Grace Petrie

Grace Petrie’s music has an unmistakable activist slant but her immense talent and unique takes on life, love and politics have won her an army of loyal fans across the alternative, folk, political and comedy scenes worldwide. Ahead of her upcoming back to back tours of Australia, one focusing on her music and one alongside the Guilty Feminist Podcast, Petrie sat down with City Hub.

While Petrie is often described as a folk singer-songwriter and activist she finds it difficult to separate the two.

“I would never say that I’m more of an activist than I am an artist or vice versa because the two are inextricably intertwined for me.”

Politics only began to bubble away inside Petrie and her music 10 years ago, and as such music will always have a slight edge in her heart, “my main goal is always to entertain people and write good songs.”

Once Petrie began to incorporate these political messages into her music her popularity began to skyrocket. Something which she credits to simply being able to “put chords to how a lot of people felt and continue to feel today.” According to Petrie the hardest part of writing politically charged music is doing so in such a way that it remains timeless.

“Political music has a real shelf life,” Petrie explained before going into more detail, “The songs often come very very quickly in response to a political issue of the day but the challenge is trying to write them in such a way that they’ll still make sense in two weeks time.”

From this perspective, Petrie joked that “Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving from a political songwriters perspective.”

Another area which has helped Petrie’s music connect with the audience, especially in the live setting, are her experiences working alongside several comedians. In recent years Petrie has collaborated with Hannah Gadsby and to this day continues to work with the team behind the Guilty Feminist Podcast.

When asked how comedy has influenced her performance Petrie said, “If you go out there and say I’m a lesbian, socialist, protest singer people can be a little put off by that because they think I’m just going to yell at them all night… You’re never going to reach somebodies heart or soul if they are uncomfortable to begin with. So by having a few comedy numbers and the tricks of comedy stagecraft that I’ve learned from my friends it has really helped me put an audience at ease.”

With this tour being her first time in Australia Petrie is “over the moon” and want’s to tell people, “If you like stamping your feet and singing along to make the world a better place this will be the night for you.”

Mar 12. Marrickville Bowling Club, 91 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville. $22.19+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.marrickvillebowlingclub.com.au