Recovery Interview (Original article online here) Leah: So, here we are at Stompem Ground. First time though? Second time? Third time? Leah: And the theme? Leah: And to share culture. Leah: To share it not only with not only Aboriginal people but non Aboriginal as well. Leah: That's it, we certainly are - The 'White Skin, Black Heart'; that's it, love it, love it. But you were up in Jabiluka, can you fill [us in] about... Leah: Yeah well, very sad. Leah: Excellent, so everyone get behind... Leah: Now, Redneck Wonderland. New one huh? Big one? Leah: Where'd you get the title from? From Recovery, by Leah Purcell (Note: this article has not been approved for reproduction.)
Pete: Yeah [laughs], how many times have the Oils played in Broome? It's the first time we've played in Stompem Ground. It's a total buzz for us, to be able to come out and just to play with all these people. And the music is just... it's got a lot of passion, it's got a lot of heart in it. It's very good out here.
Pete: Well I think it's really important. We just recognise that there's this whole history in Australia and families were split a part and now they're coming back together and the idea that we had a stolen generation and that generation now has to become the new generation. And I think all the stuff I'm hearing from musicians, all the things that's going in Broome in Naidoc week. It's all very positive. It's all very forward looking. It's all very optimistic. It's a lot different from what we read in the newspapers. And so it's nice to be a part of that. To touch it. To feel it.
Pete: Absolutely
Pete: [to Leah] We're sharing it together [laughs].
Pete: I spent two and a half days on the blockade at Jabiluka - very intense days in my political life. Six hundred people there in the camp. This uranium mine in the best national park of Australia needs to be stopped. We need to really get a good strong grass roots movement
moving. People lettin' our leaders know that as far as we're concerned, in the 21st century we don't want this to be a part of the way that we live.
Pete: Well, y'know, I mean they've wanted to do it for sometime. Kakadu is Australia, it's Aboriginal people, it's the nature of Australia, it's the tourists that come in there, it's the young Australians earning a living, sharing the beauty of the country. It's not a place for radioactive waste. It doesn't make any sense. And we're going to campaign really hard. We're going to fight hard and we need lots of help.
Pete: Absolutely
Pete: Well I think so. I think, what can I say about it?, We've got another lease. The band's playing very, very strongly, they're very, very focused on the music. We really put a lot into the album. We really thought about it and we thought 'we're going to do something basically which reflects what's happening here now'. Using Magoo to produce it to begin with. But we're also going to bring the Oils' musical strengths into it as well. Hopefully the combinations paid off.
Pete: It's just a bit of graffiti we saw in Melbourne about what we're doing to the bush and it sums it up doesn't it? We've got a great Wonderland but, we can't get rid of the Rednecks!