Here’s a bit of background about who Ryan Sterling is, to me:
After first meeting Ryan in Melbourne in 2005, I’d moved back to Sydney, and he would send me his albums (on cd). I loved each and every one of them.
There was one afternoon I was doing some gardening in a house we rented in Haberfield and I had one of Ryan’s albums on a six-cd player, blasting out from under the house. Every time one of Ryan’s songs came on, I noted how it had the same quality as the Gene Clark, Johnny Darrell, Teenage Fanclub and an old ABC jazz show mix-cd I’d made.
I love the guitar-playing, his songs, and the way he sings them.

So after receiving one of his albums (2007’s Never Really There) I wrote to Ryan and said something along the lines of, “rather than sending me the next one, how about Half A Cow puts it out!”

2 albums by Ryan, released by Nic through his Half a Cow label.
Namely ‘Specks of Golden Dust‘ from 2022, and ‘High Road‘ from 2025.

Ryan was kind enough to talk with me about various topics – including songwriting, family, and animals.
Check it all out, below…

Nic: I first met you when I was living down near Melbourne in 05-06 – Through the Khancoban and Taylor sisters (of The Taylor Project) scene.
Is that correct?

Ryan: Yep. I’m still very good friends with those people.
Andre and I message most days and we are going to see Ash Naylor together this Friday.
For my gigs I often have a supergroup called Tinker, Taylor, Turns play with me. It has the Taylor sisters, Jen and Andrew who were both in Khancoban and our genius friend Boogs who has played in so many Melbourne bands. You may have seen him as the drummer from Clinkerfield.
Boogs makes these incredible albums that I tell him to send to you. He doesn’t send them to anyone!

And you were the famous friend of a friend who hung out with Neko Case.
I was very impressed AND JEALOUS when I heard about that.

Ha, technically we didn’t hang out. I worked in a second hand record store. She was purchasing some records and the back of her credit card said, “ask for ID”. So I did. She was thoroughly nice. And showed me her ID! Lol.
I reminded her of it on Twitter once and she remembered!

Well, I remember being really impressed.
You’ve put out a lot of music over the last… how many years?

My first proper album was called ‘Never Really There.’ That came out in 2007. I still have the wonderful review that you wrote about it on the back of my toilet door!!
I think I have made about twenty albums now. I’m going to send you another one soon! lol

So there was no band you were in – before these solo albums – who put something out?

Nah.
I’d been in various bands that had made what we called “demos” but no albums or anything.

And it looks like you’re just getting going! Very prolific.
How do you write your songs?

Man, they just keep coming.
I actually try to turn it off sometimes now. Or at least just mumble it into my phone and then forget about it for a while.

They come in all different ways. My favourite way is in a dream.
“I Should Run Away” on ‘High Road’ was 100% dreamt.

Most of the time I’ll have a guitar part floating around and then the lyrics will pop into my head.
Generally it has to be triggered by something I have seen, heard or thought about. I can’t sit and write lyrics with no idea. They need to kick off from my subconscious.
A lot of the time it’s an amalgam of stuff from my life. For example the song “Look Out Melbourne” which I wrote last year:
Twenty years ago a guy told me he drove from Cairns to Melbourne in one 36-hour straight drive, that is in the song.
I’ve had some pre-skin cancers dealt with lately, that went in the song.
When I was in high school, I watched and rewatched the Stones doco ‘25×5.‘ Keith referred to moving to France as ‘changing the backdrop’. That hung around in my head and I finally used that line in the song.

I’m obsessed with Dennis Wilson and I just wrote a song the other week called “Dennis Wilson at Chez Jays”. I sent a live version of it to my favourite Beach Boys author who also wrote a brilliant Dennis book. He said Dennis would have been honoured, probably punched me in the face and then be my best friend for life.
I thought that was the perfect encapsulation of Dennis!

2 Beach Boys focused books from Ryan’s collection.

Do your kids ever say, “Stop making up songs, Daddy!” or do they offer up a word change in your latest creation?

They are very tolerant.
I try not to have it impact them too much. I never record when they are around as I want to be as present with them as I can be, but they are certainly present for all of the writing. They know all of the lyrics!
They are both becoming great little musicians so I’ll start using them on records soon. They both write a lot of songs too.

Remember (my son) Zal’s song “Dead Bat” that your kids riffed on?
I keep saying to him we should send down a demo of what he wrote and maybe your kids could make it a co-write!

