Route 33 On Their Success & New LP 'Chapters': 'I Don’t Think We’ll Ever Take It For Granted'

Jock Barnes and Trent McArdle met through their love for sport, discovering their musical compatibility one afternoon after a spontaneous jam-sesh. 2016 saw them release their first single as Route 33, and their 2019 album Coro Drive earned them a #1 spot on the ARIA Charts.

They’ve been featured on massive festival lineups among some of the biggest names in country music, and they’re now anticipating the release of their third studio album, Chapters.

Chatting over the phone, Jock Barnes shared his feelings in the lead-up to the album release, performing at the Groundwater Country Music Festival, and caught me up on the last five years.

“We’ve been writing, recording and performing as much as we could through that time… The album’s called Chapters. I’ve been married and got a bub. Trent’s gotten engaged, so there are huge life milestones with both of us that have happened between 2019 and now. I think this album captures that,” Barnes says.

While the album title and tracks capture the essence of Chapters, so too does the album cover, which features Barnes’ daughter wearing sunglasses and the cheekiest, milk-drunk smile.

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After a five-year break and some huge life changes, there’s no doubt that Barnes and McArdle have matured in their songwriting both instrumentally and lyrically.

On that, Barnes says, “I think with anyone, the more you write, the more you hone your craft- with playing as well as songwriting… You surround yourself with better musicians that help you and inspire you a little bit more to hone your craft and skillset, that would be one aspect of it. Also, different things happen in your life that give you different inspirations, opinions, and views on things to write about… The more you work on it, the better and easier it becomes.”

In the lead-up to Chapters, Barnes is feeling calm. However, with their previous album hitting #1 on the ARIA Charts, there’s an underlying pressure for this album to perform just as well.

“You set a certain bar, and you wanna match it at least. It’s pretty hard to get that number one again.” Barnes acknowledges, adding, “At the end of the day, it's art, and it's subjective. What it all boils down to is that we enjoy writing, recording and playing and that’s why we do it, we don’t necessarily do it for the numbers. But, if we can get number one, it means people are listening and buying it, which means we get festival slots and do what we love doing, which is playing live.”

With life getting busier, it can be hard to find the time to get creative, but Barnes believes in going with the flow. “When that inspiration comes to you, you capture it and just work on it over the next week or two, then you need to take it to each other and go, ‘What do you think of this? What works/doesn’t work?’”

Both Barnes and McArdle share the load, with the pair writing songs independently before presenting them to each other for tweaking. “We try to find time between work during the week and life to actually pick up a guitar and write, but that’s largely how we do it.”

Chapters has about four different producers, with the pair selecting different people based on what they felt suited each track better.

Because of this, the recording was done across various venues, with the pair even flying between Sydney and Brisbane to snag some time with producer Matt Copley while he was on tour with Delta Goodrem.

Barnes laughs as he recalls recording vocals in Copley’s hotel room between shows, making do with what they had on hand, saying, “It was just about seeing what works and managing the time and location… Nothing beats going into a studio and recording it with a full band there, but these days, it’s not as frequent as you’d like, with getting everyone there and making it work. Hopefully, in time, we can start doing some of that.”

When he reflects on Chapters, Barnes’ biggest hope for the album is that it will resonate with listeners who will want to listen to the album in its entirety and discover some lesser-known tracks.

“I grew up in an era where you’d buy an album by your favourite artist and play it to death. You’d pop in your little CD wallet in your car and just absolutely murder them front-to-back. Most of the time, my favourite song by an artist isn’t their most-streamed on Spotify; it’s a little B-side gem hidden within the album, and that’s something I hope people gravitate towards with Chapters.”

When I ask him about what he would consider to be a ‘hidden gem’ within this album, he says, “It’s up to the listener; it’s all subjective. But Only I See and Come Back To Bed are nice little tracks that Trent and I both wrote, which I think are really good. Free, which is the last track, is a single we did release, which unfortunately didn’t see that much light, but Trent and I both would say that’s one of our favourite tracks ever.”

While they plan to bask in the light of Chapters for as long as it’ll let them, Route 33 already have plans for some new music, but Barnes keeps it vague, saying, “We’re doing a bit of a cover thing with the next single. We play it live at our gigs and people love it, they gravitate toward it. That’ll be something we push towards next.

“I don’t think we’ll ever stop writing or recording. We love what we do, and nothing beats when you get a song and jump in the studio. There’s a select few people that get to do it in life, so I don’t think we’ll ever take it for granted.”

Chapters is a beautiful album, and it’s clear that Route 33 is a duo with a deep appreciation and passion for their art, and they are here for the long haul. If their current projection is anything to go by, it’s all upwards from here for Route 33.

You can stream ‘Chapters’ wherever you listen to music now. You can watch Route 33 launch the new album at Groundwater Country Music Festival.