On the bio that accompanies their new album Redneck Wonderland, drummer Rob Hirst is quoted as saying "Midnight Oil is at it's most convincing when it's pissed off." Their latest set of songs reflect, as their 1982 hit would have it, "the temper of the times." A coalition government pushing a political and cultural agenda that openly seeks the "relaxed and comfortable" conservatism of the 50's, a resurgent Lunar Right courtesy of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, and an environmental agenda pushed to the backburner in favour of economic rationalism. Cold, cold change indeed. Hirst is mightily pissed off, and, as he recently told ATN, he and his band have channelled that rage into one of their most potent albums ever:

It's a tough call. Name the three defining Oil's records from a list of ten studio albums, one live set and a couple of EP's. It's the kind of debate that could keep you at the kitchen table with a slab all night. Rob Hirst has spent a bit of time thinking about it, and his list goes Head Injuries, 10 to 1, and the latest addition to the family, Redneck Wonderland:

"It's funny - you hear about younger kids getting into the Oils now, and really enjoying Head Injuries because of it's rawness. I guess that had a lot to do with us getting into the studio after a show and putting the songs down - it was less a recording session and more like the second set of the night. Since then there have been songs here and there that have been pretty full on, but in terms of making an angry, frustrated record I'd have to say the time we were spending in London in 1982 making 10 to 1. We'd lost our record deal, and we were borrowing heavily as we did right up until the end of the 80's to finance our overseas trips, so we could work with producers like Warne Livesy and Nick Launay and just spend time there and see what was going on. At the time we weren't sure whether we were going to get another deal. We were looking down the barrel of a pretty uncertain future, and I think all that frustration came out on the record. I think there's a similar mood in the camp now for different reasons - but with the same result."

Redneck Wonderland arrives at a critical time for the Oils. They've been barnstorming their idiosyncratic politically charged rock and roll around venues here and internationally for over two decades, a period that's seen most of their contemporaries hang up the Strats and shed the drumkits. As much for themselves as for their audience, it seems with their new album Midnight Oil need to re-establish their relevance with younger, and more critical listeners.

The band's last studio album Breathe was mostly concerned with the search for an authentic Australian spiritualism, and it's spacious, airy production and somewhat esoteric lyric matter had some proclaiming the band past their peak. Redneck Wonderland may give them pause for thought - it's harder, denser production reflects the betrayal and frustration felt within the band at the political changes wreaking havoc on the hard won environmental and social gains they've championed throughout their career:

"I think there's a lot of frustration in the camp" says Hirst "but I think that's true of a lot of Australians - at the leadership, or lack of at the moment. As the newspapers came in during the making of the record we got angrier and angrier, and the songs got tougher and harder and faster!"

ATN: The new album title is obviously indicative of the lyrical concerns of the new songs, but when did you first arrive at the name?

Rob Hirst: "It comes from a bit of graffiti in Melbourne. We made the record in Sing Sing studios in Richmond and everyday we were passing this bit of graffiti on the way to the studio. Someone had scrawled an outline of Australia and scrawled "Redneck Wonderland" through it. We had a few other titles in mind, but the more our songs came together the more we thought 'well, this is a really apt name.'".

ATN: The recording process was a somewhat interrupted affair, I believe?

Hirst: Well, we've been making the record for about a year on and off. We did the collection record 20,000 Watt RSL in the middle of it - we sort of downed tools, got the collection record out, spent a bit of time on that. We really wanted the collection record to be more than a quickie from the record company, so we spent a lot of time in choosing the tracks, getting it remastered, asking Tim Winton if he could write the story that appears in the middle of it, and generally making sure that a lot of it came from the band, rather than a company job. Up until that time we'd been working with this young producer Magoo (Regurgitator, Front End Loader), and we'd been going down every few weeks to Melbourne to get it going and we knew what sort of record we wanted to make. I think this band often works on action/ reaction to the last record- so while Breathe was quite an atmospheric record from the band, we were determined that this one was going to turn that upside down and so with that in mind we just chose all the toughest tracks we had.

ATN: When did Warne Livesy become involved?

