Link Meanie On Getting Hitched In Spain And The Meanies' Final Hurrah

In Aussie punk and underground rock circles at the very least, The Meanies are a band that need no introduction. Thus, fans have noted with great disappointment that the band, almost 30 years into their career, are soon to go on an indefinite hiatus. Co-founding member Link Meanie fills us in on why this is the case.

"I'm going to live in Spain, and get hitched to my gal," he reveals, "and who knows when I'll be back. I'm sure I'll come back at some stage, but we'll see how it goes."

At this stage, he is unsure as to his level of motivation to re-unite with the band in a live capacity when he does come back to Australia. "I can't say how I'm going to feel in six months or a year or two years down the track or however long it takes," he says, "I'm sure that by that stage I'll be kind of excited about getting back on the stage with The Meanies. But I really don't know, we'll just have to wait and see."

Barcelona is where Meanie is headed, and he has even surprised himself a little in making this massive, life-changing decision. "I love Spain," he states, "I've traditionally been a real homebody, I didn't think I'd ever move out of Melbourne. But I always thought that if I did, Spain would be the only place I'd move to. So it's worked out well."

Any idea what you will do over there, musically or work-wise? "I've got a job lined up as a matador!" he laughs, "No, that's a dying thing in Spain I think. Seriously, there's some options there, nothing hard and fast yet, there's a couple of things in the works, I'll just have to wait and see if they pan out."

Hardcore fans of the band need not despair completely however, as the band are doing one final extensive tour of the nation before Meanie jets off to the other side of the world, and he promises a very typical and crowd pleasing set for Meanies aficionados.

"We always have, we've always done a good cross-section of all our records. We'll probably end up doing 40 songs, that'll end up being about a 20-minute set!" he laughs again, "I think we'll manage to break the 50-minute mark, but by that stage I'm normally gasping for air and trying not to throw up."

Almost three decades into their career, Meanie tells us that he is feeling every single one of those years and all of the mileage that the band has done in that time. "Oh fuck yes!" he states without hesitation, "the body hurts, I've done so many injuries to myself in The Meanies, my body's a bit creaky, put it that way.

"But I think we're all pretty proud of what we've done, and if It's Not Me, It's You ends up being our last album, I feel like we've ended with our best and most consistent album."