'It’s Exciting To Be Able To Do The Same Thing In A Different Way': Peter Garrett On The Joy Of Playing Live

When it comes to Australian music, there’s rarely a better pairing than the likes of Peter Garrett and the City of Sydney. After all, with more than five decades spent as the frontman of Midnight Oil – one of the city’s most prominent musical exports – he’s established quite a reputation.

So it makes sense that this year, as part of the trail of live shows in support of his second solo album, The True North, that Garrett makes a stop back home as part of the upcoming Twilight At Taronga series. 

Performing as part of a wider lineup that features the likes of The Cruel Sea, DMA'S, Middle Kids, and more, Garrett and his band The Alter Egos will be hitting the stage on February 21st with Jem Cassar-Daley for a night that music lovers would be wise not to miss.

But how did we get to this point? How did Garrett find himself on the Twilight At Taronga lineup once again following the hectic schedule of these past few years?

One could, of course, trace it all the way back to Midnight Oil’s unexpected 2017 reunion, which likely went on further than most fans (and the band) would have expected. Initially performing a global tour, this reunion soon snowballed into two further studio albums – including the chart-topping pair of 2020’s The Makaratta Project and 2022’s Resist.

By the end of 2022, the group had – for all intents and purposes – hung up their hats. While bassist Bones Hillman would pass in 2020, only two years later they were wrapping up their final run of Australian tour dates, and leaving the door open for new musical opportunities for the members of the Oils.

For Garrett, he turned his attention to his solo work. Having already released A Version Of Now in 2016 as his solo debut, he hit the studio once more and returned with The True North, which peaked in the ARIA top 20 upon its release in March 2024. While one would assume Garrett might have taken some time to rest following the final Midnight Oil tour, he’s never been one to rest upon his laurels.

“I just flowed through with the big wave of energy that had been created over that last run that the band had done, and I felt like there was still a lot of juice sort of coursing through the veins that I didn't want to waste,” he explains. 

“I had some songs as well and thought I'll write some more as we go and just keep on surfing so that more music arrives.”

While many fans would expect the creation of a record to be all about going head-down in the studio and writing to a goal that’s been set, artists will always tell you that’s never quite how it works. 

For The True North, Garrett says that while creativity happens in weird and wonderful ways, he explains that the unpredictability of inspiration means you need – to paraphrase one of his favourite songs, Perry Como’s Catch A Falling Star – to be ready to catch that falling star and stick it in your pocket.

“I had a couple of songs that we demoed for Resist which we didn't quite get finished,” Garrett recalls. “So I thought I’d try and finish those off, and I thought that they had some structure and some sort of strength to them. 

“Then I had a couple of others that I wanted to try in different ways, just really to sum up essentially all of the things that I've been absorbing, not only on the last run that the Oils have done, but also a lot of the time that I've spent particularly in up and around the remote reaches of Northern Australia, which I think is increasingly incredibly interesting and important part of our country and our continent. 

“And as much as anything else,” he adds. “It was just the sheer delight and excitement of still finding that there's music to be made, because that might not always be the case.”

Notably, The True North – like Garrett’s preceding solo album – comes about following another important chapter in his life. While A Version Of Now arrived following nine years spent as a member of the Australian Labor Party, The True North emerged after years spent in the frontman role of Midnight Oil. 

Incredibly different – though important – parts of his storied career, the question then becomes whether the freedom to make new music off the back of such huge milestones was similar in the creative process, or whether it does just come down to capturing that inspiration while it strikes.

“It's a bit of both,” Garrett explains. “In A Version Of Now I felt that particularly, given the way some sections of the media had been aggressively slanting different things that had been a part of the time that I spent in Canberra, it was my opportunity to write. It's the catharsis of getting out a pure, undiluted form of what you're feeling and thinking, and your take on what happened.

“In this case it was my version of how I was now,” he adds. “But I really thought that the first record would be a folk record and I’d just stick it out for the fun of it, and maybe we'd sit in the kitchen with some guitars and saucepan lids, but it ended up being a bit more than that.”

Indeed, the record ended up being a lot more rock-oriented than Garrett had first thought. Maybe it was this rock angle that led to its success. The record peaked at #3 on the ARIA charts and, without Midnight Oil a then-going concern, it became an opportunity for fans of Garrett’s to capture what they’d been missing for years up to that point.

“We were able to go out and play that record and that was an enjoyable experience because it's stretching your legs in a different direction when you've been in something not regulated, but as clearly delineated as the Oils, even though the oils could go left field, right field, up and down – whenever they chose,” he explains. “We all had to do it together at the same time, so to speak. 

