Tex Perkins will return to the stage with a brand-new show playing the songs of Johnny Cash. There are few artists who can translate the work of Johnny Cash and bring it to the modern day like Tex Perkins. His affinity and reverence for Johnny Cash’s career is evident in the way he approaches every song as if he’s lived it himself. Tex Perkins needs no introduction to Australian audiences; he is a legend within the Aussie music industry and is revered as one of the country’s rock n’ roll outlaws. It is said his affinity with Johnny Cash started in his earliest band and is an enthusiasm he hasn’t relinquished. After fronting The Cruel Sea, Beasts of Bourbon and touring with Tex, Don and Charlie and now Tex Perkins and The Fat Rubber Band, Tex has had an incredible and varied career. Mark caught up with Tex to talk all about the inescapable influence of Johnny Cash, the others that have inspired him musically and a whole lot more.
Mark: How are you Tex?
Tex: I’m pretty good. Just checking my pulse, making sure.
Mark: So feeling pretty relaxed, it’s Friday for a lot of us , so always a good day. Where do we start with Johnny Cash, he’s just one of those rare musicians that even if you don’t like Country music it’s hard not to like Johnny Cash?
Tex: Well he’s the only singer to be in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Folk Music Hall of Fame. The simplicity of his sound kind of allowed hm to cross all of those boundaries really and inspire all those different genres. They call him ‘The King of Country’ but nobody sounds like Johnny Cash.
Mark: He’s pretty unique. Where did your love of Mr. Cash come from? Was it something that was in there early?
Tex: Yeah, it was very early (laughs) It was as a five year old listening to the radio in 1969! Breakfast radio eating my Weet-Bix and I heard this song with the bizarre title ‘A Boy Named Sue’ about a man who wants to kill his father as he gave him a woman’s name. It was my fits glimpse I guess into a world I had no knowledge or: a world of mud, blood and beer. So that was al very intriguing, but most provocatively of all it was the first song that I heard with something ‘bleeped out.’ (Laughs) And the mind of course boggles when something is hidden or forbidden – it just makes things that much more attractive!
Mark: Absolutely! So where did it go from there? Was that a real jumping off point for you? I know it was young but…
Tex: Well my first band The Dum-Dums where I picked up the nickname Tex, we played a lot of Johnny Cash songs, I guess some of the appeal was their simplicity, but also the lyrics like “Shot a man in Reno just to watch him die”. (Laughs) That was very appealing to 17 year olds! I don’t think we did it very well despite it’s simplicity, because like a lot of apparently simple things it takes seconds to learn but a lifetime to master. The further I go down the Johnny Cash track the more I feel comfortable with it, even though people always told me it was such a good fit. Weve been doing ‘The Man in Black’ and versions of it for over ten tears now. I feel so comfortable in that music now, and it’s all of course in his honour: but I’m so comfortable now I don’t even feel like I’m doing an impersonation even. I feel comfortable enough in that music, and I understand what makes it work, that I just feel like I’m being me, I no longer feel like I’m pretending.
Mark: I now what you mean, there is a huge difference between going out and banging out a few cover songs and doing something like this were you have that long and deep musical reverence for the man. I have a couple of friends who are massive Johnny Cash fans and they love telling me stories about him, he led a very, very interesting life!
Tex: (laughs) Yes indeed! And that’s another thing about our show, being the custodians or ‘keepers of the flame’ of Johnny Cash, people keep coming to us with more information and more stories that we haven’t heard. Some of them are interesting, and some of the are just bizarre! (Laughs) Mainly I keep hearing new stories about the first few years of his career when they were playing over 300 shows a year and when he first fell into the lure of amphetamines and barbiturates – you know – ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’ to keep things going. There was a lot of strange behavior especially in hotel rooms.
