Cold Chisel rev up for V8 comeback

Fairfax Media

THEY'RE BACK: Ian Moss and Jimmy Barnes of Cold Chisel are set to perform at Sydney's V8 Supercar meeting.

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AS 1980 cult movie The Blues Brothers proved, you can pull a crowd when you combine getting a great band back together and blokes doing outrageous things in motor vehicles.

This weekend Sydney's Olympic Park is going to be packed with people watching V8 Supercars and a re-formed Cold Chisel.

Comedian HG Nelson declared yesterday it was a stroke of "genius" on the part of V8 Supercars to combine with another "iconic" Australian brand in Chisel.

"To use an advertising term, it's a very tight fit, ladies and gentlemen," he declared as he introduced Chisel's Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss, Don Walker, Phil Small and Steve Prestwich at a press conference at Clovelly Bowling Club yesterday.

The coup was made possible because persuasive V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane is also a major player in the music industry.

Cochrane's greatest claim to fame is managing to convince Frank Sinatra to return to Australia in 1988 to perform at the opening of the Sanctuary Cove resort in Queensland. Sinatra had fled Australian in 1974, vowing never to return, after the union movement held him hostage for calling Australian journalists "bums" and hookers".

Cold Chisel formed in Adelaide in 1973, boasted a legendary live show and brought out their breakthrough album, Breakfast At Sweathearts, in 1979.

Songs like Khe Sanh, Bow River and Flame Trees became the anthems of a generation.

Despite breaking up in 1983, Chisel's massive appeal lives on and getting the band on the bill is a major reason why V8 Supercars is expecting more than 150,000 over its three days of racing that starts on Friday.

With subtle reference to the band's wild ways, frontman Barnes said Chisel had agreed to the V8s gig because: "It just seemed like the right marriage of big event, summer in Sydney and, you know, we have always had a bit of a penchant for speed." It got some laughs.

Barnes promised fans could again expect a wild show, though the vodka-swilling, equipment-smashing Barnes was a thing of the past.

"Cold Chisel don't do anything really laid back," he said. "Even when we play ballads we are pretty intense. I'm not going to be leaping from the PA, drunk, smashing mic stands. Obviously the show's changed and matured, but I don't think it's by any stretch of the imagination lost intensity. I think if anything it's more focused."

The band admitted it had been difficult to whittle down the play list for their 90-minute set. They all put in a wish list and there was haggling and bargaining, but Barnes said the list basically featured "the songs that people yell out for all the time and ring up the radio for".

Chisel have re-formed and toured twice before: in 1998 and 2003.

Asked if getting together for the V8s could be the precursor to another tour or album, Barnes said the members of Chisel had trouble planning what to have for lunch "so we really don't think that far in advance, but listen, it's really great to get together and play. We're looking at this purely as the show on Saturday. We haven't really looked past that, but who knows. Cold Chisel is one of those bands where you never say never."

Barnes said a newspaper report that he and Walker had an argument outside the bowling club after a recent practice gig there was "absolute rubbish".

He later joked that their blue had in fact been about V8s. "He likes Fords and I like ... Hyundais," said Barnes.

The "race by day and rock all night" concept of Sydney's first V8 street event means a ticket to watch the likes of champion driver Jamie Whincup will also let you catch The Potbelleez, Sneaky Sound System and The Presets on Friday night and Grinspoon, The Living End and Cold Chisel on Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News