Can't Get Enough

“I went lawn bowling on Saturday and my friend John is professing that he's going to get me in whites and have me playing cricket. I don't know about that, we'll see … it might be taking it a little far,” jokes Joey Cape, on the phone from Melbourne.

Cape, who plays guitar in all-star punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, says the tour he just completed with his bandmates rates as “one of the best times I've had here”.

“Those tours are always fun, it's an automatic holiday at every moment,” Cape reflects. “It doesn't matter if you make mistakes… more notes is our mantra. It's just super fun and there's no consequences; I just generally have a few drinks and have a blast with that band. This time we had such good crowds.”

Cape is still best known as the singer of So-Cal punk legends Lagwagon and also fronts the more indie-leaning Bad Astronaut, who will be undertaking a rare tour as part of the travelling Hits & Pits mini-festival next month. In the meantime, he's focused on the shows he will be performing with keyboardist Brian Wahlstrom. Cape says the setlists for the shows with Wahlstrom will cover the gamut of his career, and will also include a few songs by former No Use For A Name frontman Tony Sly, who tragically passed away last year.

“We always have to do a few Lagwagon songs… I shouldn't say I have to, because I enjoy playing those songs and it feels like the songs get honoured in a way they don't with the band. I think the only thing I won't do is play Bad Astronaut songs because there's a Bad Astronaut tour following shortly after – but maybe one for good measure.

“Of course we do quite a few Tony songs. We kind of always throw a set together right before depending on the mood and how we're feeling. Generally we put all the Tony songs in one block and we say, 'We're going to play some songs by our friend now', and then it's a nice synergy with the audience if they were fans of his, as we are. It's also very sad and difficult to do, but cathartic all the while I suppose.”

Cape and Wahlstrom are giving local artists the chance to get some exposure on this tour, encouraging singer-songwriters to submit tracks through Cape's website, with the winner in each city being given a few minutes of stage time during the main set.

“The idea is getting a songwriter on stage to play with you, but if they come up and play by themselves and they play their own song in your set when everyone's in the venue, not just as an opener, I think it gives them real exposure. Assuming people come to the shows.”