Each decade in the 20th century was defined by fashion ,art and music. From blues, country , swing , jazz, each decade gave us something new and creative. The 50’s will always be remembered for the beginning of Rock n Roll, a style of music that it could be argued is the birthplace for almost all forms of popular music that we enjoy today. Rock branched out into so many different styles and genres that it would be exhausting to list them all here, but the 90’s was a little bit different. 90s music seemed to rebel against fashion and trend, almost to the point where it was rebelling against itself. Music styles became intermingled and less definable. The industry tried to label everything and anything in some way, but there are artists and acts that defy such pigeon-holing. One of those is Australia’s “You am I” Formed in 1989, they played pubs and clubs around the traps in their hometown of Sydney, honing their sound , until they released their first body of work, ‘Sound as ever’, in 1993, and “Hi-Fi way” in 1995. Since then , they have released 10 more albums and a host of E.P.’s and ‘best of’ albums. They have toured extensively, and amassed a strong international following, doing what many Australian bands, even some of Australia’s most beloved, have struggled to do, which is to crack the American market.
I recently spoke with the lead singer and lyricist of this outfit, Mr Tim Rogers.

I asked about the long term success of the band.
“I think it’s better than any other job I have had, or still have. Sometimes it felt like it dragged on forever, playing dives and toilets all over, but time has passed quickly. There are aspects that are less enjoyable, and some that make you appreciate how great it is to do this job”

Although Tim writes much of the material, songwriting is a collaborative effort between members, with each helping to shape the final product.

“At the start, I pretty much wrote everything, but I’ve encouraged the boys to write whole songs and bring them to the band. Davey, our guitarist, writes a lot more these days, but we each have different projects as well. Ian, our bassist writes a lot also, but doesn’t really prescribe musically how things should sound. I guess if you are going to put a band together, the reason is to collaborate, unless you consider yourself some kind of maestro, and I definitely don’t. I’m more of a dilettante. I have a fairly dreamy mind, and I’m terrible socially, so that’s probably why I have written most of the chords and such so far.”

“It’s Interesting, because personality I can be quite flaky, and that has meant that I don’t take much responsibility for responsibility, and I can pretty much be the wafting waif at the front. Singing doesn’t come naturally to me, but I have grown to love it in my mid 50’s. Intellectually, when you are forced to create , then perform and present to an audience, it’s really good for you mentally, and certainly tests me and keeps me interested in people, and writing, and I think it makes me a better person really”

“Doing Sudoku, cryptic crosswords, and I put songwriting in the same category uses your brain in oblique, and often opaque kind of ways, which can be effective as a day to day practice if you have mental health issues, so for all the cliches about writing music as being indulgent, there are many wonderful ways it can contribute to keeping yourself mentally healthy.”

“I do a lot of writing when I’m travelling. We aren’t the kind of band that just jumps in the van or train or whatever and puts on our headphones. We listen to a lot of records. Its a great place for writing . Not just about the landscape you are passing, but chewing up highways sets something off. I haven’t really examined why that motion sparks cognition, but I’m really glad it does. When people get that switch clocked, and they examine those dusty corners of their minds, it’s great, because it’s so easy for us to express our disdain for others through so many available forums, but when you examine your own cognition, all of that seems to fall away, because you are using your own imagination, and hopefully it opens up opportunities for empathy. There is still room to be opinionated, but it has been confused that being opinionated is somehow creative. We need to take a break from being so critical of others in our expressions of opinion.”

“For the four of us, music has always been the conduit to history, geography, or simply culture. We have learned so much by exploring how music changes with geography and culture. Some of my best professors have been songwriters. Also, sheep farmers.”

“We are being assaulted by information constantly, and information is a wonderful thing, but when it is so available to everyone all the time, I think timeout working with animals is extraordinarily helpful, and I’m glad I got to do some work at a cattle property the other day. I found myself feeling really disgruntled. I found that just going out working with cattle for a day solved all of my problems. Also, working people with disabilities , who endure the despair of not being able to move through the world freely makes you realise how flippin lucky you are to be healthy and independant.”

“Earlier on, we were touring so much, and doing hundreds of shows a year, and doing it loaded most of the time, it became a little bewildering.
“I think with this round of touring we are a little more grateful and appreciative of what we are doing. Just because we are in our mid 50’s now doesn’t mean we have stopped learning. IT’s a bit more humbling now to realise how fortunate we are to still be doing this bizarre job.”

Having shared a stage with some of the giants of rock, I had to ask how the band coped with the transition from playing bars and clubs in western Sydney to being a significant player on the world stage.

The first big set of tours we got was with Soundgarden, and we became very close friends very quickly. Those guys were from a great musical community in Seattle and Washington state, and there was a sense of community. There was no real sense of competition. Our scene was very similar. I don’t think any of us really expected to get big, so we all helped each other and supported each other. I think Seattle was the same. We have maintained friendships with many of these people, even some of the larger acts like The Stones and The Who from when we toured with them. I guess you just learn to always be grateful, be good to the crew, and there’s no room for any kind of attitude. You see enough of that. If you are in a good situation, share it around. I think you become a better performer that way. Of all the acts we performed with, Soundgarden were the most consistently jaw dropping, powerful acts that we performed with. The death of Chris was just a horrible shock to anyone who loved what he did. It just shows that no amount of fame, accolades and success will soothe every pain that you have. It just reiterates that you have to look out for yourself, your friends and even strangers. That is something that Chris always did. He was such a generous, kind and just really a funny, funny dude, and night after night , they just killed it.

I asked about politics and music.

“Artists that are at this level are often criticized for speaking their beliefs, but these people get to meet a huge number of people very intimately across a wide cross section of society. Few people would get to meet that number of people and hear their stories. They might have some insight that most people just don’t have.” I dont really have much to say , because I don’t know if I have anything new to bring to he table, but if you were to ask me my opinion on a subject, I would tell you.”

If you wish to experience one of Australia’s premier 90’s bands , and you have a thirst for quality grunge influenced power rock, You Am I will be playing at The Tanks this Saturday, the 21st of June, with support by our own Eddie Skiba. Grab your tickets at Ticketlink or at the door.

Noel Keid

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