Get to Know Australian Artist and Musician Jodi Phillis (of groups such as The Clouds, The Dearhunters, and The Glamma Rays)

Born in 1965 Jodi Phillis grew up in a creative, loving family. Her American mother, Juni being a professional singer. Whilst her Australian father, Brian was a cameraman and director. After a happy childhood spent between America and Australia, Jodi settled full time in Australia with her parents and younger sister Carrie.

Knowing she always wanted to be an artist and musician, Jodi struggled at high school. Blossoming after leaving home and studying art. With Jodi first coming to prominence in the early 1990s through her work with The Clouds. A band who are much loved to this very day for their unique indie rock, willingness to experiment, and dual vocal stylings – thanks to fellow member Patricia (Trish) Young.
After The Clouds took an extended hiatus in the late 1990s, Jodi teamed up with Tim Oxley, her now ex husband, father of her 2nd daughter, and fellow musician; for many years in groups such as The Dearhunters and Roger Loves Betty. Whilst also pursuing a solo carer to much acclaim.

Coupled with Jodi’s musical talents is her artistic ability – Which she first pursued professionally before her music career via a job at iconic street wear brand Mambo in the 1980s. A pursuit that Jodi has recently returned to with aplomb. Creating sumptuous and yet somehow foreboding paintings. Many of which focus on household interiors and objects.

Lately Jodi is continuing her solo music career; whilst also sporadically playing with a reformed Clouds, composing music for film and tv, and pursuing her passion for art. All from her new homebase in Bendigo. A town she shares with friend, artist and fellow Aither interview subject, Mary Leunig.

Wanting to get to know Jodi better, and peel back the layers of a multifaceted woman; we sent her some questions to answer over email.
Explore her world, below…

Getting Acquainted

Name and date of birth?

Jodi Phillis.
11^th of April 1965.

City, state, and country you currently call home?

Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.

City, state, and country you are from?

Born in Melbourne, grew up in Los Angeles, USA; and Sydney.

To help us to get to know you – Please share a memory, or two, or more if you wish; from the stages of your life noted below:

* Your childhood:

I had a pretty happy childhood. My younger sister Carrie and I grew up in a creative, loving home, full of family, music, movies, theatre, art and laughs.

I spent most of my childhood drawing, singing, listening to music and wandering around in the bushland across the street from our house in Chatswood, Sydney.
I was in a choir from 7 til 13 years of age, The Small World Singers. I learned so much about the fundamentals of singing – breathing, pitching, annunciating, and harmonies from that experience. At such a young age, it became natural.

Our mother Juni was American. She sang with her two sisters in an LA doo-wop group called The Starr Sisters. They performed throughout their childhood and went on to record in some fine Hollywood studios with some of the best industry professionals. The Wrecking Crew played on their songs.
They toured the world supporting Sammy Davis Jr and other world class performers. They sang on tv variety shows, which is how my mother met my father.

Brian started out as a cameraman at GTV9 in Melbourne, working on ‘In Melbourne Tonight’, ‘The Graham Kennedy Show’, and ‘The Bert Newton Show’. The Starr Sisters performed on the show and Dad fell in love with Juni at first sight.
He followed her across the ocean and eventually they married and had me in Melbourne in 1965.

Soon after, Dad landed a job as cameraman at CBS in Hollywood so we moved to ‘the valley’ in Los Angeles. My sister was born three years after.
During that time Dad worked on shows with incredible artists such as Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Judy Garland.

Five years later he was offered the job as a director on Number 96, so we moved back to Australia and anchored ourselves in Sydney’s north shore for most of our school years.

We made a lot of trips back to LA at Christmas time to be with our American family. These were some of the most magical times I can remember.
My mother’s family are German Jews who immigrated to New York, USA in the late 1800’s, then later moved to California.

Our Dad married again when we were adults and we have a younger half-brother Benji in Phoenix, AZ, USA who we are very close to.

