He Ain't Heavy

In the two years since legendary '80s rockers Sunnyboys burst back into public consciousness at the inaugural Dig It Up! shindig, much has (rightly) been made of frontman Jeremy Oxley's incredible triumph over mental illness. Oxley's decades-long battle against paranoid schizophrenia became widespread public knowledge when featured in the harrowing-but-uplifting doco The Sunnyboy, his brave return to the spotlight eventually proving inspirational for countless people everywhere.

What The Sunnyboy also highlighted, however, was the unwavering dedication exhibited by Jeremy's older brother Peter – also the Sunnyboys' bassist – who never stopped believing that one day he'd be able to pry his prodigiously-talented sibling from the clutches of his terrible affliction. To see the delight in Peter's eyes as he watches Jeremy bringing the Sunnyboys' amazing music back to life during these reunion shows – the brothers joined by fellow founding members Richard Burgman (guitar) and Bil Bilson (drums) – has been almost as special as hearing those incredible songs played once more in anger.

“That's the greatest thing,” Peter smiles. “We didn't think we'd be able to play together – the four of us – and I think it's great for Jeremy because he's loving playing and he's a remarkable guitar player – he just keeps getting better! I'm proud of him for just getting up there and doing it; it's so great to play with him again. [And] Mary, Jeremy's wife – without her love and support it'd be a much different situation, but the stars have aligned and we're in this special place where we're able to play. What's quite amazing is that after all these years we have a lot of people that really love the band and the music – that's what's really special for us.”

With the release last year of Sunnyboys compilation Our Best Of and the recent remastered reissue of their seminal 1981 debut, the focus has returned to the band's stunning catalogue of music – why does Oxley believe the songs have aged so well?

“When we put songs together back in the day, we never thought about how we should sound, we essentially played them as we felt,” Peter ponders. “We never had any premeditated idea of whether we should be new romantics or psychedelic or anything – it was just how we were. I think that was slightly naïve on our behalf, which was really great – we didn't form the band to get in the charts, we just formed the band because that's what we used to always do. All the way through high school, Bil, myself and Jeremy always just had bands; we'd had bands since we were 15, so it was quite a natural thing for us to do when we were all in Sydney.”

It's easy to forget that the Sunnyboys were so young when they were thrust into the thriving pub circuit. “Jeremy was just 18 when that happened,” Peter reflects. “You meet an 18-year-old now and think, 'Wow, I'd made an album by that stage and been top ten in the charts', and we'd been on tour six nights a week – it was pretty full-on.

“We played big shows, like The Manly Vale Hotel used to hold about 1800 people; it was just a big rectangular room with a stage down one end, and people would smoke cigarettes and drink beer out of schooner glasses or cans – it was just wild! It was full of surfers and girls and everyone would just take their clothes off, basically. The blokes would have their shirts off and the girls would be in singlets, and at the end of the night there would be smoke everywhere and the floor would be littered with glass and cans and it was just amazing – there'd be condensation dripping down the walls, because there was no air conditioning. Although they probably had air con, they just wouldn't turn it on because they wanted you to drink more beer!

“There were great bands everywhere – INXS, The Models, The Church and Midnight Oil were thundering around, it was a really intense time of great music – and it's been great to relive it and to show again how good we were, live particularly, and just to get those songs back out there. I think we're really lucky to be able to do that.”