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Xavier Rudd.
 At the time of this chat Xavier Rudd was back in his hometown of Torquay, Victoria with his Canadian-born wife and two young sons (one five years old, the other just two weeks), undertaking one last round of interviews before heading off to the Maldives for some well deserved R&R before commencing his first Australian tour for some time.
Prior to this latest little island getaway Rudd, along with his son and heavily-pregnant spouse, was travelling extensively through Canada and parts of the US for a series of concert dates that lasted around six months, with one month spent in Vancouver in order to lay down his latest studio album, 'Food In The Belly'.
"I've pretty well been going flat chat before coming home and having some time off," explains a relaxed-sounding Rudd, "so I haven't had a chance to tour Australia for probably about a year now. The last tour I did here was with Jack Johnson but this is my first headline tour for quite a while. Then I'm off to Europe in November so I'm really keen to play in Oz, but. I've only ever played one show in Europe before," he reveals, much to my surprise, "and that was in France. But because I've toured North America, Canada and Australia so much I haven't had the chance to really go there properly before, but apparently some of the shows have already sold out there. That's a good sign."
Anyone familiar with Xavier Rudd would know that his live performance includes the often-simultaneous playing of three specially mounted didgeridoos, a djembe, lap steel guitar and harmonica along with his passionately charged and very unique voice. Similarly, fans would be aware that much of his material is also largely inspired by his treks and the people and social and environmental events he encounters along the way. With both his recent personal experiences and his forthcoming travels, should we soon expect these episodes to be portrayed in song? "I think so," he avows, "that's correct for sure because I'm definitely inspired by travelling and my latest album certainly reflects on the last year because it's been such a journey. I've had some good times lately, lots of shows and lots of getting around and travelling so it's been awesome. I'm so lucky, I've just been getting some great opportunities and a lot of support from people."
It was at this point that I had to remind him that a lot of his success is due to hard work: as much as luck has something to do with it he's also got the talent to back it up. "I've definitely worked hard," he concedes, "and I have spent a lot of years doing this, but I love it. So no matter how tiring it gets at times there's always that thought that it's such a treat to be doing what I do.
"I guess I've basically now gone worldwide," he says of his recent signing with a major distribution agreement. "I've still got the independent deals that I have in Australia and New Zealand and I just signed a deal with Universal in the US for a licensing deal for the rest of the world for the next little while. It's still up to me when I do it all, in that its not an exclusive deal that allows them to have any part in of that process. Like, all the artistic control still comes from Salt.X Records, which is my company."
Not that anyone would want to interfere with Rudd's inimitable brand of organically based music, especially given his already proven track record when it comes to selling his wares at festivals and gigs. "My CD sales have always sort of kept me going," he points out, "and I'd noticed that in the early days and because my sales have always been strong that was our we sort of got around the place financially, so that's definitely been really helpful as an independent. I'm an independent artist really and I'll never really change that. I guess the situation with the US might shed some new light on that because it's a different sort of set up from what I have in Australia. But from a touring point of view and with the way I do my shows and make albums, that's always going to be an independent type of thing."
Steve Jones
 | Xavier Rudd plays at Thebarton Theatre on Mon 31 Oct. |
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