Episode 16: Lucy Sugerman
Episode Transcript
Adam Burke: Welcome to the cockatoo reporting on what Australians are up to in music in the USA. My name is Adam Burke, and we're coming to you from Hollywood, California, which is Tongva and Chumash country. In these interviews, we get into musical journeys to the United States today. We're joined by singer songwriter Lucy Sugerman, based in Canberra. We're talking to Lucy today from Los Angeles, as she is in the United States right now to perform at South by Southwest. She also happened to write the Cockatoo South by Southwest guide this year. So we're going to talk to Lucy about the journey of a young, rising artist from Australia to the annual shindig in Austin, Texas, and her thoughts on what is going down this week. Welcome Lucy.
Lucy Sugerman: Thanks so much for having me. Adam!
Adam: It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. So you grew up in Canberra, right?
Lucy: Sure did born and raised, and I'm still based there, but, you know, I think somewhere new is definitely on the horizon.
Adam: Oh, very good, very good. Well, we'll stay tuned for that. But let's go backwards a little bit to give everyone a little orientation about who you are. When did you first pick up an instrument?
Lucy: Goodness. So I actually started learning violin when I was very young, because I saw someone on the Wiggles playing the violin, so about age four or five, but I really started writing songs maybe like 10 or 11. Obviously, they weren't very good, but I just loved it, because I discovered Taylor Swift at age eight.
Lucy: And, you know, Love Story was sort of the first song in the, I guess, the pop realm, obviously this country, but it's popular at the time. That was about something that made sense to me as a 10 year old. She was a young girl writing music, so that was relatable to me. And then it, yeah, opened sort of that horizon. And then when I was 15, so gosh, eight years ago now, I went on season six of The Voice Australia, and so went through that whole show, and off the back of that, I was signed to a major label and publisher, and that sort of opened a lot of doors. And was, yeah, just the foot in the door at the time, was doing a lot of sessions on a songwriting so that was really, really cool, like it was, I would say, you know, quite a high level space for a young person to be, I guess, practicing and upskilling. So I'm really grateful for that. And then I started releasing music under the Lucy Sugerman project in the end of 2020.
Adam: Right, so I've actually seen that video of you on the voice. How old were you then?
Lucy: Yeah, 15, little baby.
Adam: right, amazing. And you're sitting there singing in front of singing David Bowie in front of boy, George and Seal and yeah, it's a real experience.
Lucy: Yeah, it was pretty interesting. It feels like a bit of a fever dream now, but it was pretty cool.
Adam: Yeah, unbelievable. You're very brave. Okay, let's get to, let's get to current day. When did you decide you wanted to do South by Southwest?
Lucy: To be honest, it wasn't really something that was totally on my radar. But I played big sound last year in Brisbane, and unbeknownst to me, one of the South by Southwest Austin programmers was at my showcase, and I heard through the grapevine that he really loved it, and I was encouraged to apply for South by Southwest Austin. And I was like, oh, you know what? Why not? I'll just put an application in, no skin off my nose, not really thinking anything was going to come of it. And then I got an offer in my inbox to come and showcase. And, you know, I think it's difficult to know the exact best time to go and do these things. But I was like, look, I'm currently completely independent and just throwing things at a wall and seeing what sticks. And this opportunity has come through. So I was like, you know, this might not be the case for next year if I apply. So I was like, I might as well just go and give it a red hot crack and check it out. So yeah. And then that prep kind of started late last year, just trying to figure out how to best leverage, I guess, the conference and what it's all about. But yeah, so it's been a really cool thing to work towards, and sort of given bit more structure to my year. So that's been, yeah, really cool.
Adam: Yeah, so for most artists, I understand that the process to get into South by Southwest is you make an application, and it goes to the conference / showcase, and then they make a decision as to whether or not you're admitted. Right?
Lucy: Yep, right.
Adam: But in your case, you got recruited to South by Southwest. So that's somewhat unusual?
Lucy: Yeah, I suppose so, like I still had to go through the same application process, and I'm assuming the same scrutiny, but that was a lovely surprise,
Adam: Absolutely. So tell us once you get accepted. So what big sound is in the spring in Australia, the fall in the US? So that's 2024 we're now getting into March here, 2025 so you get admitted, when do you find out that you've got the green light and you're going?
Lucy: So I think there's a couple of rounds of offers. I received mine in late October, maybe maybe early November. But I think the final notifications for artists, when they get booked kind of happen, like late December, after Christmas. So there's like a couple of rounds, and then you don't actually find out when your showcases exactly are, maybe until like February for some people. So it all kind of comes together in the final couple weeks, that's for sure.