All of this sounds like an idyllic childhood, but Dad’s mood swings were really intense and scary. He suffered with undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
Sometimes he was the most brilliant, funny, creative, charming man, and sometimes his temper tantrums and crippling depression made life at home very difficult. It has certainly affected me. It was like living with a volcano.
I loved him very much and looked up to him like a god. I knew his mood swings came from being pretty much abandoned as a child, so in my own way, I tried to make him happy.
I think I did this through trying to be a good artist and musician, for these were the things that made him happy.
He was born on the eve of the second world war. His Dad was a Padre in the army. His Mum was labelled ‘hysterical’ and sent to the loony bin for the rest of her life when dad was 5 – so little Brian lived his entire school years as a boarder at Geelong Grammar, often not even going home for holidays.

Our mother was an angel, wise and loving, our best friend. She had a lot to juggle in our household.
Mom, Carrie and I are like a sacred soul triangle, connected in a deep way.

* Your teenage years:

School was ok when I was young but when I became a teenager I just hated it… a lot.
I wagged most days and couldn’t be less interested. I knew I wanted to be an artist and a musician and there was nothing school could offer me.

I became withdrawn and depressed at around 15 years old and my mother took me to a lovely psychiatrist named Anne. I liked her a lot. She didn’t medicate me, just taught me some mindfulness and cognitive behavioural stuff.
Anne was the first of a long line of therapists.

My friends and I started listening to prog-rock, taking acid, smoking pot and drinking.
At 15 my parents sent me away to live with my aunt and uncle in California for a year to get me away from my naughty friends. I guess it worked because when I returned to Australia I went to a visual arts school and then got a job at Mambo Graphics.

When I was 17 my parents lost everything in the stock market crash.
The house, the car, all their money, gone.
They split up soon after that.
I was already living away from home by then but that was a huge family catastrophe. Somehow though I always saw it as a blessing, showing us how to appreciate what truly matters in life.
It prepared me for living the art life, that’s for sure!

Most people working at Mambo were in bands, ‘Mental As Anything’, ‘Hoodoo Gurus’, ‘Sunnyboys’, ‘Flaming Hands’ etc. It was a stimulating environment.
The Clouds were formed there.
Peter Oxley from The Sunnyboys introduced me to Trish Young and the rest as they say is history.

* Your 20s:

I worked at Mambo while I was honing my musical skills on the side.
Once The Clouds were formed things moved very quickly. After less than a year of writing songs and playing gigs around Sydney, The Clouds had a manager, an agent, publishing and recording deals. We were up and running as professional musicians, so I left Mambo.

We toured relentlessly over the next eight years. Not sure how many times we toured around Australia… A lot!
We had a manager in London and another one in San Francisco plus our three managers in Sydney.
We lived in London for 6 months and San Francisco for 6 months. We recorded a lot of songs and generally had a bloody awesome time.

We lived in each other’s pockets and had some tension but we were a tight unit.
Our originality and creative vision was the priority, which put us at loggerheads with the industry at times. Oh well.

All the touring had a toll on my mental health.
Due to insomnia, anxiety and depression I quit the band in 1997.
I also was pregnant – I felt a real need to make my own albums with a much more laid back, folky vibe.

* Your 30s:

In 1998 I had my first daughter, Ivy with The Clouds drummer Raph. We lived in the Blue Mountains and then moved to Bundeena, an isolated sleepy beach town in Sydney’s south.
We formed The Dearhunters with Tim Oxley and Greg Hitchcock and made one beautiful album, ‘Red Wine and Blue’.

After a few years I was a single mum.
It was hard bringing up a child while trying to be a working musician. The two roles just don’t fit together.

Eventually I married Tim Oxley and I had my second daughter Harmony. We moved to the beautiful Illawarra.
Tim and I made two albums as Roger Loves Betty, made a lot of music for TV, and I continued to make solo albums.

* Your 40s:

We moved to the Huon Valley in Tasmania for a year and ended up moving back to the mainland as I missed my family too much and found Tassie to be too isolated. MONA didn’t exist yet.
I had some post-natal depression at that time.

I worked very hard throughout my 40’s recording albums, playing gigs and making music for the screen.

I formed The Glamma Rays with Malika Reese, Genevieve Davis and Tiffany Sinton. It was a delightful experience, arranging and singing close harmonies with dear friends.
Audiences loved us and we loved them. We played for six years and made one album and an EP.

I decided to become a proper screen composer and went to AFTRS. I loved every second of that course.
I teamed up with some incredible composers including Caitlin Yeo and Amanda Brown to write orchestral music. ‘Seven Stories’ and ‘Encounter’ premiered at major arts festivals and really challenged me as a composer!
That period of life was highly creative and action packed.

