A: How ya going? I hear the soundcheck's going for slightly longer than was anticipated.
P: Yeah, but the water's warm. It's very good up here, you know.

A: Well that's the main thing. Now this is a very exciting gig tonight, certainly for us. It conjures up fond memories for many of us. How about you?
P: Oh yeah. Like I'm... I'm tripping down the lane. Aah, if I could build a fence around the memories and put myself inside them and corral it, I could charge people to get in, they're that intense.

A: That's a beautiful image, Peter.
P: I'm working on tonight.

A: Now I hear that its actually the first time that you've actually played, you know, genuinely live on this radio network since sometime in the seventies, for God's sake!
P: That can't be true.

A: I believe it is.
P: No. I refuse to believe it.

A: It is.
P: Didn't we do something for you in the eighties?

A: Goat Island?
P: Yeah. Something like that.

A: Yeah, you did. But none of it was live on air apparently.
P: Oh really?

A: None of it....It was sort of recorded live and then replayed or simulcast.
P: It doesn't matter how long we play, we always sound the same.

A: So Peter, how long since you played there at Narrabeen?
P: Oh look, Ang, if we put years on it, no-one'll listen.

A: All right, fair enough.
P: They changed it, you know. I mean, Alan Bond bought it - he's on his way to gaol now, I guess, but he bought it - and they tarted it up and they made it into a disco, but aah. I mean the sweat is still sort of threatening to circulate around the ceiling. I understand there's going to be a heap of people down here. It's kind of interesting for us. I think we're past the stage where we're gonna even think about what we'll do. We'll just get up and run by instinct.

A: And have a fantastic time, I'm sure.
P: Oh yeah.

A: Are there any tickets left for the gig tonight?
P: I don't... Well, there may be one or two for locals if they squeeze. Aah, you know. If the media and the record company decide that they can't make the drive... The rest of them sold out rather quickly.

A: I can imagine.
P: Yeah.

A: So Peter. Would you care to wager where in Australia are your most fervent fans? Would it be on the northern beaches of Sydney?
P: Ohh... I think... I mean... This place has been very good for Midnight Oil over the years, and, aah, they're very strong here. There's no two ways about it.

A: Mmmm. They really are fervent, your fans, aren't they Pete? We had a phone poll going recently here on triple J, inviting people to ring up and tell us about their favourite ever gig. And I have to tell you that Midnight Oil won, even though it wasn't a competition. There were more calls about you guys and live gigs of yours, than any others.
P: Well you... We might get on your top 100 soon!

A: Yeah, but that's a recording!!
P: Oh well, that's different. Aah look, I.....that's nice to hear, and I....I mean, look. we've done it this way for a long time. We still basically are very much focused on getting to the edge of the performance. We really want to push it as far as we can. Aah, we figure that every night is possibly the last night. So I think that's possibly given the performances quite a lot of fire in the past, and they've still got them, and that's basically why we're doing it. It still happens.

A: That's great, isn't it? What do you do? Do you have to do anything to psych yourself up, or do you just go off naturally?
P: Well, you know... I mean, I'm not gonna force it. If it's there, it's there. And if it happens, that's great. And if it doesn't, then I just do the show as best I can. And I'm feeding off people, you know. People are coming down, and they're really getting very charged by it, and I think they're charging me back again. So, it's easy for me.

A: Pete, a question from obviously a very long time fan of yours - his name is Mark, from Newcastle - he wanted to know if the band recognised long time Oils' fans in the font row when you play these days?
P: Aah...

A: Do you notice familiar faces?
P: Sometimes you look out there and, aah (singing now) Haven't I seen your face before? But I'm not really looking at the audience so much as just basically swallowing up the atmos. And, I mean, if the room has got a very cool thing happening, well that's great. And if we see some familiar faces, that's fine. But, I mean, we play all over,and, aah. Everyone's got they're own claim on Midnight Oil. They've got a claim from a year, or a record, or a memory, and they're all legitimate claims. You know, we just get out and serve them as best we can.

A: Must be very, very exciting. It's gonna be an exciting night, I'm sure.
P: Yeah, no. It's gonna be very good.

A: I hope all the technical problems come together.
P: People are out there running around with screwdrivers. I think it'll happen.

A: And presumably you'll be playing some old songs, along with the new ones?
P: You know, we haven't been out to the beaches for a while, so we'll pull some of the beach songs out of the repertoire. We're gonna do a desecration of the 'black arm band view of history soliloquy' for a certain person who will remain unnammed on your radio station.

A: I think that's the best way, Pete.
P: Yeah. And we'll just have fun otherwise.

A: Good on you. Lovely to talk to you. It should be very exciting on triple J from nine o'clock tonight. Thanks for your time, Pete.
P: Pleasure Ang. Bye.

A: All the best.
P: See ya.

From JJJ, by Angela Catterns

(Note: this article has not been approved for reproduction.)