Adam: Right so you've got three months to organize your travel. If you have a band, you gotta get a band together, you gotta get them on the road. You gotta get your tickets. You gotta get, you know, your whole system worked out for this performance in Austin, Texas, amongst 1000s of other bands. And you got around about three months to do that, right?
Lucy: Yeah. And I think for me, you know, it was kind of like, I accepted the invitation. I was like, All right, now I need to figure out how I'm logistically going to do this, because there's a reality that, like, coming from Australia is obviously a huge expense, particularly for independent artists and for solo artists who have to hire a band, hire an MD, hire all these things, as opposed to bands who might just be able to come over.
It's interesting. There's not standardized back line across the festival either. Instrument hires. Hectic. If you're bringing your gear, you have to sort of connect. Obviously, there's visas, and there's all these different logistical things. And then I think for Australians, obviously, because it's such a big trek, you want to be figuring out little things maybe you could do around it, or just spending a bit of time in different cities, just to be able to meet up with people and do all these things, depending on what your visa allows. So yeah, it's a big logistical schmozzle, I'd say. And in particular, like, for me, this is my first time organizing something like this, so there are a lot of things that I didn't realize were, like even needed to be considerations. So yeah, I didn't actually fully have, like, everything locked in. I was like, I'm definitely going, I'm definitely doing this. I'm definitely going to play this band set up, probably until like, a month and a half before.
Adam: Right so yeah, you basically become your own tour manager. You got to throw that all together. And for those who aren't musicians or in the production world, backline is all that heavy gear that that musicians, rock bands, all musicians in, if you're playing on a stage, have amplifiers and drum kits and stuff like that. So, yeah, so Austin, on these South by Southwest weeks is just, it's just back line flying all over the city, amongst the throngs of people, watching the music, it's quite a sight to behold.
Lucy: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, so you've got all that together now, you also have to get on stages, right? So, so the way South By works, for those who don't know is that there's a lot of different showcases, and some of them are sponsored by different brands, or the festival may sponsor one, or the conference may sponsor one. There's lots of shows happening everywhere. Parking lots are turned into stages. The traditional venues kick in, so it's just gigs all over the place. How does that process work, where you get placed on stages and into showcases? How does that go down?
Lucy: Yeah, so from what I understand, the music programmers will get in touch with brands and music companies that are co presenting showcases at South by and they kind of give everyone lists of artists that they think might be suitable. And I, you know, it's kind of a collaborative effort of, yeah, these people selecting the artists for their showcase. Obviously, I'm not, like, too privy to the exact process of that, and, you know, I think artists are pretty removed from that, like, I imagine people with management or other connects maybe would be a little bit more involved. But for me, I just kind of got an email. So you're playing here, you're playing here, you're playing here. I was lucky enough to get on a call with one of the programmers and just had a chat about, like, my availability, what my what outcomes I wanted to have. And yeah, they were able to get a bit more of an understanding of, I guess, my goals. So they placed me a few more different showcases. And then there's always, like, little things you can kind of pop up, and then scheduling in your meetings and your mixes and just putting together a comprehensive, like schedule for the week.
Adam: And how many shows did you end up getting booked on?
Lucy: So I am playing four South by Southwest official showcases, which is cool, yeah, which is what I was aiming for, because originally I got two, and I was like, Okay, pretty far to go for two. So I'm happy with four.
Adam: No doubt. And so we'll post them so people can check out where you're going to play, in the in the newsletter and tell us, are you coming out alone, or are you bringing some players with you? Who's your crew?
Lucy: So my amazing music director, Cam Nacson, has another Australian artist on the South By lineup, Cap Carter. So that worked out really well, because it just made it a little bit more feasible for cam to come through, and we were able to split costs of that. So he's coming, he's playing in my band, and also running sort of tracks and our ears and things like that. And then we hired this amazing session drummer out of LA Miko Finlay. He's just like, actually a walking Angel, and it's been really good because he's also an MD. And has his playback rig and his IEM. So that meant we were able to sort all of that for a really, really low cost, and didn't have to worry about importing and so yeah, that's the gang, which is really great. And then I have a couple of friends on ground who are just gonna help me with meetings and rallying people and stuff like that. So yeah, big community effort, which is really nice. And it's just nice to have people from home that I know that can sort of be with me during a new and pretty hectic time like I've never been to South by Austin. So to be honest, I don't know what to expect. I'm imagining it'll be quite potentially overwhelming, and there'll be a lot going on, but it'll be an adventure that I'm just glad to have. Yeah, people that I know and trust sort of around that I can come to if I need to.
Adam: And so how does that work? This is, you know, there's different stages in an artist's career, or how they're, you know, they put their team together. So there'll be a lot of artists there who will have managers, record labels, publicists, you know, they've got a real team working it all out for them. You know, you're just emerging so, so I'm guessing you don't have much of that. So tell us, sort of who handles those areas and how community works in that at this phase of an artist career.
