It\u2019s mid-afternoon in Brisbane\u2019s Queen Street Mall and Kasey Chambers is backstage strumming her acoustic guitar. In half an hour she\u2019ll play a short set to the assembled masses and afterwards she\u2019ll sign her new memoir and accompanying album for any fan that wants one.<\/p>\n
As she\u2019s jotting down what songs to play there\u2019s an unexpected knock at the door and an office worker enquires if he can have a book signed for his wife \u201cnow\u201d.<\/p>\n
The man is on his lunch break and he won\u2019t be around by the time Chambers finishes her set. He explains that his wife, who is currently working away, couldn\u2019t be there and she\u2019s one of her biggest fans. Chambers obliges, poses for a selfie and assures the man she\u2019ll play\u00a0The Captain<\/em>\u00a0two songs in so the gent in question can film his partner\u2019s favourite tune and get back to work.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a good husband doing that for his wife,\u201d Chambers assures me as the fan heads off into the crowd. \u201cHe\u2019ll get lucky tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s what Kasey Chambers has been doing for a very long time \u2013 bringing joy into people\u2019s lives through her songs.<\/p>\n Now, 25 years since her breakthrough album\u00a0The Captain<\/em>\u00a0was released, Chambers has \u201clistened to her inner foghorn\u201d and written a book,\u00a0\u00a0Just Don\u2019t Be a Dickhead and Other<\/em>\u00a0Profound Things I\u2019ve Learnt<\/em>. The book details Chambers\u2019 loves \u2013 both won and lost. Highs. Lows. Children. Growing up in the Outback. And then there\u2019s her career.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a book out years ago that was written with Jeff Apter,\u201d she explains of the new tome\u2019s inception. \u201cJeff\u2019s a great friend of mine and a great journalist, but I felt like that book was more him helping me to tell my story through interviews. This latest book feels a lot more like it\u2019s mine. Writing it felt like it does when I write songs. It came from this real deep creative place inside me.\u201d<\/p>\n Not owning a laptop or a computer, Chambers started compiling her ideas into the notes app on her phone. As time moved on, she ended up writing the entire volume on that same device. And she\u2019s right \u2013 the book, like her music, captures her authentic voice.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first started writing it, it actually wasn\u2019t even a book,\u201d Chambers says. \u201cI didn\u2019t set out to write one. I have all these things to say and share, and it was more like I was writing for myself. Again, like when I\u2019m writing songs I don\u2019t really think about what\u2019s going to happen with them down the track. They\u2019re written in the moment and they capture\u00a0 whatever I have to say or feel and they just come out. And that\u2019s really how the book works for me.\u201d<\/p>\n The title came from her dad, Bill Chambers, a former professional fox hunter and patriarch of the Dead Ringer Band.<\/p>\n \u201cThat phrase, \u2018just don\u2019t be a dickhead\u2019, it\u2019s become this thing that I try to live by,\u201d Chambers explains. \u201cMy dad would just say that \u2026 \u2018just don\u2019t be a dickhead\u2019. Sometimes he\u2019d say it really specifically if we were doing something stupid. And then sometimes it would honestly be his advice to people, \u2018just don\u2019t be a dickhead\u2019, you know, like, it\u2019s pretty much that simple.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, I look back on certain decisions I\u2019ve made in my life where I feel, if I had honestly just said that to myself and listened to my own advice, I wouldn\u2019t have made that dumb decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI made a list of things saying, be brave enough to be vulnerable. Keep your tribe close. Little things like that evolved into a story of why I\u2019d learnt that particular lesson or how I\u2019d learnt that lesson. At times I\u2019ve been through really hard things that feel like it\u2019s the worst thing in the world, and then you learn something really poignant out of that.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd part of it also is the general thing of \u2018just try and be a decent human\u2019. I think a lot of this book is a bit of tongue-in-cheek by me saying, \u2018and other profound things I\u2019ve learnt\u2019, because these things in the book are not said in very profound ways but they have been profound to me. They\u2019ve been profound moments in my life where I\u2019ve learnt lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the book you\u2019ll find QR codes that lead to songs Chambers has written for the companion album,\u00a0Backbone<\/em>. Recorded at her Rabbit Hole Studios in five days the songs were culled from seven years of writing. The album features Sam Tesky on backing vocals, Bill Chambers, her partner Brandon Dodd and American drummer Brady Blade, who has played with everyone from Emmylou Harris to the late Steve Earle.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to work with my favourite musicians,\u201d Chambers says of the\u00a0Backbone<\/em>\u00a0experience. \u201cI wanted to capture the songs with us playing as live as we could in the studio. And the record, for good or bad, reflects who I am. Just like the book, I sang about every beautiful, joyous, embarrassing and tough thing I\u2019ve been through.\u201d<\/p>\n Kasey Chambers\u2019\u00a0Backbone<\/em>\u00a0is out now on LP and CD. Her memoir,\u00a0Just Don\u2019t Be a<\/em>\u00a0Dickhead and Other Profound Things I\u2019ve Learnt,<\/em>\u00a0is published by Hardie Grant and available in paperback $34.99, e-book $16.99\u00a0 and audiobook $39.99.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Kasey Chambers is touring until June 2025.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Throughout her long career in music Kasey Chambers has learnt a few life lessons, which she shares with fans in her new book and album<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,57],"tags":[27,19],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-ultimate-reading-lists","tag-book-club","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1147,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}