Guy Sebastian seems like he’s always been sitting at a piano. When he’s on stage, accompanying his soulful singing from behind a shining grand, it seems so natural.
But the Sydney-based musician and TV personality only came to the instrument as an adult.
“Taking up piano was actually a bit of a mistake,” he laughs.
“I was sort of forced into it, because I was broke at uni, working at a warehouse as a forklift driver, and I needed more money.”
Guy Sebastian is about to embark on his 100 Times Around the Sun national tour. (Supplied: ABC TV)
Sebastian picked up a gig teaching singing at a school, but quickly realised he would be required to accompany his students while they practised.
“I’ve never had a music lesson, so I had to invent my own brand of teaching, and I had to learn the piano. So that was my crash course, just quickly learning by ear.”
Twenty-three years since winning the inaugural season of Australian Idol, Sebastian still hasn’t had any piano lessons, but he says almost every song he writes starts there.
“The piano is like an orchestra in a box, and I can map out all the chords and the voicings and the hooks,” he explains.
“If I’ve got an idea in my head, it stays as a voice note until I get on the piano.”
In a slim window between appearing on the latest season of ABC TV’s The Piano and his upcoming national tour, we caught up with Sebastian to find out some more fun facts — from what he’s been watching, to his pre-performance rituals.
Guy Sebastian won the very first season of Australian Idol in 2003, beating Shannon Noll. (Reuters: Edwina Pickles)
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
I’m definitely a night owl. At the moment, I’m up at abnormal hours just because I’m trying to finish the sound for my tour.
But I think a lot of creatives are that way, because there’s just quiet and stillness at night, and the pressure of the world isn’t on you to perform and do things in a timeline. It’s my time, and it’s quiet, and I’m in my studio, and I can just breathe and do things at my pace.
What kind of sibling are you?
I am number two out of four. I think I’m a classic middle child. But we’re in two pairs, we’ve got me and Ollie, then there was a seven-year gap. But I’m very close to all my brothers; I’m very lucky in that sense. We’d all take a bullet for each other.
Do you have any pre-performance rituals?Stream The Piano now on ABC iview
What I’ve needed as I’ve gotten older is just a minute to myself. Before a show, everyone’s at you, your phone’s blowing up from all your mates who are like, ‘What time do you go on?’ ‘What’s the best entrance?’ ‘I can’t get parking’. And then you’ve got meet and greets, and then the crew and everyone that needs a minute of your time.
But you need to breathe before going on stage, and go, ‘All right, the next two hours, it’s my only responsibility to have people escape life for two hours and create memories.’ That is a big responsibility, and you need to be in a good headspace to do that.
What are you listening to right now?
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It’s quite a mixture of stuff. I went to a gig the other night of a guy called Goldford. There’s Garrett Duncan, Amelia Moore, Tom Misch, Snoh Aalegra.Â
I absolutely love that Sienna Spiro song, Die On This Hill. I love her voice. It reminds me a lot of a local singer-songwriter here, Sarah Aarons. She’s written some really big songs. I love that song [she co-wrote for Zedd and Alessia Cara] called Stay.Â
[breaks into song] ‘All you had to do was … stay’
Oh, there’s this really interesting group called Galdive, I think they’re Indonesian. I reckon it’s some of the best electronic production I’ve heard in a while.
You have two kids; are they into music? Are they into YOUR music?
They’re very supportive, and they’re very, very sweet. They’re both into music, but more so Archie, my youngest, he’s 12. We just discovered he’s got perfect pitch!
He’s in his first musical at the local theatre company. He’s one of the leads, and he’s just flying high. He loves his sport, but he’s really a creative and he just struggled to find his people. And then he’s gone to this musical theatre company, and he’s surrounded by creatives who get what he does.
Guy Sebastian has two children with his wife Jules, who he met as a teenager. (Supplied: Instagram)
And Hudson is 14; he’s just the best time in the world. He loves putting on things for his mates, being the organiser. And he plays heaps of sport, he’s in the Swans academy for AFL, but he couldn’t care less about the actual sport — he’s just there for the hang.
What’s your go-to meal to cook for yourself or other people?
I cook a lot. I did fried rice the other day and it always goes down well. I’ve got a proper wok, like a jet flame, and you get that ‘wok hei’, the flavour you just can’t get on the stove.
