FANS of Aussie rock are in for a treat with The Screaming Jets set to play at Parkwood Tavern on August 24 for their Rock Radio Riot tour with Boom Crash Opera – and we have free double passes for two lucky readers.
Melbourne guitar legend Jimi “The Human” Hocking said he was looking forward to playing Queensland again.
“We were up there earlier in the year for the Red Hot Summer tour,” he said.
“I come to the Gold Coast a bit to play the Broadbeach Blues Festival and it’s always great.”
Hocking said the band had originated in Newcastle but had evolved in the almost 30 years since then.
“I was the first outsider to join the band but now most of us are from Victoria and (singer) Dave Gleeson is from Adelaide,” he said.
He said the nickname The Human happened because of advertising posters.
“I had my own band and had a folk career in the mid-80s before I joined The Screaming Jets, he said.
“I was kind of a local legend in Victoria and nowhere else.
“The owner of a cafe where I was playing said I couldn’t have just ‘Jimi’ on the poster so I started adding things like ‘Jimi the guitarist’ and ‘Jimi the singer’.
“Then I decided I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed, so I just put ‘Jimi the Human’ on the posters.”
Hocking said he had played for a bit with The Angels when their guitarist injured his arm and Doc Neeson loved the nickname.
“He introduced me to everyone as Jimi the Human and here we are all these years later,” he said.
“If I had known the name would stick, I would have given it a lot more thought at the time.”
He said the Rock Radio Riot tour would spotlight The Screaming Jets’ new album, Gotcha Covered, which is a compilation of Aussie Rock favourites by various bands.
The album was recorded after radio station Triple M named the band’s single Better as the most played song in the station’s 37-year history.
“Listeners used to ring up and request Aussie tunes so we went into the studio with a lost of 20 all Australian hits and made a party album to acknowledge these great bands,” he said.
“It was a fun project and it’s currently sitting at number two on iTunes and number 17 on the Aria charts.”
Hocking said punters at the Gold Coast gig could look forward to hearing many of the old Screaming Jets favourites as well as tunes from the album, which was a broad range of different songs and styles from punk to commercial pop.
The band will play songs by Aussie favourites including Men at Work, The Angels, Radio Birdman, Ice House and The Easybeats.
Boom Crash Opera’s hits span a similar history to the Jets, starting in the late 1980’s with Onion Skin, Dancing in The Storm, Great Wall, Hands Up In The Air, Get Out Of The House, The Best Thing, Gimme, Bettadaze and Talk About It.
Want to see the show for free? Send us your name, suburb and phone number in the form below to enter the draw.
To be in the draw, enter by 9am on Monday, August 20.
Conditions may apply.
Winners will be contacted by phone and their names published online.
