Midnight Oil founder chooses Canberra to launch his latest solo album

Take one listen to founding Midnight Oil member Jim Moginie’s latest solo album “Everything’s Gonna Be Fine” and then ask him who his favourite Beatle is (which I did) and you’ll get a great response.

“Ha ha ha ha. You picked it like a nose,” he laughs down the phone.

“All of them obviously. You couldn’t have one without the others. Yeah, it’s John.”

Moginie’s latest offering is nine tracks he says are a bit of an “irreverent take on this world and the absurdity of it all at times” and they are somewhat Beatlesque in places.

A bit psychedelic, a bit melancholic, a little cheeky, and very John Lennon in vocal style and song structure.

“It’s funny how you start playing the way of your idols. I’m just fascinated with him and the way he sings,” Moginie says.

“I’m not a singer like that – he could really belt it out as well as be quieter and my voice is a bit quieter all round – probably because I never had to do it seriously until the last 20 years.

“When the band [The Oils] split up in 2002, I thought I’d better go out and start doing some solo stuff and I got more comfortable and confident doing that just out of the sheer fact that I had to.

“I didn’t really want to get into another band where someone else was singing my words.

“The way we often did it with Rob [Hirst] and Pete [Garrett] was I wrote the words and it was great, but you’ve got to have the right person to do that – to sing your words – and we had that in Midnight Oil with Pete.

“But after that I couldn’t really find anyone I felt as comfortable with singing my words and I thought well I’ll just have to do it myself now.

“A lot of musicians have done that after being in a band – done their solo work, singing their own voice. It’s the journeyman thing of being a musician.

“I’ve done it long enough now that I’m very comfortable with it … and yeah, to answer your question, John Lennon is definitely my favourite.

“I didn’t really do it as homage, it just sort of comes out. How could it not? You’re the sum total of your influences.”

Moginie is an outstanding songwriter and, as the world knows, a stellar musician – on guitar, on piano, on just about everything.

His new album is a blast. Track three, Mammoth (my favourite), is a cool take on extinction, and sounds exquisite. Each track is a gem.

Moginie is about to embark on an intimate select-venue tour of the album and is kicking it all off with a launch in Canberra.

“I’ll be on the Smith’s Alternative piano. They’ve got an upright piano and I reckon it will be quite funky,” he says.

“I’ve always written on the piano and always had a love of it, as well as my love of guitar. But there’ll be a bit of bouzouki in there too, and the great Hamish Stuart will be joining me on drums.

“There’ll be some Oils songs in the show, but probably more of the deep cuts, and we’ll go from a whistler to a scream.”

Moginie has quite the connection to Canberra, as he describes in detail – including the search for his birth family – in his recently released beautiful memoir The Silver River.

He’s bringing that to the shows as well and it’s a great read – equally powerful and poetic.

Beyond The Oils, Moginie has immersed himself in various musical styles, from surf to traditional Irish. Last year’s solo album Murmurations is one of pure guitar instrumentals.

It’s clear that in addition to Lennon, Moginie’s musical influences have been diverse.

“When Midnight Oil started playing on the Northern Beaches we were really a surf band,” he says.

“Then even later if we wanted to play in secret we used the name Ebb Tide & the Shorebreakers – you can’t get more of a surf title than that.

“So yeah, the Shadows, Link Wray, and all those great instrumental players have been a big influence.

“When The Oils split up, we wanted to still do something but we didn’t have a singer. Pete was down in Canberra.

“We didn’t want to do a lite version of The Oils and agreed if we wanted a singer it had to be Pete and he wasn’t available.

“So out of respect really – we were all in this together – we formed a surf band that didn’t require a singer and it was a lot of fun.”

That high energy but short-lived surf band comprising most of The Oils was named The Break and was a compelling act to see live while also translating superbly on record.

“We were under promoted and undervalued at the time, but that’s sometimes the way it is,” Moginie says.

“Sometimes you’re doing something great for a short time and when it’s over you say, ‘Hey, what was that?’

“Anyway, we kept playing together that way for a while and when Pete came back into the fold we were all ready.”

Jim Moginie appears in Canberra at Smith’s Alternative on Friday 6 December to launch his new album “Everything’s Gonna Be Fine”. Tickets available through the venue’s website.

His memoir The Silver River is published by Harper Collins.