An article about Diesel’s Days Like These television series, which includes an episode with Hunters and Collectors.

Author:  Vickii Byram, Illawarra Mercury.

Date: 1 May 2022.

Original URL: https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7713244/nostalgic-look-at-memorable-concerts-with-diesel-at-the-helm/

Article Text

DAYS LIKE THESE…with DIESEL: Wednesdays, 8.30pm (AEST), ABC TV Plus/ABC iview

INTIMATE CHATS: Episode 1 of Days Like These…with Diesel features the story of Jet playing at The Forum in Melbourne, on April 30, 2004. It features (at left) fellow musician Chris Cheney, band member Mark Wilson, Diesel and rock musician Adalita Srsen.

Now in his fifties, Mark Lizotte (aka Johnny Diesel) has been on our music spectrum since the ’80s and knows a thing or two about concert performances.

In a new 12-part series on ABC TV – Days Like These…with Diesel – he looks back at some of the most memorable Australian concerts from the 1980s up to 2016, in intimate interviews with band members, tour managers, record company executives and musos from other bands, all with an insiders knowledge of what it takes to mount a huge stage show in an epic venue.

Lizotte says he suggested a lot of names and concerts to include but it came down to availability of footage of the event and other factors.

“[Creator and executive producer] Warren Costello had a lot to do with getting all this old footage and putting it together. Instead of just repackaging it, he wanted to get relevant interviews, and a different perspective of what was happening in the music scene at that time; and what was the catalyst for the concert, and to some degree what happened after that in terms of the bands.

“Warren approached me because he knows I love to talk about music a lot. I’m not a rock nut, but I like to think of myself as a fan who made a career out of music.

“When I was a kid, I used to read everything [music magazines] from cover to cover. I would read about Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles – the music I grew up with in my house.

“I still like learning about that sort of stuff.”

Mark Lizotte (aka Diesel)

It is certainly a different role for Lizotte, who says he wasn’t expecting everyone to be so comfortable in the interviews.

“I didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable, more like as if someone was walking into my home. Most of the interviews were done at my home studio, so in a way they were in my home.

Although the questions were scripted, Lizotte says they very conversational.

“I might have drifted off topic quite a bit. Sometimes I would add things in. But we had a writer who researched what happened on stage at the particular concert, and the different artists sharing the stage at that time, and I would put a spin on things, without making it about me.”

Angry Anderson and Rose Tattoo

Lizotte was not at all 12 concerts the series showcases, but he was at a few.

“I was at the Opera House one (2007), and the Cold Chisel one (2003 at The Hordern Pavilion). I mean Jimmy’s family,” he says, referring to his brother-in-law Jimmy Barnes’ Opera House comeback concert (episode 7) and the ‘Ringside’ concert (episode 12).

He remembers hearing about some of the others, especially the Narara concert (episode 4 with The Angels).

“The legend of it spread across the country. It was the Woodstock of Australia at the time I guess.

There is one concert he can certainly speak to – when Johnny Diesel and The Injectors played The Metro in 2003.

“Yeah it was quite the tables turning on that one. We (he and his brother Brian) talk about the dynamic on the night. I just remember I wanted it to be perfect – everything had to perfect on the night.”

He says he enjoyed asking about what people were feeling before and during the concerts.

Hunters & Collectors

“With Hunters and Collectors (episode 3) it intrigued me. It was their last show and the emotional feeling had to be so mixed. Like we have to be good, but knowing you are literally playing that song for the last time.”

Lizotte says he would certainly be open to more seasons.

“We have only scratched the surface. We are talking about a country that has an insane amount of musical talent per capita and a long history of a healthy live scene at pubs, clubs, and theatres.

“There was a time when record sales started going south because people were streaming and the record industry said ‘what we do?’.

“So then a lot of concerts were captured for DVDs. A lot of that material is around but people hardly touch a DVD these days. It would be great to bring it into the now.

“I hope ultimately that the format and the interest factor will appeal to everyone.”

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