Beer and Brewer Magazine

When rock hits town you can shove your wimpy wines, backstage beer is what's demanded. Patrick Donovan takes a peak in the tour bus fridge.

I blame Slim Dusty. As a young chap, the late country singer first piqued my interest in beer when he sang invitingly to me over the airwaves: "I'd love to have a beer with Patrick `cause Patrick's me mate!'' on his hit song Duncan. Since then I have heard many songs that have been inspired by (or at least referenced by) the amber ale.

And it's no wonder. Rocking is a visceral artform, whether you are playing or watching. Just as joggers replenish themselves with a sports drink, there's no better way to refresh oneself after a blinding drum solo or a headbang in the mosh pit than to sip from a cold pot of Carlton Draught or take a swig from an icy Melbourne Bitter stubby.

It seems the pace of the music corresponds with the beverages drunk. While sweaty rockers like to drink lots of beer as quickly as possible, there is a general trend for jazz musos to sip on wines and spirits between sax solos, while blues musos opt for dark spirits to help darken their mood.

But we're talking beer here. Carlton & United Breweries could have had a hit on their hands if they ever released their "In fact I've got it now'' ad as a single. On the B-side they could have had the Kinks' Sunny Afternoon, with the enticing line: "Now I'm sittin' here/sipping at my ice-cooled beer/lazin' on a sunny afternoon''.

Country and punk are the genres most partial to a beer reference. There's Hank Williams' There's a Tear in My Beer, Johnny Russell's Red Necks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer and George Jones'  What Made Milwaukee Famous Has Made a Loser Out of Me, which name checks some of Milwaukee's famous beers.

Hard drinking English punk bands such as Madness and Squeeze also like to preach what they practice, even if in the latter's Cool for Cats, they lament: "I drink a bitter and I get a little rash.''

1990s US punk bands followed suit. NOFX wrote a song called Beer Bong, while Reel Big Fish didn't muck around on Beer. Even the old queen Elton John goes there on Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting: "It's seven o'clock and I want to rock/Want to get a belly full of beer/My old man's drunker than a barrel full of monkeys.'' Of course Australia's hardest drinking rock bands couldn't really exist without beer, so it is bound to pop up some songs.

The Cosmic Psychos called their greatest hits compilation 15 years, A Million Beers. The F--- F---`s wrote an ode to the Beer Sandwich, and Cold Chisel go there on Home and Broken Hearted when they bemoan: "The beer we bought for Christmas ran dry this afternoon.''

Some even go to the trouble of naming their band after their favourite brewery. Or that's what Richmond's Mountain Goat Brewery thought when they discovered US indie rock band the Mountain Goats. Sadly for them, it was just a coincidence (the band named themselves after a line from a Screamin' Jay Hawkins song) but that didn't stop the brewery sponsoring one of their shows. Mountian Goats singer John Darnielle rates the micro brewery's amber ale and Fremantle's Little Creatures up there with his favourite American ales such as Wild Goose Winter Ale from Maryland. Darnielle likes to dispel the myth that all Americans drink is watery Budweiser.

"Twenty years ago, if people came to the US, they would say: ‘I like your country, but boy the beer tastes like shit.' But there are a lot of good smaller breweries around now, so if you don't drink good beer here, that's your fault.''

If bands have a choice, it seems that Coopers - red or green - is the most popular.

"You'll always find Coopers on the Paul Kelly rider,'' says Kelly's drummer Pete Luscombe.

"Americans like Coopers. Once a band has been here it's all they will drink,'' adds Sydney promoter Tim Pittman.

Jet bassist Mark Wilson agrees that Cooper's is the go. The band were finishing up their last album, Shine On, in LA, when he walked into a deli and saw a few bottles of Coopers Pale Ale glistening in the bottom of a fridge.

"It made my day,'' he says.

 When  Jet  started out, they drank what they were given (their biggest rider was a rubbish bin full of Melbourne Bitter cans playing with the Onyas at the Duke of Windsor). Now they usually ask for Becks or European beers.

"We're always changing. If I drink too much of anything, I get sick of it. And since I've stopped smoking, I've had to stop drinking some beers because of their metallic after-taste. But it doesn't matter what you drink the night before, you always start the next night with a beer - it's the great leveler. When you're on the road, you get in a rhythm, and you feel like you need a beer before you hit the stage.''

For Melbourne bands, it seems that Coopers, Boags, Cascade, Melbourne Bitter and VB are the most popular beverages to drink on the road. Melbourne acts will often ask for Melbourne Bitter stubbies on their riders - "anything BUT Tooheys New'' - along with their Peter Styvies soft packs and condoms. But Perth band End Of Fashion weren't fussy when they asked for "1 x case of cheap beer''.

Pittman still shudders when recalling the time he was asked to source Budweiser light beer from a supplier for touring commercial rock act Filter. "It's all the band would drink. When they got here I found out they were on the wagon. I took it to parties to get rid of it but it was always the last beer left in the tub.''

Some musicians even brew their own beer. The drummer for Sydney rock band the Vines, Hamish Rosser, brews his own low-carb beer, Skinny Blonde, while ARIA Award winning sound engineer Matt Lovell and music executive Roger Grierson are the brains behind Lovells Larger, which has been served at Sydney rock pub the Annadale Hotel and the Cricketer's Arms in Surry Hills. Lovell, who has produced albums for bands such as Eskimo Joe and Silverchair, says he was working on Jebediah's last album in Perth when the punk-pop band took him to Little Creatures brewery. "I thought how good is this? And then I started looking into the craft beer industry. The vibe is very DIY (Do-it-Yourself) which is a lot like rock ‘n' roll. You just can't download beer yet.''

Others have opened up their own bars. The Cosmic Psychos former drummer Billy Walsh, who is so in touch with the top shelf he set up the Cherry Bar in AC/DC Lane, says Belgium and Germany are the best place to drink, hence their regular trips there in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He recalls turning up late for a gig at a half-full venue and being offered the Belgium equivalent of a Foster's. After they had played to a full house later that night, they were offered one of Belgium's finest.

Bassist Martyn P. Casey has enjoyed his time touring Belgium with cult Australian bands Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Triffids. At the Pukkelpop festival in 1990 he took his love of the local brew a bit too far when he passed out in one of the empty beer refrigerators backstage.

Julian Wu also enjoyed sampling many Belgium beers while touring with the Triffids last year. His favourites included the Verboten Vrucht strong dark ale, Chimay Bleue and Rouge, and a fruity tipple called Duvel. As the average strength of the beers was pretty strong, for everyday drinking they stuck to Jupiler, which reminded Wu of a Belgian take on the CUB style of beer such as Melbourne Bitter.

"By the time we got to Amsterdam, we were almost disappointed to receive a few slabs of Heineken on our rider,'' says Wu, who also hosts many visiting international musicians at his Windsor home.

"When hosting international acts I like to serve them a selection of Australian beers.

Quite partial to Cascade First Harvest if it's available, other than that, Cascade Premium, Little Creatures, Cooper's Sparkling Ale and/or Pale Ale, Boags Premium Ale and good ol' Melbourne Bitter.''

But not all rockers get smashed before and during a show. Dave Graney prefers ginger beer, preferably  Cascade or Bundaberg, while Andy Baylor gets on the wagon on tour. Soul singer Kerri Simpson doesn't drink beer either, but she has observed plenty who do. And she says they are not too discerning.

"A musician is lying if they say they will only drink a certain beer - especially when touring. They will drink anything! Most of the time, unless they are tossers, they will drink anything at home because most of the time they don't have money to do otherwise!''

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