 Pix a mix of shots by Fiona King, George Davis, Craig Lawler... |
| A few weeks ago I played a gig, which is not that unusual, I’ve done a lot of gigs in my time and in all sorts of capacities whether as MC, DJ, a speaker or even a musician/band-member. But this one was different and it was special. It was the return to the stage of 90s/Sydney band Love Me – with whom I guest-sang a song. And certainly that’s something I’d never done before, on stage, sing! Phew.
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| Love Me were a great band who released five albums in their lifetime but never made much of a broad impact, and so who broke up in the early 2000s. When founder-member, drummer, co-lead-singer and sometime-dancer Mandy Pearson died in Tasmania in 2023, it was a very sad occasion for all of us who knew and loved her – and that was a great many if the attendance at her wake at the Marrickville Bowlo was any indication. Mandy was a force of nature who was widely loved, and by none moreso than Tom and Mad, her bandmates in Love Me. At her wake, Tom and Mad sang some of the old Love Me songs for the first time in ages… and then decided to go on and semi re-form the band and do some gigs… Retrieving the band’s successive two great guitarists, Barry Turnbull and Richard Boxhall, plus calling in a few special guests – as well as myself my eternal girl Debbie Auchinachie, and also Amanda Brown – Love Me played a first-return show at the Golden Barley Hotel in Marrickville on August 10. |
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| I was assigned the song “Rock’n’Roll” that Mandy used to sing, because I’d always loved it. Deb was assigned another of Mandy’s specialties, “Easy,” and AB, who was a member of the band in its latter days anyway, played mandolin and/or violin on a few of the songs she always played on. Across three sets at the GBH, it was just back to so many of the great, great songs that Tom wrote for Love Me. As good a songwriter as any that emerged in Australia either side of 2000 was Tom, but of course just being good is never enough to ensure success in the fickle world of pop. But Love Me were a huge success to the extent that they produced a great body of work, and that the fans that loved them treasure the memories we share. And so at the GBH it was a bit like Mandy’s wake all over again but with better backing, less sadness and more celebration. Well, just fun, the band just steaming on these songs, which will never not be in part inhabited by the spirit of Mandy. Fortunately for me I haven’t been in showbusiness for nearly 50 years without learning a few tricks, and so I got away with my first-ever public singing performance because I knew it was a lot less about carrying a tune than selling the song. “It ain’t rock’n’roll/If it don’t drag on all night.” (It ain’t rock’n’roll/If it don't buy a round... It ain’t rock’n’roll – they oughta start a competition!) The night was great and the good news now is that thus encouraged, Love Me may well carry on… after firstly a Japanese tour taking in the legendary Halloween Ball in Oasaka… I’ll be sitting here by the phone, guys. |