Mark: Yes indeed! (laughs)
Tex: (laughs) The whole Hotel room wrecking thing – they not only invented that they took it to another level! They used to take power tools on the road with them! They would cut holes in walls if they wanted inter-connecting rooms! Or they would cut the furniture up into pieces and then reassemble it waiting for the next person to come along, or they would paint the whole room in one colour – like yellow – everything – the carpet, the bed, the curtains, the ceiling! (laughs)
Mark: I must admit I did read somewhere that Keith Moon of the Who took his Hotel room devastation inspiration from hearing those Johnny Cash stories! (laughs)
Tex: (laughs) Exactly! Keith Moon and people like that get a lot of the credit but Johnny Cash – Come on taking power tools on the road just to ruin Hotel rooms! It’s a very strange mind set! (laughs) It’s not just getting drunk and losing it! It’s premeditated!
Mark: Well you know what gets like on tour it can get a bit boring hanging around in Hotel lobbies and the like?
Tex: Well these days you’ve got Netflix!
Mark: (laughs) The world would be a lot less interesting a place I think if Johnny had had Netflix!
Tex: (laughing) Indeed! They’re trying to dumb us down and calm us down and I think they’re doing a damn good job!
Mark: Exactly!
Mark: So what can we expect from the show? I must admit I’ve not seen it before so I’m looking forward to rectifying that when it gets out to the West where you have a show in Bunbury on 4th November and then up to Perth to the wonderful Regal Theatre.
Tex: well you can expect an incredible band. The band has been the same for the past decade – they’re just exactly the right people to help me bring these songs to life. And you can expect to hear a singer who is very comfortable with the music, I almost feel a sense of ownership or responsibility, I love him! I love entering these songs, I love performing them, and love the range and the mood of the songs from the Rockabilly stuff of the early days to the very soulful stuff that he recorded before he died. So there’s me (laughs), a great band, a wonderful offsider Rachael Tidd that helps me perform the duets that Johnny did with June Carter. She also helps me tell the stories and that’s the other aspect – we talk to the crowd, we tell stories so it’s the songs and stories of Johnny Cash.
Mark: It sounds like a great night. On another track I must admit I have been enjoying your last couple of records with the Fat Rubber Band.
Tex: Thank you. Matt Walker who is my main collaborator with the Fat Rubber Band, I’ve known him for 25 years, we met in the 90’s – he used to open for The Cruel Sea quite a lot, and he’s been in The Man in Black band for ten years now, so he’s been in there, and for the last six years we’ve been travelling as a duo and we’ve been writing songs together, as well as playing in the Fat Rubber Band.
Mark: Some great music, well worth checking out. The other thing I wanted to touch on too was that we saw Tim (Rogers) over doing Tommy by The Who a few days ago and I see that you’re playing with him doing a Rolling Stones Review in Manly in September – that sounds like a lot of fun!
Tex: Yeah we’ve done that a couple of times. It’s great. I’m so dumb lucky, I walk into these situations and they’re just inhabited by the greatest musicians you can have. The band that backs us in that Rolling Stones review is just wonderful! Tim and I , and others in the cast like Adalita and sometimes Phil Jamieson, but for Tim and I we breathe The Rolling Stones! The Rolling Stones is just the air that we breathe. Like Johnny Cash is really important to me, The Rolling Stones is right up there too. Those two artist have informed my work the most of anyone, so it’s very appropriate that the two Tribute type shows I’m involved in, involve the two acts that I would say have influenced me the most.
Mark: And who hasn’t been influenced by both of those artists if they’ve played in a Rock and Roll band, even if unknowingly? Everything in Roc and Roll is theft to a degree and I’ll bet when lot of people take that journey backwards they will find The Stones and Johnny Cash in there somewhere!
Tex: The albums that we’ll be doing, or focusing on ‘Sticky Fingers’ that was my next step I guess in my exploration of the ‘dark side’ or the ‘wild side’ of life. There was Johnny Cash as a five year old and then there was a twelve, thirteen year old hearing my brother play the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album. It was the first time that I experienced attraction and repulsion at the same time. It was like “What is this?”… “But I must know more!”
