As tour names go, it doesn’t get more epic than Punk Rockin’ The Suburbs. The Bennies are back – well, almost.
Now’s about the time you’ll want to get reacquainted with the back catalogue of the Melbourne psych-rock legends because they head out on tour later this month and are hitting up all the rural nooks and crannies of the country. And don’t forget, everything The Bennies have ever done is all about putting the fun in music. No prejudice, no socio-politics, they’re just out for a good time. This could almost be a point of criticism, or so says vocalist Anty Horgan. “I dunno, it’s just like, we wanna have fun playing music.”
Based on the places The Bennies are going, there’s a huge community vibe happening within the band, like they’re trying to give back to the little people. “It’s awesome going out to different places and stuff,” says Horgan. “It’s not the kind of thing you can do all the time, but we had a bit of time and it seemed like a good idea.
“We were also looking back through old tours recently and saw heaps of the old bands like AC/DC, when they started they just played in the suburbs all the time – we thought if we could do that it’d be cool.”
With a new tour comes new tunes. The Bennies are writing new songs right now. “We’re fully deep in it,” says Horgan. “We’re going away for the weekend to record demos, about 10 songs, and we’ll be playing a few [new songs] on tour, as well.”
Check out The Bennies’ social media and you’ll see the guys are pretty hyped for this tour, taking photos of themselves and the tour poster in any which way possible with some hilarious results. To some level, it’s important the band get people on board and as involved as possible, asking the important questions like what town has the best tuck shop? It’s important, Horgan says, for The Bennies to drum up as much love as they can before they’ve even hit the stage. “On a basic level, it’s promotion so people know we’re coming, but we try and keep thing pretty fun – one way of doing that is to involve people.”
And in terms of involving people, The Bennies have just decided who they’re taking out as supports on tour – though Horgan, because they’re so many, doesn’t know who they are off the top of his head. It’s local bands, though, bands who The Bennies best feel represent the towns they’re from. “Because we’re playing places we don’t normally play we wanted to see bands from the area, like, those bands might not get a chance like this so it’s like, cool!”
When & Where:
The Whalers Hotel, Warrnambool – June 28
The Workers Club, Geelong – July 12
Karova Lounge, Ballarat – July 13
Written by Anna Rose