“So there's a pleasure and a bit of freedom that comes from doing your own thing,” he adds. “And I think that's why people make their own records really.”

As Garrett admits, he hadn’t particularly expected the solo journey to take so long to come around again. Though it’s hard to say whether a new record would have arrived sooner had Midnight Oil not reconvened, it’s all part of the rich tapestry of his incredible career.

“I didn't expect the Oils thing to be as big or last as long as it did, and it was hugely pleasurable and an amazing experience for us, even though we lost Bonesy on the way,” he explains. “Coming out of that was really just a case of the musician in me still very much pulsing, beating, raging, and wanting to get out.

“It hasn't always been like that. It sort of waxes and wanes a bit for me but I thought, ‘Wow, if it's there, then I'll go with it again’, and I love the thought of getting into a studio and creating a sound palette,” he continues. “I love making something called a record which people can dip in and out of as they see fit, and I love being able to say some of the things that I really felt needed to be said and I felt.

“So I thought, ‘Okay, I'll get myself in there and wrap my head around record-making again and have some fun at the same time’.”

While Garrett does note that the message and resonance of his material – be it solo or with Midnight Oil – is always up to the audience, one of the most vital parts of the music-making process for him is the live performance aspect. 

In 2023, he once again began performing with The Alter Egos – their first performances since Twilight At Taronga in 2017. As one would expect, the very presence of Garrett’s name on the marquee would be a major drawcard, though it doesn’t get quite the same reception as it would if Midnight Oil’s name was the one in lights. So how does it feel to slip back into this format after so many years on the road with the Oils again?

“It’s quieter. It’s not quite the washing machine on 11,” Garrett admits. “The stage is my play pit in a way. It always has been ever since I was a kid; a young performer. We play a few old songs, Martin [Rotsey, Midnight Oil guitarist] is there, and I’ve got a couple of my daughters joining us sometimes to sing. 

“Also, working with people whose musicianship is of a similar sort of calibre is remarkable; a lot of fun,” he adds. “It’s exciting to be able to do the same thing in a different way, and to find the other corners of the room that you can inhabit and make the walls shake a bit.”

Anyone who has seen Garrett perform would undoubtedly be taken by the sheer power and intensity of his live presence. His reputation as a musician and vocalist is undeniable, but his live performances are where the rubber meets the road and the experience gets taken to the next level.

As he explains, it all comes down to a simple performance philosophy: “give it all, and give more until it hurts”.

“I try not to overthink what's going on; how it looks, even how it sounds,” he adds. “Those sorts of things will fall into place, but the performance has to be as primal and as natural as you can make it, even though you've got a left hand brain that tends to sort of tick around and head off in all sorts of different directions.

“There are performances that people give that are just performative. I find – generally speaking – even if the person's a fantastic singer, very pretty, got the moves, or whatever it might be, I always find that's, that's, that's sort of a B grade for me. You’ve spent your money, you probably wouldn't go and ask for a refund, but I'm not sure that you've got value out of it.

“Then there are other people that sort of dig in and they rip the scab off their wounds, they tear open their heart, stretch their neck and their vocal cords as far as they can and just try and think about the song that they're singing and give it to someone in a way which hopefully leaves an impression,” he continues. 

“There was a time when you could show up somewhere and you wouldn't have been blasted by a million messages before they walked in the door. That's not the case now. So we have to find that sacred space, you know, which a performance with an audience in a setting can be, and once we've found that sacred space, we have to honor it and treasure it and then tear it up and make it really something special.”

Now, Garrett’s touring schedule sees him returning to Twilight At Taronga on February 21st for a special performance supported by Jem Cassar-Daley. A return to his homeground, so to speak, it’s also a return to the concert series for Garrett for the first time since 2017. As such, he intends to get as much out of it as he can.

“There are some venues and shows around the country that are super special and you want to get back to because of their setting,” he explains. “Taronga is obviously one of those. I love hearing the animals rustling around in the sound check and sort of making comments about whether they think the bass drum's too loud or not. That's a great pleasure for me.

“I also think it's quintessentially Sydney in a way. It's outside and I've always loved to play outside in the city. It’s got a bit more room than they used to have so I don't feel as bad about the giraffes sort of cramming their necks to see what's going on, and I think it's a place where you get such a good view of the band, and it's such a good sound of the band.

“Live performances are often compromised between the place that you're in or what you're trying to create,” he adds. “There are no compromises in terms of the overall shape and quality of the performance of Taronga. 

“Everything is just a total add-on. It works orally, it works visually, it works culturally, it works thematically, and it'll be good to go back and play there.”

Peter Garrett & The Alter Egos perform at Twilight At Taronga in Sydney on February 21st. Tickets are available now.