1.Growing Up
My parents didn’t listen to music! They listened to the mosquitoes and 4TO FM if anything. In Townsville (where I grew up) I used to frequent Pet Sounds when I was an early teenager and that’s where I got the majority of my record collection. I ended up working there when I was 15 or something. They had the craziest records come through there! You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve got. The readers of this publication would gasp in astonishment if they knew.
2.Inspirations
I remember hearing Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom for the first time when I was 14 after buying it from Big Star in Adelaide on holiday. It was the only time I’ve bought something and listened to it four times in a row. Post-punk, garage, jazz, dance music, whatever! There’s something good in everything; something you can exploit and rip off. These days I’m inspired by local bands or whatever I’m surrounded by – people, places, bars, women…
3.Your Band
I’m a solo musician at the moment just because it’s easier and less effort. I don’t have to organise practices or email/call anyone. Just make a record and give it to musicians to learn or at least get an idea. Currently me and my old friend Joseph are doing another solo record called Magnetic Memories – it’s going to be like Transformer if it was made on Magnetic Island rather than New York. Greg from Adults and Tristan from King Tears Mortuary are currently my live band slaves but people appear or disappear constantly, usually without my knowing.
4.The Music You Make
I’m not sure the first solo record Watch It Wharf is filled with Lou Reed rip offs and Alex Chilton flip-outs. I guess that’s a starting point. I seem to talk a lot onstage, particularly if I’ve had a bit to drink, which is usually the case. It’s always a sloppy affair. A comedy routine, even. I like to get music stuff out of the way as quickly as possible so I can go on holiday. It’s what Kevin Ayers would have wanted.
5.Music, Right Here,Right Now
Sydney music and Australia in general has been running on a musical high for the past five or six years, in my opinion. I buy whatever Nic Warnock at Repressed Records tells me to buy. There are too many good bands to list. Venues are mostly non-existent these days – well for fools like us anyway! Me and Angie just want to play at Frankie’s because we saw Rose Tattoo there and it’s like a whole other world. Usually the best shows are the illegal ones.
Angie, Nathan Roche, Dead Farmers, East River, Sheriff at Frankie’s Pizza on Sunday March 2.
