1.Growing Up
My key musical memory growing up was dancing with my grandfather to his vinyl collection. My favourite was Glen Campbell’s ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’, for some unknown reason. It still moves me to this day. My parents were music nerds, with lots of vinyl and music in the car. They blessed me with tickets to the Port Fairy Folk Festival for ten years, which taught me the power of three chords and the truth.
2. Inspirations
The poetry of Dylan, the working class histrionics of Springsteen, and then when I turned 13, Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven changed my perspective towards aggression, power and groove. That album was my first ‘tennis racquet’ moment as a child. Bob Fosse, Martin Luther King, Paul Keating and then later Viv Malo and Briggs have influenced the politics, the storytelling and the way you need to handle yourselves to build a movement.
3. Your Band
Full Scale Revolution has been around for 17 years. I’m the only member to have been there the whole time, and if people want more information, they should hunt down a copy of the feature-length documentary Colour, Light, Movement, Sound! that details the band’s rise in the States and fierce and uncompromising attitude.
4.Your Style
Tuned to B-flat, heavy, aggressive, melodic. Politics is always at the forefront of what we do. Fuck the system, smash the state, kill your boss and take all his money. Punk is a big part of it. We just don’t give a fuck, and that’s what makes our live show the best in the world.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
The scene is a load of shit. Between Mammal, The Nerve, Over-Reactor, my solo shows and Full Scale Revolution, I’ve always found that a shit hot live show will always go well, and will always bring the punters in. Too many musicians think that the music owes them something; a lifestyle, a career, money, whatever. The truth is, you owe the music your life, so put the bong down, stop complaining that you can’t ‘get a break’ and go and busk until your show is shit hot and undeniable. No-one owes you shit, so get good, work hard and win, or shut the fuck up.
Full Scale Revolution appears atThe Bald Faced Stag, along with Red Bee and The Archaic Revival, on Thursday February 11.
