BROOKE McCLYMONT AND ADAM ECKERSLEY – UP, DOWN AND SIDEWAYS TOUR

Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley have had a big 2023. Taking home three awards at this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival, being nominated for an ARIA Award, winning Song of the Year with Star of the Show which was co-written with their then 10-year-old daughter Tiggy Heart, (who is now the youngest person ever to have won a Golden Guitar Award), and being recognised by Apple Music for Single of the Year with their song Memory Lane, Brooke and Adam have accomplished a lot in the past 12 months. So what does next year look like? Well, according to Brooke, 2024 is shaping up to be one of their most exciting years yet. 

She’s funny, she’s easygoing, she’s down to earth, and she’s incredibly grateful to be making a living doing what she loves – this is Brooke McClymont. 

You may recognise her from the 2022 season of the reality TV Show, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Maybe you recognise her as one third of the chart-topping trio, The McClymonts, who’ve won two ARIA Awards, 15 Golden Guitar Awards and four #1 ARIA Country Album awards (to name a few). Or perhaps, more recently, you know her as one half of Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley, who were just nominated for five awards at the 2024 Tamworth Country Music Awards. Either way, you’ll know that Brooke loves nothing more than getting among the regional communities that have helped make her dreams come true. 

Stoked to be getting on the road in 2024, Brooke, Adam and their two children can’t wait to begin their journey across Australia, bringing their Up, Down and Sideways tour to a regional town near you. 

So where did it all begin for you?

Adam and I are both from Grafton, so I grew up there. In a nutshell, I guess you could say that I started singing when I was 11 years old. I entered and won a talent quest and from there I got into the talent quest scene. That was until someone from Universal Records saw me singing at the Gympie Muster back in 1998 and offered me a record deal. I’ve been in the music industry ever since and I haven’t looked back. 

I then later played with my sisters Samantha and Mollie as The McClymonts, but since COVID-19, Adam and I have been touring together and it’s been so great travelling with the kids and being able to do everything as a family. We’ve had a great life through music and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. 

What's been your most memorable performance so far?

Oh gosh, I don’t know, there’s been so many. We’ve lived in America and played at the Grand Ole Opry which was amazing. But over the past 20 years, I think the best gigs we do are when we go to regional areas and actually meet the fans. I feel like sometimes people from country towns feel so starved for live music that when we play in a town, everyone comes out in droves because they appreciate that we made the effort to go to them. At the end of the day, any gig where we still get to say we do music as a job is a good gig. Adam and I genuinely love travelling around and meeting everyone. 

You were recently nominated for the Golden Guitar Awards for your new album Up, Down and Sideways, could you tell us a little about that?

Yeah, so we've just found out that we’ve been nominated for five Golden Guitar Awards in next year's Tamworth Country Music Festival. We've been nominated for Single of the Year, New Groups or Duo of the Year, Song of the Year, Toyota Album of the Year and Contemporary Country Album of the Year. 

That’s Incredible! How do you feel?

We’re so excited and happy! You don’t expect to ever be nominated I guess, but when you do, it’s still as exciting as the very first time you get nominated or win something. We’re absolutely over the moon. We were also nominated for an ARIA this year and while we didn’t get it, we were stoked to be in the top five. For us to now have five nominations in the January 2024 Golden Guitar Awards – it's like the icing on the cake.

You and Adam have had a big year this year. What does next year look like? 

Yes! We’ve had such a big year, but it's been so good. We’re just happy that we still get to do what we know and love. 

Next year is going to be big too. We've just announced our massive Up, Down and Sideways tour and can't wait to start that. From the Tamworth Country Music Festival, we pretty much go everywhere until the end of May – this time, our 11-year-old and our three-year-old will be in tow. We’ve also partnered with Prime Edge Caravans who are housing us in this amazing caravan, and Andrew Miedecke RAM in Port Macquarie who’ll be driving us. They’ve both been absolutely amazing in helping us out.

After the tour, Adam and I start our Hang at the Wangs which has already sold out – we only host it over winter because it’s too hot to do it any other time. We’re also playing at a bunch of great festivals next year, but they haven’t been announced yet… so yeah, it's going to be a jam-packed year. Again, we’re just so happy – we’re musos so we just love doing what we do. There’s never a dull moment. 

I recently listened to your song Star of the Show, could you tell us a little about that? 

Our daughter Tiggy Heart actually came up with that piano rift. When we asked her if we could write a song using it, she said ‘How much money are you going to give me?’. She was about six or seven at the time. We told her ‘Oh god, we live in a shed. It’s not about that, but would you like to sit down and write it with us?’ and she did. We decided to write the song about her because she came up with the melody, then, at this year’s Golden Guitar Awards (2023), we won Song of the Year. At 10 years old, Tiggy is the youngest person ever to win a Golden Guitar Award. We’re so proud of her. 

What's your favourite thing about being a musician?

I love it because it’s never boring – you have your times when you're recording the albums, so you're in the studio for a few months, then once that's over, you book a tour and you’re on the road. There's always something exciting going on. When we’re touring, our landscape is constantly changing – we’re going to awards and we’re meeting new people – I love it. I know when I tell other people this they say, ‘Oh my God, that sounds so exhausting.’ I still laugh because I get to call this my job – It's quite funny and I love it because I don't think I'd be good at anything else.

Okay, here’s a funny one. What’s the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you while on tour? 

(Laughs) I haven’t had any stalkers thank God and I hope no one ever does! But the weirdest request I’ve ever had was someone asking me to sign a seven-day-old baby’s head. To be honest, I don’t think I did it because it made me feel really uncomfortable and I didn’t want the ink going through the baby’s brain. I said ‘Look… I just can’t.’ 

What’s the best advice you can give an aspiring musician?

Trust your gut. I always say there's enough room for everybody in every industry, but especially ours because it’s the only one I know (laughs).

You have people you look up to and people who inspire you, but you should also always have your own flair – find your thing. Music is subjective so if someone doesn't like you, it doesn't matter because the next person might love you, and that's the great thing – you don't have to please everybody.

Dreaming of hanging out with Brooke and Adam?

Now’s your chance! Buy tickets to the Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley show in Tamworth on 25 January 2024 and go into the running to win an exclusive pre-show hang with them at Blazes. The catch? You need to buy your tickets before 20 December 2023. Get to it!

For more info, click here. 

Can’t make it to Tamworth? Don’t fret. Brooke and Adam have shows lined up right across the country. Click here to see them play live in a town near you.