Adelaide-born rock singer and guitarist Sarah McLeod says she’s “still a bit baffled” about how she ended up in this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival – not that she’s complaining.

The hard-rocking founding member and frontwoman of ARIA-award winning band The Superjesus will debut her self-titled cabaret show in an intimate performance at the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Banquet Room this month.

Describing the show as “stripped back with storytelling”,  McLeod will perform tracks from her expansive repertoire, interspersed with stories and anecdotes from her more than 30 years in the Australian music business.

“I’m going to do different versions of my tracks,” she says. “But at this stage I’m not sure – I might do a mystery set, but it’s going to be a different kind of set to what I normally do.”

After a five-year run fronting the Adelaide Fringe show 27 Club – currently headed overseas for a European tour – McLeod is intrigued by the gear shift of the cabaret format.

“I love that that it’s a captive audience,” she says. “They’re sitting still and they’re quiet, that’s my favourite kind of audience because they’re listening. Give me a mic, and everybody’s sitting down, having a wine, and quietly listening. I love those kinds of shows.

“I haven’t had many shows like that, that’s probably why I love them. At most of my shows, everyone’s just dancing and jumping up and down, and drinking, and talking, and smashing into each other.”

McLeod, 53, will take to the stage with her longtime collaborator, drummer Mick Skelton (Thirsty Merc, the Baby Animals), whom she has been playing with for the past 20 years.

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“He’s amazing, and he and I have been through a lot together and written lots of songs, and we have lots of stories to tell,” McLeod says.

The duo will play two sets on June 21 including a matinee at 2.30pm, which McLeod is also excited about.

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“I mean, for me, I wish all my gigs were at 2.30, I don’t like to going out at night anymore, either,” she says.

“I’ve actually said to my agent a few times, ‘Is there any chance we can do earlier shows?’. That’s the demographic, you know. People our age want to go out a bit earlier, but he always says to me, ‘You can’t, because that’s how the venues like it’.”

The powerhouse singer-songwriter has been a mainstay in Australian music for three decades, rising to fame with The Superjesus in the mid-90s. In 1997 the group won ARIA Awards for Best New Talent and Breakthrough Artist – Single for Eight Step Rail. The band went on to release the albums Sumo (1980), Jet Age (2000) and Rock Music (2003) before splitting up in 2004.

Never one to sit still for long, McLeod quickly began working on her solo material, with her debut album Beauty Was a Tiger released in 2005. The versatile performer has also collaborated with a host of well-known Australian musicians in various guises over the years, from her duet with The Living End’s Chris Cheney on the single ‘Private School Kid’, the group effort of 27 Club, and a recent single with singer songwriter Dallas Frasca.

“I have been constantly at it, and in all different forms,” McLeod says. “I jump from style to style, I try new things. I’m always pushing myself, because I get bored. I have a very short attention span, so I need to try new things constantly to keep me inspired. When I stop for a minute, to me to lose momentum is like death – I’ve got to just keep going.”

The SA Music Hall of Fame inductee also still performs with her old band The Superjesus, which reformed in 2012 and is currently on a national tour. They’ll play The Gov in Adelaide on June 20, the night before McLeod’s Cabaret Festival gig.

The group, which has had several iterations over the years, is today comprised of respected musos Ben Todd on drums and Cam Blokland on guitar, a talent whom McLeod’s mum first met.

“Mum recommended him because she lives next door to his mum and they’re friends,” she says. “She said, ‘You should try Cameron, he’s a lovely young chap’, but I’m like, what do you know?’ Anyway, I met him, and I went, ‘Oh my god, he’s great.’ Mum was right.”

When InReview spoke to McLeod, she was enjoying some rare down time on the Fleurieu Peninsula with her dog Spooky. But she says “even in the breaks I panic”.

“I always have to keep action going, because that’s, I guess, instilled in me from a young age,” she says. “We started touring when I was in my early 20s and I’m still going 30 years later.

“I’m pretty proud that I’m still going. I’m pretty proud that I’m still able to make this my living… That’s a pretty big thing in this day and age, especially now.

“I’m also grateful that I was able to make a solid fan base early on, when it was easier to do, because it’s so hard to do it now. At least I’ve got those good foundations, thank God.”

Fortunately, it’s been a while since McLeod has had to fall back on a day job – she cites one short-lived retail stint selling pantyhose at John Martin’s department store circa 1991.

“I got the sack because I talked too much apparently,” she laughs. “I was talking to all the ladies about their lives and I’d be looking at pictures of their grandchildren – and I was told to just hustle and sell the pantyhose.

“I was like, ‘Yeah but I still need the personal touch, these ladies are trying to tell me their problems’. So, if anyone wants their pantyhose fitted, I also have that as part of my skillset.”

McLeod says she still has three important things that she wants to do that “I need to hustle before I get too old”.

They include releasing her next solo album, recording a new LP with The Superjesus and spinning a musical out of her 2017 solo record Rocky’s Diner.

The singer says she is mainly based in Adelaide now but adds that she never settles anywhere for too long.

“I’m a bit of a wanderer, and I’ll settle for a little bit, but if I settle, I don’t really like it. I don’t feel comfortable.”

Sarah McLeod performs at Adelaide Cabaret Festival on Sunday June 21. The Superjesus play their album Jet-Age at The Gov on Saturday June 20.