spotlight
Brentley Frazer 45 • writer
Photograph • Richard Walker
As a teenager, Brentley Frazer knew that someday he wanted to write a memoir. But he was born into a “Christian cult” in outback Queensland, and growing up in the sleepy town did not offer enough natural literary fuel. So he changed that. “I grew up in this little town (Greenvale, in North Queensland) where nothing ever happened. I was heavily into reading Mark Twain; I was really envious of Huckleberry Finn. I wanted my own adventures so one night I snuck out … ran away and built a raft,” he says. In his new guise as a rebellious Townsville teen, he hung out with a graffiti gang and dabbled with drugs. As a young adult, he continued on that path. He moved to Brisbane in the early 1990s and was drawn to the inner-city poetry, bohemian and music scene, where he attended his share of wild parties. “If I felt the adventures were good, I wrote them down,’’ he says. “When I was 18 years old I knew I had to stop doing stupid things because I would either be in prison or dead. I once heard that if you want to have a really interesting life, you have to live your life as if you were being followed around by a film crew.’’ Now, finally, Brentley’s ambition of more than 20 years has come to fruition with this month’s publication of Scoundrel Days: A Memoir. Brentley will speak about Scoundrel Days at A Rock & Roll Writers Festival at The Old Museum at Bowen Hills on April 1. Much of his colourful life revolves around music. “When I was living in the Valley and writing bits of I wanted my my memoir, I remember the old Target building on own adventures Brunswick Street Mall and the band rehearsal room so one night I where Powderfinger and Regurgitator would play.” snuck out ... Brentley, of Paddington, says he decided to write a ran away and memoir in high school and has spent the past 20 years built a raft lugging around manuscripts. The Griffith University creative writing lecturer wrote Scoundrel Days as part of his PhD project. “I decided to be a writer when I was 13 and my teacher told me I could be a writer. He would get me to read out my stories to the class.” Brisbane is Brentley’s Mecca, and he was immediately smitten when he visited for the first time, aged 13. “Brisbane is the hub of the book. Brisbane was the big smoke – there were art galleries and live music. Brisbane seemed so much more alive to me. It was a big city compared with Townsville, which seemed more like an army base.” He settled down 19 years ago when he fell in love with Sunshine, who is now his wife. The couple have two children: Jack, 4, and Vivienne, 1. He is now planning a western historical novel set in north Queensland. “Let’s hope this book finds some readers so I’m asked to write another one.” Fiona Purdon Scoundrel Days: A Memoir, Brentley Frazer, UQP, $29.95. Brentley will speak at A Rock & Roll Writers Festival at The Old Museum, Gregory Tce, Bowen Hills, Apr 1-2. rockandrollwritersfestival.com
March 22 - 28 2017 brisbanenews.com.au
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