* Your 50s:

The year before I turned 50 my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died 11 months later at the age of 71. That was an intensely painful time.
We were with her pretty much every day, massaging her, singing with her, loving her, while she faded away.

Dad died of prostate cancer the following year at 75. He was living in a village in Brazil at the time. I had to get him out of there and back to NYC where he had been living and receiving cancer treatment for ten years.
This is just too long and complicated a story to tell here… maybe a book?!

Anyway, this was easily the most difficult and treacherous period of my life.
It broke me.

It was at this time that doctors began suggesting I may be bipolar. It took me years to take the diagnosis seriously.

I recorded a solo album ‘Becoming’ which expresses the grief/menopause/madness convergence. Fuck!
Fun times.

During Covid I left my marriage.

I was staying with a friend and we got out the water colour paints, as you do during a pandemic. As soon as I started painting I felt calm, happy even.
This was the beginning of the love affair of my life. I kept painting and went on to have two exhibitions.

I made another solo album, ‘We Need To Be Free’ with Damien Lane, this time about the marriage break up.
So much was going on at that time. The stress was too much.
I was busy composing for the screen when I had a bit of a nervous breakdown.

After that, we sold our house in Wollongong and I looked for a nice town where I could afford to buy a character filled old house, settle down and live a quiet artist’s life, as stress free as possible.
I chose Bendigo, Victoria and I love it.
It was a big, bold move. I’m a long way from my daughters (now adults) who I miss a lot, my family, my besties and the beach!
Luckily I’ve met great people here.
I feel strangely at home in Central Victoria.
We have a lot of ancestral heritage in the Goldfields. It’s like I’ve been summoned.

* Your 60s so far:

So far, so good!
I’m now taking weekly oil painting classes with David Moore in a little old church in Elphinstone and working up a body of work.

I love living in the Victorian Goldfields. I’m surrounded by beautiful country, gorgeous old houses and grand Victorian era buildings. I have a pussycat called Fufu who is a beautiful boy.
I paint and garden and make music with people I feel completely in sync with.
I’ve fallen in love.

I have a job two days a week as a creative facilitator for people with disabilities. It’s awesome work.

I seem to have my mental health under control.
A bit of lithium helps, as well as a regular routine, sobriety (mostly), exercise, connection with loved ones and painting.

Personal motto(s)?

“Fuck it, go the bucket“, is a favourite saying that I keep coming back to.
Hopefully you will understand this. It made sense to me after I had my first and only bucket bong many years ago.
It just means, “Dream big and bloody go for it!!“

“I might die tomorrow“, is a handy one for giving myself the green light to do something stupid.
haha.

What role did toys play in your childhood?
… and any favourites you remember?

I did love my Barbie dolls. We had a lot of fun with them.
We enjoyed throwing naked Barbies over a high brick wall in our backyard and seeing them fly over our heads in funny positions.

I loved my green Malvern Star bike.
Oh and my Winnie the Pooh teddy bear which I have just rediscovered. He sits on my bed.

Creativity Questions

When and why did you first become interested in music, art, and everything creative?
… and any pivotal moments or influences?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t that way. I remember when we first moved back to Australia I briefly went to St Kilda Rd Public School which was rough as. I was drawing pictures on the floor with pastels while the teacher was talking about something really boring and I got in big trouble.

I made all the cards for family members’ birthdays and stuff. And drew portraits of family members.
Our mother had the most beautiful singing voice and she would sing to us. When I was in choir I would always be bossing my sister and mother around to do three part harmonies.

Our Dad would sit and listen to classical and jazz music by the fire. I could see how it soothed him and transported him to inner worlds of beauty and romance.
I guess I am a lot like my father.

I loved art from as early as I can remember. I was about 5 when I first saw Hieronymus Bosch paintings in a book when we were at a dinner party.
It shocked and titillated me.

Art, music and nature.
There is not much else I’m truly interested in.

Who are some of your favourite artists, filmmakers, musicians, and writers?
…and what is it about their works that inspire and move you?

The Beatles – free expression of emotions and spirituality.
They had direct access to the music of the spheres.

