DarlinghurstWe first clapped eyes and ears on Darlinghurst at Rochford Wines in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, when the then-four-piece warmed up the stage for Vika & Linda, The Teskey Brothers, and Jimmy Barnes at 2021’s Sounds Better Together concert. Since we were all coming out of enforced hibernation, it was a COVID-safe affair.
“We were obviously excited to get out, like everyone,” Cassie Leopold, Darlinghurst’s sole remaining member, recalls. “I think everyone was really happy to get back onto the stage and do what we love doing.”
Her band made a splash with their masterful songwriting, flawless four-part harmonies and polished performance. Darlinghurst – then comprising Leopold, Matt Darvidis, Pagan Newman, and Jason Resch – also looked the part.
We Googled the band immediately, post-show, wondering how the heck we weren’t already across them.
Olivia Newton-John “Made A Lot Of Us Believe That Anything Was Possible”
We’ve read Cassie once supplied BVs for the one and only Olivia Newton-John. Is that for real?
“Yeah, I did – for one of her albums years and years ago,” Cassie enthuses. “And that was through the connection of Secret Sound Studios with [producers] Pete Dacy and Keith Ridgway. I worked with them a lot when I was younger.
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“The girl that they had doing the backing vocals got sick and they needed someone to come in. So it was one of those things, ‘Cass, are you available?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ So off I went!
“I reckon I would’ve been maybe 20, 21 [years old]. I was very young. I mean, I loved Olivia Newton-John, who didn't? I think I watched Grease that many times and dreamt of me – another Aussie – maybe being in something like that.
“I kept saying to my parents – and my dad had to explain it to me, ‘cause I was obviously young at the time – but I was like, ‘Man, she does such a good Australian accent!’ And Dad’s like, ‘No, she is Australian.’ ‘Cause at that stage, you didn't see many Aussies in American [film and TV] – not where they used their accent, you know? It was usually the case that they would put on an American accent. So [Grease] was really unique for that purpose, too. It kind of opened up the eyes and I guess the hearts of those that loved the entertainment industry to think, ‘Oh, it's a possibility to actually be Australian and potentially have an opportunity like that.’ So I feel like she made a lot of us believe that anything was possible.”
“It All Happened Really, Really Quickly For Us”
Darlinghurst had the talent, the songs and the image – it seemed to us like they were ready to hit the ground running and make a name for themselves. So we can’t help but wonder whether it felt that way from the band’s perspective. “Yeah, it did,” Cassie confirms. “It all happened really, really quickly for us. It just went bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.
“While we were recording the music and getting ready to go, that was all fun. It was awesome. That part seemed like it was taking forever, but then when we finally finished our album [2021’s Darlinghurst, which topped ARIA’s Country Albums Chart and peaked at #9 on the all-genre chart] and we kind of hit the ground, it all happened really quickly and things just kept sort of coming at us.
“And I feel like, in some way, we didn't even get a chance to really understand what was happening. It was kind of like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa!’ And then when we looked back, we were like, ‘My goodness, look at all the things that we've done!’ So yeah, it was awesome.”
“When we were in Darlinghurst with the four of us and we had the likes of Mark Pope and Alan [Robertson], and Mark Fennessy, and Helium Records behind us – they're big names; they can just pick up that phone and go straight to a DJ at Country Rocks or iHeartCountry Australia – what was KIX Country – and just get straight through. Their clout got us where it needed to go, the music kept us where we were – you know, the songs did that.”
Four of the country-pop group’s first six singles topped the Australian Country Radio chart – the other two went Top 5. In 2022, Darlinghurst won the Golden Guitar Award for New Talent of the Year.
“I Turned 47 This Year… I Have Different Things To Say”
Three out of the four original Darlinghurst members – Cassie, Pagan, and Jason – are singer-songwriters. “When you've got three people writing, it's three different versions of what you're all saying kind of all tied into one,” Cassie reflects. “So it doesn't necessarily end up where you think it's going to. But that's the beauty of collaborating, too.
“There were ten years between Pagan and I, 18 years between Matt and I, and I think it was 13 or 14 [years] between Jason and I. So very, very wide spans of age [within the OG Darlinghurst lineup] – a lot more life experience with what I've been through. So there's things that I wanna talk about that they've not even reached yet, you know?
“I turned 47 this year. I've been through a lot. I have different things to say. And it's hard to talk about those things, or say those things, when you're working in a band that’s got four lead singers, because what I'm feeling about a subject is not something that they're gonna gel with. Or they may not have experienced that, particularly. So you write almost incongruently.
“You take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and then you might go, ‘Oh, remember that chorus that we put together? I think that'll work with this.’ So it's kind of cut and pasting when you're working together, which still ends up amazing. And obviously you make sure that it makes sense.
“When you're working together as a group, someone has to sit back. I tended to sit back. I wouldn't try and fight over the masses to get my idea across, ‘cause I was like, ‘Someone has to sit back and let this unfold. And I would throw things out here and there, and then if I just worked with Jason, I might get a bit more out because it was just two people. But now, the way I look at it, is: every one of us can have the space to get out what we need to.”
