Taste Test: Sid O'Neil of The Vasco Era

THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY
It was called 100 Australian Recordings or something like that, I think. It had a song called The Bastard Song or something, and I thought that was pretty rebellious when I was ten. So I think I bought that because I thought it was naughty. I think it was like four CDs or something, but I can't remember what else was on it besides that song. I remember pretty vividly thinking it was cool because it had the song about bastards on it.

THE ALBUM I'M LOVING
RIGHT NOW
I've got that Neu! album, it's kinda like minimal guitar, bass and drum music, which I think a lot of people have known forever but I didn't really know until recently, and I really like that. I listen to it all the time.

MY FAVOURITE PARTY ALBUM
I've been to parties with John Lee Hooker playing, and I really liked that, but it was just The Best Of John Lee Hooker, and I think I like that kind of music at parties. I also like doof a lot, but not a specific album.

MY FAVOURITE COMEDOWN ALBUM
Probably Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. It just makes you feel good about everything, all the time, and I guess that's what you want in a comedown album, isn't it?

THE MOST SURPRISING RECORD
IN MY COLLECTION
I don't own anything at all. I don't have an iPod or any CDs or records.

THE FIRST GIG I EVER ATTENDED
Pennywise and Millencolin; I would've been 12 or 13. It was an all-ages thing at Festival Hall. I'm from Apollo Bay but me and a couple of friends came down to watch it. I loved it. I knew all their songs back then.

THE WEIRDEST GIG EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD
I can't really think of anything that weird! Has anything weird ever happened at our gigs? We've kinda had lots of times when the whole crowd's come up on stage and it can [get] weird depending on the venue because sometimes people can get really angry or whatever – but we never actually deliberately try to make anyone angry – yeah but that can get weird.

Oh, hang on, I was at this doof gig once, in the bush, and was right up the front. There was about 2,000 people there or something. And this ute with a grandstand on it full of hippy-looking dudes and girls dressed like nuts [were] throwing out beers, and so the whole crowd parted and the car drove all the way up to the front right where the stage was and everyone started dancing up on the grandstand on the back of the ute, so that's pretty weird isn't it?

THE BIGGEST NON-MUSICAL INFLUENCES ON ME
Probably the internet… does that count? I read books a lot as well. I started reading those kind of self-help, try-not-to-think-through-your-mind books, like The Power Now and The Alchemist, and I just found they were pretty influential in what they were trying to get you to do, even though it's quite hard. I've had good experiences on drugs as well, when I was younger; I think that's definitely pretty influential.

THE COOLEST PERSON I'VE
EVER MET
Well, I met this guy at this party years ago when I was younger. I've got no idea what his name was. He had an undercut, though – I remember that much! And he kinda told me, you know, how all the planets worked and the meaning of life and stuff, which is pretty cool and it seemed, at the time, pretty believable, so I guess it'd have to go to that guy! He was probably number one.

THE BIGGEST CELEBRITY
CRUSH I'VE EVER HAD
I think when I was young I used to, like, pretend to have crushes on all the girls out of Dawson's Creek. There was one called Andie, who I thought was really cool to say you had a crush on. And Michelle Williams was in it and I think I had a crush on her too, when I was about 12 or 13. But I don't know if it was just the cool thing to do or if it was an actual real crush.

IF I COULD HANG OUT IN ANY TIME AND PLACE IN HISTORY
I think I like the idea of the '20s, and that the prohibition was on, and you could have secret alcohol parties that were illegal. There's a certain charm to doing things that are naughty but aren't really that bad. I can imagine going to one of those sneaky bootleg pubs or whatever they were called would be pretty sweet.

IF I WASN'T MAKING MUSIC
I'm studying social work so… I don't think of myself as really being a musician that much anyway, do you know what I mean? It's not like I just play music and that's all I do. And travelling, but I'm about to do that anyway. I wanna do something with [social work] eventually. Maybe youth work, hopefully, we'll see.