IT’S ALIVE at The Virgin Megastore!

I just received some press shots of my in store appearance and gig at The Virgin Megastore in Sydney the week of my album launch, 10/17. Many thanks to their ever cool store manager, David Mottek, and his staff for making it quite an event! It was really cool to be playing back in the city – I lived there for about three years before I took off to the U.S.A, so it was super fun to spend some time back in my old stomping ground. I was assailed by many happy and goofy memories of the wild times I had there back in my early 20’s, rockin’ around town with my soul sista E.T and cashed up with my first big publishing advance. Man those were the days! Lol! Said soul sista and I got together there again for the launch celebrations of Shadow Wine and Truth Lilies and we were hoofin’ it up George Street one night when I said, “You know my feet are killing me! I’m buggered and I just wanna sit down and have a nice cup of tea… We used to do walk all over the city back in the day in crazy high heels and I don’t remember ever having sore feet or anything… how did we do it?!” E.T laughed and said, “well, we were most likely inebriated!..” Yeah we were full of piss and vinegar, too. We sure had a good time, though. The face of rock and roll has changed for us – it’s a bit older and wiser now and though we may not “party” quite like we used to when it comes down to it I think we are actually more “rock n roll” now than ever. Something happens in your 30’s, and I think this is especially true for women, where you don’t take fools lightly, (you don’t tend to make a fool of yourself quite so much either! Lol!) and you don’t take much shit from anybody. Your authenticity radar is more efficient than ever. And that rocks.

Giant Faerie Towers & my first review!

I'm sitting here at our dining table listening to my husband, Dan, working on a mix in the office cum studio down the hall... It sounds good. It's a track for rock guitarist and singer, Troy MacCubbin, from LA. He has been playing lead guitar on tour all over the world with Russian popsters, T.A.T.U now he's working on a solo project.
It's a nice summer ish night here in QLD Australia. There's a big full moon outside and all the windows are open so I can hear the neighbours having some kind of dinner party or BBQ downstairs. We went for a walk on the beach late this evening. Only my second in the 4 months I've been here! Tragic! The lights of the Surfers Paradise skyline looked gorgeous, like giant Faerie towers at the oceans edge in the twilight.
I've been busy organizing my next trip to Sydney. I hope to catch up with some old friends while I'm there and meet some folks at radio stations, too. Maybe they'll have added "You Can Call Me "Baby" " to their play lists by the time I'm there?! That would be awesome! I'll be playing three gigs on this next trip. Friday night the 16th in Rozelle, Saturday the 17th in Parramatta and Sunday the 18th in Balmain.
Meanwhile, I'm really pleased that "Shadow Wine and Truth Lilies" received its first review! I'll cut and past it below if you're curious... i love how he called it "grown up pop"!

FIONA KERNAGHAN
SHADOW WINE and TRUTH LILIES (Red Rebel/MGM)
U.S based Kernaghan, the quiet achiever of the Oz country music clan, has spent much of her career as a songwriter for hire. This, her second album of grown up pop - high on melody and insight and light on twang and utes - is more personal than a tattoo: Secrets Of The Flesh has an epic emotional flow that wouldn't have been lost on Sheryl Crow's great Globe Sessions.

Jeff Apter.
The Sydney Morning Herald Metro.

A Glass of Pinot Noir and The Week That Was...

I’m sitting here with a glass of Pinot Noir taking stock of the week that was… I’ve been working my ass off to get our live set ready for the official launch gig at The Basement. I’m happy to say that went off without a hitch on Wednesday night. Charlton Hill and Anthony Snape opened for me and they were awesome. We had some fun playing the songs off my new record, Shadow Wine and Truth Lilies, talking about men, relationships, sex and eating chocolate. Thank you to everyone who came along and made it a great night and to those of you who bought a copy of the cd on the night!

While I was down in Sydney this week I also did live to air performances on Channel Nine’s The Today Show and Mornings with Kerri Ann and they were great fun. It was super cool having my hair and make up done for two mornings in a row! If I ever get really rich I think I’ll have someone come and do my hair every day! Lol. We played the single, “You Can Call Me Baby” and it was kinda funny to sing about doing coke and having a mind like a whore on am shows! He he. I got a special little thrill out of that ‘cause that’s just how I am.

