Mick Thomas Launches Book & Tour
These Are the Songs is a lovingly crafted compilation spanning the past eighteen years and more of Mick Thomas’ creative life. From the wry and laconic observations of ‘The Lonely Goth’ to the wit and whimsy of You Remind Me, the soaring growl of Hard Currency to the pure joyous on-the-road fun of Sleep on Your Floor and The Last of the Tourists, this is a classic set of tunes performed by a loose but lovingly selected bunch of players. The album is the companion to These Are the Days, a joyous autobiographical tale of an inspired and uniquely Australian creative force.
The album finishes with four bonus recordings including a cheeky duet with Ruby Boots on Bob Dylan’s latter day classic Most of the Time, in a classic Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra style adaption. Mick’s affable growl is off-set perfectly by Ruby’s soaring nu-country contralto. The film clip, which premiered on The Music, is a playful comment on modern life as Mick and Ruby seek to illustrate the emotional disconnect of the lyric with a series of texts taken from a list of the worst song lyrics of all time.
For a record that spans a vast variety of recording situations and musicians the album is impressively cohesive. Mick’s long-time musical companion Squeezebox Wally features on many of the tracks, as the various line-ups of his band’s The Sure Thing and The Roving Commission navigate a repertoire of enigmatic country folk rock gems.
Raconteur, troubadour, balladeer and poet, Mick Thomas is best known as the song master of pub-rock icons Weddings Parties Anything. His ever-evolving talents as a writer and performer defines a career as intriguing as it is enduring. His knockabout image partly explains his close relationship with his audience. They see him as one of them. A loyal mob who have followed him from the Weddo’s through his solo career, Mick’s fans relate to his wistful, sentimental and nostalgic lyrics. Themes such as Australian history, fleeting or lost love, the bittersweet realities of life’s merry-go-round, alienation (and football), are wrapped in a positive, triumph over adversity message. The characters in Mick’s songs are everyday battlers, as are he and his fans.
About the book:
These Are The Days is out on Wednesday 1 March. It all starts with the songs: how they got written, where and why they got written, and why they still get played. And it’s about the people – in the various line ups of the various bands, the people in the studio, and in the audience at the countless shows. And it’s about when Weddings, Parties, Anything first called it a day back in 1998 when Mick quickly realised there was no good night to go into. The book follows the stories of 31 songs, each including stories and a song chart, and is published by Melbourne Books or you can order here through Mick’s website.
MICK THOMAS and the ROVING COMMISSION Tour Dates
Fri 3 Mar | Nannup Music Festival, Nannup WA
Sat 4 Mar | Nannup Music Festival, Nannup WA
Sat 4 Mar | The Oxford Hotel, Leederville WA (Book Event)
Sun 5 Mar | The Oxford Hotel, Leederville WA
Fri 10 Mar | Port Fairy Folk Festival VIC
Sat 11 Mar | Port Fairy Folk Festival VIC
Sun 12 Mar | Port Fairy Folk Festival VIC (Book Event)
Wed 22 Mar | Sun Theatre, Yarraville, VIC (Book Event)
Sat 22 Apr | The Gum Ball, Belford, NSW
Fri 19 May | Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Sat 20 May | Suttons House of Music, Ballarat VIC
Sat 27 May | Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide SA
Sun 28 May | Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide SA
Wed 31 May | Methodist Church, Adelong NSW
Thu 1 Jun | Smiths Alternative, Canberra ACT
Fri 2 Jun | LeadBelly | Sydney NSW
Sat 3 Jun | Lizottes Restaurant, Newcastle NSW
Sun 4 Jun | Hotel Gearin, Katoomba NSW
Sat 10 Jun | Milk Factory, Brisbane QLD
Sun 11 Jun | Bison Bar, Nambour, QLD
Fri 16 Jun | Moysten Hall, Ararat VIC
Sat 17 Jun | Caravan Music Club, Oakleigh VIC