EXCLUSIVE: The good times don’t stop for Joe Camilleri once he leaves the stage. At 65 years young he still enjoys the off stage antics of touring.
Joe will be in Newcastle on May 17 as part of the APA Good Times Tour with fellow icons of Australian music, Richard Clapton, Russell Morris and Leo Sayer.
For the uninitiated Joe Camilleri, aka Jo Jo Zep or Joey Vincent, is this year celebrating 50 years of as a pivotal player in the Australian music industry with the release Certified Blue (April 2014). Recording as a solo artist, and with Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and The Black Sorrows; Joe has achieved numerous Top 20 hits, including Hit & Run, Taxi Mary, Chained to the Wheel and many others. Joe has produced records for influential artists including The Sports, Paul Kelly & the Dots, Reneฬe Geyer and Ross Wilson and to top it all off, he was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2007.
During our interview, Joe tells me that sharing tall stories and recalling hazy memories of tours past with the other headliners, is all part of the fun of the APIA Good Times Tour.
โAt this stage of our careers our memories are all shotโ he tells me over the phone from Melbourne. โSo the challenge is making the tall stories sound believable.โ
But it would seem that making legend a reality is only half the challenge on this tour for Joe. Having made 45 albums in his 50 years in the business, having the time to get through his set has become a challenge in itself.
โYouโve got to watch out for the hookโ he says. โIf I go over 5 or 10 minutes, the other guys on the tour get upset, so theyโve manufactured a big hook that comes out to pull me off stage if I go over.โ
With such a mammoth back catalogue to choose from, and being able to fill a set with songs that everyone knows, simply by being Australian, the thrill of sharing his new songs with theย audience is also a highlight for Joe on the tour.
“I’ve always said rock and roll is a struggle. For instance, I’ve got a new album out called Certified Blue, and not many people have heard itย becauseย it’s only just come out, so when I play it liveย I’ve got to try an make that sound so intensely beautiful, and that’s a struggle, and that’s rock and roll.”
I ask Joe if he can summarise tour in once sentence;
โThe Good Times show is a bunch of Australian songs that struck a chord with Australians at a particular time, that relate to them, and now their kidsโ ย heย tells me.
The APIA Good Times Tourย will be in Newcastle on May 17. For more information visitย http://ow.ly/wyOz3ย
Thanks to the Civic Theatre and APIA,ย Newcastle Live are giving away 3 double passes to the show. All you have to do to be in the running to win is tell us what song youโre most looking forward to hearing on the night.
Thereโs three ways to go into the draw;
Tweet your answer toย @Live_Newcastle
Posts your answerย on thisย facebook status
Leave a comment on this post on our website
Enter as many times as you like. Winners chosen at random (we literally draw it out of a hat!). One double pass for twitter, one for facebook and one for someone who comments on the website. GOOD LUCK!
Interview By Dan Beazley.
