While Ollie Olsen has never been a household name, his contributions to the Australian musical landscape are undisputed.
A career that began during the 1970s, Olsen has been an innovative and pioneering presence of the underground electronic, post-punk and avant-garde music scenes, influencing and inspiring countless artists in Australia and abroad.Ollie performed in various bands from the late 70s, including Whirlywirld, NO and Orchestra of Skin and Bone. He's perhaps best known for MAX Q – an outfit fronted by the late Michael Hutchence, which produced the Top 20 album of the same name in the late '80s.
In 2020, Olsen was diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy (a form of Parkinson's); it's a progressive neurodegenerative disorder (usually terminal) that leaves those affected with deteriorating health.
Members of the Australian music community have rallied, setting up a GoFundMe page that has so far raised in excess of $25,000.
Part of the campaign to raise funds as well as spotlight the immense output Ollie has made to the Australian music scene, television-radio presenter and music journalist Jane Gazzo has led a group of Aussie musicians and creatives to reboot one of Olsen's most enduring releases – Michael Hutchence's 'Rooms For The Memory' that featured in Aussie cult film, Richard Lowenstein's 'Dogs In Space'.
Olsen penned the song around 1978, but it was the INXS frontman who took it Top 10 nationally in January 1987. Olsen and Hutchence would later form the electronic pop outfit MAX Q in 1989.
Earlier this year Gazzo assembled Adalita, Mick Harvey and Andrew Duffield (Models), alongside renowned producer Nick Launay (who mixed both the 2023 version and the original) and Lowenstein, who filmed the entire day for the video release, who gathered at Melbourne's Sing Sing Studios.
"'Rooms For The Memory' was well overdue for a rebirth," Gazzo says. "It's just a hauntingly brilliant and beautifully written song, and when myself and a few of Ollie's friends heard he was not well, we felt we needed to do something to help.
"Remarkably all the musicians, including Adalita and Mick Harvey – two of the country's finest artists – were completely up to donating their time and had belief in the project. I think this is a stunning rework and I really hope the music industry and public get behind it, and give it the new lease of life we know it deserves."
An extended format of 'Rooms For The Memory' has dropped today available on vinyl and CD as well as digitally, featuring Ollie's 'Win/Lose' 'Dogs In Space' original and a reworked version by Eskimo Joe frontman Kav Temperley.
On first hearing the newly recorded 'Rooms For The Memory', Ollie was elated saying that all involved had captured the real essence of the song. He was moved to tears.
"It was a real honour and an absolute pleasure to be part of this recording," Adalita says. All funds raised from vinyl, CD and streaming sales will go directly to assisting Ollie and his ongoing care.
As executive producer, Jane sat down for a chat to discuss the project and Ollie's contributions to Australian music.
For those only just discovering Ollie Olsen, can you share a little background about his career that has spanned the avant-garde, post punk, electronic realms since the late '70s?
[Jane Gazzo] It really is hard to quantify the influence Ollie Olsen has had on Australian music.
From the short-lived punk outfit The Young Charlatans with Roland S Howard (1977-78) to the more avant-garde post-punk Whirlywirld (1978-80) with future Models keyboardist Andrew Duffield and countless bands and projects thereafter, including Orchestra of Skin and Bone (1984-86), NO (1987-89) Max Q with Michael Hutchence (1989-90), plus Third Eye, Hugo Klang, Primitive Ghost, Taipan Tiger Girls and so many more – Olsen has seemingly earmarked each decade with new sounds and somewhat of an anarchic streak.
Yet his career has never really peaked into the mainstream apart from the Max Q project with Hutchence. He's remained an outsider and a recluse, and has bypassed the music industry to follow his own path. A lot of his music is far from mainstream, but I guess that's the idea. Confrontation over convention.
Your relationship with Ollie; what propelled you to get so involved with this project?
Well, funnily enough one of the first records I bought with my own money as a kid was Ollie's 'Win/Lose' (1987) 7" single from the 'Dogs In Space' soundtrack. Ollie was the film's music supervisor.
With Michael Hutchence's name attached to the project, the media were frothing. I remember picking up copies of Smash Hits magazine and seeing the double-page spreads for 'Dogs In Space' and the excitement around both the film and the soundtrack.
For weeks, it was all the music press talked about. Hutchence and director Richard Lowenstein were featured everywhere and ads for the album were glued to street lamps across the city. I really loved the Max Q record also and was always curious about Ollie's various musical projects.
In October 2022, I heard from several friends that Ollie was unwell so I invited him to share his story with the Australian Music Vault legacy series.
Ollie revealed in that interview that he is battling Multiple System Atrophy (a form of Parkinson's) and that it was terminal. Unfortunately, Medicare does not offer any kind of assistance with this disease as not a lot is known about it currently.
