Australian rock icons Spiderbait will celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band with a national tour in 2016.
After arriving on the Australian music scene in the early '90s from the small, NSW township of Finley, the trio of Kram (singer/ drummer), Whitt (guitarist) and Janet English (bass guitar) have been creating their own history for a quarter of a century. But in an industry where ego and money can be the downfall of many, Whitt explains what has kept Spiderbait together all these years. “We are kind of like a strange family and everything that that means.
“I think it is a testament to our friendship and our love of music. The reason for our longevity is definitely because it has been based on friendship and we didn't start the band to be successful,” Whitt says.
The three members originally knew each other when they grew up together in Finley. “Kram and I are second cousins through marriage,” Whitt explains, “so we used to play cricket with each other. Then I went to boarding school in Melbourne and I learnt to play guitar.
“I remember going home one holidays and Kram said he had been learning to play the drums. I said I had been learning to play guitar, so even though we had been friends for a number of years before that happened we both started learning our instruments independently of each other.
“We used to jam a lot over the years, but it wasn't until we were 19 or 20 that the band formed. Janet and I used to go rollerskating, not together but at the same place. I was about 11 and she was about 13 and there used to be a roller disco called 'Stones Roller Disco' that we used to go to at the local basketball hall once a month... In a country town in 1980, if there was anything to do then people would go and do it.”
The friendship the trio formed before they picked up an instrument was an important cog in the band's longevity. They were just a group of teenagers that had a shared passion for music and no inhibitions or high hopes. “We had really shit equipment,” Whitt laughs.
“Kram and I used to jam out in his backyard on the grass. I had a guitar that I had borrowed from somebody. I didn't know how to play a single song all the way through.”
Spiderbait have come a long way. They have won ARIAs; sold half a million-plus records; played almost every Australian festival and town under the sun; and they were the first Australian band to secure the #1 song on Triple J's 'Hottest 100' list in 1996 for 'Buy Me A Pony'.
“'Buy Me A Pony' had been written and recorded and the stuff that that song is about, we just thought that everyone knew that. We were very surprised that song hit such a chord. I think I was anyway. I was surprised at how clever people thought it was,” Whitt says.
Another of the band's biggest hits, 2004's cover of Lead Belly's song 'Black Betty', was almost left off the album because of a similar lack in confidence. “So we did the record in California and we weren't even sure ['Black Betty'] was going to go on the record until the last couple of days of recording, when all the songs were done and we went back over them.
"It was kind of akin to throwing darts at songs to see what stuck; to see if we could get happy accidents. That's when the slide guitar bit in 'Black Betty' came along and that really changed it and made it us. It was a fucking gamble.”
With their national tour starting in February (with a number of shows already selling out), the band have released a double-disc vinyl edition of their greatest hits.
The band are looking no further than this tour and celebrating the fact they have been together for a quarter of a century. “We have really only ever taken it one year at a time. We will do this tour and then we really don't know. The band is based on humour, rock & roll and friendship, and no matter what form that takes we hope it continues to be about that. Which it will be. I just look forward to that,” Whitt says.
Spiderbait Tour Dates
Fri 12 Feb - Metropolis (Fremantle)Sat 13 Feb - The Gov (Adelaide)
Thu 18 Feb - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Fri 19 Feb - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Fri 26 Feb - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Sat 27 Feb - Metro Theatre (Sydney)
Sun 28 Feb - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Thu 3 Mar - The Gov (Adelaide)
