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<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nComing to national attention barely out of his teens when his band, The Uncanny X-Men, had a string of hit songs in the mid-1980s, Brian Mannix has spent most of his life in the public eye, as a singer, actor and television star.<\/p>\n
Through it all, he retained his trademark light-hearted take on life, refusing to let circumstances bring him down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love performing, it is great fun, of course it is, I wouldn\u2019t be bothered otherwise,\u201d Mannix said, flashing his well-known grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese days we live all around Australia, so we just get together whenever a tour is coming up, like any band, we argue when we rehearse, but we are like brothers, you wouldn\u2019t be anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mannix said the band was a victim of its own success, initially earning a reputation as a hardworking, hard playing party band, rocking the thriving Australian pub rock scene in the early to mid 1980s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were playing pubs, our audience was 18-24 years old, but then we started to play Countdown, and suddenly we had a new audience of 14-year-olds, so we instantly lost the radio demographic, even though they were still coming to see us play every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Describing the ensuing period as \u2018slow death\u2019 in a \u2018tough\u2019 industry, Mannix said the band struggled to deal with the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough to be strangled out of the industry, you hear about footballers forced to retire early, well, it is just as tough for a musician to be told they are no longer \u2018popular\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the setbacks, Mannix remains upbeat, pointing out the entire X-Men band is still alive, unlike many of their peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pretty grateful we can still play and have fun, we have lost so many people from the industry, (Mental As Anything singer) Greedy Smith was a real shock, it feels like you are going to funerals every four or five weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his work on stage and in front of the camera is well documented, Mannix is a talented writer, director and editor, and is putting the finishing touches to an audio book due for release in the next two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be on my death bed, and be wishing I had done something.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
So much so, he has written a film script that he hopes to get into production, \u2018The King Lives\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe central figure is an Elvis-type character who was in cryogenic storage, but he gets defrosted, it is a bit like a Rocky Horror-style movie, I want to capture that feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mannix said he deliberately set out to polarise opinion with the script, knowing full well many people \u2018will hate it\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want that, I want you to either love it or hate it, the worst response you can get is \u2018That\u2019s Ok\u2019, I want to keep pushing the boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cRock and roll has to be a bit naughty, Elvis got banned from television just for gyrating his hips, you have to keep pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his stage persona recites a mantra of drink and recreational drugs, Mannix said it is an overstatement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make out there is plenty of drugs and alcohol, but that\u2019s rock and roll, people expect you to have that lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his career, Mannix said if he was to tell his 15-year-old self what his future would hold, he said it would be impossible to believe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been really lucky, I have worked with John Waters in a play, Ben Mingay, I have toured with Leo Sayer, Russell Morris and Jim Keays in a Lear Jet, no way could I picture that starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n
When pressed to name a performer he would like to work with, Mannix said he would love to hear country singer Kasey Chambers do the X-Men ballad \u201950 Years\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she would do a great job of it, she has a great voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
For young performers, Mannix has some simple advice, don\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the key to anything in life, there are plenty who don\u2019t get on, but persevere, persevere, persevere, just keep knocking on the the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Coming to national attention barely out of his teens when his band, The Uncanny X-Men, had a string of hit songs in the mid-1980s, Brian Mannix has spent most of his life in the public eye, as a singer, actor and television star. Through it all, he retained his trademark light-hearted take on life, refusing […]<\/p>\n