YOU AM I
STILL SOUND AS EVER It’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years since You Am I released the seminal Sound As Ever album — let alone twenty years since Tim Rogers and co. got together in a Castle Hill garage. I guess time flies when you’re having fun. Now, after eight studio albums, untold miles on the road and various ups and downs, You Am I are headed back to Newcastle for a special one-off free show at the Queen’s Wharf Brewery to say thank you to Newie fans for years of support. By Stephen Bisset. Rusty Hopkinson, who has been hitting the skins for You Am I since 1995’s Hi Fi Way, says Newcastle has always held a special place in the collective heart of the band and it seemed like a good idea to say thanks for the years of support. “Yeah, well someone offered us the chance to do the show and we thought ‘that sounds like a bloody good idea’,” Hopkinson enthuses. “We’ve always done really well in Newcastle and have always had some really loyal fans there, so it certainly wasn’t a hard decision to make. “We’ve had heaps of Cambridge and Bar on the Hill shows that were really memorable and Newcastle has always been a highlight of the tour and there’s always a great deal of merriment on the drive home after the shows,” he quips. For a band that has such an extensive catalogue spanning eight studio albums and five EPs, choosing a set-list for a ‘best-of show’ might prove problematic, however Hopkinson says the band prefer to play it fast and loose and that fans both new and old will be catered for. “Yeah I tend to stay out of it [writing the set-list], although I always pipe up with one or two songs, but I’m really happy to play anything,” he explains.
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“It also has a lot to do with what Tim feels like singing as well. There might be some songs that he’s sung a lot over the last couple of years. But I’m sure we’ll come to a workable array of songs that will keep everyone happy.” Die-hard fans expecting obscure tracks from early EPs like Snaketide might be left hanging, but Hopkinson says he wouldn’t rule anything out at this stage. “Yeah we often joke about playing ‘Home’ or something like that but whether or not that would become a reality, I’m not really sure,” he says, cryptically. “There’s definitely a lot of love for the old stuff so who knows what we’ll be playing by the time we get up there to Newcastle. “I mean we do have a fairly extensive back catalogue but when we played with the Stones we were backstage with their guitar roadie and he had this huge book — a bible of every Stones tuning from all of their songs. So I guess that kind of puts things into perspective, although there will definitely be some stuff in there we haven’t played for ages.” When talking about a band like You Am I it’s hard not to bandy about such epithets as ‘seminal’, ‘influential’ or even ‘Australian rock royalty’ as some of the more hyperbolic of us
scribes might opine. However Hopkinson says while You Am I have definitely made an indelible mark on the Australian music scene, he finds it hard to think of the band in those terms. “It’s very hard to think of our band as anything other than the band I play in with my mates,”
to every time we can get together and play.” For Hopkinson, the secret to You Am I’s longevity amid the standard ups and downs of any Australian touring band, is knowing when to give the band some breathing space. “I think we know when to walk away from it
le and al ly w el l in Ne w ca st re ne do s ay w al e “We’v ther e, me re al ly lo ya l fans so d ha s ay w al e av h m ak e.” t a ha rd de cis io n to n’ as w ly in rta ce it so he explains. “Although even before I joined the band you could tell it was going to have some influence on the scene, just because at the time there weren’t many people who were trying to write songs like Tim was, and trying to incorporate the heaviness of the grunge aesthetic with a musical approach that borders on English late 60s stuff like The Move and Humble Pie from the 70s. Those things were very uncool until Tim started using a lot of those influences. “I’ve been told enough things by people about why the band is important but at the end of the day the band is important to me and I look forward
for a little while and when to give Tim space when he wants to do some solo stuff,” he says. “I remember the first time Tim made a solo record all these people were like ‘oh are You Am I splitting up’, and we were like ‘no, my mate is doing a solo album and it’s really good.’ I think at the end of the day we’re all really good friends and we’ve been around for long enough now that we don’t have to live in each others pockets and I think that’s a good way to do it.” You Am I play the Queen’s Wharf Brewery, Saturday, February 27. Entry is free.