By Andy Sears

There’s a lot that can be said about Angus Stone. He’s half of the brother-sister duo bearing he and his sister Julia’s name. That’s definitely interesting enough, but their rise to stardom plays out of something like a fabled storybook of ups and downs, triumphs and tribulations. Being descendants of musician parents, along with another older sister,  you would think their path to stardom would be somewhat predictable and contrived. Not the case, in fact, music as a profession seemed to have come as an after thought to both of the siblings who are now out on tour in support of the third self-titled L.P. Is there sibling rivalry among the two songbirds, are they competitive? Most likely, as Angus self- admittedly confesses that he lost touch with his sister to almost an estranged level. Yet despite whatever reasons and differences there were between them their talent individually is undeniable, but as a pairing its almost magical. So after touring relentlessly behind 2010’s Down the Way, chalking up award after award, and gaining international critical acclaim, they parted ways.

Fast forward a few years later, a man named Rick Rubin hears Angus and Julia Stone at a party and investigates them much in the same way I would imagine any music fan would do, the only difference being that Rick Rubin is the most famous living legend record producer to ever walk the face of the planet. Rubin makes some calls, and gets a hold of Julia and presents the idea of her and her brother making another record. Angus, whose break-up with Australian model-actress Isabel Lucas  in 2013 was well documented TMZ style, probably wasn’t short on potential new material, but had no intentions on collaborating with his sister again. Lines of communication open up and he agrees to give it another shot, after much explaining from Julia on who exactly this Rubin character was.

Angus is reserved, reclusive, and writes passionate simple songs that are never anything short of emotional outpourings so when upbeat blues-rock “Grizzly Bear” was dropped this summer we knew we were in store for something great. The result is their best record yet, and we got the chance to catch up with Angus in the middle of their U.S. tour to talk about the new record, working with Rick Rubin and the lust of being back on his ranch back in Australia.

AP: Are you excited to be back out on the road? Do you enjoy touring?

AS: Yeah, It’s one of those things where when I’m home on my ranch I always want to be out playing and when I’m out playing I always want to be back on the ranch.

AP: Your playing bigger venues behind the new record, any adjustments or changes to playing bigger rooms?

AS: Just more drinks beforehand really, but yeah the record has been well received so it’s just great to be able to play it for more people.

AP: Any pre-show rituals?

AS: well we’ve been doing a bit of Sake lately, but I guess the only thing we really do is a really kind of cheesy little league thing were we all put our hands together and say “dogs.”

AP: Your songs conjure up so much emotion. Does that ever become draining to you to perform them every night or is it the opposite?

AS: It’s really meditative, sometimes it does wear on you, but I think … but its invigorating and enlightening too. It’s something that comes from your soul so it’s always a good thing.

AP: Your parents were folk musicians. Did they pass on to you any of your musical sensibilities to the point where your at now it might feel like a bit of destiny?

AS: Yeah, it feels like everything is in its right place. I don’t know though, we love playing music. We didn’t know this record was gonna happen or that we’d be back out on the road. Rick was really the reason for the record and us getting back together, but it came out of the blue. You just don’t know what’s going to come next and we’re enjoying it, but yeah I think it’s somewhat of a destiny I guess.

AP: Before you get the call from Rick Rubin, did you have a different sense of direction with your own career or did it feel like it was waning and this was a reinvigoration of it?

AS:  I don’t know what I was planning on doing. I was kind of sitting home on the couch thinking of starting a band. I was getting into building stuff on the farm. I kind of didn’t really know what was next. It was kind of cool because I really enjoy not knowing what’s going on tomorrow.

AP: So do you ever feel like you would want to be a part of a band, and tour with that band of brothers type of approach, with a band name and that comradery?

AS: Yeah, I’m working on some stuff with some friends back home, we’re still sort of gathering ideas from the shoebox and it seems like something cool is going to come from it. But what we do with Julia allows me to afford that luxury so when I have some time off I look forward to getting together and jamming and having that crew and making some cool stuff hopefully.

AP: So would it end up being a different rock sound? I know there’s all sorts of music coming from Australia so is there a pressure to kind of play and write a certain way with her (Julia) that would make you want to explore other sounds with a band?

AS: That’s what this other project is…. its more just about making music and not as lyrically heavy.

AP: Is there a bigger pressure that comes along with having a record produced by Rick Rubin?

AS: Y’know, when we first approached the project Julia and I had a conversation at the beginning and agreed that if this feels weird at any time  and not right, or something’s happening that were not feeling let’s just walk away from it and it will be no sweat and be cool. I think having this attitude in mind is how we’ve started to approach everyday life and let things will fall the way they will. You have no real control over some stuff in life. But were both really stoked that everything is going well now and it’s cool to have Rick on board. He’s been doing radio interviews with people in Australia and he’s been really supportive and he came to a show the other night. He’s just been a super loving and genuine dude and big supporter of what we do.

AP: What was the most noticeable influence you could see in what he brought to the studio?

AS: Well yknow, a lot of times you get caught up in trying to get that perfect take you run songs maybe ten times and you get blurry to where you can’t see the big picture anymore and he’s always big on being like “the first one was the one.” So sometimes you get caught up and you need someone to be straight up and he’s was always a big fan of saying the first one was the magic.

AP: So perhaps a mix of honesty and vision?

AS: Yeah, I guess you could say that.

AP: Do you think there will become a point where you’ll get annoyed with the Rick Rubin stamp or will you always be appreciative of it.

AS: Oh ya were just appreciative of it. He believed we needed to make another record together and before that we weren’t going to get back together again. So were thankful for him making it happen, so shit yeah we’re just thankful.

AP: Did you get to compare your beards?

AS: Yeah he’s got a wicked beard. He used to be black beard but now he’s silver beard…and ya I’m still rocking the beard.

Catch Angus and Julia Stone at the Sinclair this Thursday October 24th. Sinclair should do the OBVIOUS and serve a Julia and Angus Beef Double Cheeseburger.