Mick ThomasMick Thomas & The Sure Thing play the Waterloo Hotel on Friday.
Wen you head to a Mick Thomas show here in Australia, you’ve got the weight of his history colouring your expectations. The former Weddings Parties Anything frontman, and solo artist in his own right has a songwriting history that leaves many writers in his wake. But over in Europe, where he has just returned from a three-week stint supporting Billy Bragg, he’s been a somewhat unknown quantity. And that suits Mick just fine.
“It was a hell of a lot of fun for me. Probably the most fun I’ve had playing in a few years. I think Billy’s found something with his band. It’s taken him a while. For my part of it, it was just enjoyable to get up and bash away every night and not have to think too much about it.”
“To me it was really pure playing, you know. Ten shows in a row I played to people who had no idea who I was. When people go to see Billy, what they want is Billy solo. So I think I got a lot of points before I walked on, because it was just me and a guitar and they weren’t going to get that out of Billy until the encore. I started playing a Mutton Birds song that I’ve always loved, so I get to have a bit of fun with things like that.”
Do you get a new appreciation of the dynamics you’ve got with your band The Sure Thing after you play some solo shows?
“Sure. At the moment I’m so looking forward to playing with the band. It’s been so fun to play with people. It’s a good six months since I’ve done a band show, and in the meantime there’s been 50 shows on my own. It’s good to have things fleshed out a bit, and to have people to bounce things off musically.”
The follow up to Dust On My Shoes is almost ready to see the light of day.
“I actually finished mastering it last week. It’s a double CD, so there’s a lot of artwork still to do on it. I’ve had my record company hat on, and the one thing I hate more than a plastic jewel case is a double case. They’re awful. We’ve been working on some cardboard packaging and it’s all been fun, talking about wrapping it up like a present.”