I did an interview with Sydney’s 2SM radio and hope to get a copy of that interview with Carl posted here for you to hear – we talked about how Dan and I met at a demo session in Nashville and how we got married at the drop of a hat at LAX Courthouse. I’m not sure of we mentioned our Quick-E-Mart reception… we got a $3 bottle of pretend bubbly and toasted ourselves in the parking lot with plastic cups, hiding from the police cruisers passing by.

Now I’m home and pretty buggered from all the running around. I don’t seem to have the stamina I recall having when I was last living in Sydney, gallivanting around half drunk on Stolli with my soul sister Emily… she has a baby now and I’m married and partial to a nice cup of tea. Ahhg! Am I losing my edge? I like to think we still rock – just in moderation these days. Lol...

To check out my performance on The Today Show - just click on this link below then click on my pic, just under James Blunt who was on the day before me.

http://today.ninemsn.com.au/section.aspx?sectionid=3093&sectionname=entertainment

Gig @ The Basement in Sydney this Wednesday and an action packed week coming up!

I’m about to get sucked into a whirlwind of events this week and have that tired but wired feeling of anticipation. You know like before you go on a trip and there’s a million little things you wanna get done? There’s half dried washing lying all around the apartment, the drier’s on the blink! The kitchen’s a mess and something tells me I’m not gonna be cooking that nutritious dinner I’d planned 24 hours ago. The nachos and Corona I had this afternoon will have to do… But the acoustic set Dan and I’ve worked up feels good and the lounge room looks, shall we say… “productive”? lol. There are bits of paper with to do lists and song lists strewn around, guitar leads and cables snaking all around the floor, mic stands and guitar stands and an array of Dan’s effects pedals with their little red lights blinking on and off. They give the room a nice glow when the lights are off.

There’s a rhyme and reason to the chaos, though. We’re flying down to Sydney tomorrow where we’ll start with a meeting at Sony BMG, raid the guitar store in the Pitt Street Mall, meet up with Kaz from Red Rebel Music then try and get an early night before Wednesday. We’ve gotta be at Channel Nine really insanely early to play live on The Today Show, then I have a radio thing at 2UE, then a boardroom performance at Mood Media, then sound check for the gig, then a photo shoot for The Known Photographic Exhibition with Nathan J Lester, then the gig that night with Charlton Hill and Anthony Snape – to celebrate the birth of my humble little labyrinth of a record, “Shadow Wine and Truth Lilies”! Thursday we have to be up and sober to play live on The Kerri Ann Show, then there’s a meet and greet at Mix 106.5 fm, then another boardroom performance, then sound check and load in and then a short set and some fun at The Virgin Megastore in the Pitt Street Mall. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with some friends after that and have a few long awaited celebratory drinks. Friday I’ve got a few radio interviews then back to The Gold Coast to take stock of what just happened. I really hope I have time to check out the chocolate shops my friend from here on Blogger, Mari, has told me about… Jeff de Bruges is one. If anyone knows of this or others please let me know. As a chocophile one has to conduct constant research. He he…

Meanwhile back on the indie music promo trail, I’m psyched about Mood Media adding “You Can Call Me "Baby” " to their retail play list. It means you might hear this the first single off Truth Lilies if you’re in one of these stores…. Angus and Coote, Adidas, Benneton, Billabong, BP, Bunnings, Brothers Nielson, Body Shop, City Beach, Country Road, Coffee Club, Colorado, David Jones, Escada, Ecco, Esprit, Footlocker, Goldmark, Hugo boss, Ikea, Jag, Mambo, McDonalds, Mango, Nike, Oroton, Payless Shoes, Puma, Pizza Hut, Perfume Connection, Portmans, Rebel Sport, Red Rooster, Reebok, Rip Curl, Rockmans, Sizzler, Strandbags, Toys r Us, Vintage Cellars, Williams Shoes and Zaraffa Coffee… cool!

But for now it’s Monday night here in Australia – Sunday afternoon back in California – and I think I need to have a cup of tea and pack my suitcase and then hopefully chill out a bit. Hey! “Californication” is on tonight! Gotta see what my boyfriend, Hank, is up to!

