RockStar plays one-off gig at Tillermans

ROBYN EDIE/135673

CRAZY BUSY: Former Rockstar: INXS contestant Marty Casey before his on-off acoustic gig at Tillermans, in Invercargill, last night.

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Former RockStar: INXS contestant Marty Casey was RockStar: Invercargill yesterday, having arrived in town for a one-off acoustic gig at Tillermans.

Last night's performance was the third in his nine-show tour of New Zealand, which includes a special song-writing workshop for members of Canteen in New Plymouth.

He will play Queenstown tomorrow night before moving on to Christchurch, Blenheim and a handful of North Island towns.

The Chicago-based rocker was upbeat about his trip to New Zealand and said he couldn't get enough of the South Island's picturesque scenery.

"The drive's been amazing so far. The most beautiful place I'd been to before now was Hawaii but this kind of blows that away," he said. "This trip has been like half vacation for me. It's like playing in paradise."

Life has been busy for Casey since finding international notoriety as a contestant on the reality show RockStar: INXS in 2005.

The show, designed to find a replacement for the late Michael Hutchence, was a massive hit, pulling in thousands of New Zealand viewers each week and about 10 million globally.

Casey made the final two before missing out on the top spot to JD Fortune, but he has spent his time since, writing and touring with his longtime band the Loverhammers and notorious 80s rockers the LA Guns.

He currently has plans to record albums and tour with both bands.

"My life is crazy busy. I'm like a gypsy: I have a home but I'm never there. I just pay the bills."

Casey, who has a Bachelor of Finance from the University of Illinois, said his life would have followed a much more mundane path without RockStar: INXS.

"I would have be working for an investment bank appraising real estate right now if it wasn't for that show ..."

After his New Zealand tour, Casey will perform in Melbourne before returning home to prepare for a tour of Canada with the LA Guns.