You Am I and Me

“It’s a way to maintain the band, we all do different things cause then we can just go and come back” says Rusty Hopkinson, better known as the animal drummer for Oz rock icons, You Am I. “Some of your contemporaries split up, the only good reason to being in a band is because you want to. We make records we enjoy personally”

Speaking of records, how was it getting the latest, Dilettantes up and out?

“We got some weekends together to sit in a warehouse, set up gear, and Tim had written some songs, as we were recording Tim would go “oh I’ve got this one too”, in the case of this band we knocked it out in a week and a half”

What’s it like touring with your best mates for years on end? Grating? Awesome?

“We just sit around gossiping about our peers (laughs) the gig is the most important part of the day, anything else is just superfluous. We know each other pretty well and when to make ourselves scarce, we’ll go to America in a van for 16 hours and we’ve managed to refrain from killing each other... what we do, is when were feeing angry or arguments start, we just get a Nerf sword, the difficulty in the van and the fact that you’re doing battle with a Nerf sword...you just end laughing and forgetting what you were arguing about”

“Its bloody good to do, it’s fun to do music with those guys, it’s not just answer 345 out of the standard rock answers but it’s true, we communicate on stage with eye movement and not many bands can get that. It’s fun. It’s about getting your kicks” Rusty says, with a spot of sentimentality. You Am I have been trucking as purveyors of Aussie rock and roll for some 15-odd years now.

“Rock bands are better appreciated in a sweaty club at night rather than in a field” Rusty notes on You Am I’s gigography, especially noteworthy from a member of a band whose on stage antics and ambience are the cornerstone of their success. I ask Rusty about the iRevolution. “Bands and trends come and go, technologies come and go, but if there a good band, they’re a good band” he states shortly, not overtly loving of the new age but more than happy to accommodate.

You Am I play:

1 Nov- The Govenor Hindmarsh Adelaide, South Australia
2 Nov- Prince Of Wales Melbourne, Victoria
3 Nov- Prince Of Wales Melbourne, Victoria
6 Nov- Theatre Royal Castlemaine, Victoria
7 Nov- Karova Lounge Ballarat, Victoria
8 Nov- Westernport Hotel San Remo, Victoria
9 Nov- Barwon Heads Hotel Barwon Heads, Victoria
13 Nov- ANU Bar Canberra, New South Wales
14 Nov- Wollongong Uni Wollongong, New South Wales
15 Nov- Cambridge Hotel Newcastle, New South Wales

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