Gee muses

The Oils. It’s a proud diminutive. It means so much more.

About 37 years ago, 17-year-old drummer, Rob Hirst, formed an outfit called the Farm along with bassist, Andrew Gifford, and keyboard player/lead guitarist, Jim Moginie. They were joined on lead vocals by a student at the Australian National University in Canberra, Peter Garrett. By 1975 the band could be found up and down the east coast and some time in 1976 it changed its name, by drawing the name out of the hat. So was born one of the greatest rock bands of all-time. I make no apologies, when I say, the mighty Midnight Oil. Sometimes rock deserves hyperbole. This one of those occasions. Along the way Martin Rotsey joined in 1977, Peter Gifford replaced James in 1980 and was in turn replaced by Bones Hillman in 1987. That’s the honour role. Although manager, Gary Morris, an integral part of the Oils, has to be mentioned in dispatches.

Midnight Oil represent everything that is right and great and necessary about antipodean rock music. They are proud Australians. They are committed political activists. And they have never ever sold-out.

On January 29, 2005, at Wave Aid at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Midnight Oil played what really looked like their last gig. They had dissolved two years earlier in December 2002 when Garrett had quit to follow his political career. A warm-up gig at Manly Leagues Club and the fund-raiser seemed the last hurrah, until nature struck twice and fire ripped through Victoria and flood ravaged Queensland. The response is the fund-raiser Sound Relief to be simultaneously held in Melbourne and Sydney. The Oils will play two warm-ups in Canberra, then the Melbourne gig. Will this be the last time? Hirst hedges his bets slightly.

“It felt a bit weird stopping, last time,” he says. “Normally, we’d warm-up with a few shows in towns like Wagga and Lithgow and then a three to four month world tour schedule would arrive and we’d be off to South America, the US, Europe then maybe round Australia. So to stop suddenly was bit weird. But it might be the same this time, unless the Minister has any more spare time.”

Garrett is now, it seems, known as The Minister, as befitting his position of Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts in the Rudd Government.

Whether he is stage fit remains to be seen. After all it is four years and a bit since Wave Aid. Now some Oils is Oils and have stayed in running order. Hirst, for instance, has the four albums old, Ghostwriters (with Hoodoo Gurus bassist Rick Grossman), drums for blues outfit, The Backsliders, knocked off an album with Paul Green as Hirst & Green, and formed ’80s rockers, Angry Tradesmen, in which he joined in 2006 by Rotsey. Moginie has released a solo album, Alas Folkloric, on which Hirst and Rotsey appeared. And Bones has been busy in Nashville. But the Minister? He’s going to be breaking a sweat there’s no doubt about that.

Hirst is relatively confident about his own fitness. “I’m fine,” he says. “The various bands I’m playing in are still getting gigs. Blues is a good fit during a depression. The songs seem more potent these days.” As such The Backsliders have been busy playing the blues and folk festivals around the country. Angry Tradesmen were gigging this month in Melbourne, but Hirst & Greene and Ghostwriters are on hold for now. “Jim, Martin and myself have also been doing a bit of playing together over the last few months just to keep our hands in,” he says.

“We’re rehearsing and playing the warm-up shows in Canberra because that’s where Pete spends most of his time these days. In order to grab the attention of the Minister you have to be in his backyard.”

It’s along time since the Northern Beaches boys played Canberra. “Oh yeah, I can’t even remember when. Must be seven or eight years ago.”

Despite the relatively busy schedules of most of its members, Hirst doesn’t expect Midnight Oil to just pick up where it left off at the end of Wave Aid without some suffering. “We would be band with a bucketload of hubris to think we could just switch on again. There is much conjecture over the set list. Bonesy is so concerned he sent an email saying, ‘Please give me a list of songs’.

“There will be plenty of sore muscles, blisters and calluses, and so on, but it’s very exciting. We never thought after Wave Aid that it could happen again.” So you thought that was it? “Certainly with the Minister’s workload it seemed unlikely that church and state would mix again. Either Parliament is so tedious he’s been waiting for an opportunity to do something again or the fact we can play any number of the 165 songs we recorded in any order has finally become too tempting.” You can almost hear a quiet chuckle.

The band is bringing back together the crew that served it so well over the years, drawing them from all over the world. Hirst says they are dropping whatever it was they were doing to fly in for the shows.

At Wave Aid the crew and soundman, Colin Ellis, made a big difference, he says, but it was the Manly show that kicked off the memories.

“Oh yeah, that whole Northern Beaches circuit of hotels and clubs that’s where we grew up,” he says. “I remember the Manly Vale shows well - that hot bed of alcohol and violence.” He goes on to list virtually all the old Northern Beaches venues. Now, he bemoans, all long gone and replaced by “uglier places” - none of which have any live music.

“Those were the days of ourselves, the Celies [Celibate Rifles], Richard Clapton and others playing those places night after night.”

Of course, the music business has changed a lot since then. Now it is walking the tightrope of change. It’s wobbled left, right and nearly gone over the edge. In its confusion Hirst says the bands have suffered.

“There are two reasons it’s so different: the number of shows available and lack of interest. Bands like ourselves, AC/DC, The Church, Angels, Rose Tattoo, had an incredible foothold, playing night after night. We had very loyal fans. And bands also sold albums those days and could make a living. To be honest, I feel like grabbing some of the new bands and saying, “I hope you’re doing it because you love it …

“Today the business is run by accountants.

“On the plus side, the lack of a live circuit has been partially compensated for by the number of festivals.

“And then there’s all the fallout from the Web. At least there are plenty of alternate ways to go about things. There’s a new paradigm there.”

So ladies and gentleman, for - and let’s hope it isn’t - perhaps the last time, Midnight Oil will command the stage again.

As Hirst says, “Every gig the Oils did was played like the last show on earth.” And there’s little doubt Canberra and Melbourne will be too.