“You will achieve all your goals through good habits.”
Originally from a town called Warrnambool, three hours out of Melbourne, Didirri’s birth name derives from an indigenous word and meditation practice called Dadirri, which means ‘deep, quiet, listening’. Having spent years honing his craft busking his way through Melbourne, Didirri developed a powerful songwriting and story-telling dynamic. We caught up with Didirri to chat about learning from mistakes, yoga and childhood memories of ‘group chasey’.
What are you listening to, reading and watching at the moment?
Listening to ‘The Party’ – Andy Shauf on repeat, reading Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens’ – Eddie Izzard and watching The Incredibles 1 and 2’
What has been your biggest life challenge so far and what did you do to overcome it?
Learning to be honest, by making some very huge mistakes and learning from them.
What have you learned about yourself over the past five or so years?
That close friends and family are more important than I could have ever understood in adolescence.
What would constitute a ‘perfect’ day for you?
Building some kind of object with an allen-key in the morning and singing songs by a river in the afternoon.
For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
Having the opportunity to do what I love with good people that I care about dearly.
Complete this sentence: “Ace mental health for me means…”
Carving out time for yourself and constantly trying to reflect on mistakes made and improve on the routes source of said problems.
What do you eat to stay healthy?
Protein in the morning and no carbs until dinner.
Do you have a daily routine of exercise or do you make it up as you go along?
Flexible routine is a must on tour but I practice yoga and jogging as much as is possible.
Here at The Mind Map we remember playing football and ‘tag’ – running around the playground everyday and loving it – can you share a similar memory?
I remember playing ‘group chasey’ which was essentially a cumulative tag where every person who got tagged joined the tagger side.
What three songs lift your spirits?
‘Two Hearts’ – Kylie Minogue, ‘One Day Like This’ – Elbow and ‘Gibraltar’ – Beirut
What is your favourite self-help book, or motivational quote?
‘If you make a plan B, you don’t believe in plan A. If plan A fails then make new one.’ – Tony ‘Jack the Bear’ Mantz.
What advice do you offer to friends when they are feeling overwhelmed?
No. 1 – Talk about it with a friend.
No. 2 – Don’t set a task goal i.e. ‘Write 10 songs this week or send a resume a day.”
No.3 – Set time goals. i.e. ‘Work on songwriting for twenty minutes a day or work on house cleaning for 20
minutes a day.’
You will achieve all your goals through good habits rather than cowboying them.
Didirri’ s EP ‘Measurements’ is out July 6 and new single ‘I Can’t Get Last Night Out Of My Head’ is out now.