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ON THE COUCH WITH: Weddings Parties Anything

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: It seems 2007/2008 are the years of comebacks –first Take That, Spice Girls, Boyzone – why was the decision made to get back together for a national tour?
Mark: It was something that had been on the cards for a few years now and the decision was made that, like Take That, The Spicys and The Boyz, if we were going to still trade off our good looks for success that time was running out quickly and we had to get onto it pronto.

Access All Areas.net.au: So what has everyone been up to over the years?
Mark: I have played with Sally Dastey (made two CD’s) Crawfish Dave, Rob Clarkson, The Nudgels, Ruck Rover and more recently Geelong Celtic Punk Band, The Go Set, along with dabbling in the theatre world, playing alongside the legendary Aussie actress, Anne Phelan and performing in Mick Thomas’ play ‘The Tank’. Aside from myself pretty much everyone in WPA has been quite heavily involved in the music industry for most of that time with a list of credits probably too long to catalogue here. At our Queenscliff show and the warm-up gig at the Northcote Social Club in ’06 a lot of punters commented that it was almost like we’d never been away such was our ease at slipping back together comfortably as a band. I think that’s pretty much due to everyone’s love of performing and the fact that none of us have ever really stopped playing.

Access All Areas.net.au: Are you excited to be getting back out on the road again after all of these years?
Mark: Yes, definitely. Touring and playing live was always what held the most appeal for me over the journey. Apart from the thrill of performing in front of big, enthusiastic crowds there is the travel factor, which has been somewhat restricted with the bands I’ve played with post-Weddings. Getting to go back around the country one more time and seeing friends and familiar faces from the old days will be a big part of the whole experience.

Access All Areas.net.au: This is your ten year reunion tour, apart from the announcement of the tour have you guys done anything to celebrate or mark the occasion?
Mark: Nothing specific. I think that will actually happen once we get out on the road and start indulging in some time-honoured WPA traditions such as drinking copiously (post-gig of course), getting naked at country roadhouses and wrapping a sleeping Stephen ‘Irish’ O’Prey from head to toe in raw bacon rashes.

Access All Areas.net.au: What can fans expect to see from these live shows?
Mark: Our previous one-off reunions have been pretty much a greatest hits package. The opportunity to go on an extended run of dates gives us the chance to drag out a few of the more obscure album tracks which weren’t necessarily a staple of our live sets in the past. There’s also a couple of left field covers we’ve been working on which might be a surprise to some punters.

Access All Areas.net.au: Now you’re also releasing a live DVD, tell us about that?
Mark: The live show at Queenscliff in November 2006 is the centerpiece of the DVD, which I believe is as good a document of the band that’s ever been produced. Big crowd, great atmosphere, well shot and recorded and shows the band in terrific form. I know when we hit the stage that night the adrenaline rush that hit me was as great as any show we’d ever done and I think we performed accordingly. The extras on the DVD are a collection of all our old film clips and the little-seen short film we did for the Roaring Days album. While I’m not sure whether we were the greatest ‘video hits’ type of band going around, they’re pretty interesting documents of the band’s history. The bad haircuts, questionable fashions, poor miming, worse acting, replete with dancing dogs and a pretty funny (I hope) commentary by Mick and myself… It’s got it all!

Access All Areas.net.au: Any plans or discussion about a possible comeback album?
Mark: We’ve got no plans for any new recordings at all for the time being. We’ve been pretty strong that this tour be seen as a ‘reunion’ and not a ‘reformation’. Mick, of course, is committed to his current band, The Sure Thing, and naturally the songs he has been writing and those in the future will be most likely be geared towards them, and the myriad of other projects he has on the go at any given time. We haven’t even really discussed doing any more tours as WPA after this one, so if the punters out there want to see us one more time they’d better get cracking – It might not happen again.
That said… If Wilco want to take us out on a world tour…

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

A LONG TIME BETWEEN DRINKS - Damn right it's been a long time between drinks.....TEN YEARS IN FACT!!!

It's been a whole decade coming but we are finally pleased to announce that Weddings, Parties, Anything are set to hit the road again in support of their brand spanking new live DVD.

A complex chain of events that has seen one of Australia's best loved live acts of the late eighties and nineties decide to pull on the boots again. A charity show for a Melbourne homeless mission in 2005 saw people come from all over the country, warm-up shows at Melbourne rock venues that sold out in a matter of hours - and then an offer to play the 2006 Queenscliff Festival seemed like a good idea. Enter Madman Pictures with plans to film the show for release which seemed too good an opportunity to pass up - and just the ticket to turn what would have been a great gig anyway into a nerve shattering event.

Roll forward to 2007 where lead singer and founder of the band Mick Thomas finds himself in Toronto opening for a long time friend from Canada Ron Hawkins who decides to close his show with a stunning version of She Works - from the Weddings’ first album - and the prospect of going out and playing all the old songs again seems somehow an attractive one.

So - the planets are aligned, the telecasters are being dusted off and the Riveresque/ Donkey Serenade line-up of the band (the only line-ups to play on three consecutive albums) are set to do a fine lap around the country they put so much into providing a soundscape for all those years ago.

Weddings Parties Anything 10 Year Reunion Tour

MARCH
1 – The Peninsula Lounge, Moorooduc, VIC
2 – Beulah Footy Club, Beulah, VIC
8 / 9 – Port Fairy Folk Festival, Port Fairy, VIC
22 – East Coast Blues and Roots Festival, Byron Bay, NSW
23 – Southern Roots Festival, Hobart, TAS

APRIL
4 / 5 – The Gaelic Club, Sydney, NSW
11 / 12 – The Zoo, Brisbane
16 / 18 / 19 – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
19 – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

British India
Adelaide Big Day Out. We were staying in the same hotel as other artists and I came downstaris to go to the after party and a big crowd was surrounding Aracde Fire and Bjork at the grand piano in the restaurant of the hotel. They were doing old show tunes and everyone was singing along. The lead singer of Arcade Fire was playing piano and everyone was singing along. I recall Buddy Holly's 'Everyday It's Getting Closer', a couple of ABBA songs and some John Lennon, it was very cool. Favourite festivals moments though are just when it's a good show with good reactions, where you don't have to think too much on stage and lose yourself.

Ideal Lineup?
I'd have bands that would never be seen on the same stage because they've long since broken up or died, I'd have Blur opening the festival followed by the Smiths who would reform for my music festival, and At The Drive In would finish the day just when I was drunk enough to dance like they can.

Fave artist you've seen at a Music Festival?
Rage Against The Machine. Also, Brand New who are a vastly under rated band from New York that played at Big Day Out. I saw them pretty much without fail at every Big Day Out and they were astounding, and to use the the cliche, quite inspiring. I've ripped off many of their moves since then!

Tips for attending Music Festivals
Don't break your neck. Don't worry too much about getting to the front for every band you want to see. It's probably better to pick 4 or so that you can really absorb as opposed to having cursory glances at every one. It's like any 'day out' it's best to pace yourself, don't go mental and try to see everything, relax and take it all in.