TUMBLING THROUGH THE GREEN

Tumbleweed’s Richie Lewis has had the privilege of touring with an impressive array of seasoned musicians over the last 20 years, from the likes of Iggy Pop and Rollins to Mudhoney and Nirvana. With a massive Australian tour about to kick off as part of A Day on The Green, he’s excited to reconnect with the Aussie touring circuit and create more of the crazed brand of magic Tumbleweed drove so hard at the height of the 90’s Aussie stoner rock scene. 

“As soon as I found out about the DOTG lineup… straight away I wanted to do it” Lewis says. “We’ve done a lot of touring in the past with the Lemonheads actually all of those bands we’ve played with so many times. Back in the day Spiderbait did a national tour with us, we did a national tour with the Lemonheads, we gave The Living End one of their first ever gigs. The Fauves always played with us so really it’s also an opportunity to catch up with old friends we haven’t seen in years. It’s gonna be a big catch up time. I remember when I was a 90’s kid there would be the old bands playing RSL’s and that and I think this is a bit of a step up from RSL’s so I’m quite happy with how its turned out.” 

Fans will be happy to learn that the focus of the Tumbleweed set for the DOTG tour will be their debut self titled album and follow up Galactaphonic. “It’ll be predominantly early stuff like the first two EP’s, the first album, a couple of songs of Return To Earth and maybe one off our new one. Pretty much mostly old stuff” he says. Indeed the timeframe in which those EP’s were released (1992 -1995) saw a frenzied brand of magic open up stoner and grunge rock in Australia, a movement that saw festivals thrive and underage gigs begin to dominate the musical landscape. Tumbleweed were one of the first Australian bands to have to opportunity to tour internationally with bands like Mudhoney and Nirvana, who had just begun to gain serious traction around the planet. Lewis reflects on the conditions he figures contributed to that perfect storm. “I think it was the culmination of lots of things. First of all it was a time when a large demographic was coming of age at the same time. JJJ went national as well. Also it was the very early days of digital technology but also festivals started taking off and the country got a lot smaller. People were travelling and it was a combination of all those things. Along with the youth scene, I think that scene in the mid ’90’s was really proactive in getting zines together and back in those days we were doing just as many all-ages shows as we were doing over 18 shows. Even on the Nirvana tour there were all ages shows being thrown in there. That sort of stuff is just unheard of these days so y’know as people grew up towards the late '90’s they were sort of in their early 20’s and the scene just sort of built on itself.”

So just what is it that an emerging Aussie muso learns while on tour with Nirvana and Mudhoney? “Mudhoney just taught me you have to be yourself no matter what.” says Lewis. “The thing with Mudhoney is they were so funny, so down to earth, and accommodating. Nobody was too big to push their platform. Nirvana’s tour was kind of a weird one because they’d just sort of exploded and they were still coming to terms with what that meant for them. You could see Chris and Dave were still really down to earth whereas Kurt was sort of in this weird confusion cloud and was quiet and timid and too scared to talk to people and stuff. So that was an interesting insight into the madness of being the most famous band in the world. You learn something from everybody I think. Mudhoney taught me a lot in the early days too, they knew how to have a good time. They never took themselves too seriously and had fun with their music. And you can still see they’re still putting out records you know, that kind of thing lasts and it doesn’t burn out cause it’s real friendship and it’s a real love for what they do and its real Rock’n’Roll. That’s something that we took on board.” 

Indeed one of Lewis’ favourite support slots was for Iggy Pop at Selina’s in NSW. “I’ve been lucky enough to sort of play with all of my childhood heroes pretty much but I’d have to say Iggy Pop at Selina’s was my stand out” he says.“It was a smaller show and there was us, the Beasts of Bourbon and Iggy Pop. And he was just Iggy Pop y’know, there were very funny moments. We had this band room and it was part of the hotel, so basically one of the hotel rooms was our designated band room. When we went on stage Guns’n’Roses turned up to the show ‘cause they were playing at Eastern Creek in Sydney the next day. The promoters decided that they had to make them feel comfortable and so they gave Guns’n’Roses our hotel room as their sort of hang out area. When we came back all of our stuff was in the hallway and Iggy Pop was making love to a young lady on the bed. This was my first exposure to mega rock stardom I suppose. Guns’n’Roses apologised, they had nothing to do with it, they just took the room they were told to take and made the most of it (and started tucking into our rider) but as soon as they found out it was ours they apologised. So yeah they were cool about it.” 

These days, life is generally a lot quieter for Lewis who revels in the silence whenever he can get it. “Yeah there’s a lot more silence in my life these days but I do try and listen to some new stuff here and there but nowhere near like back in the day. Back then I was sort of searching for stuff everyday.” he says.“You tend to have music that sort of defines your time or sort of means something to you and during your early 20’s you sort of do a lot of musical discovery. That music tends to live with you for the rest of your life. Or it might sort of sum up a period in your life so it becomes that soundtrack and gives you memories and good feelings. So that stuff still exists for me, stuff like Celibate Rifles or The Stooges or The Ramones, but occasionally you sort of hear new stuff and it captures the spirit I like in music. I saw a gig by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard last year and that blew my mind so I sort of got back to that thing where it was exciting to discover something. I like The Gooch Palms… and Hits they’re really cool. So yeah every now and again something will come up and make your ears stand on end.” 

Despite the crazy stories and Rock’n’Roll cult status, Lewis now finds a different brand of pride in watching his family grow. “I’ve got lots of reasons to be proud. I’ve got a 17 year old daughter who’s just finished the HSC and been accepted into uni and I’ve got a six week old daughter who I’m proud of for being born. A new one starting and one on her way. And while there’s musical stuff and sort of professional stuff you might feel satisfied with, I don’t think it sort of compares to the pride that your family or kids bring you.“ 

Tumbleweed play A Day On The Green at Joseph Chromy Wines, Launceston on Saturday March 10. 

-Amanda Laver