch black, and out of the darkness comes the sound of a double bass, playing the theme from Jaws. There are great walking bass lines on the album. You’ve got your upbeat-rockin’ tracks too, like “Not Into You” and “Frequently”, and if I had to find a sexy groove on the album, it would definitely be track 3, “Obsolete”. For “Freezing Time” the producer and I went NUTS adding as many instruments as we could, there are even tubular bells (if you listen extra carefully), and it turned into this epic opening track. But you’ll also find the darker, sadder flavours on the album like “Perfect”, and “Buzz”. Finally there are the guitar rippers, like the final track (an instrumental) and (my favourite of the favourites) “Chest of Drawers”, which became the title track for the album. I’m really hoping the listeners will be able to connect with the variety of moods, and find streaks of their journey through the album.
It has certainly been an incredibly journey creating the album, and a huge team effort. I recorded - LOTL (Oct 2009 Edition) - Interview by Donna Perry

You have unique guitar skills (maybe a south-American style). Can you tell us about this?

Interesting concept. I’ve been surrounded by so much music, it’s hard to pinpoint a particular style, but I suppose the sweeping strum I throw in at times adds a li’l flamenco flavour.
I started on the ukulele as a wee tucker, and at age 9 had my first guitar. I’ve been playing the guitar for about 15 years now. I’m mostly self-taught: I had a few lessons with different people over the years, but never stuck to them. I found reading music a chore, and it spoiled the idea of freedom of expression and exploring the instrument. I never really got into big guns like Hendrix or Clapton, but was brought up on Chisel and took a real liking to the Aussie artists. I have a great respect for guitarists like Ian Moss, and Josh Cunningham from the Waifs.
But I suppose a lot of my guitar playing has stemmed from years of being a solo artist. When you play the same songs 200 times a year, you’re constantly looking for ways to keep it new and challenging for yourself. I didn’t have a band to fill out the sound and add texture, so I was constantly trying to find ways to keep the music intriguing, to fill in the gaps, to improvise, with the odd percussive element here and there. It’s kind of like learning “on the job”. I dig mucking around with alternate tunings too.
Someone once told me my performances demonstrate a marriage between body and instrument. I dig that. The instrument is very much a tool for expression, as much as the voice and lyrics can be. It’s just an extension of my soul.


You also play piano, which adds more dimension to your sound. Can you add to this?

I love being able to jump from guitar to piano. It’s another way to keep the music interesting, for both the audience and myself. I find the piano can hit a spot the guitar can’t. Some songs just call for the piano. Can’t say I ever enjoyed learning the piano. I started lessons at age 6, through till the end of high school. It wasn’t till I stopped formal lessons that I really started composing on the piano, and using it as another extension of my soul. But I owe much of my musical knowledge to those piano lessons indeed.


You won the 2009 Just Guitars Best Artist Award at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. How has this affected you?

That was a delightful surprise. I never intended to go in any competition, but a mate suggested it. Jokingly, I selected a mandolin (cos I’m racking up a rather large, uncontainable collection of guitars) from the list of prizes, not expecting to win. I got up there on the competitors stage, did my thing, and two days later got a call saying I’d won the comp. So now I own a mandolin. I was right at the end of recording my album at that stage, and the sweet li’l mando got to appear in tasty pockets the opening track (“Freezing Time”).
After winning the award, I was privileged enough to perform on the main stage, that’s provided great opportunities for exposure and networking, and I looked forward to getting heavily into the festival scene from here on.


You have just released your first studio album, ‘Chest of Drawers’. Can you tell our readers what to expect from that?

Wow, I can’t tell you how stoked I am to share this album with you! Without a doubt, it’s my proudest craftwork to date. One of the things I love is its diversity. I wanted to create an album that would convey some of the rollercoaster ride of life, that could reach out to the listener at different times or states of mind.
We started off recording “Village by the Sea” that turned into this gorgeous orchestral arrangement; it still pulls my heart strings when I hear it. Then there’s your easy listening songs like the swingin’ jazz tune “Come & Go”, which require some seriously cheesy sing-a-longs. I remember the blackout that happened while recording the double bass for that track; the computers and lights went out, we all froze, it was pitch black, and out of the darkness comes the sound of a double bass, playing the theme from Jaws. There are great walking bass lines on the album. You’ve got your upbeat-rockin’ tracks too, like “Not Into You” and “Frequently”, and if I had to find a sexy groove on the album, it would definitely be track 3, “Obsolete”. For “Freezing Time” the producer and I went NUTS adding as many instruments as we could, there are even tubular bells (if you listen extra carefully), and it turned into this epic opening track. But you’ll also find the darker, sadder flavours on the album like “Perfect”, and “Buzz”. Finally there are the guitar rippers, like the final track (an instrumental) and (my favourite of the favourites) “Chest of Drawers”, which became the title track for the album. I’m really hoping the listeners will be able to connect with the variety of moods, and find streaks of their journey through the album.
It has certainly been an incredibly journey creating the album, and a huge team effort. I recorded - LOTL (Oct 2009 Edition) - Interview by Donna Perry