Shane gears up for 30th Muster

Shane Nicholson

Cade Mooney

Photos

Gympie Music Muster line-up 2011

View Photo Gallery »

Photos

On-stage at the National Music Muster 2010

View Photo Gallery »

Related links

• Dustbowl dreaming
• Falling back into Muster line-up
• Kia on board for Muster
• More stars line up for Muster
• 30th Muster gets back to its roots
• Lee Kernaghan goes 'techno'
• Boy from the bush will be back in town
• Doc Walker warm up for Muster
• 60,000+ get ready to Muster
• Williamson looks to Gympie Muster
• Beccy Cole is back for the Muster
• Australian country still 'True Blue'
• Wilson Pickers withdraw from Muster
• Home away from home at the Muster

SHANE Nicholson is especially excited to be a part of this year's Muster.

With a new album, Bad Machines, on the market and a new baby on the way (with a little help from his wife Kasey Chambers), Shane has a lot to be excited about.

“I'm really looking forward to it,” he told The Gympie Times.

With sales still happening for the two albums from 2008 (Rattlin' Bones with Kasey and Familiar Ghosts on his own) and a national duo tour with Kasey still to finish its North Queensland leg, it is a big year for both of them.

But then most years seem to be big ones lately.

The Muster is a familiar event for both performers. “We both played there, carrying on through the Rattlin' Bones project and I played on my own two Musters ago”.

That was a busy year too, he says of 2008, the year which saw his release of the two big albums.

“It wasn't exactly planned,” he confessed. “Familiar Ghosts was a bit of an accident really.

“I found a lot of songs unfinished in a draw in my garage when Kasey and I were moving house

“I had some real fun recording them and decided to put out an album.

“This was before I had a studio. We put them together in the garage, next to my car.

“But I really liked the way they turned out.

“We were busy as it was, but I just went with it, because accidents are sometimes what you want in music. What you don't plan is where the magic can come from sometimes.

“I try not to put too much planning into it, just to let it evolve.

“Now I have a recording studio, separate from the house, so it's not part of the home, but I can get there in 10 seconds.

“I've got a shed too – and a studio – so I've got a couple of escape mechanisms.”

The two of them now live in a beautiful beachside suburb near Gosford on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

“It's a very small and cosy sort of place,” he said.

“We've got about two or three albums each, solo albums, so there are about six albums to play from.

“Kasey and I are still finishing off our duo tour which has now done most of Australia and some of Queensland. There's North Queensland still to go.

“We're still promoting those albums.” At the same time Kasey is expecting in October.

“That will obviously take some of our time,” he says, “especially with two children already (aged 8 and 4).

“We take the kids on tour now. It's great to have them. They get to be involved. They like the life.

“They love singing on stage when they feel like it, being roadies and carrying things and living in planes and motels.

“They don't have to run away to the circus, they're born into it.”

Will the next one be a boy or a girl?

“We've decided not to find out,” Nicholson said. “That's the last surprise in the whole thing.”

“We're only on our second single from Bad Machines at the moment (made in March 2011).

“It's good to have a new record to play and new songs for the Muster.

“This is the first time I've done the Main Stage of the Muster on my own. I'm really excited about the Muster this year and so is everyone I talk to.

“It's always been part of our lives – there's Christmas, the Gympie Muster and Tamworth – they are the three things that don't change.

“It's great to be there and it's even better when you're performing, especially with a new record to play,” he said.