My kids still talk about “Dead Bat”!
My ten-year old son is now obsessed with metal – Pantera and Iron Maiden in particular – so the co-write could be quite interesting. My twelve-year old daughter is really into indie guitar rock – Weezer, etc, plus some new bands like Mother Mother. I was listening to Sneeze (Editor: one of Nic Dalton’s many bands) the other day and she said, “If the Foo Fighters are big these guys should be massive.”
She has formed an indie rock band which at this stage sound like the Velvet Underground.

Most musicians I know, have a day job.
Does your work help or hinder, interfere or inspire your outlet to be creative?

I have three day jobs, they definitely help and inspire me.
I vividly remember watching a music doco, I’ve watched and read so many music things, in this doco Eric Burdon was talking about someone, I think Muddy Waters, and how Muddy would work these hard jobs and then incorporate that into his songs. I loved that! I absolutely get inspiration from stuff that happens at work.

My day jobs have me working with children and animals. The animals certainly popped up in the song “Godforsaken Country”. The line ‘another cow dying from snakebite, another fly blown sheep’ came from a when I helped deal with an alpaca that may have died from a snake and I helped a sheep that had a really sore eye.
The line ‘another alpaca dying from snakebite and another sheep with a sore eye wouldn’t have worked so I changed it a tad from real life. Lol.

Ryan at pictured working one of his three current jobs.

Same as me, three or four part-time jobs!
How do you travel around?
You look like a bike rider – Both types!

I like job variety.

When I lived in the inner-city, I rode a push bike everywhere. I live in a very hilly place now so I’m a tad scared to ride my bike.
I’ve never ridden a motor bike but a large part of my aesthetic is borrowed from my uncle who was a bikie. When I was a kid, I thought he was so cool.
I haven’t covered myself with tattoos of skulls but I have stolen some of my look from him for sure.

Ryan circa 2019.

For some reason, I can’t seem to get inspired to write a song about booking bands for the Petersham Bowling Club or DJing on a Friday night!

I know what you mean, I can’t get inspired to write about my work in primary schools. But little snippets still work their way in. Usually if I see someone having a hard time in their personal life or a great time in their life.

Can you write a song just as easily in a concrete room as sitting cross-legged in a sunny meadow?

Ha!
My wife reckons I’m the only person she knows who could happily entertain themselves in a concrete room. For me, as long as the antennae is up and receiving, the location doesn’t matter.
I do find walking is the way the ideas really fall into place. If I have started a song, a good long walk is probably the best way for me to finish it.
I remember driving to Bunnings as the lyrics to “The End of Endlessly” came to me. I had to keep pulling over and type them into my phone.

Yeah, I’ve written many songs walking around.
I read a book by Bruce Chatwin (‘The Songlines‘) about indigenous Australians and their ‘connections to nomadic travels’ and in a round-about way it explained what I was doing, where I would work on a particular song but only when I walked that certain route home or to check my mail box in Redfern.
That one is still unfinished! Maybe because I don’t live in Sydney anymore.

I think you need to head to Redfern, walk around and finish the song!

Moving away from song writing, do you have pets at home?
I’m only asking because after no pets (except decades of egg-laying chickens) we now have cats. Three of them that were born under the house to one of the famous neighbourhood strays.

I love cats but we have too many indigenous birds here so we have a dog. A very lovely Jack Russel. She is very smart and has never harmed a guitar or vinyl, my big concerns when we first got her!

I had two stray cats when I was a kid.
One I smuggled home from a primary school excursion and the other I smuggled home from a secondary school excursion. Both had been dumped. I loved them so much!

My other pets are blue banded bees and blue tongue lizards. Not really pets as they live in my garden but I try to create habitat so they can do well.
The bees are kind of rare and at times I have hundreds of them living in a clay wall.

Ryan and his much loved Jack Russel aping Lou Reed and friend.

When I lived on farm out in the Central West of NSW, I used to sing to the kangaroos and wallabies. They’d stand on the hill and look down at me, standing outside the farmhouse with my guitar, singing back up to them.
They trusted me because I had a guitar, not a gun.

Ha, that’s awesome!
I did play to a herd of cows once. They all walked over and watched me for ages. It was surreal.
Have you ever recorded outside?
I haven’t done that. Maybe I should!