In late 2023, Matt and Jason left the band. Darlinghurst continued as a two-piece. Then in January this year, Pagan also announced her departure from the band.
“When We Weren't Writing To Write Hits, That Was The Fun”
“The industry can unravel a good thing, too. And you can get yourself caught up in it… It should be [about] the friendships that you made, the music that you're writing. And that initial stage of when we first got together, the laughter, the good times – that gets lost. Especially when you start plugging out hit after hit, it starts to become a bit of a rollercoaster ride of like, ‘Well, we better be writing hits.’
“So you’d be in a bit of a bubble where, you know, I'd wanna write something that was really quite heartfelt, but it probably wasn't right to do that then. So it was like, ‘We've got to write a hit.’ So it became like a factory… Some people work really well in that environment. I felt a bit stuck. But I love to perform. So all I would do is go, ‘Right, tell me what I need to sing. I'll just get up and do it.’ I can do that, ‘cause I love that part of it, but the creative part starts to disappear personally, you know? And when we weren't writing to write hits, that was the fun, because there was no pressure.
“And that pressure comes from everybody, really, because the more successful you are, the more you've got the people that are in your team pushing for more and more and more. Then you have people getting in your ear saying, ‘You should do this and you should do that.’ Then that creates division.
“And, you know, partners and things change. You get married, you have a baby, which then changes dynamics. Maybe people's partners are on the road with you, maybe they're not. Maybe you're missing your partner more. Then illness. I had breast cancer. Matt got really sick, too. But that didn't stop the machine happening, either. There was still pressure from that machine on us, even to the point where I couldn't sing one of the songs that I was singing, because I was having treatment and they didn't want to stop the machine going. So I didn't sing it.
“At the time, I went, ‘That's what it's gotta be. I get it, because it's a business.’ But at the same time, you think, ‘Where's the heart gone? Where's the love and the care gone?’ And that's concerning if you're somebody that is quite empathetic, which I am. And I also thought, ‘The most important part of this band is the four of us’.
“I think the key is don't get caught up in the industry, get caught up in the passion and the love of what you're actually doing and let the other stuff sort itself out.
“There's always things that get said outside of the circle – not everyone knows what's going on – but that's white noise to me.”
Trouble In A Small Town Ushers In Darlinghurst’s New Era As Cassie’s Solo Project
Written alongside Pagan, Damian Cafarella and Phil Barton – an award-winning Nashville-based Australian songwriter – Trouble In A Small Town made me wanna hit the town like it was Friday night, even though I first heard it first thing on a Monday.
Cassie recounts how this fruitful songwriting session in Nashville came about: “I was on the socials – trying to stay relevant, as they say. I'm not very good at it. And Phil Barton happened to be online while I was on there. And he was like, ‘Hey, how are you going?’ I'm like, ‘Yeah, really good.’ And he goes, ‘Sorry, I'm gonna be late’ – and we were friends online – I'm like, ‘Ah, I think you're talking to the wrong person?’
“He's like, ‘Oh my God, Cassie, Cassie from Australia, Cassie from Darlinghurst.’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ He goes, ‘Oh my God,’ and he goes, ‘Oh, how's your music going?’ And we got chatting and he said, ‘I'd love to do some writing with you guys.’ And the guys that look after him teed it up. Then we [Cassie and Pagan] flew over there.
“It all happened very quickly. Within a couple of months we decided that we were gonna go, tickets booked and off we went – nothing really organised. We just rocked into the studio with Phil and, like anything, if there's a good rapport – and there was – you know, that's how the song started.
“So we didn't go in with a concept, we didn't go in with an idea… I think every time we'd seen each other, it'd been in passing at industry events or when he was back home. So, yeah, we just got in and had a chat, had a laugh and just started playing away. And then we started coming up with lyrics and that's kind of how it all happened, really.
“I live in a country town and, I mean, there's a lot that goes on here, but sometimes people think not a lot goes on in a country town. And we used the word ‘trouble’, because ‘Fun In A Small Town’ just didn't have the same ring to it. So we said Trouble In A Small Town, but it's kind of like the carnival coming in and waking the town up. And that happens. We have these sleepy hollows up here in Echuca, which is where I am. But then we have the [Winter] Blues Festival and we have Riverboats Music Festival and we have all these things. And it's like the carnival comes to town and it kind of livens everything up, and then everyone just settles again. So it's bringing life into the small town.
“Lots of people in the country really appreciate that people will make the effort to travel to towns and rural areas. I don't think we're too far, we're probably about two-and-a-half hours from Melbourne, which, in terms of distance from a major city – that's not massive. But people that are further [away from Melbourne] than us have not as far to travel; it's easier for people to come to a smaller town like us than going right into Melbourne for all sorts of reasons – travel, accommodation – it's just easier.”
Throughout Trouble In A Small Town, meandering banjo noodling lands like a cheeky giddy-up from your ride or die.
“Yeah, that’s Damian Cafarella, he’s the mastermind behind these things,” Cassie enthuses. “I mean, I love banjo, but he was the one that produced the single. Phil did the writing with us and got the foundation of the song ready to go.”
