Get intimate with You Am I Under The Southern Stars
Subscribe
X

Subscribe to Forte Magazine

Get intimate with You Am I Under The Southern Stars

“You could be 70 and sit down and have a conversation with a 16 year old about punk rock or Gibson guitars or a minor chord into a major seventh. That shit doesn’t have anything to do with age. Everyone can have those conversations passionately which is the beautiful thing about music. It’s available to anyone who gives a shit of any age, anywhere in the world. Anyone can listen to it and anyone can get it.”
You Am I, one of the greatest rock bands christened under the Southern Cross, are still just as passionate about music as they were at the start of their 90’s career, with 2019 set to be a mammoth year.
“This year has been about kind of doing stuff that we just enjoy doing which is not necessarily big long You Am I tours with studio albums,” bassist Andy Kent says. “It’s been a year of a bit of everything which is what you want to do when you’re a musician. At the moment we’re playing some shows with PP Arnold for example so it’s about mixing it up and having fun with what you do and next year we will probably look at doing some more serious focused You Am I stuff.”
And they sure have a fair chunk of stuff in the processor at the moment. The foursome will be off to a strong start to the New Year playing at the Australian Open, then heading on a regional road trip as part of the Under The Southern Stars festival circuit alongside Hoodoo Gurus, Eskimo Joe, The Superjesus, British India, The Getaway Plan and Scott Darlow.
“You can play Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide and Brisbane and Perth all you want but it’s when you get out there to where people really live in regional areas and country towns, that’s where there’s a kind of energy out there. Those people like rock and roll and they like going out and they call it how they see it,” Kent laughs. “So this tour is going to be good in that we can get out to those people nationally. The tour is a great idea and we’re happy to be along on that tour!”
With 10 ARIA awards and an equal amount of studio albums to their name, You Am I may be adding another disc to their collection in 2019.
“We are going to do a charity fundraising event in Sydney for an old manager of ours who had a stroke and it has been financially crippling for them so we’re going to raise some money and put a gig on. We’ve spoken to a bunch of people who know this person, they’re 90’s profile people so that will be really fun and purposeful night to help this person out and we might actually put together a single or an EP and give that away to raise more money. So that might be the start of us getting together and writing some songs and recording.” Kent continues, “So yes next year we will be putting something out, in what way, we don’t quite know yet but there is the desire to do it.”
You can expect their classic rock sound and if you don’t like it, Kent says, “Yeah well tough shit we’re going to do it anyway!”
We suspect another ARIA will be added to that list, and we’re definitely starting the petition for a Hall of Fame induction! Sign here >
Catch You Am I when Under The Southern Stars makes its way to Victoria, Saturday, 12 January at Hastings Foreshore Reserve.
Written by Tammy Walters