Musician Jim Moginie had a burning desire to finish a new album while he was lying on his back, trying to recover from a severe rock-and-roll-created injury.
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He said he “had a fire” under him to complete The Family Dog’s album this year, after some forced downtime caused by a fall off the Sidney Myer Music Bowl stage during a Midnight Oil gig, where he ripped his hamstring. Time in the record studio became part of his rehab.
The Midnight Oil guitarist and primary songwriter will perform with Jim Moginie and The Family Dog at Karova Lounge on December 8.
Playing together since 2006, Moginie is joined by guitarist Kent Steedman and drummer Paul Loughhead from The Celibate Rifles, plus multi-instrumentalist Tim Kevin.
He said the band had recorded new album Bark Overtures “in an unguarded way”, sort of aimless until they worked backwards to construct songs out of snippets.
“It’s a bit of a super group, in a strange little way, with heavyweight post-punk credentials,” Moginie told The Courier.
“Kent and I went through all the things we’d recorded over the years, we put it all together and it sounded fantastic.
“We figured if we’re going to put the thing out, we might as well tour behind it. It’s one of those self-fulfilling prophecies, really.”
Described as ‘a bit rock, with some foggy avant-garde stuff and a great beat’, The Family dog will play tunes of the new record, as well as songs from Moginie’s extensive back catalogue and a few choice Oils covers.
Calling Ballarat “such a beautiful, historic town", Moginie was determined to play here again, sandwiched between Melbourne shows at the Northcote Social Club and St Kilda’s recently revived Espy.
His eclectic career spans surf rock albums, contemplations on Irish music, gigs playing with the Sydney chamber Orchestra and record producing credits for Sarah Blasko, Neil Finn and Silverchair.
On Monday, The Oils announced another Australian tour was in the works for next year. Moginie said he was “looking forward to seeing if we’ve got anything to say”, because that’s “what the band is about”.
“It took me a while to find my feet after the Oils split up, that’s for sure. They’d been this outlet for 25 years of writing, and then suddenly it was gone, which was a shock,” Moginie said.
“But it was a great learning experience coming out into the wider music community after being cloistered for so long, as much I loved the Oils, it was a great experience coming out of that rarefied existence into the real world.
“You always had to write to Peter [Garrett]’s voice, pretty much … going into solo territory, I can do anything a can get a hook on and sing.”
Tickets $31.50, doors open at 8pm. Support act Neil Murray For tickets head to tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=94466