Tim Rogers - On Yer Bike (Xpress Mag)

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TIM ROGERS
On Yer Bike

Tim Rogers return to Perth this week on his Luxury Of Hysteria tour (see Tour Trails for dates). BOB GORDON catches up.
Tim Rogers is something of the eternal troubadour, the next show is never that far away, and he is often en route to getting there.

It makes for some exhaustive times but also means that there’s plenty of time to consider it all as well…

“Well last night at 4am my thoughts were all, ‘I’ll never let a child of mine follow in these footsteps’, he says on his way to a gig in Geelong. “But then on the drive today, meeting all these people along the way, and I think I’m pretty lucky, really.

It fluctuates for sure, sometimes you feel like stabbing yourself in the eyeballs rather than jumping in the car and going to another show!”

Come showtime, however, the knives have gone and the commitment to the gig always shines through, certainly in Rogers’ case. At this moment he has a theatre project ahead for 2010, a new You Am I album and another album with some of his collaborators from The Temperance Union Days. With so much ahead (and behind) his current shows are a melange of what’s on his mind and what might soon be.

“The shows I’m doing now are quite unfocused,” he says. “At times I find charm in doing that, other times not and I wish I could be more focused. Maybe it’s the way I started playing where if you take yourself too seriously it’s a cardinal sin. I mean, I take the music seriously, but myself not always that seriously.”

Still, in terms of performance, Rogers is never someone who’s merely rested on his laurels… “Well I just don’t feel like there’s been enough of a blanket crocheted,” he laughs. “Or that’s there’s one that I could be spread out on, at all. It comes from years of playing to Australian audiences, and certainly in terms of anything I do, there’s always this kind of legacy of ‘let’s get fucked up’. The only people you hear are those who are loudest and probably not interested in what you’re actually doing. There’s not enough time, when you’re growing up playing in pubs, you’re just trying to not get hit by the next bottle really. It’s not often that the songs get treated with any reverence, they may go somewhere but it’s not as though I’m ever treated with some Godly presence, it’s something else.”

The next You Am I album has been talked of among fans for much of the last year and from the sound of it, the talk continues amongst the band itself.

“The You Am I album’s already been through about three or four different genres, dictates and floorplans. It’s gone from a psychedelic masterpiece to a hardcore blitzkrieg. And we’ve got some shows coming up so we’re right in the middle of that process as well, which will fuck it up further (laughs). It’s interesting. We talk about it a lot, you know? We’ve just got to play the fucker.”

At various stages a guest-vocalist album has been mooted for the band, and Rogers says that idea is still hovering around. However it’s also a matter of the band being in the same place, let alone outside folks.

“It’s a case of chaotically trying to make some sense of it, we can talk for three days straight and not resolve anything. Then Davey (Lane, guitar) has to go over to LA to play a show. We’d planned on going there together to get a head start on it but we got busy. Someone needs a manager (laughs).”
It seems true that the members of You Am I have all been troubadours together, but they do it now apart as well.

“Yeah there have been occasions where we’ve met at airports like lovers or something,” Rogers says. “I used to often meet up with my dad in airports as well… I should get a room, really (laughs). What we should do is just move in, we’d be perfect housemates… one of us would be out all the time.

“I’m hoping that on the flight over to Perth I’ll get a plan together. I’m meeting up with my musical partner Mel (Robinson, cellist) over there, there’s a lot of work to do. It’s kind of chaos at the moment but I’m hoping to get things in place. I think possibly that working and driving around the place to shows is good for that. Being in a moving vehicle, having somewhere to go, driving is good for that. Even on the rare occasions when I’m at home, it’s not long before I’m out on my bike and out riding suburbs away. I find it very hard to sit still.”

Oh, pushbike or motorcycle?

“Oh pushbike, it’s the most admirable form of transport, even more than aeroplane or Icarus. You know I always make sure that here’s a bottle of Beaujolais, a bouquet of flowers and a baguette in my basket. The lycra mob give me crap about my basket but I get to keep Beaujolais in it so I don’t give a fuck. And it’s not just to me, but to anyone. I like people who dress optimistically.

“This morning I was a little worse for wear and tear and I saw a girl in a record shop in a very pretty floral dress. I wanted to tell her that she’d made me feel optimistic about the day, but it would have seemed creepy of me. It made me want to leap at the day and that’s what I do – I play shows or I ride my bike. Anything could happen. And it’s why people play shows, because tonight could be the greatest night, you never know. And you give yourself every opportunity of that by singing songs about pain and misery (laughs).”