Twelve Years On From 'All Is Forgiven', Tex Don & Charlie Are Back To Complete The Cycle

Tex Perkins, Don Walker and Charlie Owen sit in the office of their big record company in Sydney, overlooking the harbour, signing CD inserts. They chat happily and muck around gently as they scribble - easily distracted and oblivious to their status as national bloody treasures.

Their new offering as Tex, Don & Charlie, You Don't Know Lonely, picks up a dozen years after All Is Forgiven (2005), and 24 after their debut, Sad But True (1993). The spacing is eerie but not necessarily intentional. "Well we only realised that [the 12-year gaps] were a thing when we released this album," explains Perkins. "We tried to make albums during those other periods but all sorts of other things got in the way. And we were just pondering if we should stick to this cycle - and that would mean Don would be 77 the next time we make an album".

Here Walker chimes in; "[my hero] Willie Nelson is 80 something - so it's not beyond the realm of possibility, but it does mean there's an element of risk".

One of the biggest events to invade on Tex, Don & Charlie music making these past dozen years has been the loss of former collaborator Shane Walsh. While there's nothing on the album directly attributed to him, his absence is clear in other ways. "[Losing Walsh] had more an influence on us not doing anything for a while. For a good three years after he died, the idea of carrying on without him seemed not only too difficult, but it was too soon and probably would have been disrespectful," Perkins continues with trademark cheek, "but now, time has passed, and we can be disrespectful."

At this the trio laugh, not talking down the loss but rather putting it in context. Anyone who's heard their work knows there's always something forlorn, lonely, but hilariously honest about their approach. Not quite 'keep calm and carry on', but more of a 'that's shit - fuck it - let's keep going' attitude. "Ironically, last weekend the last of [Walsh's] ashes were dispersed in Port Philip Bay, along with his mother. All of that just a week before we came up to Sydney to do all this work, so the cycle is complete," says Owen. "He was a great bass player and just a great guy."

From here the three reminisce, talking over each other and in a code that draws the listener in. Like with their music, at times it seems like they're equally revealing both intimacies and fantasies - all as part of a musical Secret Men's Business. "It's not really Secret Men's Business, but rather Secret Tex, Don & Charlie business. There's just a certain flavour that happens when the three of us get together," says Owen. "By way of a little insight," Walker continues, "most of the time I just write. And when a Tex, Don & Charlie thing is coming up, I will put some songs on a CD and see which ones they like. That's the definition of [the group] - do we all like it and can we make it work".