David Campbell lets go

David Campbell time-warps back to the 80s on his latest album, and he’s taking his show on the road. He spoke to Ron Hughes.

David Campbell is enjoying himself.

Since wrapping up his successful three-year stint as director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Campbell has completed another couple of projects, one of which is his 80s tribute album Let’s Go.

“This is the music I was listening to when I was a kid,” Campbell says of the album, which has 80s hits ranging from ‘Shout to the Top’ and ‘Tainted Love’ to ‘True” and ‘Come On Eileen’. “We really wanted to limit the number of ballads on the album, to keep it more up tempo, so that meant missing out on some great songs, but, well, that’s how we wanted the album.”

With hundreds of numbers to choose from, Campbell says the choice was difficult; there were some songs he would like to have done but just couldn’t. “With some songs we would sit down in the studio and play and listen back and decide ‘No, it’s just not working’ and we’d have to let it go,” he says.

“Because sometimes the sound of the song is just as distinctive as the words and music and if you move away from that sound it just loses too much.

“And let’s face it, if you’re doing a covers album, you want to bring something of yourself to the song, take it and make it a little bit your own; after all, if you’re just going to make a copy of the original what’s the point? You might as well just play the original record.”

For his own sound Campbell has ditched the largely electronic sounds of the 80s and brought brass and strings into the mix – as well as back up singing from Josie Lane amongst others – and the formula works.

Campbell is touring the album in 2012 and says he’s bringing a ten-piece band and backup singers on the road to reproduce that sound live.

“I love performing live,” he says. “I love working in the studio, too, but live there’s such an incredible energy that you get back from the audience; you give the energy and you get it back, it’s like feedback. There’s nothing like live performance, whether you’re a performer or part of the audience, I love it.”

Above all, Let’s Go is an up-beat feel-good album, a little bit of sunshine in a world where there is much to worry about.

“That’s good, that’s what I wanted,” Campbell laughs.

“And here I am at 39 going on stage and pretending to be a pop star. You can’t have much more fun than that!”

David Campbell takes his Let’s Go Tour 2012 on the road from February 16. For dates and venues check out davidcampbell.com