“Pame!” The minute the Greek word comes out of Jim White’s mouth, it’s followed by a brief, rather shy laughter that softens his unshaven face. “It’s a funny sort of word,” he adds before apologising, “I’m just beginning to learn Greek.”

It is a little surreal talking about favourite Greek words with Jim White, as is talking about the vineyards, the olive trees and the rocky hills of Crete. Or goats. Which is the title of his latest album, one he made in collaboration with lute player George Xylouris, exploring and re-imagining the Cretan music tradition.

Arguably the most adventurous rock drummer of the past 30 years, White is the go-to musician for the likes of Nick Cave, P.J. Harvey or Nina Nastasia – not to mention the bands he has formed on his own throughout the years, especially Dirty Three, the groundbreaking post-rock instrumental trio. Still, having his name associated with Cretan music took most of the rock world by surprise. George Xylouris is, of course, a kind of music royalty in Crete, being the son of acclaimed lyra player and singer ‘Psarantonis’ and the nephew of legendary singer Nikos Xylouris.

Their collaboration is a seamless blend of cultures and music traditions, in which the dances of Crete intertwine with post-rock, free jazz and minimalism, creating a fresh and exciting outcome, music which is both ancient and contemporary, if not absolutely timeless, and which resonates with the roughness and wilderness of both the Greek and Australian landscapes.

Jim White seems to agree: “I think it’s true,” he asserts. “When I go to Crete I feel very at home and I love it. It’s interesting, because I live in New York and when I go to the countryside, I don’t like it. It feels claustrophobic, even though it has mountains, it doesn’t feel wild. Crete is a wild country.”
The drummer first visited the Greek island two years ago, when he started working closely with Xylouris.

“I already had known George and Psarantonis a long time, I had this impression of Crete by him. Because Psarantonis kind of looks like Crete,” he laughs.
With his mane of gray hair and the moustache he is usually sporting, White could himself be easily mistaken for Cretan. Still, one has to wonder as to what might have been the main obstacle an Australian musician had to surpass, finding his way around Cretan culture.

“Not drinking too much raki,” he laughs, only to add playfully that this was actually not a problem at all. “It took me a little while to grasp rizitika when I first listened to it, but it wasn’t a problem,” he clarifies. “It was new, but it was fantastic; when I learned to play a certain dance, George would tell stories about it and we would go back to really old recordings, just to get a feeling of it. But ultimately, I act like myself through that. In music, it’s not your job to be intimidated in anyway, your role is to have fun, to just be yourself and do it. Playing with George, who is such a great, exciting player, I found I could do things I didn’t know I can do. During the first show we played as ‘Xylouris White’, it was so exciting that I almost forgot it was the first show. It feels so natural playing together.”

Although coming from much different backgrounds, White and Xylouris – who met in Melbourne, when the lute player was living there (he is married to an Australian, Shelagh Hannan, who is a friend of White’s) – have much in common. Both play instruments that are considered rhythmic rather than melodic and both are very keen on exploring the possibilities of their instruments. “We certainly talk a lot about rhythm with George, as we have both, individually, spent a lot of time doing that,” he explains. “I’ve been playing music for 30 years and George has been performing on the road around the same time, though he began playing when he was very young.”

On the album, they both prove they can use their instruments to the maximum, alternating between harmony and melody and constantly switching roles, even in the same song.

“I do like challenging myself, but playing with Psarogiorgis wasn’t like that,” White says. “We just played music. It’s not an experiment, we were not in a laboratory. It was exciting for me to go to Crete and play with him and make a new thing.”

The challenge, of course, would be for the famously close-knit culture of Cretans to accept this ‘new thing’, given that they are protective of their tradition.

“I’m no expert, but to me, Cretan culture doesn’t feel locked down, ” he says. “Cretan music is in no way a dead thing. It is very emotional, very poetic and the Cretans are incredibly open. They seemed happy with our music. They loved it. They find that it brings different elements of them together. Because, in Crete, you go from a village to the next and it’s a whole new word. This is another thing that I like, how in Crete music is everywhere.”

The same, of course, applies to Melbourne, “a great music town” he agrees, and, in a way, it’s only natural that the basis of this collaboration was set in Melbourne, one of the global pillars of cultural diversity.

“I’m not trying to be multicultural,” he is quick to point out. “It’s not my thing. I grew up in the ’70s, in a school where there were many Greek kids, nearly all of them. They have always been such a strong community and I certainly see that Australia has opened out now to the next generation of Greeks and it happened very quietly. But my interest was hearing Psarantonis and the Xylouris Ensemble (the family band which features three generations of Xylouris musicians). For many years I haven’t considered playing their music, just enjoying it.”

The same can be said for the people who attend the ‘Xylouris White’ concerts. Fresh off a tour in Europe and the United States, the drummer can’t hide his excitement.
“I noticed that we have a fantastic mix of people attending: Cretans, but also the rock’n’roll audience that I know and everyone is having a great time,” he says. “People of all ages would come – and especially in New York, the Greeks would be coming to venues where they hadn’t been before. This coexistence creates a great atmosphere. Every show is pretty high energy. Sometimes we would play pentozali or sousta and the people would dance to it. The response to it has been amazing.”

The album has, in fact, managed to climb to the number 1 spot on the Billboard world music chart, something that has been thrilling for White.

“I love music and I always think that if I like something, other people will like it as well. I assume I have been proven wrong many times,” he adds, with a dry laugh.

Love of music is the central theme of this conversation and seems to be at the core of the ‘Xylouris White’ project. Jim White would, of course, agree. He’d much rather play music than talk about it. “I’m not a musicologist,” he explains. “I play the drums. I don’t like to describe anything. Why should I describe music? I would like people to come to the concert and hear it.”

Xylouris White will be playing in Melbourne at The Howler on Saturday 17 January.