He’s released popular parody songs on YouTube about Canberra Raiders cult heroes Reece Robinson and Josh Papalii, but Queanbeyan’s Nick Risteski says his tune about sacked Raiders fullback Josh Dugan will remain an ‘‘unreleased B-Side’’.
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‘‘The first song I did was U2’s ‘With or without you’ to the words ‘‘We can’t win, with or without Duges,’’ Risteski says, laughing.
‘‘But it was a bit negative, I want to show support for the club.’’
Risteski, 29 and a former Raiders junior, is such a Green Machine tragic that he claims his first ever memory was watching the Raiders lose the 1987 grand final to Manly.
Inspired to try and give Raiders players the same cult status they enjoyed in Canberra during the 90s, Risteski has taken to a makeshift studio at his home in Queanbeyan, releasing two tunes already.
The first one was about Raiders fullback Reece Robinson – dubbed Reece Lightning – to the tune of ‘Greased Lightning’.
The second, posted this week, is a tribute to Raiders hitman Josh Papalii, to the music of the Beastie Boys classic ‘You gotta fight for your right to party’.
‘‘You’ll get a fright, on the right, with Papalii,’’ the remodelled lyrics go.
Risteski, who drives the Black Thunder van for radio station 104.7, writes the lyrics to and puts his own voice to the songs.
Good mates with Raiders skipper Terry Campese, Risteski has received great feedback from Green Machine fans and even the players.
‘‘The players love it, they’re all retweeting it,’’ Risteski said.
‘‘The boys put that [Robinson] song on when they were all at training before a video session, apparently they loved it and Reecey got really embarrassed.’’
Risteski is also a huge music fan and combined both loves when he presented music legend Flea, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with a Raiders jersey during a holiday to the NSW South Coast in January.
There are more clips and songs about Raiders players in the pipeline too.
‘‘I’ve got one down for Campo, Sandor [Earl] and Fergo [Blake Ferguson] ... I thought of one about [Jarrod] Croker in the shower this morning.
‘‘I grew up in the 90s when the all-stars were here – Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Ricky Stuart – when the Raiders were dominating. ‘‘There was so much character and presence for the Green Machine. They’ve kind of lost that identity and I want to get that back.
‘‘If I can influence people to get the Raiders back in the consciousness of Canberra again and have a bit of fun and humour with it – like Billy Birmingham did with the cricket commentary – it could give them a bit of a cult following, it’ll get that buzz into town."
Who do you think the next song should be about, and what tune should it be set to? Let us know in the comments.
