Rider Essentials: Fanny Lumsden

Fanny Lumsden is preparing to release her new album, Hey Dawn, on Friday, 4 August, but before the album’s release, the This Too Shall Pass singer caught up with Countrytown for this week’s Rider Essentials.

“Ugly Flowers is a call to the stories we were told and those we told ourselves and how they change and warp over time,” Lumsden said about her latest single in a press release. “We were built on these memories, regardless of how unglamorous they seemed in the moment. You get to a point where you almost do anything just to drop back to those moments of the endless long days soaked in future and in freedom.”

She continued, “Freedom to have a strong opinion about a flower based on its association with your at-the-time assumed boring, rural (dare I say actual small town) life. Then you get a little older and realise those are the very same ugly flowers that now when you smell, alongside wet hot cement in the summer, set you free. If just for a nostalgic moment. Families grow, change, people die, people are born, but the ugly flowers live on, thriving against a wall in the baking western NSW sun, passing down our secrets to the next generation.

“In real time it is directly about my family and how as we get older our families or the families we build for ourselves are really all that matter.”

Having recently returned from her first ever UK show, which, in an incredible turn of events, occurred on the Avalon Stage at Glastonbury Festival (“I cannot believe that our first ever gig in the UK was to a full Avalon Stage at Glastonbury”), Lumsden is on a headline tour across the country in support of Hey Dawn, taking her new music to regional and central Australian cities. The expansive tour began on 28 July and spans until 17 September.

With just one day to go until Hey Dawn lands on streaming services and record shelves, the Australian singer has unveiled the Golden Fanny Ticket, which is hidden inside one Hey Dawn CD and one vinyl record, gifting two lucky fans a lifetime free pass to Fanny Lumsden concerts. To be in with an opportunity to win the Golden Fanny Ticket, pre-order the album and find more details here.

To celebrate the release of her new album Hey Dawn, Fanny Lumsden has taken the driver’s seat and detailed her Rider Essentials.

1.      Laptop, charger, adaptors etc: Whoever is not driving on our tours is working, so always have the laptop (and I literally always forget to charge mine), so all the chargers for the car as well. Got to keep the circus on the road somehow.

2.      Yoga mat: makes me sound like a wanker, but I really find if I do yoga before the show (if I have time) even just a stretch, makes my vocals and body so much better onstage. I am usually stressed out as I am the manager and tour manager as well, so this helps me transition into artist/live mode. 

3.      Hydralyte: honestly think I should have a sponsorship. Hydralyte and coffee!

4.      Kids stuff: Toys, their own bedding and soft toys so it always feels somewhat consistent for them, snacks, I also have this little popup toy tent that lets them have a little cubby, and safe space backstage if we don’t have the Caravan with us. They actually don’t love being talked to by strangers (even though they have been doing it their whole lives) so this gives them a little safe space for them to 'hide' in. And the iPad because I’m not an animal. 

5.      A book: I love reading, and it helps me wind down after a show and go to sleep rather than scrolling through my phone. I am currently reading This is Happiness by Niall Williams which is set in Ireland, so that was the perfect read when we were doing shows there! I love reading books set in the places we are visiting -  however, I can’t get that much reading time in so I am probably going to be touring Australia reading about Ireland!!!!

Fanny Lumsden is releasing Hey Dawn on Friday, 4 August. If you’d like to catch Fanny Lumsden live, you can find tour dates HERE.

Fanny Lumsden will also perform at Savannah In The Round Festival from 6-8 October alongside Jimmy Barnes, Casey Barnes, Kasey Chambers, James Johnston and more.