Elton John – my first musical crush when I was 9 or 10.
Great melodies, don’t give a fuck attitude, humour.

Vali Myers – fiercely individual, powerful, beautiful, Goddess energy, passionate environmentalist.

Mary Leunig – truth teller, brave, true to her art.
The most punk artist I think who ever lived.

Neil Young – staunch musical story teller, one of a kind voice, awesome presence and confidence.
Thought provoking lyrics that make me feel stoned without having to be stoned.

Pixies – Fresh, brash, magic chord progressions, strange, imaginative lyrics, inventive arrangements yet still catchy and melodic.

Cardiacs – Fucking nuts and true genius.
Sounds like the universe coming undone.

David Lynch – able to convey nightmares like no one else can.

Judee Sill – genius, divine, very deep.

Brian Wilson – genius, inspired, innocent, childlike vibes.

Schubert – some of his work gives me goosebumps over and over again.

Ennio Morricone – ground breaking, influential, hard working, trail blazing genius.

Billie Holiday – cool as fuck.
Transformed her pain into pure class.

Tim Winton – such a powerful, romantic voice, full of integrity and honesty.

Herman Hesse – dwells in the internal landscape, full of archetypes and darkness.
I love that stuff.

Paul Thomas Anderson – completely brilliant on every level.

Please share with us some tales from your work at Mambo during their early years!

It was generally a den of male creativity and humour. I met so many great people there and looking back I can see what an important hub of Australian culture it truly was.
I witnessed some very funny moments. Everyone was a clown.

I enjoyed my time there and felt privileged to be working alongside Reg Mombassa who is one of the greatest artists I’ve known.

If people wanted to check out your stuff, work with you, or buy some of your wares – Where should they visit and how should they get in touch?

This is my linktree where you can find out about pretty much everything I do.

If you follow me on socials, I post stuff kind of regularly.

Website – https://www.jodiphillis.com/

Any news, upcoming projects, or releases to share?

Right now I’m working on an album with my beautiful and talented friend Rebecca Barnard. It’s very raw lyrically, a little humorous at times. It has a kind of 70’s folk style. Lots of harmonies.
We will start recording very soon.

I’m also working on a collection of Goth-Pop songs with my partner Dean Stanton as Jung Lovers. Dean is a multi-instrumentalist and all round creative clever person.
We have released one song and video called ‘Walking In the Dark.’
Our second song ‘Red Blooded Mary’ will be released very soon.
We love collaborating. We aim to find the very centre point of where our two creative minds meet. If anything falls outside of that point, we chuck it.
We spend a lot of time talking about the songs and the arrangements. It takes us ages to make a song but hey, we’re not in a hurry. We’d like to make a video for every song.

There is a Gothic-Pagan flavoured album in the works called ‘Vali, My Love’.
I’m collaborating with Italian poet Gianni Menichetti on a collection of songs celebrating the great Vali Myers. Vali has been one of the most inspirational characters of my life. I discovered her when I was 14 and could see that she was living the life of freedom she dreamed of. I wanted to do that too.
I have become friends with Gianni, her long-time partner and keeper of the wild valley in Positano, Italy, where she lived.
Gianni’s poems are incredible jewels of literature… full of darkness and longing and fiercely devoted to mother earth. Creating melodies and musical backdrops to these words is such an honour and a great responsibility.

The Clouds will be touring in November to celebrate our 35^th Anniversary and might even record some new stuff.

I’ll have an exhibition of oil paintings early next year.

Odds & Ends

If you could live in any place, during any historical era – When and where would that be?
… and why would you choose that time and place?

I am always drawn to the Medieval times in Europe/Great Britain – you know Merlin, Avalon, witches, knights, magic, horses, pagan worship, conical hats, beautiful castles, enchanted forests, mushrooms, oak trees, lutes ‘n flutes.
That’s the realm I belong in.

What are the top 3 items you own?
… and what is it about each of them that you so love?

My house.
It’s an old miners cottage in Bendigo, partially renovated by none other than John Foy of Red Eye Records! Next year it will be 150 years old!
There must have been dozens of people, mostly gold miners and their families I assume, who lived and died within these walls. It doesn’t feel haunted at all which I find amazing.
It has a huge old garden which I’m working on a bit at a time.
It feels enchanted, like it’s always been my house. I love it dearly.

