"It's a one-off! I mean, I thought, 'Hell, for a 30th it's a pretty big bash so let's do something special!'" Divinyls guitarist Mark McEntee enthuses. "And I was so chuffed that The Preatures guys wanted to do it with us." He's talking about 30 Years Of Wheels And Dollbaby With Divinyls, which doubles as Telstra Perth Fashion Festival's epic closing party, and sees three Divinyls - McEntee reunited with drummer Richard Harvey and bassist Rick Grossman - teaming up with two members of The Preatures - lead singer Isabella Manfredi and guitarist Jack Moffitt. "It’ll be pretty unique," the guitarist promises. "It’ll probably be the only time it ever happens."
He only asked The Preatures pair "six or seven weeks ago" whether they'd be interested in doing this "one-off" show and tells, "Jack got straight back to me and said, 'Yeah, I'd love to!' And so he certainly spoke for Isabella as well." On how The Preatures sprang to mind for this purpose, McEntee shares, "They were a natural thing because triple j did a concert last year on the Domain in Sydney, you know those ones? Well they did a gig at that and they contacted me - their management contacted me - and [asked] would I get up and play Boys In Town with those guys 'cause I think, you know, they loved what Divinyls did in the old days." McEntee accepted their offer and confirms of this special guest appearance at the Beat The Drum concert that celebrated 40 years triple j, "It was great! I think people liked it... It was really funny, though, god! You know, you go there to what? Play one song? It was like, 'Was I there? I don't know! For a minute I seemed to be there and then the next minute it was all over' [laughs]. One song, give me a break - it was pathetic! But, anyway, we had fun."
McEntee commends his partner Melanie Greensmith's label for its consistency, pointing out that Wheels And Dollbaby never tries to "fit into trends". "She can't do something that doesn't work with her vision and I know what that's like, you know? And I really respect that. I think anybody doing something original - there's few people who do that and she's done that for 30 years and I thought, 'My goodness! That is so admirable,' you know?" We wonder whether the way Greensmith approaches fashion design is similar to the way McEntee approaches music and the guitarist ponders, "I mean, I wasn't ever clever enough to be able to do something that was trendy, hahaha. It's like, you've gotta do what you do, you know? I think if you really like what you do, or really have a feel for it, you just do what you do if you have a style. You can't - I'm not bright enough to be able go, [puts on faux-posh voice] 'Oh, I say! That idea's trending at the moment, I might do something along those lines'. I'm not that bright to be able to figure that out... You try to stay as true as you can to yourself otherwise it just doesn't work. I've found that, musically; it just does not work - it's absolute folly, for me."
When asked how McEntee and Greensmith first met, the guitarist recalls, "We met in her shop. She opened shop in Sydney, way back in, like, '87 I think it was - oh, yeah, it must be if it's 30 years. And Chrissy and me used to go in there, and Melanie met me there when I went there with Chrissy, and it was so funny because the week she first opened [Wheels And Dollbaby] Michael Jackson had called in there, you know? I think he was coming in from the airport or something, because [the shop] was along that Crown Street strip and, in those days, they used to come in from the airport and go into the city or go wherever they were going; he saw a jacket that she'd made in the window, and it was hanging in the window, and he went, 'I want that jacket'. And so he went in and bought the jacket off 'er. Isn't that funny? Isn't that a hellavu story!?... He saw the jacket and went, 'I gotta have it!' Boom!"
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Wheels And Dollbaby soon became McEntee's go-to label. "Do you know what? Whenever I needed anything to go away and tour in, and everything like that, I always used to - it was the only place I used to find it," he extols. "In those days, Melanie would make clothes that you'd feel comfortable in; it's really hard to feel comfortable on stage - when you're on stage or playing - unless it's a special kind of thing to wear, you know? You have to have something that reflects what you feel like, that's really comfortable, because you can't go, [adopts faux-posh accent again] 'Oh, I'm going on stage; I'm going to buy a nice, crisp white shirt!' Well you can't do that, you know? Because even if it doesn't feel right, it can screw the gig up because you're not feeling comfortable to let the mind go; 'cause you've gotta feel ultimately comfortable with it and [the fact] that it reflects your personality. And, with Chrissy, too, we found that [Wheels And Dollbaby's] clothes just reflected what we felt comfortable wearing... It's really tricky, 'cause it's such a sensitive thing when you get up on stage to play with people. [Your stage clothes have] gotta fit you like a glove. And, anyway, I felt that with [Wheels And Dollbaby's] stuff - it did. It did."
We express our disappointment with some bands' tendencies to dress as if they've rolled straight off the couch at home and onto the stage and McEntee opines, "It's good to dress correctly for the occasion." So what does he think about chain-store brands selling rockstar-inspired attire? "Oh, please! Give me a break," he recoils. "It's making me feel ill thinking about it! What has the world come to if we have rockstar-inspired clothing from Target? Give me a break, you know, come on! I mean that is a really negative thing to what's going on: some people think that they can put on an article of clothing and they'll become what that is behind it? No way. I mean, if you wear the outfit you've got to, you know - have they practised for a hundred fricking years? Have they written a few songs, you know? Whatever. If you can do that, by all means! But otherwise, stick to your own theme, you know? Don't you think? They think they can put on the persona and it's not true, it's not."
