Hey you got to get a little nervous when you are speaking to Tim Rogers especially when you call him and he has forgotten you were going to be calling...but that was no problem for this legend of Australian Rock N Roll .....this is what he had to say.
I have seen you play with You Am I over 20 times from shows at The Metro Theatre in Sydney to Crowded House's final concert and recently as support for Cold Chisel last year.....What do you hope an audience takes away from a Tim Rogers show?
True Enlightenment, transience, I really don’t know…I don’t consistently get the one feeling from listening to myself perform I can’t expect much from other people. My ego wants every performance to be wonderful, poetic, cheeky and charming but I am very aware of my limitations and I am really just trying to make something beautiful that fits within those limitations really.
I am pretty wrapped up with myself to think about anyone else, I like putting on entertainment taking people somewhere that’s the intent.
You Am I shows are so Rock N Roll so what will a Tim Rogers Trio show be like?
It can have some intensity and grit without that volume…at various stages during the day I am listening to Norwegian death metal, hardcore punk and classical music. Over the next 6 months I have to turn the volume down because I have a hearing condition and my health is disappearing. Strangely the shows just by myself or with the trio are exhausting because you are trying to give that intensity without that volume, I like doing those shows like that I don’t like seeing a guy or girl with a guitar just belting it out so hopefully something a little obtuse or opaque.
It’s a trio so who are the other two guys in the band?
I don’t know (laughing)… I go on tour by myself to America in a few days for a month so I am not sure I will figure it out when I’m over there. I have just finished a record by myself with a few other musicians in particular Shane O’Mara and I hope he can come.
Do you have a release date for the record yet?
No it’s in the lap of the gods at the moment, I have done all my part and now it’s just sorting out all the people who print it up and release it, I imagine it may be out around the time I am in Cairns….if not then a couple of weeks later.
Do you have a title for the album?
It’s called “Rogers sings Rogerstein” as I wrote some of the songs with my friend Shell Rogerstein.
You Mentioned heading to America?
I start in Los Angeles and then go up the west coast to Seattle and Portland then go east to Chicago, Washington, Indiana and then the east coast Philadelphia, Boston and New York. As usual see a lot of baseball games during the day and catch a lot of trains.
I am looking forward to it, you know the audiences there are very different they actually listen and look at you, they don’t feel the need to communicate with me while I am on stage so it’s a little opportunity to hear myself but don’t get me wrong I love playing in Australia more than anywhere.
After a little time away I look forward to playing Australia again especially outside of the big towns.
Then after these shows I am going to try to get back with my beautiful rock band again (You Am I) we spend so much time socialising as friends that we will spend 3 days awake celebrating ourselves and forget that we are supposed to be making music together.
So is there going to be some kind of You Am I jam session recording happening sometime in 2012?
Without a doubt, were going to collaborate a lot more on the next record, Davey has a record coming out around the same time as mine and it’s amazing we are writing songs together now and so are Andy and Russ. They are really intelligent guys and players, listen to a lot of music and work within music whether teaching or promoting so when we get together we are going to be like rampaging horny bulls in a china shop.
2012 sounds like a massive year for you?
Well there is also a couple of acting gigs in films later in the year and doing some more theatre writing.
I really didn’t think I would be getting more work at 42 then I would be getting at 22 or 32. I am lucky enough that people ask me. I am not looking to branch out, I am happy to play in a rock band the rest of my life but I get asked to do things now and I can’t stop working because I need to work I am really fortunate because despite my personal shortcomings maybe I am not that hard to work with.
What’s the best thing about being a musician?
It’s changed you know, early on it was getting free drinks travelling the world you know all the extraneous stuff now its creating things, that act of creation I am yet to find anything that apart from listening to my daughter grow up is so fascinating.
I was tempted to go back to learn about music but it’s something I just don’t want to learn about the alchemy the mystery of it. It blows me away collaborating with people and wondering how the hell music came out of us.
What’s the worst thing about being a musician?
It’s not great for your health at times and as with any art some people find it necessary to sacrifice their personal relationships and that happened with me and I am sad about it but that’s the choices I’ve made and I just have to continue living with that sadness and its always kind of there but I have made my choices and it’s what I am so fortunate to be able to do and it’s that good fortune that I can’t ignore mostly because there’s plenty of people who want to do what I do….I am not skilled at anything else because my day job is gardening or washing dishes and while I love both those jobs….making music fucking rules.
What advice would you give young musicians?
Don’t listen to people like me….No I think to spend 1% of the time thinking about it like a business and to concentrate on the art of it….if you are in it with ambition to become successful there is a price to be paid for that I think.at the times I have been most conscious of profile and what not in retrospect I have been at my most unhappy.
Tim Rogers plays at tanks Arts Centre on the 16th of June
