It was around 1995. I’m not exactly sure when. Most likely around the time the band released their ARIA No. 1 album, Hi Fi Way. I didn’t get a copy of it straight away but my best mate, Steven, was RAVING about them.
The band I’m talking about is one of Australia’s most successful bands of the mid 1990s, You Am I. They’d been around since the early 90s and had released an album called Sound As Ever in 1993. Two songs from this album were minor hits and got lots of exposure on radio station 2JJJ, as well as the ABCs all-night weekend music program, Rage. The songs were Berlin Chair and Jaimme’s Got A Gal. Berlin Chair has a fabulous video to it and was a treat to see on Rage.
Around this point in the mid 90s, Steven and I would usually have a Friday or Saturday night out in the city and either just hang about Darling Harbour, or peruse up and down George Street – maybe see a film or go to the amusement arcade called Timezone. Sometimes we’d go to a gig…mostly at Steven’s insistence as I really wasn’t much of a gig-goer at all back then.
Before REALLY catching the gig-going bug from being a Simple Minds fan, it was You Am I that definitely changed my mind about the gig-going experience.
I think I felt for a long time that gigs were just never going to replicate the sound produced on record in the studio. To a large extent that is still true…but the right bands can make the live experience even MORE amazing than listening to their music on record. You Am I was the first band I ever saw that I was completely blown away by live. In fact, I felt they sounded far BETTER live than they did on record – which wasn’t something I had ever experienced until going to one of their gigs. I was ASTOUNDED! Truly, the first gig of theirs that I went to I came away thinking it was the best gig I had ever been to hands down, and they were the best band I had ever seen in my life!
Steven had already seen them once so he knew this already and was trying to convince me that I’d feel the same once I saw them. The cynic in me was not convinced. But he was right! Soon after, I bought myself a copy of Hi Fi Way, then soon after a copy of Sound As Ever. As much as I enjoyed listening to the album – I just wanted to see them live again to have that experience of them again. I don’t think the wait was too long from memory. When I refer to Wiki to help me with details, it states that their next album, ‘Hourly, Daily’ was released in July 1996. I can imagine that would have paved the way for us seeing a gig (or two) around Steven’s birthday (that life of mine in which Cancers seem to make a main feature!). We certainly saw them a few times between 1995 and 1996.
For me, ‘Hourly, Daily’ is their magnum opus, and quite possibly my most favourite album of any Australian band, ever. Though they do have some stiff competition from the likes of Spy vs Spy, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Icehouse and INXS…to name a few.
‘Hourly, Daily’ is very synonymous for me in terms of that particular point in my life. I guess I was at a real crossroads and lots of things were going on. I finally felt like I was actually becoming an adult (late bloomer as I always am) and I was experiencing different things…without going into too much detail about stuff. There are certain songs on it that just conjure up particular imagery and emotions. I’ll pick a couple of my faves and link to YT clips.
I guess it’s fair to say I’m a fair weather fan, really. They meant A LOT to me in the mid 90s. That shared experience of going to gigs with Steven and loving their music is one of the aspects of our life-long friendship that endures for me. They released another album a year before I moved to the UK. It’s called ‘No. 4 Record’ and there’s only one song off it that gelled with me and it’s called Heavy Heart.
Towards the late 90s, Steven and I lost touch….due to reasons I don’t really want to go into right here and then with the move from Oz, I didn’t really keep up with the music scene out there and I didn’t really keep up with what You Am I were doing.
The band’s frontman, Tim Rogers, came and toured the UK not long after I moved here. After much searching my mind and referring to Google Maps, I think it was the Garrick Arms, although I’m not positive. Not sure exactly when it was. A looooong time ago! Maybe around 2002? Or perhaps 2004? A long time ago, anyway. I remember it being quite intimate. He performed some songs of his own and a few You Am I songs as well. I have a vague memory of maybe going over to him and saying hello…but I’m not sure if I did do that now?
The next time I saw the band was back in Sydney in December, 2015. Steven and I had long rekindled our friendship and he really wanted me to go and see them with him again. I was definitely up for that. Only problem was, he had a VIP meet and greet ticket and I just got myself a standard ticket (couldn’t afford the meet and greet). On the night of the gig…to this day I don’t know how he fudged it, but he managed to get me a pass as well – so I have a souvenir set of things from the gig – a copy of their latest (as of then) album and other merch. A couple of things I had to leave behind at Mum’s as they would not have travelled well back to the UK but I brought most things back. I also brought back memories of a stellar gig experience and an incredible meet and greet backstage. I got talking to Rusty (the drummer) and Andy (bass). Steven was chatting away to Tim, but I was far too intimidated to go anywhere near Tim. We had some snaps taken. Andy accused me of pinching his arse (I didn’t!). The gig was amazing! The photos above : from left to right – Steven with Tim, Me with Andy and Steven, Andy and me.
Less than 12 months later, You Am I toured the UK and I went and saw them at Dingwalls in Camden in September, 2016. It was a fab night. I was with the OH but she wasn’t into it AT ALL and had to leave the auditorium, but I rocked out! That was the last time I saw them.
Although I don’t listen to much of their later stuff (even with a CD copy of their Porridge and Hotsauce album from 2015) – I will always have space in my heart for those earlier albums, especially ‘Hourly, Daily’ along with Hi Fi Way. This band showed me that a great live band can be even better than they are captured in the studio. To this day, I think they are the only band I have ever seen live that can do that. Up till very recently – Hamish Hawk comes pretty damn close! I love seeing Simple Minds live too…but it’s not because I think they are BETTER live…they are to a high standard and very tight and amazing but I don’t see them live because I prefer them live as opposed to in the studio, per se. They are just an amazing live experience for all kinds of reasons. Probably had I experienced them really early on…early 80s…I probably would have thought they were BETTER live than on record, or at least at the same level. Certainly there are a lot of their bootlegs from early on that I absolutely LOVE for those reasons.
I digressed there towards the end. Anyway, You Am I. I will always love that mid 90s live music experience, the albums surrounding those experiences and the memories I have of those experiences with Steven.
I’ll leave you with my favourite song of theirs to hear played live – How Much Is Enough. Me and Steven are in the crowd at this gig. Brilliant days!
