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Touring In Golf Buggies At 70, Having Jebediah Posters & Oil Wrestling

10 November 2016 | 2:42 pm | Carley Hall

"I had to slowly admit to him that I was a huge Jebediah fan in a way that wouldn't make him feel like I was a creepy stalker..."

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A music industry meet-up, adult sleepovers in a childhood home, sage words of wisdom, a bevvy of beverages - these are the ties that bound two of the country's most loved troubadours a decade ago and set them off on a well-received national tour. And now, 10 years on, Josh Pyke and Bob Evans are packing their bags to do it all again.

Off the back of a busy year - new albums and associated touring for each of them - Pyke and Evans, aka Kevin Mitchell, have found time to line up a commemoration of sorts to mark their first outing as a duo with Another Evening With Josh Pyke and Bob Evans. They even found an uncanny way to work out who got top billing.

"It was like one of those traditional Turkish oil wrestling matches," Mitchell deadpans. "Josh just overpowered me and he got the top billing, once again. Twice out of two tours."

"It's just how I roll," Pyke admits.

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"Josh was still pulling fucking Jebediah posters off his bedroom walls!"

And at the suggestion of a compromise, a fusion of the two names into a Brangelina-like moniker - 'Bosh' or 'Job' are proffered suggestions - tongues remain firmly planted in cheeks. "The last thing I need in my life is another fucking band name, or any name at all," Mitchell laughs. "That's true, isn't it? At least they're all one syllable - Bob, Kev, Jeb," Pyke offers.

Meeting 10 years ago when Pyke's star was on the rise and Mitchell's transition from Jebediah frontman to Bob Evans was well on its way with a celebrated second album just released, the pair found a cohort in each other. With Pyke a massive Jebediah fan and with an insight into the offbeat way in which this union kicked off, it's clear from the start there were no egos but plenty of good times.

"My parents were overseas and Kev came and lived there as well," Pyke explains. "I had to slowly admit to him that I was a huge Jebediah fan in a way that wouldn't make him feel like I was a creepy stalker who was trying to manipulate the situation to have him stay in my childhood home!" "Josh was still pulling fucking Jebediah posters off his bedroom walls!" Mitchell interjects. "So we were literally living together for the first five days before the tour doing our final rehearsals."

"Aw dude, can you imagine when we're like 65 or 70 you and I just get in our golf buggy and just hit the RSLs?"

Fan love aside, for Mitchell the tour was a chance to keep the momentum of something positive rolling along, as the duo were both at the time pushing their respective projects into the then growing indie dandy-man scene. "I'd been overseas for six months and was away when Josh was becoming this musical icon," Mitchell recalls. "So we were doing this tour and everyone was singing along to Josh's songs and he had this really great thing going on. I think I was just happy to be rolling along and to be part of something that's so positive."

And if it allowed Mitchell a chance to play the 'Dad' card and offer some advice to an up-and-coming Pyke, so be it. "He really did say this to me and he's always denied it," Pyke explains. "I was stressing about something and he literally said to me 'less thinking more drinking'."

There's no doubt the drinks will be flowing when the pair reunite for their double billing. While there's collectively now a bunch more albums to pluck set list songs from, Mitchell said the fundamentals of the pair's chemistry remain.

"Josh and I are almost exactly the same age, we've shared the same generational experiences, we've both gone through loss, changes, at very similar times," Mitchell explains. "It's pretty rare. I don't have any other friends that I have that broad amount of things in common with."

"I think both of us are ambitious people but I'm not particularly competitive," Pyke adds. "That's the only time I could see things being bad, but that's not how either of us roll."

With an equal amount of admiration, similarities and genuine enjoyment of each other's company, the door is wide open for yet another Josh Pyke and Bob Evans evening down the track - like, way down the track.

"We'll be doing a tour of old people homes in 2026," Mitchell confirms. "No that's too soon, 2036 maybe, 2026 will just be hitting up the RSLs." "Aw dude, can you imagine when we're like 65 or 70 you and I just get in our golf buggy and just hit the RSLs and the nursing homes, playing our songs and like Harpoon?" Pyke enthuses.

"Yeah people would literally be rolling in the aisles!" Mitchell agrees. "They would have to have some fucking extra meds to keep the crowd under control."