He was watching a movie about the horrific Snowtown murders when it all came flooding back for Jimmy Barnes.
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The Cold Chisel singer had suppressed much of the desperation and abuse that plagued his childhood in the north Adelaide suburbs until he saw it in front of him, while watching the critically-acclaimed Snowtown.
“The street looked like my street and the house looked like my house. I got this weird feeling, I could almost taste the house I grew up in, I could smell the fear,” he said.
“I haven’t had the guts to go back and watch it since. From that point I turned it off and all this stuff flooded back to me. It was the catalyst that set it off.”
Barnes sat down and wrote his memoir, Working Class Boy, which detailed his violent upbringing in Glasgow and the even more bleak surrounds he found himself when his family moved to Australia but weren’t able to shake off the domestic abuse and alcohol patterns that plagued them.
He said he was still recovering today after leaving home at 17 to form Cold Chisel, a journey that catapulted him through addiction to alcohol, drugs and sex.
He is about to launch a spoken word and song tour based on the book, visiting Ballarat on November 15.
“Everything that happened to me as a child was the perfect melting pot to make a rock and roll singer,” he said.
“I would have to stay constantly medicated – drink, snort, shag – anything not to feel.
“I didn’t like me so I would drink myself to oblivion every night trying to not feel and not think. I’m so lucky I didn’t die.”
He said many of his mates – like AC/DC singer Bon Scott – “didn’t get through”.
“I’ve always spent my time singing and screaming at people, I never had a lot to say because I didn’t want people to see who I was. Now I want to talk about this because it’s part of what forms the person I am, and we share the experience,” he said.
“We should be trying to stop (violence from happening) in the future. We’ve got to start talking about violence to boys, from when they’re two years old, not when they’re 18 and in jail.”
Working Class Boy: An Evening of Stories and Songs will be held at the Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts on November 15. Tickets at www.wcpa.com.au