Sam Shinazzi

Stories

Joe Pernice

It must have been around 1996 when I first heard the Scud Mountain Boys. A lovely lass named Tracey Grimson had an excellent weekly column named Losercore in one of Sydney's now defunct street press magazines. It was the sort of thing my friends and I took notice of. This gal knew good music. She had written a small paragraph about the double release of 'Pine Box' and 'Dance The Night Away' and I can remember ripping it out so I could later be reminded of it. Of course, the piece of paper went missing straight away and that was that.

At the same time Aaron Curnow of Spunk Fanzine had a sweet weekly radio show on 2SER. (He would later start Spunk Records and touring). Originally airing on Monday nights around 11pm, it was the most perfect show you could imagine and you'd swear he was in cahoots with Tracey because her columns matched his shows. I heard the Scuds on Amplifier. The show would later move to a 6:30pm timeslot. It is missed.
Actually, a whole bunch of this story is now history which kinda makes me sad but at the same time gives me a lovely feeling.

So one weekday like most weeks, Alice and I went shopping at Waterfront Records (R.I.P.) in York Street Sydney. She was really into vinyl still whilst I must admit the simple comfort and quality of the compact disc had won me over. What we used to do was look separately and then see what we'd each want to purchase. Along the way it was noted if something caught our eye that the other might be interested in. Those were fun days. The owner Frank Cotterell always rewarded our loyalty in his own different ways, and most of the staff became friends.

Alice picked up a vinyl album by the Scud Mountain Boys called 'Massachusetts'. It was their third and final album released on SubPop. She bought the record and it turned out to be one those purchases that is not only truly satisfying but a certain classic as well. I use the words truly satisfying because it is a risk purchase. Back then we did such things quite often. These days, speaking for myself, it is done every now and then. At best, it has the exact same result though. Your have donated some of your money and it has bought you bliss.
We caught the 461 back to her house and I swear I still carry around that first note of 'In A Ditch' with me everywhere I go. It was an amazing album to listen to for the first time and it still an amazing album to hear now, however many listens later it is. 'Grudge****' and 'A Ride' were instantly brilliant. It is little wonder that Joe Pernice still plays them now, years later in The Pernice Brothers. Songs like 'Massachusetts' and 'Lift Me Up' later became just as legendary. This was real music by real people.

A while later 'Pine Box' / 'Dance The Night Away' became easier to obtain locally and although they were musically stripped back significantly, it all made sense.

I still remember being in the cocktail bar at the Annandale Hotel and someone telling me that Joe Pernice was doing a solo tour. I was so damn happy. It was totally unexpected. What wasn't as much of a surprise was that the Spunk people were bringing him out. Now I have heard some criticise Spunk for not promoting local talent enough, but those people have too short an opinion. The fact is this independent company were taking a chance and touring someone that had a small fanbase here. They did the same with Will Oldham and countless others. Who else was going to bring out these artists we loved?

In a very cool twist to the story, my equal best friend Graeme Trewin had recently been playing drums with Sydney band Golden Rough. They were going to be Joe's backing band for half of his set during a few shows. I was very impressed with little Grae and quite proud. He was a lucky bastard playing with such a brilliant songwriter.

I decided to head down to Melbourne to catch the first two shows. I was on holidays from University (Feb 1999 I think)) and was tiring of my part time office job. Someone I admired was touring and my best mate was drumming for him. How could I miss that?

Alice came down later than me but caught all the shows. The first at the Punters Club (R.I.P.) was unbelievable and the best Joe show I've seen. We had no idea what he looked like; I thought he might have been a sound guy until he started singing and when he sang it was just beautiful.

The following afternoon Alice and I saw Joe do an instore in the city. There were very few people around but it was amazing. That night Grae and Golden Rough played with him, and then again in Sydney. I might add that both shows at the Hopetoun on the first two solo tours were near perfect.

By the second tour Graeme had left Golden Rough but it was funny because Alice, Grae and myself were at the Cronulla vs Newcastle game around the same time. I had dragged them down to a Friday night game and I think they were just going for my sake. (We beat Newcastle by the way and I remember David Peachey scoring a brilliant 60 metre try off an Andrew Johns kick). Near the end of the game one of us turns around and spots Joe Pernice in the crowd at the football. He was with Aaron from Spunk who, like myself, is a long suffering Cronulla Sharks fanatic. I had only met Aaron previously in the local shopping complex at Christmas; I had sent him tapes a few times and he just kinda recognised me. He said "You don't get too many people in Lemonheads t-shirts around here". So Alice, Grae and myself converge on Aaron, Joe and their crew. I have always said that music and sport go well together; I now had the proof. We all went for some beers in the Leagues Club which was an adventure in itself; Grae's brother Adam came over and made dirty jokes to Joe. Joe told us about recording 'Massachusetts' and his love for sports, especially Ice Hockey.
Along with 'Massachusetts', my favourite Pernice-related album would probably be 'Chappaquiddick Skyline'. I guess I love the dark side.

Both Pernice Brothers albums 'Overcome By Happiness' and 'The World Won't End' have done well in Australia. The second actually had three songs rotated on our most popular youth radio. The upbeat acoustic sounds and two tours had obviously made an impression. Joe has done it the old fashioned way and that is inspiring.

