The buzz about Busby Marou
Busby Marou have cemented themselves as one of Australia’s premier musical acts, captivating audiences with their distinctly Australian storytelling, masterful musicianship, and undeniable onstage chemistry. For two decades, Tom Busby and Jeremy Marou have forged a musical partnership that blends rich harmonies, heartfelt lyrics, and the kind of effortless synergy that only comes from years of playing together.
As the excitement builds for this weekend’s Mullum Roots Festival, Tom Busby has been travelling the country on a family adventure – Seven caught up with Tom from Boulia in Central West Queensland.
Tom, once-upon-a-time you had a very different career – what’s it like to be a criminal lawyer and a musician?
Yeah, well, I don’t practice anymore, but when I did, it was a challenge. I had to pretend that I was committed to my work, and that I enjoyed being a lawyer, but all I was thinking about, all day long, was like ‘what’s the next gig?’, and ‘how do I let Jeremy know what the logistics are?’ I was absolutely obsessed when this career took off. That’s another world away. It’s another life. Yeah, I can’t even quite remember.
How did you meet Jeremy? Have you been to the Torres Strait?
I met Jeremy in Rockhampton. That’s where we’re both from, born and raised. We met through mutual friends who used to play in a band. I was away at uni, and I’d come home on the holidays, and they were playing, and I would technically be their support band, and I would support them in between their sets, and I’d play my originals – we just started trying to hang out.
I have been to the Torres Strait twice. It’s just incredible. and learning the history and learning Jeremy’s history.
Is there anything new on the horizon for you?
Yes, there is. We’ve pretty much got our next album ready to go. We haven’t recorded it yet, we’ve just recorded all the demos. We’re going to do this one independently with the help of our team – all these amazing people that have been in our corner for a long time – so it’s coming along, but in the meantime, we have all these milestone events. We’re celebrating 20 years, and then next year we are also celebrating the 10-year anniversary for our third album, which was our first number one. We never thought we would have gotten this far in our career, so yeah, we’re starting feel a little bit proud of what’s changed.
Did you have a vision of where your career would take you? Has the reality matched the vision?
When we first started, neither Jeremy or I had had any ambitions to become musicians, and not because we didn’t want to, we just didn’t think that’s what happens to two young fellas from Rocky – we just played for free beers and all that. It was so much fun. And so we didn’t know all those hurdles that we had to jump over. We didn’t have expectations of ourselves. When it first started snowballing, every phone call we got was incredible. We’re either getting played on radio, or getting added to a festival, or finding out that we had ticketed shows in towns we’d never heard of – there’s actually people buying tickets! Then, as it kind of snowballs, and you work so hard, it becomes your life and your business.
Will we be hearing any new music at the festival?
Yeah, but you definitely will be hearing lots of old stuff too actually, because we’re about to start this 20-year anniversary tour. Yes, and I’ve got our original band – it’s just four of us, definitely acoustic, but it’s all about, like really digging into those old tracks and who we were, and some of those deeper cuts for the loyal fans. Yeah, we’re having a bit of fun on this on this tour.
What is your current ear worm?
Good question. In the car, we’ve got a bit of a playlist. There is a song we’re absolutely loving, and we’re singing it around the campfire, and it’s stung by a band called Flatland Cavalry, and it’s called ‘The Mountain Song’.
How long have you been on this trip, and how long has it got to go?
Three months. We’ll try to make the full year.
What are looking forward to at the festival?
I’m bringing the caravan, so this is part of the journey. I’ll probably have the kids and my wife, and we’ll park down the road. So instead of us just flying in and out and playing the two shows, we’ll get to experience the energy of the festival. Because it’s, like a boutique festival, this is kind of one of those that we started off playing, and I remember you could connect with the audience so much more.
Tom are you having enough fun?
Yes, and I need to realise that a little bit more, though we are having so much fun, sometimes you don’t realise how much of good time it was until you look back.
Busby Marou will play two show this weekend at the Mullum Roots Festival. Saturday at 9.30pm at the Mullum Ex-Services Club. Sunday at 9.30pm at the Mullum Civic Hall.
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