What are you listening to on the road?
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I always listen to a hefty dose of the Drones, I like that acerbic, chaotic lyricism couched in such deadly rock. You don't usually find the two together. Otherwise it's a steady diet of Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, You Am I and lots of my friends' albums – Jimmy Dowling, Van Walker, Liz Stringer, Jackie Marshall, Hits, Den Hanrahan, Adam Young. Anything with good writing, as little tosh sentimentality as possible, preferably politicised and not too gentle.
Describe your sound.
My old band, the Re-mains, was known for its country rock'n'roll – ribald, rambunctious country songs that rolled across the rock divide. But these days I'm going for a dirtier, less wholesome sound. More Dylan, less Drones, if you know what I mean. I think it's still got a country edge, but not the kind of country Lee Kernaghan would listen to.
Tell us something about where you grew up and how it influenced your sound?
I grew up in Albury and my younger brother hung out with the bad boys. He used to climb out the bedroom window and go into town to drink, fight and smoke and play drums in a dirty rock band while I was still playing Dungeons and Dragons. He'd bring home these mysterious albums, Bob Dylan and the Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd and Pink Floyd, and blow my tiny mind. So that stuff's still in my primitive cortex, but it's all infected by strains of more modern stuff. Alt-country like Richmond Fontaine, Wilco, and then there's the Dirty Three and the Bad Seeds. I love Nick Cave's sense of humour and his total disdain for phoneys. He's the king and I wish I'd known he was just down the road in Wangaratta when I was about 12.
What's your earliest musical memory?
Maybe it's hearing something like Dylan squawking "Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues again" and being absolutely flabbergasted. It broke all the rules. They'd never play that on 2AY, Albury's self-professed gurus of conservative rock.
What's your greatest memory from on the road?
Probably a salutary lesson in the Northern Territory where my whole band was nearly killed after hitting an errant steer. That made life and death very real to me, less of a fictionalised concept. And it's haunted me ever since. It materialised of its own accord in a song on my new album. The song came out of nowhere and it took me a while to realise what it was about. A free CD to any punter at the gig who hits me with which song I'm referring to.
Who are your musical heroes?
Apart from those I've already mentioned it'd be my peers on the road. Above all mentors like Mick Thomas and all that crew from Weddings Parties Anything who broke me in. Then all my bandmates – and there have been plenty. Fellow road warriors like Den Hanrahan and Jackie Marshall – and those that keep on going no matter how tough it gets. Tim Rogers would be one. He just don't ever stop.
Who would you most like to tour with?
I reckon if I got offered a tour with the Bad Seeds my life would be complete. To see that band play night after night would be all right. But touring with mates like Jimmy Dowling, which I'm doing the weekend before this gig, is pretty sweet. And I always have a laugh with Hanrahan, when I don't want to blow him up with a bazooka.
Mick Daley
Where: Smiths Alternative
When: Sunday November 22, 6pm
Tickets: $10/$15 at the door