East – Cold Chisel

Before Jimmy Barnes became the mythological “working class man” and even before Cold Chisel became the bogan rock staple diet of  Triple M radio (“rocksportandcomedymate”) there was a band prowling across the pubs and clubs (but mainly pubs) of Australia, that offered a new style of voice and a different sensibility than that you could normally expect to see on Countdown on Sunday nights.

In some ways this was the album that led Chisel out of the wilderness and into our collective lounge room. Sure, songs like Khe Sanh and Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) had made an impact a the album Breakfast At Sweethearts had shown Don Walker to a be a superior songwriter but it was East that made Cold Chisel a phenomenon.

East featured songs written by every member of the band with surprisingly the biggest chart hit being My Baby penned by bassist Phil Small and sung by Ian Moss.

There’s four songs on the first side of this album that would all fit into a mix tape of best loved Australian songs – Standing On The Outside, Choir Girl, My Baby and Rising Sun are all instant classics and they are joined on Side 2 by the equally iconic Cheap Wine.

But the depth of East doesn’t stop with those classics of the genre. East also boasts the ambitious and impressive Tomorrow, the brutal Star Hotel and the incorrigible Ita which remains one of the cheekiest songs written in Australian music. It also offers Four Walls which is close to Australia’s best prison ballad.

Mark Opitz does a great job producing this album. He gives the songs room to breath and while they are polished sufficiently to get them on the radio they unmistakably like a band playing. The rawness of songs like Star Hotel and Standing On The Outside and My Turn To Cry remains intact while there is some delicious moments of guitar playing from Ian Moss that further highlight that this was a band who had musical chops coming out of their ears.

Lyrically the album is outstanding, painting a portrait of suburban Australia that was real and not at all stylised. From TAB’s to Newcastles pubs, to beaches to lounge rooms Walker (and to their credit the other writers) all rise to the occasion and describe an existence that was instantly familiar and didn’t seek to pretend.

It’s little wonder that the album struck a chord with the Australian public.

Don Walker’s First Book Published

There’s no doubt that Don Walker is one of the more important songwriters in contemporary Australian music. That’s not exactly an earth shattering revelation.

His work with Cold Chisel is probably not remembered as well as it should be – the flogging of selected songs on certain radio stations has almost tainted the memory of that band. Despite them being held up as the personification of “Oz Rock” the fact is that Walker’s songs remain some of the best examinations of Australian urban, suburban and rural cultures and the dichotomies between them.

Walker went on to contribute further with his Catfish project and with Tex, Don & Charlie.

It’s surprising then, given the literate and lucid approach that Walkers songs provide, that he has not written a book. Until now.

Shots is a memoir that begins with Don Walker’s early life in rural Australia and goes up to the late ’80s. It is an era in his life that obviously shaped his outlooks and opinions and continues to inform his songs today.

The book is published by the always impressive Black Inc imprint and they describe the book such “In mesmerising prose, Walker evokes childhood and youth, wild times in the ’70s, life on the road and in Kings Cross, music-making and much more. Shots is a stunningly original book, a set of word pictures – “shots” – that conjure up the lowlife and backroads of Australia.”

Early reviews of the book are very encouraging. Writing in the Melbourne Age, Michael Dwyer, (who is both intelligent enough to understand Walker’s perspective and ‘rock n’ roll’ enough to be excited by a good rock yarn when he finds one) seems to think that the book is more a collection of Walker’s acute observations and existential journeys than a grab bag of sordid stories from the Oz rock road.

Thank god for that.

To launch the book Walker will be making two appearances.

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Melbourne Event

Don Walker in conversation with Charlie Owen at Readings bookstore

Date: Thursday 16 February
Time: 6.30-7.30pm
Venue: Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon St, Carlton
Bookings: Free event, all welcome. Please book through Readings Carlton, (03) 9347 6633

Sydney Event

Don Walker in conversation with James Bradley at Gleebooks bookstore

Date: Wednesday 11 March
Time: 6.30pm for a 7pm start
Venue: Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe
Tickets: $10/$7 concession. Please book through Gleebooks (02) 9660 2333