Mark: (laughs)
Tex: But yeah ‘Sticky Fingers’ if push comes to shove is my favourite album of all time of anybody’s.
Mark: I was going to ask you about that later, I hoped it would be a Rolling Stones record. I could never choose between ‘Sticky Fingers’ and obviously ‘Exile’ which is just so unique, but I also had a real soft spot for ‘Beggars Banquet’ too.
Tex: Well yeah, those 5 albums from ’68 to ’72 were pretty untouchable really. You could pick any of those five albums and say “this is the best one” and it would be hard to argue. (laughs) I think it’s just a personal thing but for me ‘Sticky Fingers’ really got in early and deep.
Mark: I know what you mean, I remember going to my Dad’s record collection and that was the first one I pulled out because it had the zip!
Tex: (laughs) That actual zip on the cover I know! My brother had that too! That was the first thing I did “zip-zip-zip-zip” (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) We do always ask everyone one question about being a ‘fly on the wall’ for a particular recording tat means a lot, just to see the old magic happen. Would it have been something by Johnny Cash for you, or The Stones?
Tex: Oh I think The Stones! (laughs) As much as I love Johnny Cash but as far as an album goes, as a concept I think his best would have to be the two ‘Prison’ albums – Folsom and San Quentin. It would have been very interesting to have been there in Folsom and San Quentin, (laughs) as long as you were able to leave afterwards!
Mark: (laughs)
Tex: Sticky Fingers was recorded in multiple studios while they were on tour. I think some of it was recorded in Muscle Shoals.
Mark: It was.
Tex: So I’d be a fly on the wall that could fly away. I don’t think that either situation is one I’d like to be stuck in. As great as both artists are the trouble that they got into is something I’ve tried to avoid. (laughs)
Mark: The last question we always close with when we speak to someone for the first time, and I’m surprised that its the first time we’ve spoke over the years, is “What is the meaning of life?”
Tex: To live it. There is no meaning, you have to put meaning into it. You have to do meaningful things, you have to have meaningful interactions with people. There is no overall meaning. I mean there is a purpose to it, and there’s endless possibilities. But I think “What is the meaning of life” is the wrong question: the reason for life is to live and experience as much as possible.
Mark: I’m with you. I think the meaning is something the individual has to find.
Tex: You have to put the meaning into it yourself, It’s not something to discover or be told!
Mark: I have been asking that question for 14 years now though Tex so I can’t change it now! (laughs) I have to persist!
Tex: (laughs) I just hope I gave you a half decent answer!
Mark: That you did. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to The Rockpit I really do appreciate it. I must admit I do like doing these phone interviews it reminds me of when we started the site rather than these zoom interviews we always do these days.
Tex: Oh, I can’t stand them! (laughs) No offence but I have no need to know what you look like or what you’re wearing or whether you’ve brushed your teeth or combed your hair! (laughs) Which I have done none of!
Mark: (laughs) You’re right nether have I!
Tex: (laughs) And on the other side I don’t need to reveal my unkempt appearance! But it’s good to talk mate, it’s been a pleasure. See you Mark.
Mark: See you Tex!
Tickets on sale NOW
Tickets are available at:
www.texperkins.com
TEX PERKINS – THE MAN IN BLACK TOUR 2023
Wednesday 20th September
State Theatre, Sydney
Thursday 21st September
Civic Theatre, Newcastle
Saturday 23rd September
Wollongong Town Hall, Wollongong
Sunday 24th September
Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra
Thursday 5th October
Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Saturday 7th October
Ballarat Civic Hall, Ballarat
Sunday 8th October
Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo
Friday 3rd November
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
Saturday 4th November
Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre (BREC), Bunbury
Sunday 5th November
The Regal Theatre, Perth
Thursday 23rd November
Twin Towns Services Club, Tweed Heads
Friday 24th November
Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane
