A CONVERSATION WITH... ZIGGY ALBERTS
Come in and get to know Ziggy Alberts, the Sunshine Coast’s not-so-hidden gem. He already has his shoes off and his guitar out!
Why do something if you don’t love it?
Everyone’s favourite artists have probably said ‘I’d rather be doing this than anything else’ and it’s normally accompanied by a glance at an inbox full of unread urgent emails, a schedule that leaves barely enough time to sleep, and days that are filled with things beyond your wildest dreams.
And you couldn’t imagine doing anything else because you love it.
Ziggy Alberts is a prime example of giving something your all because it’s all you could ever understand. You see a sun-kissed surfer with a well-trimmed moustache stroll on stage with his guitar and the second that first note rings out, you know why his parents gave him a guitar. When you scroll through his catalogue and see expansive projects with contemplative lyrics and uplifting melodies, you see why he seems to always be on international tours filled with adoring fans of all ages. When you sit down with him, even for a minute, you begin to comprehend why people rave about his kindness and his talent in the same breath.
“One of my favourite memories from the last twelve months was how I met this family. This sister contacted me on Instagram and told me that her brother died out of the blue. He was my age and they were both going to attend my show in Amsterdam together. But instead, they played my songs as they turned off his life support.” He pauses, taking a second to glance down at the bustling streets of Kentish Town before turning his comforting eyes back to me.
“I ended up meeting her, her parents, her siblings in Amsterdam and we laughed, we cried, and I take his picture in my backpack all around the world with me. We’re all gonna see each other next time I’m in Amsterdam, too.”
“It’s one thing to be there in people’s joy and it’s another thing to be there in their grief. And I know in different areas of my grief, music’s been a great friend to me. So to be such an intimate part of people’s lives, through their births and their deaths, is a very touching thing.”
So who is the person that unites these strangers across the globe in these intimate moments?
He is the man with the acoustic guitar who goes barefoot on stage, the one who does yoga outside his tour bus, and the one who will look at every person in a room like they are the most special person he’s ever met. I have a strong feeling that he sees what makes each person special, too.
He’s also the man whose first major love affair with music came from Wheatus’s ‘Teenage Dirtbag’.
“I think that song comes from a golden era of pop music and music in general, it’s great! You wouldn’t necessarily believe it, but before creating music myself, I was really into some pop punk and underground rap crews from Australia. And then I discovered Ben Howard and that changed everything for me. His music really opened up a whole new world for me. His album Every Kingdom is on during every road trip and really inspires my nature songs and love songs.”
Music, for Ziggy, is a way to discuss his vested interest in human relationships and humanity. While he does that in many ways, like through his vlogs and poetry, music lets him interact with fans on both their terms. “Love songs and anything about relationships with somebody can be a metaphor for anything. In one of my songs, I talk about my connection to Australia and I use a relationship between two people.” Or like his song, ‘Runaway’ which is one of his most popular songs. “I don’t know why the Spotify gods have allowed it, but it’s about to hit 100 million streams. It’s really struck a chord with people but I’m glad people are discovering it more. And if they haven’t, it’s the perfect song to listen to when you’re in your friend’s passenger seat and going on an adventure. That’s how I’ve had the best music experiences in my adult life.”
But music wasn’t the original path. Dentistry, engineering, and even freelance surf journalism were.
Since he was home-schooled before high school at 13, he got to explore his passions in a very home-schooled way. “The type where you spend just as many hours doing schoolwork as you do climbing trees,” he jokes. From surfing and skate competitions to studying science, he was sorting out how to follow his dreams after he left school.
Trying his hand at journalism, Ziggy admits he talked his way into one of his first few positions. “It was called Ziggy’s Corner for a surf mag, which was a cool gig for a kid to have. And then I hassled this major magazine into an internship… I think they gave it to me just to shut me up, but it worked.”
For a man so accomplished across so many fields, he’s quick to brush off his success. Though, as he admits, music is helping him see his own successes and trust himself more in the process, and aftermath, of creating.
“I’m getting better at signing off and knowing when something is good or done. There’s an alternate world where I sit and work on projects for another six months and hate them, but then there’s this world where I’m just letting go and trying to be wise again. I used to be more wise, then I got silly, and now I’m really just trying to be wise again.”
Even though he might be publicly more nonchalant, it’s beyond crystal clear that Ziggy is grateful for all the opportunities music has given him, and he’s using them to lead by example in following his dreams.
He is still an independent artist, even on the back of a third world tour, a growing team, a publishing house, and a label (just to name a few things). “I’ve been told a lot of ‘no you can’t’s’ and I want to prove that you can. People said I couldn’t play originals at the start of my career and that I had to focus on covers. I just didn’t think that was true. They said I couldn’t do shows across the UK or Europe via Instagram, and I was like, ‘are you sure?’. I just have this cheeky feeling in me that lights me up when someone says I can’t. Because now I have to do it.”
“Maybe one day I won’t be independent. Maybe I’ll fall, fail, stumble uphill. I want to be as true to me as I can through and with my art, and maybe people can take something from that.”
So in the mission to do it all, he’s using that publishing house to publish his poetry books, like brainwaves and sun memos, both books giving a deeper insight to who the artist is. sun memos, in particular, dives deep into Ziggy’s realisations while on tour and at home. And so does his upcoming album, New Love, that dives even deeper into the surfer’s thoughts around self-worth, second chances, and the intricate aspects of modern life. And though he has spent years of his life baring his soul, he doesn’t leave it all on the table.
“You do put up a bit of a barrier, keep some things just for yourself and your loved ones, but I try to be who I am as a person on stage and off stage. I guess on stage now, especially with the crowds I have, I don’t want to waffle on about things. Not from a ‘being cancelled’ point, but just knowing that they came for the music. They don’t always want to hear about everything else.”
I ask if he wants to share the everything else, as if not now, when?
Since he grew up surfing, clean water and water protection are two important issues to Ziggy. “As you grow up, you go through these phases of utopic youthful vision of the world, then you go through your relative cynicism because there’s so much greenwashing as much as there is the opposite of greenwashing. There’s the military-industrial complex that profits off the earth’s destruction and people can just get so easily disillusioned. It’s easy to. But there are people doing good things to help, like one of the organisations I’m working with. It’s called The Great Barrier Reef Legacy and they’re collecting every species of coral to preserve them. Coral is incredible because you can take a little piece of it and it can start again. And I want to keep supporting them, you know, they had an idea and wanted to bring it to life and they did!”
As he pours us both a glass of London tap water, it brings him to his second point. “But also I want to talk about clean water and how important that is. I mean, the other day we were swimming in Switzerland and there was clean swimming water in the middle of the city. And it shows that it’s possible, not just for a major sporting event. I’d love to help bring clean drinking water to people if I could. Even where I’m from, sometimes you can’t even swim in the ocean because of what comes out of the river. Don’t quote me on this, but I’ve heard that if we want to clean an ocean, we should clean a river to start. It starts something something small to change the future.”
By his words and his actions, Ziggy lives by what he says and writes. Growing up with a big family, connecting to the ocean through surfing, and travelling the world thanks to his music has kept him on a path that people feel connected to at all stages in their lives. “Writing is my core expression of self and that’s how people connect to me, too.”
“People have me on their birthing playlists. I’m actually one of the most requested artists at my local hospital, which is my big claim to fame. It’s so sweet that people want me and my music as part of these moments. I see kids that were born to these songs and then come to my concerts and they’re singing all the words. And they’re not conditioned yet to like something because they have to like it. They just like it. I’ve achieved all I could want to achieve with moments like that.”
But there was one more moment that’s on that ‘I made it’ list that happened recently. Right before this tour, Ziggy and his brother went on their dream surf trip. “It had some of the most challenging waves that I’ve ever surfed in my life. And it was great. It’s largely thanks to my music that I can have the time, afford to do it, and create music videos with my brother on our adventures. It’s my favourite thing because we get to keep doing it.”