The annual Apia Good Times Tour is headed to Newcastle on Wednesday 31 May. We sat down with the stars of this years showcase to find out what they get up to on tour, the tunes we can expect to hear and how they balance creativity with nostalgia for their back catalogs.
Vika & Linda Bull
1. What are you most looking forward to on the APIA Good Time Tour?
We are looking forward to the audience of course – as long as everyone has a good time and they enjoy the music and the good vibes then we know that we have done our job.
2. Describe your idea of a good time whilst being on tour.
Idea of a good time is getting to see this beautiful country of ours and hanging out with the band and eating and all the lovely restaurants.
3. What songs are you most looking forward to performing on the night?
Chained to the Wheel, Down Under, Live It Up, It’s Only the Beginning
4. How do you balance your creativity with your songs and still be able to stay true to the tunes that people have grown to love?
You just gotta play the songs the way the people know them – we have tried to stuff with songs like Never Let Me Go a lot and it never works – we always go back to the original. Play the hits the original way because that’s why they became hits and then write new stuff to keep your creative juices flowing.
Colin Hay
1. What are you most looking forward to on the APIA Good times Tour?
Well clearly the shows themselves, that’s why you’re there.
2. Describe your idea of a good time whilst being on tour?
Waking up in the morning, and discovering that my hotel room door opens out onto pristine white sand, with 3-4 foot waves breaking on the shore. At first I think it’s a dream, but I quickly realize it’s not. The waves are perfect for body surfing, which is fortunate for me, as I never did get the hang of the board. I swim out a little ways beyond the breaking waves, not too far, but far enough to swim for a few hundred yards in a more or less parallel line to the shore. I get tired quite quickly, and recognize that I probably won’t compete in a triathlon anytime soon. It takes me a little longer than anticipated to swim ashore, but eventually I stumble onto the sand, being dumped one more time by a rogue wave that crept up behind me.
As I wander up the beach, I notice quite an elaborate tent perched between the sand and the tea tree. There are 4 women, of varying ages, sitting round a small gas stove. I can smell coffee. As I wander past, one of them looks at me, smiles a little, and says, “Morning Mr Hay, care for a latte”? “Don’t mind if I do” I reply. That’s what I would call, a good start to the day.
3. What songs are you most looking forward to performing on the night?
All five or six that I get to play on any given night.
4.How do you balance your creativity with your songs and still be able to stay true to the tunes that people have grown to love?
Don’t think about it, get out of your own way and just play the song, it’s all about the song.
Joe Camilleri
1. What are you most looking forward to on the APIA Good times Tour?
THE MONEY just kidding! This is my fourth APIA tour and I really feel these shows bring out the best in all of us. It’s a wonderful tale of mateship and shared experiences and those evergreen songs that fans love.
2. Describe your idea of a good time whilst being on tour?
There’s no better drug than performing and doing what you love to do. Creating your own fun on the tour bus on those long road trips between shows and having a good laugh with the band and crew.
3. What songs are you most looking forward to performing on the night?
You know some songs don’t have a shelf life. Hold On To Me is one of those songs for me. It was a important track for us at the time but most of all I still love playing it.
We’re thrilled that Vika and Linda are on this run of shows, there’s history there, a good old slice of nostalgia. I get a chance to play Never Let Me Go that was written for Vika for the Harley and
Rose album. I embrace my past, but new material is aways where I like to be.
4. How do you balance your creativity with your songs and still be able to stay true to the tunes that people have grown to love?
As a songwriter you like to feel there’s always room for improvement but once its recorded that’s it. As a lead singer, you have choices on any given night to breath new life into the old guard..shape it a little. The hard part is knowing how far to take it without losing the audience who only know the songs just as it they were recorded.
About The Show
The annual Apia Good Times Tour returns for it’s fifth consecutive year with another once-in-a-lifetime line-up of Oz music legends including The Black Sorrows with Vika + Linda Bull, Colin Hay (Men at Work), Mental as Anything and Deborah Conway leading the sing-alongs across the country.
