London, Paris, Mustang Bar

It's roughly once per year that Brisbane gets to see The Onyas perform live, going on recent figures. Two-thirds of the band who once called our city home are now based in Melbourne – and have been for some time – so they barely even get to see each other, let alone think about playing shows.

“Usually when Macka's down for a [Cosmic] Psychos gig,” bassist Richard Stanley says when asked if the band spend much time together these days. “I run into Jaws at a pub occasionally. None of us really like each other anymore, it's just the music that bonds us, man.”

The “Macka” Stanley refers to is John McKeering, aka Mad Macka, guitarist and vocalist for the band with a penchant for taking off his shirt while Jaws is Jordan Stanley, Richard's brother and the band's drummer.

A band lasting for over 20 years and still being somewhat active is one hell of a feat, but Stanley admits that there did come a time where its members essentially cracked the shits. “There were [times], so we all went off and joined or started other bands,” he says. “The Onyas is a distant embarrassment for all of us.”

But an embarrassment they keep going back to. “Jaws and I being brothers and Macka being a top bloke,” Stanley says when asked how the trio have managed to stick together. “Liking similar music helps a bit.”

Given the band play together so rarely, one wonders what the preparation process involves these days. Stanley admits that rigourous rehearsal isn't exactly on the cards. “Nothing,” he says of their pre-show prep. “Maybe I'll have to borrow a bass, a lead and a pick off the support band but I just do that once they've finished and packed up, I never think to call in advance.”

There's a distinct sense of Brisbane that pumps through the songs of The Onyas; with song titles like London, Paris, Bracken Ridge and Keeper Healy, that might seem obvious. But there's something else in their music that just sounds like it couldn't have come from anywhere else. Perhaps it's Mad Macka's strine-like voice, which he belts over the enormous beds of sound coming from their instruments, or perhaps it's just the by-product of a particular keg at the Orient Hotel in 1993, but it's undoubtedly there.

“Heaps,” Stanley says of the influence his former hometown has on the band's music. “But if I thought about it that wouldn't be very 'Brisbane' would it?”

When asked what playing in Brisbane these days is like compared to the band's formative years, Stanley is typically curt. “There's more than 30 people there and we're not playing at the Treasury with Acid World or Babble-On with Strutter,” he says.

On a far more serious note, though 'serious' isn't a tone Stanley particularly likes when being interviewed, at least some of the reason for the band's inactivity has been down to chronic illness the bassist has been dealing with for a number of years. We're pleased to say – via Stanley – that things have improved significantly in recent months.

“Better than I have been in ten years,” he says when asked about his health. “The cancer has gone, I've got a new kidney and I've actually learned to drink properly, so I can kill myself with aplomb this time.”

The prospect of an Onyas show is exciting enough, but Stanley says that it won't end there; the band will be recording when they're together later this month.

“We're recording a cover song while we're up this time, and are talking about doing a new single next year and maybe some touring,” he reveals. But don't expect to see any of the band's old material re-released anytime soon. “No plans for reissues, we're all about the future, dude.”