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The Australian Go-Betweens Show: Forster Interview

Simon McKenzie — Time Off 1995

There's always something wonderful about Robert Forster and Grant McLennan playing together in Brisbane. The two good friends and former bandmates have done so seldom since the breakup of The Go-Betweens, and each time they have — even if it's been an unplanned rendition at one of their solo shows the other has attended — it's been something else.

Next weekend, the pair will play their first full show together in Brisbane since the 1992 Spring Livid in the Brunswick Street Mall, and the first electric show together since The Go-Betweens split in 1990. With Adele Pickvance on bass and Glenn Thompson on drums (the rhythm section of Forster's three-piece Warm Nights) Forster and McLennan will revisit the songs of The Go-Betweens in a one-off, unmissable performance.

"Glenn Thompson is referring to it as The Australian Go-Betweens Show," laughs Robert Forster. "That's what he's saying — but then," he grins, "he's a bit of a cheeky fellow."

It has a (ahem) nice ring to it.

"The Australian Go-Betweens Show? I think anyone that did the Australian Go-Betweens Show would be tighter," Forster laughs. "You know, the people that start those bands generally play a lot tighter than the bands that they're honouring or copying or whatever. Normally they're just real pro musos, and they always end up playing the songs tighter than the original band. So I don't think that we're going to sound as tight as The Australian Go-Betweens Show."

That particular form of (ahem) tribute has not yet been accorded The Go-Betweens. Many bands, however, have covered Go-Betweens songs live, and early next year, a tribute album of versions by current Australian bands will be released.

"I really look forward to that," Forster says of the tribute record. "It seems strange to me, because the songs themselves I always thought were fairly complicated. Some of our songs are really quite simple, but a lot of them are quite detailed. I remember how hard it was for us to learn the songs, so when I think of other bands doing them I think how difficult it's going to be for them. I'm always a little bit surprised when someone says, 'Oh, we're doing a Go-Betweens song'. I almost go, 'Good luck — and you'll have to spend a lot of time in the practice room."

Fans of the Go-Betweens will no doubt be curious as to which songs Forster and McLennan intend to play from the band's six (some might say seven, if they include Very Quick On The Eye) albums.

"Well, I think we should do 'The Wrong Road', off Liberty Belle," says Forster. "We made up a rough song list, and a lot of the songs are from Liberty Belle and The Black Diamond Express, which this year is my favourite Go-Betweens album. I'd like to do some really early stuff, like 'Don't Let Him Come Back'... we might have a go at 'Your Turn, My Turn'."

The final running order of course remains to be seen. What is finalised is the film script the pair have been working on since August. It's a collaboration they've been talking about doing since the beginnings of their work together in Brisbane in the late '70s.

"It's good to work with Grant and it's not music, I enjoy that," Forster says. "One thing that we really do have in common that I'm realising more and more, we have a similar sense of humour. We can entertain each other just on a sort of conversational level. So the script has its own energy, and where it's coming from is separate."

And plans for the filming of the script?

"Grant and I don't know that many people in the film business. We're just going to mail the scripts out and see what happens. We just sat down and wrote it — no government grant, no producer with bucks, no-one had expressed any interest, but it was something that we had always wanted to do. We had talked about it a lot, and the time was right."

And if nobody agrees to film the script in its present form but insists on making changes?

"It's the sort of thing — you know, Grant and I might do a reading of it when we're 70, at City Hall. Him and I playing all the parts.... We could get puppets!" Forster laughs. "In a way, it's very similar to starting a band. You write all these songs, you put them on a demo tape, you send them off, and someone might phone you next week and go, 'Love it!'. Or no-one might phone up, but the main thing is, you did it. The sheer fact that we wrote it is enough."

By way of a synopsis, Forster explains that the film centres on a character of about 30 years of age "and a little bit lost", a man who left Sydney on a bad note and returned to Brisbane in unusual circumstances. He calls it a "comedy/romance/thriller", but hastens to add: "It's not Tarantino. There's no-one in the script pointing a gun at someone else's face saying 'Up against the wall mother fucker'. There isn't any of that."

And The Australian Go-Betweens Show?

"It's an opportunity for Grant and I to wallow in nostalgia as well," Forster says, smiling. "We enjoy it as much as anyone; picking what songs we want to do... enough time has gone by that we're sort of fans too."

Grant McLennan & Robert Forster at The Zoo (review)
(December 10 1995)

There are times when you question the validity of what you are doing — "Is this the best way I could be spending today?", "Should I be elsewhere, being more constructive?" and so forth. Life is short, and a lot of people are now telling us we only get one crack of the whip. You must maximise your time! Achieve during the work hours so that the leisure hours can be more fully enjoyed! Time is of the essence!

Chiefly because of advertising and films, most of us are led to believe that there are other people elsewhere — be it Beverly Hills, the Caribbean or every piece of Victoria — who are having much more of a whale of a time than we are. Some people are even convinced they are having an undersized fish of a time when in fact there is very little wrong with how they are occupied. Consequently, there are very few moments at which you can confidently say to yourself "There is no other thing I could possibly be doing at this point in time which could possibly be this worthwhile." Sunday's performance by Grant McLennan & Robert Forster was indisputably one of those rare occasions.

The two singer/songwriter/guitarists played with the beautifully appropriate and sympathetic backing of Adele Pickvance and Glenn Thompson. Gleefully nicknamed The Australian Go-Betweens Show by Mr. Thompson, they played nothing but Go-Betweens songs — cause for considerable celebration among the many who adore the music of that long-departed group.

As the four musicians took the stage, the crowd rose to its feet. An unusual concentration of tall people near the front couldn't stop people of all sizes from applauding wildly and clapping, cheering, or whistling as each song was recognised or introduced. By the time the second song, 'Head Full of Steam', was under way, it was patently obvious that this was going to be one hell of a show.

Forster's black Gretsch guitar is the basis for the carefully constructed songs, while McLennan's chiming acoustic gives them a fullness and grace to match — and often exceed — the recorded versions. Their greatest strength is their extraordinary songwriting, closely followed by their unique harmonising. These songs — the likes of 'This Girl, Black Girl', 'Quiet Heart', 'Dive For Your Memory', 'Right Here' and 'In the Core of a Flame' — do something entirely different to your emotions. Sure, they pull on the heartstrings, but they seem to leave them with a new strength and resilience afterwards. Even the angular and angst-ridden earlier numbers ('Karen', 'Don't Let Him Come Back') are edifying in the end. Oh yeah — and EVERY SONG is a corker. Naturally.

"ROCK!" yells a punter during a pause between songs, to much laughter.

"Rock?" says Forster, a quizzical look on his face. "We defined rock!"

This would not be a joke if the world were a considerably better place.

Three separate encores included 'Bachelor Kisses', exceptional versions of 'Cattle and Cane' and 'Clouds' (both played beautifully by McLennan and Forster alone) and a raucous 'Karen'.

They played for something like an hour and twenty minutes, but it would be fair to say that time stood still.