Carus Thompson Leaves The Troubadour Lifestyle To Settle Down

Carus Thompson's story fits into an ancient folk tradition of the bard, the storyteller. Playing in pubs with his band the True Believers since he was 18, he doesn't mind the word 'troubadour' to explain his existence.

"I think it describes what I've done with my life, really. I think troubadour is a real throwback, it's an ancient role, the bard that travelled around from village to village and documented stories and told stories. And that's what you do as a songwriter, you're trying to explain the human experience, and I think that's the same thing bards were doing a thousand years ago."

"There's something cool about being creative and writing on the road, but there's something really good about stopping and looking around."

After over 20 years, Thompson knows that the troubadour lifestyle is one that takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice, but for him there was never any other choice. "There hasn't really been since I was 20, no, I just wanted to write, and I've always liked performing. I see lots of young bands and awesome, it's great and you're big, and a lot of those bands, five, six years, how many of them break up, because life gets hard, and music is a hard road and there's not a lot of money in it, it takes a lot of dedication and it takes a lot of toll on your personal life and your family."

And it was family that brought this man, who over the last 14 years has lived between Melbourne and Europe, back to his home of Fremantle, WA two years ago when his daughter was born. "It was all a bit chaotic for a while so we just moved back to be with family, and also to make this album with Joel Quartermain who is a Freo boy."

Quartermain, guitarist in Eskimo Joe, acted as producer on Thompson's new album, Thompson's first in five years. For the record, Thompson found a new kind of inspiration in being at home. "I had toured so much in my career and been so full-on on the road and just last year I just wanted to really focus on this record and really stop. So it was great, I was walking around the house — that's the thing with kids, there's a bit of time when you can pick up the guitar — and I suddenly found I was writing heaps. It's a different headspace I think. The last record Caravan, I wrote that on the road and recorded it on the road, and there's something cool about being creative and writing on the road, but there's something really good about stopping and looking around and just being present and just looking around at people around you."

The album, Island, is about how Thompson sees Australia today. He loves the tradition of the Australian narrative songwriter — "Paul Kelly, Tim Rogers, Mick Thomas, Cold Chisel, that's the music I look up to. I really wanted to make a record that said something about who we are and where we are. And I think by being at home and not being on the road so much, I just really looked around and wrote about what I saw."