Beer, barbecue and Bob Evans – the essential three Bs for a good day out.
Bob Evans, the beloved Australian troubadour also known as Kevin Mitchell, reckons he'll feel right at home at the upcoming Beer & BBQ Festivals in Sydney and Adelaide. “I like beer and I like BBQ, so it sounds my kind of gig,” Kevin laughs.
“It'll be great. I'm only playing sporadic shows at the moment, trying to work on new albums and whatnot so it’s a good excuse to get out of the house, play a show and drink some beer.”
“When I go to this gig I'm just eating.”
The Beer & BBQ Festival brings together gourmet food and craft brewing with a top line-up of music from acts such as Bob Evans, The Preatures, Jen Cloher, Holy Holy and more. “I wouldn’t describe myself as a foodie, although I enjoy food and I can cook,” he says.
“But I know people who I would describe as foodies and their obsession with all things culinary and exotic can sometimes get a little bit annoying, so I don’t think I would ever cross over into that world.
“I will say that when it comes to barbecuing, that is one of the traditional gender roles I do admit to falling into. Whenever a BBQ is happening it’s always me at the tools and my wife is more than happy to allow that tradition to continue.”
Apart from his scheduled performance, Kevin plans on making the most of what's on offer at the festival in terms of flame-grilled meats and frosty cold ones. “When I go to this gig I'm just eating,” he says.
“I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the rider is going to be pretty good at this. I'm imagining just meal tickets and drink tickets, and I'll just go around sampling everything and getting fat.”
Providing Kevin does actually make it to the stage for his set, he says his plan is to complement the laidback atmosphere of the festival with a collection of his classics. “I'll go out and play all the songs I think people might know, that’ll be my modus operandi,” he says.
“I'm just there to provide the soundtrack to people's day of drinking beer and eating food. I think I mention beer in a few of my songs; I'm not to sure how many of them mention food though off the top of my head.”
Kevin released his latest album as Bob Evans, 'Car Boot Sale', in 2016 and says he is currently working on another as well as new material from his band Jebediah. “There’s always albums in the works,” he says.
“I'm going into the studio next week to do some recording with my band that tours with me on 'Car Boot Sale'.
“The Jebs are also talking about maybe heading into the studio later in the year in Perth, throwing some ideas around and seeing what we come up with. I'm in the early stages of doing something with Bob Evans and Jebediah, we’ll see. I'd love to put out another Bob record next year, that would be best-case scenario.”
