Smith Street Band set for McIvor Highway roadshow

MELBOURNE five-piece, The Smith Street Band are coming to Bendigo in July as part of their East Coast tour of latest album Life After Football.

The band’s sixth studio album, included the single Don’t Wanna Do Nothing Forever which came in at coming 90th in the Triple J Hottest 100 this year.

Lead singer Wil Wagner said the response to Life After Football and the tour had been a relief considering the circumstances in which the album came together.

“We just finished the Capital Cities tour a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “Normally you get to play songs live a few times before recording them and get a gauge if people are going to like them.

“Because a lot of this album was written during COVID, we didn’t get to do that, so it’s always a little daunting playing stuff for the first time.

“But we’ve had really great responses and I’ve seen some tattoos of lyrics from the album already, so it’s great people seem to be into it.”

It likely won’t just be The Smith Street Band’s hits you hear when they come to town, their performance of Alanis Morissette’s Hand in My Pocket, which has been heard on Triple J’s Like a Version, will also be on the setlist.

Wagner singing the praises of the 1995 track.

“The fun part of Like a Version is the decision-making process around what song you’re going to do,” he said. “It can be hard to find something the band and Triple J agree on.

“Triple J wrote back and said Alanis sounds good. Which was sweet, we got to do something we’re super excited about.

“We’ve been playing it live and it’s become one of the highlights of the set for us. It’s such a fun song to play, it’s simple, it’s one of those great pop songs that are only three chords.

“It’s not this intricate song, but it’s so effective and punchy. The lyrics are so simple, but they’re so clever as well which is a really hard thing to do.”

The current swing across the region could be the last tour for a while for The Smith Street band and their growing families.

“My partner’s pregnant, we’re having a kid in October,” he said. “We are working our asses off until then before I am on nappy duty for a few months.

“Our drummer has a little boy, our guitarist a little girl, and our tour manager’s partner is due a few weeks before mine.

“We might turn into The Wiggles. This might be the last chance to see us as a hard-drinking adult band.”

The Smith Street Band are playing the All-Seasons Friday, 28 July with tickets available via bit.ly/3nB6Kcv.