It’s been described as a ‘musical and dramatic triumph’, ‘electrifying’, ‘rocking’ and now Wes Carr, Ben Mingay and Tom Oliver are reprising their roles in the extraordinary musical, Rolling Thunder Vietnam – Songs that Defined a Generation, at the Gold Coast on the first weekend of August. Candida Baker spoke to Wes Carr about his role as Andy, and his creative process.
It’s hard to believe but this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam. The battle saw the action of 108 ANZACS against a Viet Cong (North Vietnamese) force which was as large as 2000 troops. Long Tan has gone down in history as one of the few battles to be won against such incredible odds.
The Vietnam War, the longest war Australia has ever been involved in, is not necessarily you would think, the stuff of musicals. It was marked by controversy and significant levels of public opposition – and in the late 60’s the ever-increasing presence of the hippy movement, and the music that represented what mainstream society saw as an alternative lifestyle.
It was the music and songs of the era that attracted writer Bryce Hallett to the concept of creating a musical based on the war. Hallett has described Rolling Thunder as a “concert drama. Between the songs are monologues or story-telling,” he’s said. Teaming up with musical director Chong Lim, of Dancing with the Stars fame, Hallett and Lim have created a powerful and moving piece of theatre.
If you were looking for someone with stage presence to burn, someone who can sing and act; someone who has not only shown professionalism over decades in the music industry, but also someone who connects with the public – then without doubt Wes Carr would be your man. The singer/songwriter (and multi-instrumentalist) who won hearts and the title of Australian Idol back in 2008.
Wes Carr back in 2008 after his Australian Idol win.
The Sunshine Coast-based Carr (he moved there six months ago with his wife Willow and their three-year-old son Charlie) plays one of three main roles that make up the heart of Rolling Thunder. Carr’s Andy is a conscripted soldier based on a soldier interviewed by Hallett who was conscripted in the national ballot. With a private school education ‘Andy’ was ill-equipped to be in a war zone, and it’s his journey that Carr portrays most movingly.
“It’s brought me to an understanding of at least something of what the soldiers went through,” he says. “When we were talking about the project the stories we were told were harrowing. As actors we had to understand what it might feel like to run for your life, or stand and look a person in the eyes knowing you’re going to kill him or they’re going to kill you. Rolling Thunder is a real healing for these guys. So many of them did not even want to go and when they came home they were labelled baby-killers and rapists, and were blamed by protestors for a war they’d never wanted to take part in anyway. Many of the soldiers have suffered permanent effects on their lives with depression and PTSD. When ex-soldiers come and see the show they’re amazed at how it captures the dark and the light of the experiences they went through.”
A rather different look for Rolling Thunder.
Talking to Carr about his eight years in the industry since his Australian Idol win, what comes over most strongly is that for Carr, variety is the spice of life. “I really am the quintessential independent songwriter Indie guy,” he says. “I don’t like to be pigeon-holed, and I really enjoy exploring different ways to be involved in music, and acting in Rolling Thunder has been a wonderful way to expand my knowledge of the music industry. But the big thing for me is that I love to do what I want whether it’s producing a new album creating a one-man show about George Harrison, acting a stage show, or – my latest venture – running an online songwriting course, it’s all about what I want to do and not about appeasing the music ‘industry’.”
It’s an industry of course, that can at its best offers us the kind of songs that the world never forgets, and includes classics by Steppenwolf, Joe Cocker, Buffalo Springfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, Gladys Knight, Billy Thorpe and Paul Simon (just to name a few).
The ‘songs that defined a generation’ include Fortunate Son, All Along the Watchtower, The Letter, What’s Going On, Born to be Wild, Killing Me Softly With His Song, WAR, Magic Carpet Ride, Help Me Make it Through the Night and Bridge Over Troubled Water.