Plunderers (Editor: another one of Nic’s many bands) recorded some songs in a tunnel in Canberra in the mid-80s. You can hear the reverb alright!
Who are your favourite musicians, the ones you liked when you were younger?

From a very young age it was all about the Rolling Stones, I was obsessed.
I vividly remember when dad came home with the new album ‘Dirty Work‘. I was so excited. I’d just stare at that weird cover for hours.

I remember being really into Dylan’s ‘John Wesley Harding‘ in Year 8. Sitting on a bus with a Walkman and having my mind blown by his harmonica.

And the ones who inspire you as a songwriter?

I listen to so much stuff and I’m always searching for new things. I tend to fall in love with things which I think are underappreciated.
At the moment the records that I have found inspiring are Dennis Wilson’s ‘Pacific Ocean Blue/Bambu.‘ I’ve been obsessed with that for years. My family are sick of it. Lol.
Joseph Arthur’s ‘The Ballad of Boogie Christ‘, David Ackles’ album ‘American Gothic‘, Lou Reed’s ‘Magic and Loss‘ and the album he did with John Cale called ‘Songs For Drella‘ have all been getting a workout lately.

I’ve also been loving a record by a 70s Australian folk guy called Steve Warner. A psych folk record that he put out in the 70s. He lived in my town Eltham for a period.
I emailed him to find out the house he lived in so I could walk past and get more of a connection to the album. He sent me photos and some great information. So cool of him.

Some highlights from Ryan’s record collection.

Are you a big reader?

Yep.
I tend to have three books on at a time. A novel, a book of poetry and a book with pictures. I flip between the three in a reading session.
I wish I had more time to read but I do make sure that I get a good hour a day.

Australian authors?
(I always ask this, a big curiosity of mine)

The poets Les Murray and Bruce Dawe – Richard Flanagan, Kenneth Cook’s ‘Wake In Fright‘ is always worth a reread.
I’ve read a lot of Australian history.

When you were a kid, how did your family listen to music?

My dad had more records than average in my town. Lots of blues and classics like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Stones etc.
He was a very focussed music listener. Most nights he would sit in front of the speakers listening to music.

Was there a radio on in the mornings?

Not that I ever remember.
Once I had a tape player, I’d have music on all the time but the family didn’t play stuff in the mornings.

What was the first record (or cd!) you bought?

A vinyl copy of ‘Man of Colours‘ by Icehouse. Followed by Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad.’
I sold them both to pay for rent/food years ago. I regret that.

Was there a local band in your town/suburb, who made it big?

Gotye grew up in the area.
Greg from Skyhooks was from Warrandyte which is the town next door.
Steve Warner who I mentioned earlier lived here for a bit.

Greg Macainsh (Editor: the aforementioned ‘Greg from Skyhooks’) came into the Half A Cow bookshop once. I left him alone, but man do I wish I’d just said hello and thanks for the songs!
Did you ever think “I could do that?” or “I’d love to play at Festival Hall!”

Ha ha, I vividly remember thinking, “if I’m not hugely successful by the year 2000 I’ll stop.”
My ultimate dream would be to be able to play every three weeks to a room full of people who are there to see me.

My shows at the Merri Creek Tavern have all sold out and it has been the most satisfying experience for me. It’s not a huge room and the audience is always very reverent.
I love it so much. I could keep playing shows there forever.

Recent photos of Ryan playing live at the Merri Creek Tavern.
Located in Northcote, Victoria, Australia.

What is your ‘go-to’ guitar for songwriting?
Is it the same as the one you like to write songs on?

It used to always be my Martin acoustic, I don’t know what type it is.
I bought a Strat from a friend a couple of years ago. A lot of the ‘High Road‘ LP’s songs were written on the unplugged Strat.

If I pick an instrument up, I tend to get a song out of it.
If I had the money, I’d buy more guitars and get more songs out of them!

One of Ryan’s many guitars.

Do you do much co-writing?

No but not for any reason other than time.
I do technically like the idea. I had very fun times in my late teens and early 20s when the band I was in would write songs as a collective. These days I tend to have the song finished before I could have a chance to show someone else.

Let me know if there’s anything you want me to ask you, like your opinion on decriminalising marijuana, Trump, Formula One…

Ha!! I don’t want my thoughts on Trump on the internet.
I’d hate my US tour to get knocked back at customs! lol

Ryan’s depiction of the iconic Half a Cow logo.

Links

All images supplied by Ryan or found online.