In April 2002 my act The C-Minus Project were lucky enough to play with The Pernice Brothers in both Sydney and Melbourne. I love playing with people I respect; it is really exciting for me as a music fan. When I was lucky enough to support Evan (see the long winded story elsewhere on this site) that was me supporting someone who had shaped the way I write. With Joe, it was more playing with a favourite artist; someone I listen to regularly and whom I buy all their albums just because of their back catalogue. It was a joy and treat; something I will always remember. Heck, hopefully somewhere and sometime we can do it again.

The Sydney show was pretty successful for all concerned. The smaller room of The Metro was beautifully lit and the new stage was great. Rob and I performed as a duo. In the story about playing with Evan I crap on about how professional and fair The Metro staff are. Same thing again. Can you believe I actually got a car space in their garage? That is a rarity. But they squeezed us in and I was so grateful to have secure, free parking in the city without having to drive around like a madman looking for a parking spot.

I didn't talk to Joe much that night; I was shy and he had everyone wanting to say hi. I made up for it though when Aaron and I drove him to the airport and then in Melbourne we chatted lots, as well as at the Cronulla vs Wests Tigers match back in Sydney. We briefly met Peyton Pinkerton and Thom Monahan before we played, the other Brothers for the tour. It was cool watching them soundcheck too, though I now know they are very specific about getting their sound right.

Also on the bill were Melbourne's Lucksmiths who are a lovely bunch of fellas and one very sweet band. We kinda knew them a little already. Our set almost didn't happen. The guitar I had borrowed had a fault in it. The sound guys said it was a problem; luckily the promoter Aaron talked Joe into letting me use his hired guitar. Aaron reckons Joe said yes because I also have some Italian in me. Things were looking up.
Our set was : Town Where You Were Born / Goofy / Night For Remembrance/ Just Thought I'd Write / GP / Wyoming / My Friend and a Free Day / House Near Bridge (with 'A Ride' interlude) / 747 / Tiger's Tale.

The Roma Room was excellent to play and there were lots of people there early too which is always a good thing. It was a little weird coming offstage because it was getting quite crowded and the strangers definitely outnumbered our friends. This is not a bad thing by any means. And don't get me wrong; there were some great people that we love dearly in attendance But it was something that I noticed.

The Lucksmiths always go down well in Sydney and this night was no exception. Darren Hanlon jumped up with them to play a few songs too. The Pernice Brothers played to the biggest crowd Joe has had in Sydney. I was a little happy from the whiskey onstage and the beers off, but more than anything pleased to be playing with the Pernice boys. Rob made use of the seemingly unlimited drinks rider.

I sang loudly up the front and videoed some of their set on Leigh's camera. By the end I was side of stage with my arm around fellow troubadour Jason Walker. Lovely. Afterwards, Rob and I spoke at length with Peyton about his country and ours.

After both the Sydney and Melbourne shows we all went to the Cronulla vs Wests Tigers league match. It was in my hometown of Cronulla and then Aaron had organised a final show in Cronulla at a little club we have down here. Rob and I were going anyway because he is a Wests man (poor fella). So we met up with Aaron, his much better half Tanya, Joe, Peyton, Thom as well as Helen and Dave from Golden Rough. The American lads seemed to have a great time. I can tell you we (Cronulla) won the game but it was kinda close. At one point we had a try disallowed and the rowdy section behind us starting yelling out "Bullshit" in unison. At this point I said to Joe "That is 1000 Aussies yelling out bullshit...soak it in".

After the game we went to Northies, a local opposite the beach. I spoke in depth to Thom about music and the like. I was aware he had played in a band called Monsterland whom any of my friends will tell you that I fell in love with around 1994. They released this heavy, angry but super-melodic album called 'Destroy What You Love' and I thought he was the bass player in the band. He has grown up a bit since then and looks different to how he does on the album. So I casually mention that I liked Monsterland and he was pretty happy that some guy across the world loved his old band. But like I said, I had NO IDEA he was the singer / songwriter behind such angsty anthems. I think Aaron had tipped him off because he said something like "Oh, it's you huh?". He smiled hard when I told him I used to cover 'At One With Time'. So that was a great revealation and very cool. Here I was in Cronulla Australia outside a bar drinking a beer with the singer from Monsterland who also happens to be a Pernice Brother and even a late Scud Mountain Boy. Peyton also had his fans because his old band New Radiant Storm King were known down here somewhat.

Rob and I started drinking around 1pm and didn't really stop until midnight. We drank slowly so it was just a beautiful time if you know what I mean. We caught a train back home to my place where Rob cooked me dinner for the second Sunday in a row. We caught the train back to the club and pretty much sat and drank until the night was over. Founder were excellent as supports, as were Starky although their drummer was absent. Thom was jetting out the next morning whilst Joe and Peyton were to hang around a little more. But I was missing them already.

It meant a whole lot to play with The Pernice Brothers. Not only do I think we sound good playing before them, but I respect the hell out of those guys. Thankyou.

For more ramblings about the Melbourne show and my 27 hours in this city please go to the Tour Diary section of this website.

Sam 2002.