Heart Keeps Beating

When it comes to guilt-free good times, Melbourne positively abounds with events where fantastic causes are represented by talented artists giving freely of their time and skills. But the conscientious punter, aware of where her or his money and/or attention is going, could hardly do much better than seeing Painter and Docker Paul Stewart and his band, The Transplants, at DonateLife Week's free annual extravaganza. As their name suggests, The Transplants are a band made up of organ transplant recipients who have been cutting a swathe through the Melbourne music scene for a while now. At last year's event, they even teamed up with – wait for it – Derryn Hinch, the human headline himself. Obviously, this is where Inpress is interested in beginning our conversation with Stewart, ahead of a more general discussion of the DonateLife Week event overall.

“Organ donation is a cause that affects everybody from all walks of life,” says Stewart. “So, yeah, last year we had Derryn Hinch. A lot of people said to me, you know, 'Paulie, can he sing?' I just said to them, 'Who gives a fuck?' He gave it his best. I've been trying to sing for thirty years, so I'm never going to hold it against someone. Look, he was really good for the cause. I was familiar with his public persona and I thought he'd be a bit of an arrogant arsehole, but he just rocked up and said, 'What do you want me to do?' I told him that as well as the songs he wanted to sing, he had to sing You're Going Home In The Back Of A Divvy Van because he's been arrested and been to jail and been in home detention and all of that. He did it without any bullshit or ego. I've got a really high opinion of Derryn.”

As well as Indigenous rapper Little G, Elvis impersonator Paul Greene, Dave Arden, African Rappers The Flybz and actress Dianna Glenn, this year's DonateLife Week event features the star power of Judith Durham from The Seekers, who will read a poem she wrote for Yothu Yindi's Mandawuy Yunupingu, who urgently needs a kidney transplant.

“Yeah, look, it was great having Derryn rock up last year, but this year we wanted to do something a little bit different so we've got Judith on board. If you'd told me this time last year I'd be doing a show with Judith Durham I would have said you were crazy. I used to sit at home watching her on the tele with my family. She's huge, you know. But she's been really great. She's also just saying, you know, 'What do you want me to do?' It's great to work with people who realise the cause is more important than their ego.”

As mentioned above, the Melbourne music scene is replete with causes and 'cause' bands. Having said this, few can boast the unadulterated joie de vivre possessed by The Transplants. In closing, Stewart talks a little about the band's formation, but also about the driving force behind their music, and it would be only the hardest headed music fan who isn't moved to go and see them.

“Most of The Transplants met out at The Austin Hospital at the liver clinic out there. We were all so grateful to be alive; seriously, that we just thought, 'Let's get a band together to promote organ donation.' We all feel so grateful to have been given another chance with this band. For example, Rowland Howard was in there and he didn't get one, you know. It's not everyone that gets one. This is like a dream time for me. I mean, we get up and rock out and have a bit of a laugh, but someone, somewhere in Australia said 'I'm going to become an organ donor' and that's why I'm here, you know. Fuck. I'm going to be forever grateful for that.”

The Transplants will be playing the following dates:

Sunday 3 March - DonateLife Week, Argyle Square, Melbourne VIC