Indigenous rockers record third album in outback shed

It has been decades since the Spinifex people were forcefully moved off their ancestral lands for the Maralinga nuclear tests in the 1950s. 

For Indigenous songwriter James (Jay) Minning, writing about those struggles while on country in Western Australia's Great Victoria Desert has provided something of a musical awakening.  

"My people have been fighting for that land, to get it back, and that's what's made me really interested in the land and that's why I keep writing songs about our land," he said.

"Everything you write down ... it's good to get the message out there in rock 'n' roll." 

Third album in works

Minning is the lead singer of outback four-piece The Desert Stars, which has just finished a dozen new tracks for the band's third album in what could be the most remote recording project in the world.

The band members grew up together at Cundalee and Tjuntjuntjarra, about 650 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Since their 2003 self-titled debut album, The Desert Stars have toured extensively around the country, developing a cult following in remote communities.

An appearance in the 2022 documentary Gravel Road, which followed the band on one of its remote tours, also raised their profile.

With band members living between Tjuntjuntjarra and Kalgoorlie-Boulder, it can be difficult to get them together long enough to learn new songs. 

But for a couple of weeks in September, the band gathered in Ilkurlka to lay down tracks for the third album, due out sometime next year.  

The remote outpost is a lifeline for outback travellers along the Anne Beadell Highway, an unsealed track stretching 1,300km between Laverton, WA and Cooper Pedy, South Australia. 

It is widely considered to be Australia's most isolated roadhouse.

"It's remote, no-one's there, only the sound of nature and it's the way we like it to get the raw sound of it," Minning said. 

"It's healing being out there, you're healed and you're ready to go."

Recording in a shed

Tamworth-based musician and producer Leigh Ivin has been recording The Desert Stars in between stints managing the Ilkurka Roadhouse.  

"I'd imagine it would be one of the most remote recording projects happening in the world right now," Ivin said. 

"It's very hard to say, there's lots of variable definitions of that, but I would say that's not a stretch."

Ivin helped produce The Desert Stars's second album, which was recorded in 2016 at Wingellina in the Indigenous-owned studios of NG Media. 

The songs for the third album were recorded in a less traditional acoustic environment, inside a large steel shed normally used to store machinery at Ilkurka. 

Ivin said it added to the album's authenticity, despite the fact recording had to be suspended several times due to rain on the tin roof.  

"We're not in some slick studio where everything is controlled, or a sterile environment," he said. 

"We're in quite an authentic environment, where you can step outside and walk straight back into the desert again. 

"Sometimes we opened the doors and looked at the view. If it's a nice, still day, we would open the doors and let the sun in, and it's a natural way to do it.

"It does sound better than you'd think it would [in a shed]."  

Lead guitarist Desmond Anderson echoed those sentiments.  

"It's pretty peaceful, had a good feeling and good to be back on country where my elders walked ...  it's a privilege and an honour," he said. 

"It definitely [comes across in the recording], just beautiful."

De facto manager

For Ian Baird, who has been involved with the band since 2003 and acted as a de facto manager, The Desert Stars's connection to country has never been in doubt.  

Baird recalled how Minning was a natural performer, having made himself a makeshift stage as a child at Cundelee, while it was his father who carved him his first guitar out of wood. 

He said they faced ongoing challenges interacting with the mainstream. 

"This is their country, they were invaded and they are pretty much treated like second-class citizens ... refugees in their own country," he said. 

"I think they invented the word resilience. It throws back to pre-contact days. 

"You had to be strong, resilient, knowledgeable about country ... because life in the desert with little food and water was all about survival. 

"We have these artistic talents that the outside world often don't know about, and they've got something to offer."  

With most members of The Desert Stars now in their mid to late 40s, the band is evolving again.   

"It's a blast for me to perform live. It's a childhood dream," Anderson said.  

"It's really good to play on country ... we're tribal people."

And on the occasion when an audience knows the words to a song written by Minning?

"There's no words to explain that, it's just a smile ... seeing that is good because someone got the message," he said.

"We're not the only Aboriginal band out there. People in the cities don't realise there's a lot of rock 'n' roll bands out there ... if they get the chance then they will see how much talent they've got at a young age."