David Campbell returns to the music of his formative years with a new show at Brothers, writes Jesse Kuch

After four hit albums charting almost his entire musical upbringing, David Campbell’s latest offering Let’s Go transports him to the period of his musical upbringing closest to his heart – the funky romantic period of the early and mid-’80s.

Taking on classics by Wham, Yazoo, Rick Astley and many more, David says his latest effort was nothing short of a pleasure to put together, taking the best songs from his formative teenage years and giving them a swingin’ big band twist.

“It was one of the most fun times I’ve had in the studio,” David says.

“We didn’t really have time constraints, we had months to go through about 37 demos. We took the time to find where the soul of the album was and I think the results are really good. A lot of this was easier than recording the other (albums), because we took songs that were really affected by the ’80s production, with synth sounding strings, crappy keyboard sounds and bad drum machines. We took them out and put in the influence of real instruments and I think it shows the songwriting was really good in this period.”

David says the concept for Let’s Go actually began during the lead-up to one of his previous efforts, the ’60s blue-eyed soul of 2008’s Good Lovin’.

A gospel remake of Wham’s I’m Your Man was on the cards back then, but the idea was shelved until he hit the studio for his most recent outing.

“I’m Your Man is a perfect pop song, but we thought, what if it had a Blues Brothers or James Brown church feel and gospel elements lying underneath?,” he says.

Having completed a series of albums tackling his favourite tunes, ranging from the swing era to the ’80s, David says the hard thing to know is what to do next.

“I think next time round it will be finding some of my other favourites and trying to do them in a different way than I’ve done with the last five albums. We’ll have to see,” he says.

When he hits the stage next week, David promises all the trimmings of an ’80s stage spectacular, from the music, through to the set, lighting, costumes and live band.

“People might have seen my show before, but they’ve never seen it like this,” David says with a laugh.

>> David Campbell presents Let’s Go at Brothers World of Entertainment on Wednesday, June 27, from 7.30pm. Tickets are $60, from brotherscairns.com.au or 4053 1053.

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