ROAD warrior 8 Ball Aitken doesn’t mind living out of a suitcase – or travelling from cyclones to snow cones – in fact he thrives on it! Since arriving back in Australia four months ago, he racked up a massive 84 gigs before heading back to Nashville which has experienced heavy snow falls in recent weeks.
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On the plane back to his home away from home he had lots to be thankful for.
8 Ball is celebrating the release of his wild and crazy new film clip, Shut The Front Door, which he said was the most fun to make of all the clips so far.
To further spread the 8 Ball gospel, ABC Radio has picked up two of his new songs, Girl In A Million and Broken Hill, which are now getting airplay right around the country on the national broadcaster.
“The songs are certainly getting out there,” 8 Ball said, on the eve of his departure.
“I’ve been getting Facebook messages from all over Australia.”
He’ll barely have time to unpack his bags once he hits Music City USA as he’s got a week’s worth of gigs in Nashville before heading to Texas for a month of gigging and then Florida after that.
Following his Florida stint, he’ll hop on the big bird and fly back to Australia for a month-long tour starting in Sydney and taking in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
“I’m virtually on tour all the time. I love Tamworth when I come back there. I’m very lucky. I have two countries and two towns I love,” he said.
“Living out of a suitcase is cool as I get to make a living doing what I love. I get to be creative every day.”
Quite a few Aussies will be in Nashville in June for the CMA Fest and Fan Fair, so they’d better make sure they pop in and say g’day at 8 Ball’s booth.
He said there were some pretty strict requirements in obtaining a Fan Fair booth, but it was worth the effort for all the new people he was able to share his music with over the four-day event.
“I had so many people stop and talk to me last year and I sold a heap of CDs,” he said.
“They reckon about 65,000 people come through turnstiles at Fan Fair, so it’s the place to be.”
He’s pretty excited about his “lucky” eighth album, The New Normal, which he launched during the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
It was recorded in Nashville with some of the highest profile session musicians around – band members who worked in Lynyrd Skynrd and George Thoroughgood and Emmylou Harris’s bands.
With titles like Witness Protection, Monkey In A Suit And Tie, Used Car Sales Woman, Skydive and Seven Bucks An Hour In A Chicken Suit, you’d have to wonder if he had a great imagination – or he met some weird and wonderful people.
“A lot of my songs are based on real people, but I get inspired by stuff all the time,” he said.
“I have bought used cars before, but this song has a twist because it deals with how you can sometimes get taken for a ride in a relationship.
“My audiences find the most exciting song is Seven Bucks An Hour In A Chicken Suit. A lot of people come to Music City USA to be a star and wind up in the most menial jobs.
“I think there are only so many who go on to earn gold records and make millions of dollars. This song is about someone who doesn’t – and I think the audience loves laughing at other people’s misery.”
Because he plays so many gigs, he likes to have a variety of songs to offer his audiences, so he’s always seeking inspiration for new material.
“I feel like I’m in a creative purple patch at the moment. I’m coming up with new stuff all the time,” he said.
When he gigs, he either does a one-man show, which he carries off well with his drums and guitar, but other gigs, depending on the size of the venue, require a band.
“I can play four week nights as a solo act and then utilise my band with the big shows,” he said.
One of his favourite moments from the Tamworth festival was getting the opportunity to open and close the Golden Guitar Awards.
“Playing at the awards was a blast, particularly as I was the opening act,” he said.
“It was a heap of fun but it was almost like it was over before it began.
“It was such a thrill. It got my heart racing. I couldn’t hear myself on the monitor when it started, so I hit my pedal and you could hear this screaming guitar. It was exciting stuff.”
And if that wasn’t enough of a highlight, he was a key part of the finale, the Anzac tribute, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.
“That is one of the greatest peace songs of all time, told through the eyes of a Digger,” he said.
“It doesn’t assume anything. It just tells the story of what happened to one guy.”
While he didn’t strike gold on the night, 8 Ball was philosophical about it.
“I’ve been nominated a couple of times now,” he said.
“It’s all about the law of averages, I reckon. You have to be nominated five times to get one!”
In the meantime, he plans to live the Willie Nelson dream – on the road again, making music with his friends – and loving it every minute of it.