An old wooden stool.
My Dad bought this old stool at some junk store. Maybe he found it on the side of the road, who knows.
He was always restoring old things, polishing brass, sanding back old furniture. Our homes were always old and full of beautiful bric-a-brac. I’m continuing the tradition.
My mother would sit on this stool in the kitchen and chat. She really liked it.
I’m glad I still have it.

My leather jackets.
One old brown bomber jacket which I bought on tour with The Clouds in the early 90’s. It was from the Kempsey Salvos, $12.
One black one that I found at the Mount Alexander Animal Welfare Op Shop in Castlemaine. It makes me feel part motorcycle racer and part James Bond girl.

If you had to sum up your home-country, Australia, in one object – What would it be?
Why did you choose it?
… and how does it represent Australia to you?

Weird and confronting question…
First thing that comes to mind is a little wooden dingy or lifeboat.
This beautiful, ancient country is home to millions of people living far, far away from their ancestral home. And it is home to the few remaining people who’s true home it actually is.
There is so much sadness in that. And courage.

The Saints song ‘Stranded’ so well describes the feeling of being stuck somewhere, a long way from home. That’s what Australia feels like in a way… to us immigrants anyway, even though I am deeply in love with this place.

Maybe the dingy represents a kind of safe passage to one’s inner homeland.
I don’t know, I’m analysing my waking dream!

Please describe your last dream in detail…

I hardly ever remember dreams…

What does God mean to you?

I’m not scared of the word, in fact I love the word God.
It’s strange because most of my friends and partners have been atheists. It has always been something I have felt misunderstood about, so let me explain….

I feel like the word God means ‘the unsolvable mystery’, ‘the great unknown’, the invisible glue that keeps everything together, infinite intelligence, the light in our eyes, the love in our hearts, the reason why we dream.
God is the light and the love and the desire to connect with each other.
It’s the reason we evolve.
It’s the reason I paint and write songs. I want to capture the divine light. I want to capture the deep feelings we find so hard to handle, so hard to express. I am fine with ‘God’ being the word that holds all of this.

I don’t see God as “The Creator” or anything like that. I mean who the fuck knows!

It’s an untestable belief, or not even a belief, it’s a feeling.

I have such deep mystical feelings and insights.
I am not going to squash them down and say that they are just human folly, or madness and that they don’t mean anything.

I do love science, don’t get me wrong, but it’s my core feeling that we are not supposed to figure out the great mystery.
It will forever be a mystery to us, as it should be.
We have to learn to trust.
There is a ‘Knowing’ in that trust.

There were many generations of clergymen on Dad’s English/Irish side of the family… Protestant and Anglican bishops, ministers, priests and reverends. He never pushed his religious upbringing on us though.
I’m very happy about that.
We didn’t go to church and we weren’t made to uphold any religious traditions. He had his own private devotional practice and kept a bible by his bed always.
He had a deep love of God which was beautiful to witness.

Even though our mother was Jewish, she was deeply into Eastern philosophy and practiced Yoga and meditation so it is natural for me to seek out the divinity of life.
I want to get as close to the centre of consciousness as I can.

That is why relationships, painting, making music and being with nature are the most important things to me.
Gets me closest to God.

To me, the word “God” isn’t related to religion.
Perhaps the words “spirit”, “soul”, “source”, “consciousness”, “energy”, or “LOVE” could be used instead – but for me, “God” will do.

Of everything you have done so far, what would you most like to be remembered for?

I know that some of my songs have touched a few people.
I know some people have said nice things about my art.

My family and friends know that I love them and that is the most important thing to me.
I don’t think I can ask for more than that.

Links

• Jodi Phillis – Website
• Jodi Phillis – LinkTree
• Jodi Phillis – BandCamp
• Jodi Phillis – Instagram (Main)
• Jodi Phillis – Instagram (Art)
• Jodi Phillis – Facebook
• Jodi Phillis – YouTube
• Jodi Phillis – Discogs Entry
• Jodi Phillis – Wiki Entry
• The Clouds – Instagram
• The Clouds – November 2025 Australian Tour Info

All images supplied by Jodi or sourced online.
With header photo by LJ.