STACK #201 Jul 2021

FEATURE MUSIC

IS DON, IS GOOD

Barnesy and his Cold Chisel bandmate Don Walker have known one another since Chisel's inception, back in the early '70s. Walker was responsible, Barnes says, for exposing him to some of the greats that would influence his solo output. “I remember I first heard Bruce Springsteen when I was 16, and Don Walker played me Greetings from Ashbury Park ,” he says. “and it was like nothing I’d ever heard before! I remember going, ‘Oh sh-t, that’s not what I’ve been listening to.' I’d been listening to bloody glam rock. In the matter of a week, Don played me Greetings From Ashbury Park , and also Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline . So suddenly as a 16-year-old I’ve gone, ‘Oh, wow! This is what music is all about! This is something to look forward to.'”

it all. He wrote this song and I thought it was so beautiful that when I was doing a record about family, I wanted to show that different aspect of family; in the world of chaos, he just takes his time, and breathes, and moves with the flow.” The old adage of 'You can choose friends but you can't choose family' still sticks in many situations, but some parents go the angle of choosing to nourish family relationships into something like

Eliza-Jane, Jane, Jimmy, and Elly May Barnes on the My Criminal Record tour, 2019. Image courtesy of Jane Barnes (@jane13barnes).

friendships. Barnesy has a firm viewpoint on that. “I don’t want my kids to be my best friends,” he says. “My kids and I – it's that thing, once again, about the truth – my kids and I challenge each other all the time. It comes back to the title track: I look at my kids and I can see myself in them. I can see all the best, and I can see all the worst as well. I look in their eyes and I realise, ‘Oh my god, they’re like the updated software. Version 2.0 of me, and my wife's DNA. I want to be a good sounding board, be a good father, give good advice, be strong, be hard when I had to be, be soft when

camera turned on a minute earlier when she wanted to kill me, I wonder what they would have thought,'” he laughs. “Relationships aren't about just being rosy all the time. They're about persevering, and standing up for what's right, and about growth, and about effort. It's about work, it's about truth. Truth isn't easy, y'know? It's not easy to speak the truth, and it's not easy to hear the truth. Love does hurt, sometimes – I thought it was a really fitting song for the record.” One of the record's stand-outs, I Move Slow , features Barnes' Rose Tattoo drummer son Jackie on vocals – and they're absolutely

Jimmy and family about to take the stage for the Shutting DownYour Town tour,Wollongong, 2019. Image courtesy of Jane Barnes.

angelic, particularly in blood harmony with Elly May. It perhaps shouldn't be a surprise to hear the smooth-as-caramel tone of the 35-year-old's

they needed me to. And that comes out in our relationship – musically and personally. My kids, working with them is a real gift. 'Cos they know all the dark stuff, and they know all the good stuff; and when I sing with them my voice could turn on a dime and they turn right with me. They move with me, and vice versa. It’s not always easy; sometimes it’s tough, sometimes we fight. But we just know each other. No one knows each other better than family, and to work together like that makes it really special.”

voice, considering Barnes' other son David Campbell is a gifted theatre and cabaret performer. “Jackie's a bit brash,” says Barnesy. “He's a rock'n'roll drummer, a really big boy, but he's the sweetest guy in the world. And he has the sweetest voice. He's got his dad charging around – I'm like a rhinoceros as well, I charge at everything – and then there's Jackie. All this is going on around him, and all through his life he has just moved slowly, through

BLUESFEST BARRELS ON Having been cancelled, punted down the calendar and now (fingers crossed) locked in for an October 2021 return, Byron Bay Bluesfest is boasting a superlative line-up for fans champing at the bit to get their dose of live music. Barnesy is, understandably, also a keen bean. “I'm looking forward to it!” he enthuses. “Look, it's been horrific; it’s been cancelled the last couple of years and I think it’s really great it’s going ahead this year. I’m glad they’re putting it together because situations have a way of bringing the silver lining. And this Bluesfest is completely Australian. It's about how we sat back and went, ‘How good is Australian music?'”

Flesh And Blood by Jimmy Barnes is out now via Bloodlines.

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