Lucy: So bottom line is, I handle everything like I'm the I am the manager and I'm the logistics person, but in terms of people that can help, you know, I've got my show, like, my business cards printed, I'm giving everyone a stack, and they're like, yep, we'll rally people. You're doing this meeting with this person, and I be like, can you just come with me, just as, like, my day to day rep, just because it's always helpful, I think, in business meetings to not particularly as, like a young girl, I'm like, I just like having someone with me usually, like, I'm fine to just be in those discussions, and I'm the environment I've been in for the past couple years. Like, I've become a steam roller anyway, like I can talk. It's fine, but it's just like, comforting for me, because I do get a little bit anxious in those environments. So, yeah, it's just like, people that I've just met from being an industry, like, predominantly, I'm an artist, but I've also worked at venues, done booking agent stuff, and most recently, had a role at MusicACT, which was the ACT's peak body for music. So a lot of, like, government adjacent music stuff, and I met a lot of people through that role as well. So it's, yeah, really, just, I feel like, you know, great. People have sort of, like, picked up and sort of brought into, like, I guess, the Lucy Sugerman world over the past couple of years. And it's funny, I joke that I'm unmanageable, because I've never had formal manager, even after all this time, even off the voice, which I, you know, I was really young at the times, I didn't really know what was going on. But now I look back on that, I'm like, "ah, that was interesting". I should have had one, but, yeah, like, a permanent team hasn't really stuck so far. Yeah, it's just kind of been a lot of trial and error and just fumbling through it, but it's been working. So I guess I'm just gonna keep pushing. Like, I really do believe music is a perseverance game and about as learning as much as you can. So in terms of how it all works, I'm like, I guess the sort of like, yeah, contact point for everything, and I'm just trying to keep my brain on top of everything and also accept that there are just some things that I don't know, and that's okay.
Adam: Right, right, so, yeah, that's a lot. Well, you know, we didn't think you were busy enough here at the at the cockatoo. So last year, our South by guide was written by our content editor, Billy Bianchini, but he also tour managers, so he was on the road and couldn't, couldn't get to the guide for this year. So we asked you to do it. Yeah, so just to explain to our listeners what that involves, South by actually has a pretty good website. You go to it, and you can filter out Australian artists and take a look at who's at who's playing. So we did that, and you went through and got to know every single Australian artist that is performing this year. So tell us, sort of, as a musician, really not, not so much as a as a, in this case, writer, but tell us your impressions, what you thought and what people can expect this year.
Lucy: First of all, from like, a personal level, like, it's very surreal to be, I guess, included with the like caliber of artists, like Australian artists that are headed to South By, like, you know, we've got a lot of emerging artists like me, but also, like some really incredible, more established artists, like Dune Rats, Dope Lemon and Confidence Man, and that's, yeah, really cool to just I guess, you know, be amongst that. The main thing that really struck me was, firstly, the diversity of all the Australian artists, like, genre wise, also, I realized that Australia has a lot of really, like incredible hidden gems that have, like, huge amounts of success everywhere in all these different markets, like hannah bahng or J. Tajor, who do, like, really, really cool sort of, like genre bending, really out of the box stuff that everyone knows about, but I didn't say. Yeah, it was really cool just to get to discover all these new Australian artists. You know, I'm always telling my friends and always telling everyone, like, there's so much great Australian music. And just getting to add more artists to my list of people to like mentally have to recommend, is really cool. And I think I love that Australians are everywhere. You know, I think being like an isolated country, there are realities of the fact that you know, if you want to pursue music in a certain way, like you may or may not, need to go out into the big, wide world. And I think this is just like evidence of that happening, and evidence that even though we are such a small population, like the quantity and caliber of art being made is so high, like there is no talent shortage in Australia, that's for sure. So yeah, it was really exciting, and I got to listen to a lot of really great Australian music. So I just loved it. I loved the process.
Adam: Yeah, great. Well, now you get to see it live, and this is normally the part of the interview where we ask people to look back and give themselves some advice, but I'm going to hold on that until you've gone through this experience, and then, no doubt, we'll get you back on and we'll get a bit of a review of how it actually all goes down. So look, first of all, thank you very much for taking the time to inform our readers and listeners of what they can expect this week. Break a leg. Enjoy your journey, and we look forward to chatting to you on the other side.
Lucy: Amazing. Thanks so much.
Adam: Thank you, Lucy. That's Lucy Sugerman from LA right now heading to Austin. This is the cockatoo. I'm Adam Burke, reporting from Hollywood, California, Tongva and Chumash country. We are the published by the pitch hiker Foundation. A 501c3, non profit. Support us any way you can, and thanks for listening. We'll catch you on the next edition.