Hirst: Um, after Xmas we got involved with Warne Livesy again who produced Diesel And Dust and Blue Sky Mining and he came over from London. We re-recorded a couple of songs that we'd toured on and felt we could do a better job of and rearranged a few of the others and Warne ended up mixing most of the record. I think the time will be worth it - I think the album's benefited from the extra time, it's lost none of it's spontaneity, I hope.

ATN: It seems the issues you're tackling on Redneck Wonderland are quite timely, given the current political climate.

Hirst: Tragically, they're becoming more apt every day! We've got political parties up in Canberra that appear to be totally bereft of anything which would involve policy or integrity. They seem to be simply running a desperate campaign not to let One Nation pull the rug from underneath them. That whole scenario has contributed to the anger in our music, but with Midnight Oil the music does come first. I just think we've made one of the most potent records on the back of frustration at what's going on. We're only a small part of this - but you've got the "born to rule" mob back again, and they're a visionless mob and they appeal to a selfish hip pocket mentality and they're very good at that - God help us if they win the next election."

ATN: What are the specific issues you're wanting to point to via the album?

Hirst: Well, I think one would assume the last few years of this century would be given over to wrapping up some of the mistakes of the past - of finally giving Aborigines justice after 200 years of invasion, of making sure working women were secure with childcare, making sure kids can be educated up to tertiary level without costing thousands of dollars, which isn't the case, making sure that migrants can be safe in their communities, 'cos it has been a remarkably tolerant society that we've had in Australia. But for one reason or another it appears to be the trend today you can say the most outrageous racist things and not be censured by those in power, and in some ways actively encouraged - and that is a tragedy.

ATN: One Nation seems to shadow a lot of the songs on the album - you seem almost desperate to put a contrary point of view across in specific opposition to the Hanson camp.

Hirst: We're really worried there's a general feeling that if we stay quiet these people will go away. One Nation aren't going away, they seem to be picking up more support on a daily basis and they have to be resisted. The cone of silence - to use that old expression from Get Smart - has been a miserable failure. It's up to Australians who care about justice and about a fair society and who want to protect all the great gains that have been made this century to speak now. If someone had told me a few years ago that in the last few years of this century we were going towards a situation closer to the Australia I was born into in the 50"s - rather than a country which had reconciled with its native people ... if next century is supposed to be the healing century the time to start is now. It seems like a period of lost opportunity to us.

ATN: The pejorative term "redneck" is interesting - there's some people starting to use it as a kind of badge of honour these days - in the way a term like "slacker" became some kind of inverse status symbol.

Hirst: First up, I think it's important to say the band's view is that it's nothing to do with a geographical location, be it the southern States of America, Queensland or wherever - it's got to do with a state of mind and we think there's as many rednecks in expensive suits in Sydney and Melbourne as there are in Ipswich or Roma. Wearing it as a badge of honour is a different thing again - I think it's up to people who've travelled and who've seen the consequence of out of control guns, of mindless racism, and those who have discovered the consequences of racism and the tragedy it engenders over the long term - it's up to those people to speak loud and speak now against it. I sure as hell know Commonwealth governments and most of the State governments aren't prepared to do it at the moment."

ATN: Tell us about the musical highlights for you on the new album.

Hirst: It's got a lot of really tough, strong riffs - a lot of the stuff is up in tempo, and Pete's really spitting out the lyrics a lot of the time. There's some good strong choruses in the Midnight Oil tradition, but it's got some variation, too - it's not all full ahead rock. It's got quite a groovy track called "Return To Sender" that Jim has written. There's a couple of other tangents - the last song on the record, and also a song called "Seeing Is Believing" that have more a European tradition, almost a dance tradition. But you know, the general mood is tough

ATN: Your commitment to tackling the big, serious issues is well known. Some people might doubt that the band actually has a lighter side, a sense of humour.

Hirst: (Uproarious laughter) We don't have one! Whenever we try to put it into a musical form it backfires because people expect us to be deadly serious - so we've just given up! Fortunately we've got Bones Hillman in the band, and if we get too serious he's there to take the mickey out of us. The Oils come over as being a pretty serious group and I guess fundamentally that's what we are, but it's not humourless. The trouble is we can't seem to get the humour over in a way that people understand - maybe it's just not our forte!