When McEntee was approached to play this one-off performance to celebrate 30 years of Wheels And Dollbaby, he explains, "I thought, 'Well, hell! The only way to really play it properly...' - I mean, I don't know any other songs apart from my own that dear Chrissy [Amphlett] and myself wrote together' - I thought, 'Well, fuck it! Yeah.' And so I thought I'd love to do it with the boys who, you know, we recorded everything with." Enter Harvey and Grossman. So when was the last time McEntee shared a stage with this particular rhythm section? "A long time ago," he admits. "'80s, um, '87 or something - '88, something like that."
We're tipping McEntee will feel emotional performing at 30 Years Of Wheels And Dollbaby With Divinyls on Sunday, then. "Oh, you don't think I'll start crying or something!' he teases. "Warn me! Let me know!" It's probably best if he wear dark shades just in case then, hey? "I always wear dark goddamn shades. It's the lights, you know? It's the lights; my eyes are sensitive. But, yes, I mean, I know from the rehearsals that we've done Izzi sounded really great singing what Chrissy did." But McEntee stresses, "It's gonna be funny to hear the songs - or to go through the songs again - with a girl singing Chrissy's parts, 'cause I remember even doing Boys In Town when I did it with them [The Preatures] it was quite emotional."
When told the east coast would also love to see this Divinyls version featuring half of The Preatures, McEntee sounds genuinely surprised. "Do you reckon? I really don't know at this stage. I mean, The Preatures have got their own thing going; they need to do what they're doin'."
We're pretty sure Manfredi and Moffitt would find a gap in their schedules if McEntee were to ask nicely, though. "I'm not gonna ask nicely, I never ask nicely," he jests before considering, "Oh, god, the amount of times I've been offered to do it and I've sorta been - you know, I think with Chrissy being gone you think, 'Well why?' you know? 'Why would you do it?' But this is funny, this was a special thing to do so it was kind of like, 'Well, let's give it a go,' 'cause it was a special occasion. And so I guess we'll see. I mean, I'm sure we'll have a hellavu lot of fun and probably go, 'Oh, let's keep doing it, maaaaan!'" he laughs. And the phones will probably be running hot the next day with offers to tour the show, we suggest. "Wow," McEntee considers and then laughs again. "Might make it big again!"
Of 30 Years Of Wheels And Dollbaby With Divinyls, McEntee predicts, "I think it's gonna be a real gas.
"Richard Harvey's got a particular drumming style that was very unique and same with Ricky Grossman's bass style. So to get them together again is gonna be great, too - I dunno it's just like, god! The memories we got, you know? It's gonna be everything." Divinyls last performed in 2006 when they were inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame and McEntee laments, "It's a shame Chrissy's not here to play with Richard Harvey and Rick Grossman is all I can say. It's a shame. It would be great but, hey! Who survives? We've gotta keep going."
According to McEntee, preparing for this show has been "quite an experience". "I don't often listen to old stuff; I don't find it easy to listen to the old songs with Chrissy because she had such a unique and lovely, fantastic voice," he admits. "I mean, they don't mould them in that shape: they don't build singers like that, they don't build people like that, you know? They're very rare. I mean, Chrissy was so unique - such a one-off. And you think about the past; it brings it back and you go, 'Well, if we'd done that a bit differently or we'd done that a bit differently,' you know? You sort of think... Hindsight is a tremendous advantage. However, I s'pose you can look at it and go, 'Well, it's like it is and it may not have worked out the same if you'd made all those other decisions' - so who's to know?"
When asked what he wishes he'd done differently, McEntee reveals, "A couple of mixes to a couple of the old songs; I wish we'd done them differently - just little things like that. If we'd done tours differently sometimes, if we'd done appearances differently - but at the same time you've gotta be grateful for what you did do." But McEntee must be proud of the fact that Divinyls cracked the US market when countless other Australian bands failed to do so. "Yeah, true," he allows. "I guess we were lucky, but we did a lot of tours in the States and with fantastic bands: Aerosmith, The Cult - all the bands from that time, you know? Dear Bruce Springsteen - he really loved what we used to do. I remember he did a big interview in Rolling Stone at the time - I mean, I don't wanna blow my own fucking trumpet but, yeah! He really liked what we did. So it's just sometimes you think, 'Oh, I wonder whether I would've done that differently,' you know? And when you get together and do something like this, it really makes you think 'cause I haven't ever done it, you know?"
It's fair to say that there can only be one Divinyls and their legacy is truly unique, provocative and timeless. "Yeah I thought the old songs sound alright, don't they? They still sound ok when you hear 'em, but it's hard to know."
