Amongst the hustle and bustle of Cafe Essen, it’s easy to spot Julia Johnson. She looks like some kind of ethereal creature, with wide blue eyes and long strawberry blonde hair hanging in a shimmering curtain down her back. It’s appropriate, then, that she is the frontwoman for Canberra-based folk band JULIA AND THE DEEP SEA SIRENS.
After a rough year, with three band members leaving in what Julia calls the “mass exodus” that Melbourne attracts, this talented songstress is once again backed by a full band and set to play Corinbank at the end of February. “I don’t know if we’ve ever played to an audience as big as Corinbank,” Julia admits, with obvious excitement. “I’m really looking forward to it – I’ll have to make sure I don’t have embarrassing stage banter!”
Entertaining stage antics are something that Julia is known for, and she says she’s always felt comfortable on stage. “I can be so nervous that I’m afraid to go up to someone I already know in a bar, but in the Phoenix I’ve yelled at people before – I told someone to shut the fuck up in the middle of one of our songs once! It’s hard being a quiet band; you can’t always get over the top of people’s conversations.”
Nonetheless, Julia tells me she loves playing smaller venues, and regularly performs at the Front and the Phoenix. I ask her when she first knew she wanted to be a musician, and she replies, “I was in a musical when I was in year 11, which made me realise ‘oh, the singing in the shower is actually good enough to do in front of people!’”
After making someone cry at an early performance (not by yelling at them, don’t worry – it was a sad song!), Julia recognised she could develop a connection with the audience through her songwriting. “I was pretty much sold at that point,” she says, and confesses, “it was a break up song, but the relationship was only like a fortnight. I felt fine, and I got a good song out of it!” While she aims to write emotive music, she tells me, “I don’t like to evoke the same emotions as every other love song or break up song. I think if you look at it from your most personal perspective possible, then that’s the only way you can find an original angle to come from.”
It’s clear that there is a bright future ahead for this Canberra lass – but don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere (at least in terms of geographical location)! “I feel like at the moment the Canberra scene is on the cusp of something. In the future we’ll look back on the scene today and say ‘wow, that was a really amazing time for Canberra music.’ I want to stick around and be part of it, and see what happens.”
Catch Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens at the Corinbank Festival on Friday February 26. Tickets through Greentix.