ATN: We're not letting you off that easily - give us an example of where you tried to lighten up musically?

Hirst: Well, a song like "When The Generals Talk" was supposed to be a pisstake of African dictators like Idi Amin and supposed to be quite tongue in cheek. Thing is, people took that seriously which left us quite bewildered so we decided not to try again.

ATN: How did Peter react to being listed as one of Australia's "national treasures"?

Hirst: He didn't mention it. It was one of those things - 'Oh, Pete's a national treasure, oh yeah' (laughs). I think it's up to the band to take the mickey out of someone like that. I think certain members of the band who shall remain nameless were going around calling him "precious" for a while, but no-one took it too seriously.

ATN: There were rumours floating around a while back that you were actually leaving the band.

Hirst: Really? If I leave the band I'll be the last to know! Those things come around every now and then. It's pretty common with a band that takes quite a bit of time off, which we do, mainly because we want records to be really good when they do come out. It's actually a safety valve for the band - not only to travel but to take time off from each other, otherwise I don't think we'd have been together as long as we have.

ATN: After 21 years, what's the feeling in the band like these days? Is the issue of when to call it a day ever raised?

Hirst: The band's pretty strong now with this line up. There's a very strong thing of these people playing together and what they put out. As long as we're making strong music and getting excited by what we do and hopefully being relevant to people then that time may be some time off yet."

ATN: You're certainly in that select band of Oz rock survivors these days.

Hirst: It's starting to feel a bit lonely where we are. We've lost Hunters And Collectors recently, Crowded House finished a while ago, the Hoodoo Gurus, The Church finally called it a day after being on and off for some time. It's really up to us to keep the flag flying. At the moment we feel we've got one of the strongest records we've had for years and it's been well received already - I think we've got some time to go yet.

ATN: What about internationally - is it still an ambition of the band to build a bigger following there?

Hirst: Well, we've been able to build a pretty good base in places like France, Germany, parts of Canada and the States. I'm actually wondering what the reaction to Redneck Wonderland will be, because it's a very Australian record in many respects. A lot of the references are Australian. We've never changed our songwriting or our approach in order to suit some market or demographic because the record company thought it would be good to do. We've always made records from first instincts. To be honest, it's always a bit of lottery knowing how a particular record's going to be received ... you'd go mad chasing what's happening in New York or the clubs of Germany. We've just got to stay true to what we think and react to our own environment.

ATN: I guess one of the really strong things about the band is that you've existed pretty much independent of the musical trends.

Hirst: There's strong evidence that just being yourself and being true has worked for the band for 21 years. Fashion smashion! (laughs) We just can't dress right, and our records inevitably come out at exactly the wrong time for what supposed international music trends are doing ..."

ATN: Do you see yourselves picking up a new generation of fans?

Hirst: "Well, we've played a couple of festivals recently where it was obvious people had never heard the band before, which was really good 'cos Midnight Oil always operates really well with a bit of a challenge. There were kids who've maybe heard about the band from older brothers and sisters but have never seen us live ..."

ATN: What about the forthcoming tour - what's planned?

Hirst: The show's kind of divided into the 20,000 Watt RSL part of the night where we play old stuff, then there's a bit of surfing footage from a movie called "Biggest Wednesday", then we'll play a set of all the Redneck songs ...

ATN: Will you be touring again with the infamous chocolate wheel?

Hirst: Ah yes, the dreaded chocolate wheel! It'll definitely be there - apart from the fact that some of the audience can get onstage and ask Pete a few questions, it's also good for the band. It means you can't get too settled, and you have to go back to the catalogue and relearn all these songs - and believe me, there's a lot of them!

Before he signs off, Hirst reflects on his two decades of shit-stirring and pot boiling in the country's most outspoken rock band - and with almost exasperated fervour talks of the ongoing Oils agenda:

"You think you've won battles - really important ones that involve environmental standards which once put in place would be there forever - not so! The fight appears never to have been won. People like ourselves find that battles fought for over 20 years still haven't been won. It appears you've got to be ever vigilant."

From Addicted To Noise, by Andrew Tanner

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