It was Carr’s powerful rendition of All Along the Watchtower (by Bob Dylan and covered by Jimi Hendrix) that got him into Australian Idol, and the song has been a favourite of his for many years. “I love the fact that I get to sing it in the show in a completely different setting, and bringing new layers of meaning to it,” he says.
Curiously, given how cheerful Carr is about his music and life – there’s a side of the Vietnam War that Carr knows all about. A vast majority of returning soldiers battled the effects of on-going depression, and for Carr is no stranger to depression. “I’m a very impatient person,” he says, “and yet I’m also an introverted melancholic. I’ve battled depression on and off for many years, and curiously it often comes before a huge creative spurt – the last trigger is an anxiety which is bordering on terror and when that happens I can’t take phone calls, I can’t talk – although somehow I do – but internally I’m on fire. I’ve come to see it as the darkness before the light of creation, and to concentrate on the spiritual side of depression and anxiety.”
Carr is one of an increasing number of people diagnosed with a simple, but profound disorder – Pyrroles. Basically (and we know all about it in this family because my daughter suffers from it), people with Pyrroles, or Pyroluria can’t absorb zinc, and since zinc is one of the main minerals responsible for stress-relief what happens if it’s not diagnosed and treated early (and it was only discovered ten years ago), is that the zinc-deficiency gradually causes the auto-immune system to crash.
“It’s an extraordinary thing,” he says, “because through their discovery of it, they’ve found that most people with manic-depression suffer from Pyrroles. Yet in a way, this has been an amazing journey for me because I’ve come to understand how important the foods we eat are, and to truly absorb how important the three-tiered system of the mind, body and spirit is, and through all of this the depressions have become more manageable. I’ve extremely lucky that my wife Willow is an actress and a health coach so she’s helped me a lot to find a way to balance my health.”
Carr also finds he needs to balance the more outward extroverted performances such as playing in Rolling Thunder with more introverted, quiet work such as his nature soundscapes. “I’m naturally an impatient person and a perfectionist,” he says. “I’m a Virgo, and I just want to do things well, and now! At the moment I’m deeply into my sounscapes – recording waterfalls and natural sounds. I find that naturally cathartic, and I’m also finding that the more allow my creativity to simply flow along, the less likely I am to have to go into the ‘Ice Cave’ again.”
As he’s got older one thing that Carr has discovered is a passion for passing on his knowledge about song-writing, and his most recent project, along with his soundscapes, is Spirit Songs, an online creative coaching course working one-on-one with people. “I love empowering musicians and singer/songwriters with their craft – but even more than validating them as musicians, it’s about getting people inspired and getting them to create what they really want to create.”
Wes believes in inspiring the next generation, and so he’s started Spirit Songs, an online creativity coaching service.
The one thing that Carr does not want to do is remain, as he calls it: “static. Nobody should ever stay the same. We need to keep building on our craft, refining our legacy. I believe we often have a very limited view of what we can do, but if you put a spiritual perspective on your work and ask yourself does work that reaches many people actually make more sense than work that reaches a few, and is for your own pleasure, then you begin to feel the power of creating for creating’s sake. And in the long run, who’s to say that even projects that don’t work or never see the light of day are not good? Look at how many artists, musicians and writers are not popular during their lifetimes.”
In the end he says, it’s all about embracing the magic. “We’re here for the ride – it might be short, so we’d better just leap on board, and do the things that fuel us.”
Information on Rolling Thunder at the Gold Coast.
GOLD COAST
VENUE Jupiters Theatre, Jupiters Hotel & Casino Gold Coast
SEASON Friday 5 and Saturday 6 August
TIMES Evenings 7.30pm | Sat matinee 2pm
TICKETS From $79.90
BOOKINGS 132 849 or ticketek.com.au or Jupiters box office (07) 5592 8303
Groups 10+ Call 1300 364001 or [email protected]
For more information go to: rollingthundervietnam
For more information on Wes Carr’s Spirit Songs go to: wescarr.com.au/spiritsongs
