Coconut Shy
Born in Australian island state Tasmania, Melbourne-based Singer/Songwriter Coconut Shy blends introspective, unique and captivating lyrics with the gentle sound of his soothing acoustic guitar.
A songwriter since the age of 14, his writing style fluctuates between accounts of personal experiences, mood poetry and metaphoric fable-telling. Originally based in Tasmania, he surfed the local Open Mic night scene for several years – playing in pubs, bars, cafes and mini festivals – before moving interstate in early 2021.
Who is "Coconut Shy" and what's the story behind your stage name?
Hi, and thanks for having me! I’m an acoustic alt-folk singer/songwriter based in Melbourne, Australia. The stage name is a funny one. ‘Coconut Shy’ is an old fairground game I used to play as a kid sometimes. It was a thing at primary school fairs and stuff like that.
Years after I left school, it was 2017, I was in the United States at a July 4th carnival. There were all these rides and games there, and I came across this girl playing on an old Coconut Shy stall. I hadn’t thought about the game in about a decade, and when I saw it, I was instantly hit with a flood of nostalgia about my childhood. I played a few rounds and made the spur-of-the-moment decision to use it as a stage name.
How did you get into music?
A lot like most other people I suppose! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to play and perform music. I remember even before kindergarten, I used to think about how awesome it would be to play in front of people. For me, it was always the songwriting aspect that I found most captivating. The idea that people can create lyrics and melodies out of a mysterious nothingness blew my mind. When I was 9, Dad bought me an acoustic guitar and ever since then it’s just felt like my thing. I had an awesome guitar teacher in the beginning as well, so he instilled a passion for it in me during my early years of playing. I started writing my own stuff around my mid-teens, and I started performing live when I was 18.
I would call "Water, Water" a great piece of Alt-Folk, what or who was your inspiration?
Thank you! I appreciate your kind words. ‘Water, Water’ came about one rainy day when I was living in a sharehouse in Hobart, Tasmania back in 2020. I should have been knee deep in a Psychology essay, but instead I ended up writing a song. That’s usually the way it went in my studying days.
For me, the song is all about moving on from the past and propelling myself towards the future. Things in my life had changed a lot over the previous few years, and I was finding it difficult to let go of some good times that were no longer. It’s a nostalgic song, but it doesn’t want to be.
It’s me trying to pull myself out of a state of dwelling in the past and instead trying to focus on the future. I think the lyrics are intended to be a metaphoric story that represents that idea.
The first verse focuses on the moment one finds out things are about to change. The second verse describes the constant brooding and past dwelling that can sometimes follow for weeks, months, or even years. The chorus, though, is more about the antidote to that brooding – to appreciate the simple things in life that you have right now. ‘Water’, in the song, is a representation of those simple things. The fact that it was raining at the time probably helped with that idea!
Recorded in a single day, means a perfect song on a perfect day or would you change something if you could turn back time?
Honestly, I was really glad about how it all turned out. It’s quite rare that when you’re recording a song, the finished product is almost exactly how you envisioned it before you started recording. ‘Water, Water’ was a rarity like that. The instruments, the atmosphere, the vocals, I was pretty happy with it.
There is some space during the second verse where things get stripped back and it’s just my vocals and the acoustic guitar. Sometimes I think I could have filled that space more with some light falsetto or something, but that’s probably being picky.
The studio I recorded it at was amazing as well – it was Four Doors Studios here in Melbourne, and Simon Paparo, who owns that studio, is amazing at what he does. I definitely have him to thank for the quality of the recording. Thanks Simon!
How important are Social media channels for an Indie artist?
It’s massive. We’re well into the social media age now, so naturally it is a must for any indie artist trying to grow their music to a wider audience. I’m at the very start of that journey. It can get pretty overwhelming at times – and I’ve definitely taken my fair share of breaks from it – but social media is a digital extension of everything you are as an artist, and in today’s world that is so important. There’ve been a few pieces of technological innovation – social media included – that have really helped independent artists grow over the last decade or so. 40 years ago, I think it would have been way harder to get your music properly recorded, produced and released in the form of a single or an album. Now, thanks to music distribution services, any artist can do that.
I guess the challenge for indie artists now is that because it’s a lot easier to get your foot in the door, once you’re in the room there’s a million other people in there already trying to get noticed. But social media is an amazing tool to help artists make that happen.
Any chance to see you somewhere live on stage?
If you’re ever in Melbourne, let me know! I’ve just had a few gigs during the first half of October which were awesome fun – one at a place called The Palace Hotel and another at a farm a few hours north of Melbourne near a town called Seymour. Both gigs were a blast.
As for upcoming gigs, I’m supporting Melbourne-based Blues-rock band Chicago Dime at The Brunswick Artist Bar on the 19th of November. I met Pete from the band at a gig at the start of September and he was kind enough to offer me the spot. I’m super excited for it!
Let us know a former favorite song you can't listen to anymore now?
There’s a lot of 2000s classics I listened to endlessly in my late childhood/early teens years that probably fit into that basket. I think something like ‘Stacy’s Mom’ by Foundations of Wayne or ‘Gives You Hell’ by The All-American Rejects are two songs I just blasted way too much during that period.
I probably listened to ‘Stacy’s Mom’ thousands of times from age 10 to about 14. ‘Hey Ya!’ by OutKast is another one.
I still think they’re great songs, and it’s not so much that I can’t listen to them now, but I just overplayed them way too much as a kid so I can’t enjoy them as much as I used to. Oops!
What’s next for you?
I’m actually in the process of recording a new song that I wrote on the same day as ‘Water, Water’ called ‘The Finest Day’. I’m really excited. I always planned to release them in close proximity with each other because they were basically written simultaneously. They’re almost like twins for me; I had the one idea for a song, but it sort of spilled out into two different versions. So hopefully I’ll be releasing it before the year is out!
