Tim Rogers has known highs and lows in his three decades as a musician. The highs include the many beloved albums he has made as a solo artist and as the frontman of rock heroes You Am I. The lows include battles with booze, anxiety and panic attacks, plus the challenges of frequent touring.
The veteran musician has been busy imparting some of what he’s learned along the way to the next generation of artists in Headliners, a new ABC series that follows a quest by the inclusion advocate Elly-May Barnes to create two bands made up entirely of musicians with disabilities. Alongside Killing Heidi’s Ella Hooper, Rogers serves as a mentor to the diverse group of musicians.
Today Rogers lives in the Goldfields of Victoria, though he still tours frequently as lead singer with punk band the Hard-Ons. Travel has forced him to detach from sentimental objects – they only make him feel worse about being away – so he’s instead come to rely on a few essential items that make life on the road bearable.
Here the frontman tells us about the two things that are always in his luggage – and the one that airport staff keep confiscating.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
A portable record player. I’ve got a bunch of them. They’re insanely compact and they have to go through Bluetooth speakers but I find them essential for touring life.
This belief is one of the only things I share with Keith Richards – he was always very big on dressing his hotel rooms with scarves and a stereo system, because if you’re in a different one every night it’s important to add a bit of your own personality to it, so there’s a semblance of, “OK, you’re home.” When you’ve got your music at your disposal and can spend the wee hours listening, it helps stop you from becoming a whingeing sack of complaints. A large part of touring is keeping your head above water so you can be a good bandmate.
Having a portable player with you also facilitates little adventures to local record stores, where I find myself gravitating no matter what part of the world I’m in. I was in Torino in Italy last month with the Hard-Ons. Ray, our bass player, and I spent most nights we weren’t on stage at this great little store we found, talking with these Italian dudes about records. It sparks intimate conversations with people, because people’s taste, particularly in music and books, is a real window into the way they want to live their lives.
My most useful object
Definitely a book. I only live by a few little mantras, and one is always make sure you have a book on you, whether it’s for reading or jotting down notes.
I find if there’s any sadness, anxiety or tension in your life, reading – particularly fiction – is the only surefire relief and tranquillity. I studied literature at university then I got sick, and all that learning went out the window. There was a period of a couple of decades where I didn’t read at all. I started reading again in my early 40s and remembered that reading is the only real way to quell the bad thoughts.
Whatever book I’m reading has inevitably got scribbles or half-concocted songs or even just witty aphorisms, purely for my own amusement, jotted in the margins. So now I’ve always got a book and a pencil in my bag. I’ve ditched the cigarettes, so there might even be room for a second little book in there.
The item I most regret losing
My first thought was a Gibson ES-345 guitar that I left in the back of a cab when I was out gallivanting with Brad Shepherd of the Hoodoo Gurus in 1995. But then I remembered that the one thing I lose consistently is a sprig of eucalyptus leaves.
We live in the country and I miss the land terribly when I’m away. I’m also a shocking flyer – I have to try and meditate a little bit so I don’t annoy whoever is sitting next to me. I’ve found that stashing my pockets with some gum leaves from the trees around us is wonderful for any tension or anxiety while travelling. I just chuck a gum leaf up my nostril and suddenly I’m back out here.
But of course, with quarantine and customs, I have to ditch them all the time. I keep checking with airlines, can I bring a eucalyptus plant in my luggage? They say, no, you idiot Rogers, how many times do you have to ask! So there are way too many sprigs of eucalyptus left behind in airports around this country.
Headliners, a five-part ABC series featuring Tim Rogers, premieres 19 November at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iView
