In the lead up to the completion of his 8th solo album, Brendan McMahon releases his latest anthem ‘Chasing The Girls’.
Brendan McMahon (Supplied)
The new track embraces Brendan McMahon’s memories of youth growing up in a small country town north of Adelaide in South Australia. “It was through the Covid period that I started reflecting on my childhood as a source of inspiration for my writing, I hadn’t really tapped into this area before for song ideas but once I started it made me realize how much fun and freedom I had as a child growing up in a small country town”
Chasing The Girls tells of the youthful adventures of riding a bike down to the local river with mates to go fishing and swimming, playing cricket in the back yard with the odd rule that if you hit the ball over the fence it was six and out, and you had to go and get the ball. “There was a time somewhere around the age of 11 or 12 years old when we started to notice girls, we weren’t too sure how to approach them in any other way than clumsily, I guess it was all part of growing up and learning how to deal with adolescence”.
McMahon's music style is a unique blend of genres. At its core, his music has a country rock feel with a strong emphasis on storytelling and lyricism. Hints of blues and folk further add depth and complexity to his sound. More often than not McMahon’s songs centre around his personal experiences with an intention of making his songs both relatable and engaging to listeners.
When asked about his own country town growing up, McMahon shared what he loves most about Kapunda, South Australia
Wineries & Mining
The area is a farming region and only 20 minutes from the famous Barossa Valley wine making region. Kapunda was once boasted to be the largest town outside of Adelaide in South Australia and had a rich history of copper mining in its early days. The town reportedly had more than 20 hotels and 10,000 people at its peak.
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Farming
As a kid I’d go out with my father to visit all the farms in the area. Dad was the local stock agent and I learned so much about life on the land. I had many mates who also lived on farms, so on the weekends when I’d go and stay with them on their farm, we would just have a ball.
The Sport
In a small country town like Kapunda there was always a sport to play. In the winter it was footy on a Saturday and basketball on a Sunday and in the summer it was cricket and tennis. We’d travel to the nearby towns nearly every week to challenge our rivals and test our skills. The sporting culture of Kupunda is hard to equal, even in the bigger cities.
The Locals
Kapunda was a highly community oriented town and a very safe place for kids. We knew all of our neighbours and if there was ever a time we needed help they were always willing to lend a hand and go out of their way to do so. Kapunda is quite parochial and like most country towns look out for their town folk.
The Music
I first started playing in bands in my late teens. Kapunda had 6 pubs, a town hall, a footy club and we played in all of them. It was an incredible way to cut our teeth in music and the local support was incredible. At one point we were hiring the local town hall and putting on
our own shows and drawing crowds of between 300 to 400 people, it was a very special time in our performance development and the ability to do this was certainly enhanced though the local support.