Great time for fans of ’ 90s rock
MARK Lizotte was still in his teens when he was snatched from his bar band in Perth and launched as the leader of Johnny Diesel and the Injectors.
A career was born and now some 30 years later Diesel ( pictured) is still rocking on.
To celebrate the milestone, he is on a national tour that will bring him to Townsville this week.
Johnny Diesel and the Injectors moved from Perth to establish themselves in Sydney in 1987 and quickly became known for Diesel’s extraordinary guitar versatility and his rich, soulful voice.
Their debut album shipped platinum and entered the charts at No 2. It was the biggest- selling album of 1989.
Hepfidelity, Diesel’s first album under his own name in 1992, was a mega- platinum smash and earned him ARIAs for Best Album and Best Male Talent.
He is one of only a select few artists to win a Best Male Talent ARIA three times ( along with John Farnham, Alex Lloyd and Gotye).
The next albums – The Lobbyist and Solid State Rhyme – confirmed him as one of Australia’s top recording artists.
A non- stop six years that included extensive touring, recording and starting a family was capped in 1996 with the Short Cool Ones project, which he cut with blues harp player Chris Wilson.
“We made a run for it,” Diesel says with a laugh, describing how he and his young family moved to New York.
“I just needed to wipe the slate clean. I didn’t want to be around familiar things. I went to New York with nothing – I didn’t even have one song.”
Diesel scored a residency at the prestigious club Arlene’s Grocery and was discovered all over again, this time by Mammoth Records, which led to the Lost Soul Companion album.
In 2002, Diesel and family moved back to Australia. He assembled a band and also began gigging as a solo artist.
The nakedness of performing with nothing more than an acoustic guitar helped him reexamine his own work and take a fresh perspective.
The 2005 album Singled Out put Diesel back on the radio and gave him a hankering to pump up the volume again.
It also marked a new phase in his career and time for a new album. Coathanger Antennae was recorded in two months in 2006, with Diesel backed by bassist Richie Vez and drummer Lee Moloney.
“I want to make records where I can play with other people and just have fun,” Diesel says.
Back in Australia, and back on a roll, the albums and the tours kept coming.
Original albums adorned with radio hits followed with Days Like These in 2008 and Let It Fly in 2013.
Over the years he has crafted many great originals along with masterful renditions of rock, soul and blues classics via the themed albums Saturday Suffering Fools in 2009, Under The Influence in 2011 and the triumphant in 2016.
Diesel is one of those rare talents who has immense popular appeal and is also a musician’s musician.
His guitar playing is always tasteful and inventive and based around the rock and soul that he heard growing up as the son of a saxophonist.
And now for the first time in comes Diesel 30 – The Greatest Hits, jam- packed with songs known and loved Australia wide, and many that have found homes abroad.
To celebrate its release, Diesel does what he always does by taking it on the road.
“I always wanted to be an electric guitar player, I always wanted to be in front of an amp,” he says.
Diesel will hit the stage at Dalrymple Hotel this Friday. Tickets at oztix. com. au. Americana album TOWNSVILLE will kick off summer with a solid dose of 1990s rock, thanks to the return of touring event Hotter Than Hell.
The December 1 concert at the Kirwan Tavern, will feature Aussie rock legends Spiderbait and Magic Dirt, along with New Zealand band Shihad, pop punk band Bodyjar and punk rock group 28 Days.
ALH Group entertainment and marketing co- ordinator Sarah Korunich said there had already been a lot of interest, with VIP tickets selling fast.
“We just don’t really see that many concerts like this, there’s Groovin the Moo and other shows that are aimed at the younger market,” she said.
“There’s been a big buzz around it.
“We’re close to selling out our VIP tickets.
“One thing that’s special is often the bands come out into the VIP areas and chat with fans so that’s something quite exciting.”
The Hotter Than Hell series of regional concerts mark the first time in more than a decade Magic Dirt have performed, following the death of bass player Dean Turner in 2009 from cancer.
“We’re going to get all the ’ 90s rock fans coming out of the woodwork just to see Magic Dirt and Spiderbait is also a big drawcard as the headliners,” Ms Korunich said.
More information is available from hotterthanhelltour. com. au