In his just released studio EP Seven Long Years Australian singer-songwriter Musketeer (who very recently moved to Hamburg) explores quite a dark time of Australian and European history: It follows the journey of a 19th century British convict sent to the prison camps in Australia. The record combines old sea-tale story telling with a nu-folk musical sentiment. It’s no secret that I have a soft spot for singer-songwriters, especially if their music, voice and stories sound as authentic as Musketeer’s. Seven Long Years instantly had my attention. Luckily, I had the chance to ask him two questions:
Your EP deals with quite a dark time in the Australian and European history. Why did you decide on this topic?
Musketeer: “I wrote this EP at a time when I was living in Australia’s second oldest city, Newcastle. I was considering the history of the place and my own European ancestry. Newcastle was a city built on mining and chain gangs. The British ravaged the landscapes and displaced the existing communities there. You can still see the same mining going on there today and the effect it has on people. I guess I thought that was something worth exploring and so I wrote a song about it, and then another, and it kind of transformed into this dark journey which you can now listen to on the EP.”
You just moved to Hamburg. What makes this city unique for you? Do you already have any favorite places?
Musketeer: “Hamburg is beautiful. I guess what makes Hamburg unique for me is that I am now one step closer to becoming a notorious pirate, plundering the choppy waters of the Elbe. Haha. Not really. But I love the river and there is a seaworthy grunginess to this city that I find very interesting.
There are also a lot of cool bars close to the river that I have slowly being discovering. I haven’t been here long enough to pick and choose the best ones yet, but Weinladen in St Pauli has very tasty wines… I guess I am more of a coffee gent. There is an abundance of delicious places that I like to go to. I would recommend Nord Coast, they roast their own coffee and have excellent waffles. Less Political is also pretty damn great. You can find them in the Schanze. The staff are warm hearted and hilarious and make a fine coffee. Can’t go past that.“
Enjoy listening!
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