Happy Monday, Bloggers. I'm sending you all chocolate and chili flavored bliss bombs.

ps. I was about to post this when... into the above scene in our lounge room, my rock star husband enters in his footy shorts and no shirt laughing about someone "being pounded like a Mallard duck". The laughing subsided and there's nothing but the fridge humming when he kneels down in front of the above mentioned guitar pedals and cranks out a short but ferocious fart. Now THAT sounds like a Mallard duck! Lol!.. Yeah, it's the glamor of the music business that attracts me to it...

Womans Day Magazine, happiness and sexy weather...

Geez, weeks have been pouring past like days lately… I can’t remember being this busy ever! I am starting to miss my sloth days! Anyway, to keep yas all in the loop, on Friday afternoon I did an interview with a magazine down here in Australia called “Womans Day”. I’ve never done an interview with a magazine like that before. It’s the kind that you see at every check out register along with the candy bars and impulse buys at the super market- usually has a story about Jenn and Brad and Angelina on the front or some such tantalizing news… The magazine asked for my brother, Lee, and sister, Tania, (who as you may know are both country singers here in Oz) to be involved because they wanted to know what Lee and Tania thought of me being back doing music and performing and after all my music is quite different to what they do and what do they think about that?.. I was more nervous about Lee being there than anything… I think I was nervous because he was concerned I was gonna talk too much about sex, drugs and rock n roll or something. Or antidepressants. Lol! Anyway… I hoped to set a celebratory tone so Dan and I had a cold bottle of Moet here for Glen (the journalist) and his photographer, Dave, when they arrived. We had a nice chat and I think we all enjoyed the champers. They got some great pics of Tan and Lee and I and me with my new Maton guitar as well! (Yeah, Maton Guitars make hand crafted guitars here in Australia and have just given me an endorsement deal and a beautiful new CW80 cutaway. Awesome!)

Glen did ask me quite a bit about the time I was fucked up by what turned out to be “clinical depression”. In hindsight, I really hope it doesn’t come off sounding like I’ve been depressed the whole time I’ve been in the States – like 10 years! Lol. I learned from the interview that I need to be more specific about when that all went down. Really it was 2000, worsening through til 2002 when after crying every day for about a year I realized this was not normal and I may not be naturally psycho so I finally went to a shrink and acknowledged there was a problem and began to dig MYSELF out of that hole. I’m happy to report that things have been on the up and up ever since! Actually, working on songs for Tania’s album, “Higher Ground”, from 2004 on helped a lot in my recovery and inspired me to write for myself again, too. Then spending more time back in Australia in 2006 helped, then writing and recording my record, “Shadow Wine and Truth Lilies” this year was, I believe, the final piece in the puzzle and completed my picture as it is now. Which is pretty much me having minor anxiety disorder symptoms from time (doesn’t everybody?!) but that’s nothing sex, wine, chocolate and music can’t take care of – and being happy as anything the rest of the time. He he. I think the Womans Day piece will be generally upbeat and realistic, though. Fingers crossed. Glen Williams seemed like an excellent guy.

Since then Dan and I’ve been rehearsing songs for our gig at The Basement next week – which is the “official” album launch. I can’t wait! It’s one thing to ponder over songs and choruses and things forever at home alone but it’s quite another to play ‘em to real live people! I feel like it’s quite bonding, actually. Some kind of ephemeral connection gets formed between us – singer and audience. Maybe it’s just the classic transfer of energy that I’m thinking of. Either way it’s groovy.

On a more tangible note, we’ve just started having these fantastic summer storms rolling past here in Queensland. The other night when I got home with some Red Rooster take away Dan and I sat out on the balcony and ate it by candlelight with the lightening performing for us and thunder rumbling in the distance. Big fat raindrops started to plop down and it was that kind of tropical weather where it’s raining but still warm. That’s gotta be the sexiest weather, hasn’t it? Well anyway, I’m gonna go and watch Californication now. Our new favorite show. I like how it reminds me of life in LA and I have such a crush on that bloody Hank now!