Melbourne singer-songwriter Phia has toured Europe and taught music in sub-zero temperatures.
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The pop musician moved home to Australia about a year ago after four-and-a-half years in Berlin.
She will headline Suttons House of Music with fellow independent singer-songwriter Georgia Fields next month.
“It was like 100 per cent I really wanted to be back in Melbourne,” Phia said.
“Melbourne has such an incredible music community and I had a really incredible time in Berlin and learned so much and did a lot of touring but Berlin is such a transient city. After being there for four-and-a-half years I thought I really wanted to be somewhere where people are committed to the place.”
Field and Phia met at an open night mic in Paris six years ago. Phia went on to feature in Field’s single Open Orange.
Their set will “reimagine” their most recent albums – Phia’s The Ocean of Everything and Field’s Astral Debris.
“This tour with Georgia is trying to bring us both to the next level where we’d really like to be, we’d both really like to have more international fan bases. This is teaming up what we have to share.”
German audiences were “incredibly open” and supportive of live music regardless of whether they knew the artist, Phia said.
“There’s a real do-it-yourself vibe in the folk scene there where you pack the smallest bag that you can if you get invited to a gig anywhere in Europe you can just jump on a plane and do your thing,” she said.
“There’s this sense that what you have is worthwhile and I think that’s what I really learned from being in Germany.
“There was this real sense that what you do is great so if you get invited to do a show it’s worth doing in any way you can you don’t have to buy a big plane ticket or make sure all your band members can come.”
Phia and Georgia will play Suttons House of Music on their Sky and Sea National Tour with special guests Tiaryn and Arian Lane on Thursday, July 6. Tickets are $15 at the door. Doors open at 7.30pm. For more information visit www.suttonshouseofmusic.com.au.