Trouble In A Small Town’s synchronised mass clapping/foot-stomping beat further enhances its loose, celebratory tone. Cassie also credits Damian for this genius part, which she explains is a stomping, clapping hybrid.
“Damian does some funny things. Like, he might try and create a clapping sound, but he won't literally clap; he might find something in the room to get a sound and for him – because of the way his brain works – he's like, ‘Yeah, that'll work better than a clap. That’s the sound!’
“He's got a box of what I call goodies… And, to me, a clap's a clap, but then you realise the difference when you hear it in the playback and you know why he's done it.
“There's so much involved in actually producing the entire sound of that single that comes from not just the artist writing, but also from the brains of the people sitting in the studio going, ‘Yeah, that'll work better,’ or, ‘That works better with the banjo.’ It's quite an awesome thing to watch, really.”
Although Pagan was involved in this song’s Nashville writing session, Cassie had a conversation with her when things “changed and shifted again”. Cassie wanted to keep the Darlinghurst momentum going, so it was decided she should record the song on her own.
“You Can't Control The Gossip Wagon”
Cassie relaunched Darlinghurst as her solo project at this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival, during which she played her own headline show and also supported Jayne Denham.
“Being involved in Tamworth this year was amazing, but, jeez, I could feel the shift,” Cassie acknowledges. “People don't know how to be, they're not quite sure. People got along with us, you know. Jase always removed himself a little bit more, Matt was smiley, easy to get along with and, you know, we obviously parted – that [four-piece] – then there was the two of us.
“But now because Pagan and I aren't together, some people just didn't know how to be. So you feel like you're uneasy, too. And then you think, ‘Oh, do I have to explain myself?’
“But Pagan and I caught up there, which was great! We hadn't seen each other for a while and we gave each other a hug and just said, ‘I hope everything's going well,’ and her health's going really well now, too, which is good. And things shift and change, but you can't control the gossip wagon, either. You've just gotta go, ‘Something else will happen and then hopefully they'll forget about it.’
“And, at the time, when it was released that we'd gone our separate ways, it was a challenge. I really did wanna say something, because I thought we'd agreed that we would wait, you know? Things happen and that's okay, but then the natural reaction is to defend yourself. But I just went, you know what? I don't need to. The people that need to know are the people that need to know and everybody else – even if you get your story out, they're still gonna have their version of it anyway.
“Popularity's never been my agenda, so I'm not concerned about being liked or disliked. I know I'm a good human. I will always say hello to people, whether you're poor, rich, middle-class – I don't care, if you're good people, you're good people. I'm always gonna be like that and that will never change. I never thought that I was too big for anybody. I never thought that we were the most successful band in the world, I just loved what I did. And that was what I missed. And that was the anchor that pulled me back, because I couldn't allow shame to keep going. I don't know what people are saying. I had to let that go and say, ‘Well, it doesn't matter, does it?’ Because they're probably gonna make that up anyway, ‘cause that's what happens.
“I just go out with my head held high and be who I am and let my music and my art do the work for me, you know? The rest is just stuff that I can't control.”
“I’m Not Bitter; I Understand It Better Now”
“I have another song coming out in May and I'm gonna be releasing every three months. The beauty of having downtime [from touring] has been being able to continue to record, so that's what I've been doing. I've been focused on that. So I'm ready to go for having my album out by – I hope! – end of September, October.
“I've got enough [songs] to do another album after that. So I'm just writing, writing, writing all the time, working with the band – the boys that I've got that played with me originally, anyway.
“So I'm excited. This time around, for me, is more about the story. And when I do write, I write start to finish.
“If I'm having a bad day and I'm feeling quite down and out, writing is my out. So even if it's not a song, I would be writing something like a poem, but I would write a verse and a chorus. And that's what I'm doing to get that out. That's like my cathartic counselling, you know?
“So, now, if I'm going to be saying something that's important, know that it's coming from my heart. And I tend to write that way. It doesn't have to be correct, it just has to be right for me.
“This time around's different... I'm doing this for me and I'm doing this because I love to perform and I love to get out there and do what I need to do.
“I have something to say. I hope it resonates with people. But if it doesn't, that's okay. It's going to be me, regardless. And I hope people know that what I'm putting out there is me, and that's the best I can do. And I'm proud of it. And I'm proud of Darlinghurst. I'm not ashamed of anything, you know?
“In terms of the band members – love them to death, dearly. The relationships have certainly shifted and that’s okay, that happens.
“Jason, incredibly talented gentleman – an absolute genius. Matt, a lovable character, great talent. Pagan, incredible vocalist and she's moving ahead as a solo artist, too. She has things to say and we all do.
“I’m not bitter; I understand it better now. And I understand that the key is: don’t get involved. As soon as you start listening to people talk about another artist or whatever, just go, ‘Yeah, see ya. Have a good day,’ and get out. Focus on the music, focus on why we’re here in the first place and that’s what it’s supposed to be.
“The rest will come and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy and you’re content. If you can go home, you’ve got a roof over your head, you’ve got loving family members around you – or people that are gonna be there when you fall – then you’re winning; that’s success.”
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