I love slow cooking and I do a lot of smoking of briskets and short ribs and stuff like that. And then I do love a curry. My mum just made the best curries growing up. I was lucky because my dad grew up in Malaysia and my mum was born in India, so I’ve got the best of both worlds in curries.
What was the last book you read?
The Happiest Man on Earth, [by Eddie Jaku], who was a Holocaust survivor. He actually lived down the road from me in Coogee in parts of his life.
The Happiest Man on Earth won the 2021 Biography Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards. (Supplied: Pan Macmillan Australia)
This guy’s seen the most evil of evil and lived through it, but he still found what value there was in being alive and what it means to create true happiness.
It’s all about perspective and very much in line with what I’m talking about on my album: the value of enjoying life and your people. I’m surrounded by people who I see forever striving for this thing, and it’s kind of an at-all-costs approach. And they think they know what’s going to make them happy, and they get there and it doesn’t.
And I have realised the only thing that makes me happy is the people I’m around. It’s community, it’s the people that I know would do anything for me and I’d do anything for them.
What was the first musical instrument you learned to play?
Violin, and I was rubbish. I never practised. It didn’t interest me at all. I would just whip out the violin every Christmas and play the same song for five years. It was getting a bit boring.
And how did you get into music from there? What was the instrument that hooked you?
I was a drummer when I was in my teens. I listened to a lot of that Seattle-based rock, you know, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses. I listened to a lot of rock and then got obsessed with R&B and neo-soul, like Brian McKnight and Eric Benét and Babyface.
What are you watching at the moment?
I watch a lot of news, which is good and bad. I’ll watch a lot of politics, especially American politics. I find it a very interesting dichotomy of society. It’s so interesting to see what is sold to people and how people consume things; it’s just a mind-blowing time to be alive.
And then I’m in the annoying phase where everything I’m obsessed with is on hiatus. I’m waiting for Silo and Severance. House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power. Of course, I know that’s like a billion dollars an episode or something, but come on.
The reported budget for the first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was $US465 million. It is widely considered the most expensive television show ever made. (Supplied: Amazon MGM Studios)
So, you’re into fantasy then?
I just love fantasy. I play video games as well. And when I’m at the end of a tour and I’ve got a little break, I’ll start something like Elden Ring or Ghost of Tsushima or Ghost of Yotei, which is this Japanese open-world game.
What are the best and worst things about being part of a reality TV competition?
I think the best thing is it’s a handshake to the public, you know, it’s basically just you saying, ‘Hi, this is who I am, and this is what I can do’. And then the rest is kind of up to you.
And that’s a blessing and a curse. Hopefully by now people have realised that [being] on one of those shows doesn’t guarantee you anything. You’ve had that introduction; it’s up to you to get down to business.
Guy Sebastian has been a judge, vocal coach and mentor on talent shows such as The Voice and the X-Factor. (Instagram: Guy Sebastian)
The Piano is a different style of reality show; was there anything that surprised you when filming?
Heaps of stuff! When you look at the show itself — random people getting up in a public space and jamming out on piano and then telling us a bit about their life — for me, it’s a hard sell.
But here is a show that is so different to a “shiny-floor” show. You tune in because you like music, or like the piano, and then you find yourself bawling your eyes out or laughing or being full of joy. I didn’t expect myself to be just so moved by people.
Guy Sebastian loved getting to chat with so many different people all over the country in The Piano. (Supplied: ABC TV)
And I think when you’re dealing with ABC viewers, they’re just a little more patient. They’re not needing that gratification immediately, and they don’t need those big punchy, dum-dum-dum moments with strings and drama and then cut to a break. It’s a very different experience and very liberating, I think, because you can be a bit patient and tell a story.
What was one thing you took away from meeting the contestants?Â
I kept saying it and I felt like I was being annoying, but it’s in a public space, right? You’re at the ferry terminal in Circular Quay and then someone will sit down and talk about what they’ve gone through in their life, their story, someone that’s come from Syria, and what they’ve escaped and what they’ve gone through.
You could just be there walking past, ordering a doughnut, and you don’t know who that person is. I think it’s just a great reminder to take a beat when you’re out in public and realise there’s people that have a lot going on.
You’re not the only one on this planet. And there’s so many interesting, beautiful stories out there.
Watch the brand-new season of The Piano at 7.30pm Sundays on ABC TV, or stream anytime on ABC iview.