Tavern set for night of laughs and tunes
Aussie legends set to play in Highfields
GREEDY Smith reckons he loves playing live music now more than he ever did.
And that’s coming from the keyboardist and singer from one of Australia’s greatest pub acts of the 1980s.
Mental As Anything has seen the inside of just about every pub across the country over the past 40 years and Toowoomba was no exception.
Back when USQ was the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education, the Mentals were playing there with their idols, Brisbane band The Apartments.
Every year or two since they’ve made an appearance at one of our local establishments and this time around the band is set to play at the Highfields Tavern on Saturday night.
Mental as Anything has long been known for providing just as many laughs as toe-tapping tunes and Mr Smith said he couldn’t see himself ever giving up the game.
“I’ve been playing in the band for 42 years and the longest break was six weeks back in 1990 when I fell off a horse,” he said.
“I feel a bit twitchy if I’m not out playing.”
He said one of his greatest joys was seeing young audience members singing along, even though he joked that he was certain it was just parents finally claiming on designated driver duties after going through a gruelling 120 hours of driver training with their kids.
He said he was the last man standing from the original lineup after Reg Mombasa and Pete O’Doherty left in 1999 and Martin Plaza had to step aside due to poor health.
“He said he tends to get cancer every time he plays with me,” Mr Smith joked.
Despite the newer line-up, Mr Smith said a lot of effort had gone in to do justice to the band’s original sounds, to the point where this year they released a new live recording of old hits and new music as well as re-issuing the band’s first record, Mental as Anything Plays at Your Party.
Head to tickets.oztix.com.au to buy tickets.