We set up a GoFundMe for Ollie to cover those ongoing medical expenses. From the funds raised from fans, we also set aside a small amount to record a new version of 'Rooms For The Memory'.
The choice to re-work and release 'Rooms For Memory' that Olsen originally wrote in 1978 and Michael Hutchence released as a solo artist in 1987; why did the team behind the project select this particular song?
I had always loved this song. To this day, I still think it's one of Michael Hutchence's greatest recorded moments. Haunting yet so tender.
In the winter of 2022, 'Rooms For The Memory' was on a loop in my head for weeks. It was constant and I couldn't shake it. I was playing it from vinyl most mornings and was thinking it was really ripe for a re-release. It was still playing the August morning I interviewed Adalita.
After our chat, I brazenly blurted out that I thought she should cover it. Initially, I was thinking she should just record it as a b-side. I love Adalita's voice and it just made sense to me to mention it to her. "I've always loved that song,"she said.
It wasn't until I saw how unwell Ollie was that I decided to float the idea of recording a new version with Bruce Butler. Of course, by this time I had discovered that Ollie had composed the song in his Whirlywirld days, but Michael had taken it Top 10 in 1987 when he recorded it with Ollie for the 'Dogs In Space' soundtrack.
With the GoFundMe kicking along, the time was right to see if we could reimagine the song for 2023.
Adalita, Mick Harvey and Andrew Duffield (Models) were involved in the recording (at the start of 2023) with producer Nick Launay bringing his talents to the project as well; everyone donated their time to bring the project to fruition – how remarkable is that given the stature of everyone involved?!
I am still not quite sure how we managed to get everyone together that day at Sing Sing Studios.
The date was 22 January, on what would have been Michael Hutchence's 63rd birthday. Andrew Duffield played on the original 'Rooms For The Memory' in '86 and remarkably still had the keyboard stems on file. He was able to get an arrangement together fairly quickly.
I was quite nervous about asking Mick Harvey about being involved, but knew he was a mate of Ollie's and had known him a long time. Mick was happy to come onboard and once he said 'yes', Adalita agreed and we were able to assemble everyone together that January day.
It made sense to ask Nick Launay if he would like to be involved as he had also been involved in the original. It really was a coming together of good friends doing something special for Ollie.
Are there plans to record any further new releases spotlighting Ollie's back catalogue?
Yes, the interest behind this new 'Rooms' re-recording has sparked interest in Ollie's many and varied back catalogues and there is talk about re-releasing the MAX Q and NO albums for starters.
The original song was used in the cult Aussie film 'Dogs In Space' (that starred Hutchence) directed by Richard Lowenstein; he filmed the 2023 recording session which turned into the film clip for the new version; Nick Launay also produced the original version; full circle moment no doubt to have both involved?
Yes! And Andrew Duffield played keyboards on the original also. We had three people who were there the first time around.
There were three other coincides that day, namely, the date we recorded the song (22nd Jan '23) was Michael's 63rd birthday, the building we were in was called the Olsen, and we were also recording the song the same week the original charted in 1987.
Richard Lowenstein was able to use amazing never-before-seen footage from a MAX Q shoot he filmed in New York sometime in the '90s and intersperse it in the new 'Rooms' video. It's a fantastic clip. To have a filmmaker of that calibre being involved in this project shows just what high esteem Ollie is held in.
The project has had an emotive response from Ollie (brought to tears when first hearing the new version); I guess that reaction is what it's all about – to bring a little joy while raising awareness (for Ollie and Multiple System Atrophy in general)?
Yes, I think MSA is quite a debilitating disease. Ollie has lost all mobility and requires 'round the clock care.
I know the recording and release of this new 'Rooms' version has given Ollie something positive to focus on and the response from fans has really buoyed his mood. There's been so much love and support via the song and the GoFundMe – I think it has renewed Ollie and his partner Jayne's outlook while dealing with the shortcomings of MSA.
In this modern world where we seemingly live moment to moment, day to day glued to our digital screens, what do you hope to achieve by releasing this song in terms of generating interest and intrigue from a younger audience to explore not only Ollie's contributions to the Australian music scene but all the other legends and lesser known names from yesteryear?
The idea behind the release was to really highlight Ollie Olsen as a bonafide, cutting edge and unique artist, and to get the media and fans talking about him once more.
It's been really special to see public radio get behind the song and delve into Ollie's vast back catalogue – if that piques the interest of younger generations, that's a definite bonus.
Personally, I would like to see Ollie honoured in the Music Victoria Hall of Fame for his contribution to Australian electro, dance and trance music. He's a pioneer, experimentalist and an innovator.
