The State Of Washington

There’s a distinct air of tour-bus chic about Megan Washington. As we meet, she’s all tousle-haired and sleepy-eyed, asking for a cigarette. She tells me she’s been on the road for almost five years – most lately to promote her debut album I Believe You Liar.

In a previous incarnation, Washington put herself through university by singing jazz standards in bars and clubs. She then toured as the keyboardist and backing vocalist for fellow Aussie songwriters Old Man River and Ben Lee before finally taking the plunge in 2008 to become the frontwoman of her own musical venture.
“It wasn’t really a choice to start my own band,” Washington explains, keen to dispel any myths of backing singer egotism. “When I moved to Melbourne and out of home, I started writing a little but I was mainly playing in other people’s bands. Then they stopped touring to make new records and I suddenly had lots of time and very little money, so I made my own.”
And how would she describe those first exciting, heady days of a band that have now taken her native country by storm?
“We were shit,” she confesses, “We were pretty bad for about a year.”
Well, shit wouldn’t be the adjective of choice to describe Washington now. She’s improved to the point of winning two Aria Awards last year for ‘Best Breakthrough’ and ‘Best Female Artist’ – in the latter category pipping none other than Kylie Minogue to the post. Her debut album peaked at number three in the Australian charts, which is not too shabby at all. Now, with the guidance of renowned engineer Michael Brauer, the album has reached an international audience – albeit with a few minor changes in production.
“The concept of drafting is a really important part of the creative process,” Washington reflects, “Not that the second draft wasn’t good, but the third draft was…” she pauses, apparently plundering her mental thesaurus, “…more betterer than that,” she concludes with a half smile.
Inventing words is probably second nature to an artist who defies convention.
She’s a girl who can go from rough and ready to über-glam in the flick of a glittered eye pencil, and her sound is just as interchangeable. In fact, the video that shows her in all her varied glory is the burlesque-style ‘Holy Moses’.
“The first thing I actually wanted to do properly was be in an old Hollywood musical. But you can’t – they don’t make them anymore. So when it came to making that film clip I had the idea that I wanted to make a Ziegfeld Follies thing, like Ziegfeld Follies in hell. And maybe it got a little burlesque-y along the way, but I was going for that whole show girl thing.”
Although we’ve only just got our grubby mitts on the debut in Ireland, Washington has already released Insomnia, a follow-up EP. Is there a new album in the pipeline, too?
“Look, I’m really jazzed to make a new record. But I’m also aware that I kind of need to live some. Like, Bob Dylan’s already written every song I could ever write about touring, so I kind of have no choice but to write about something else.
“But I’m trying not to think about it because it’ll turn up. It’s like, once you try not to get pregnant and you get pregnant. That’s what it’ll be like. I’ll be trying desperately not to get pregnant and I’ll write a record.”

I Believe You Liar is out now on Murmur Records.